News In Shorts

20th East Asia Summit adopted Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Peace and Stability

• The declaration aims to implement joint projects and activities under the EAS Plan of Action (2024–2028) aligned with ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future vision.

About East Asia Summit 

• Overview: A leaders-led forum for dialogue and cooperation on strategic, political, and economic issues to promote peace, stability, and prosperity in East Asia.
• Genesis: Established in 2005, with the first Summit held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• Nature: An annual meeting of Heads of State or Government of participating countries.
• Members: ASEAN Member States, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, The Republic of Korea, United States and Russia.

2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit was recently held in the South Korean city of Gyeongju.

About APEC (Secretariat: Singapore)

• Founded: In1989
• Members: 21 economies (Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the United States etc.)
  • India: Not a member (observer status).
• Objective: To build a dynamic and harmonious Asia-Pacific community by championing free and open trade and investment, promoting economic integration, cooperation, etc. 

India, Australia, and Canada announced a new trilateral framework ACITI, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Johannesburg.

About Australia Canada India Technology and Innovation (ACITI) Partnership

• Purpose: Enhance cooperation in critical and emerging technologies and innovation domains.
• Key Focus Areas: Including clean energy, diversified and resilient supply chains, particularly in critical minerals.
  • Explore ways to accelerate AI development and mass adoption to improve the lives of their citizens.

Recently at APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) meet in South Korea, China pushed for a global body, WAICO, to govern Artificial Intelligence (AI) norms. 

About WAICO 

• Aim: Shaping global standards for world cooperation. 
  • It incorporates principles from China's 2023 Global AI Governance Initiative, emphasizing human-centric design, data sovereignty and algorithmic transparency.
• Announced during 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.
• Key Purpose: Reimagining the international architecture of AI governance, position China as an alternative to USA, exert China’s soft Power, etc. 

Recently USA President confirmed that Kazakhstan would  be a part of Abraham Accords. 

About Abraham Accords

• Purpose: Defuse tensions in the Middle East by normalizing relations between Israel and several so-called moderate Arab states, to ensure formal diplomatic, trade and security ties between these states with Israel. 
  • Named after the biblical Abraham, considered by both Jews and Arabs as their common ancestor and a symbol of brotherhood.
• Genesis: Initially signed in 2020, between Israel with the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco.

Bangladesh became the first country in South Asia to join the U.N.’s Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention).

About Water Convention

• Adopted in Helsinki in 1992 and entered into force in 1996.
• Legally binding convention for sustainable management of shared water resources.
• Requires parties to prevent, control, and reduce transboundary impacts.
  • Ensures reasonable, equitable, and sustainable use of shared waters.
  • Mandates cooperation through agreements and joint bodies among riparian states.

Fighter jets and guided-missile destroyers transited the Anegada Passage as a part of USA’s Operation Southern Spear against Narco Terrorism in the Caribbean. 

About Anegada Passage

• Location: Channel in the West Indies, connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Caribbean Sea. 
• It separates the British Virgin Islands (west) from the Leeward Islands (southeast). 
• It is one of the two passages through which subsurface water enters the Caribbean (other being the Windward Passage).