Bangkok : India’s Ambassador to Thailand Puneet Agrawal on Monday held a meeting with Thailand’s Minister of Digital Economy and Society Chaichanok Chidchob on enhancing collaboration, combatting online scams and integrating digital ecosystems to facilitate tourists.

India, Thailand discuss enhancing collaboration on combating online scams

“Views were exchanged on enhancing collaboration under the existing bilateral agreement on digital technologies, experience sharing on combating online scams, integrating digital ecosystems to facilitate tourists, among others,” it added.

Last month, Ambassador Agrawal and Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Phipat Ratchakitprakarn met and discussed ways to strengthen strategic partnership through enhanced maritime, air, and road connectivity, deepening people-to-people ties and tourism linkages.

India and Thailand elevated the bilateral ties to Strategic Partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangkok in April last year.

On July 16, Agrawal met Urasa Mongkolnavin, Director-General (DG) of the Department of South Asian, Middle East and African Affairs at Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held discussions on issues of mutual interest to strengthen the strategic partnership between both nations.

“Ambassador Puneet Agrawal met Mrs. Urasa Mongkolnavin, DG of the Department of South Asian, Middle East and African Affairs, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both sides exchanged views on various issues of mutual interest such as high-level visits, trade and investment, people-to-people connect, public health and traditional medicine, etc to further strengthen the Strategic Partnership between India and Thailand.”

Agrawal also met Thailand Trade Representative Chutintorn Gongsakdi at the Government House, with discussions focused on further strengthening trade and investment ties.

“Ambassador Puneet Agrawal had a cordial and fruitful meeting with H.E Mr. Chutintorn Gongsakdi, Thailand Trade Representative, at the Government House. Discussions focused on further strengthening trade and investment ties between India and Thailand through identifying areas of complementarities, resolving tariff and non-tariff barriers and having a balanced trade for mutual benefit,” the Indian Embassy in Thailand wrote on X.

Tehran, Aug 10: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday that the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until the US continues its naval blockade against Iran, local media reported.

Addressing a weekly press briefing in Tehran, Baqaei said that the Strait of Hormuz was closed due to the US and Israeli military aggression against Iran. He emphasised that the reopening of the waterway relies on the conditions enforced on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz by the US and Israeli authorities, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported.

“As long as the US naval blockade continues, the necessary conditions for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz do not exist,” said Baqaei. He stressed that the US needs to stop and make changes in its “destructive actions” so that the two sides could discuss the next steps.

The Strait of Hormuz links Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. It is one of the world’s most important energy corridors, carrying oil and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exports from major Gulf producers to international markets.

Baqaei mentioned that the talks between Iran and Oman over a shipping route is a bilateral matter which involves two nations.

On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Aragchi stated that there are currently no ongoing negotiations with the United States.

Speaking to reporters at the Centre for Political and International Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said, “We currently have no negotiations with the United States. Intermediaries are still making efforts to find ways to resume negotiations. From our perspective, there can be no resumption of talks until the United States ends its violations of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and makes amends for the breaches it has committed,” Tasnim News Agency reported.

He stated that there is no possibility of resuming negotiations until the US ends the violations of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or it makes amends for what it has violated. He also said that they are in the final stage of negotiations with Oman about determining a new sea route in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Iranian Foreign Minister stressed that reaching a pact with Oman on a new maritime route does not imply that the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened.

“Of course, this does not mean the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. This agreement may be reached, but the opening of the Strait of Hormuz is subject to a series of conditions,” he said.

Islamabad, Aug 9: Poor governance is the primary reason behind instability and deprivation in Pakistan’s Balochistan province as the Federal government regards the province as a security issue and does not address the social, economic, and political causes of the crisis there, a report said.

People of Balochistan do not get benefits despite the province being resource-rich, according to the report in Afghan Diaspora Network.

The majority of development projects in Balochistan, including the strategic Gwadar port and the Saindak copper and gold mine, have been operated by China. Chinese or people from Pakistan’s Punjab and Sindh provinces earn profits from Balochistan’s resources instead of people from the province. The have-nots of Balochistan often take up militancy to fight for their rights and express their anger towards the foreigners in Balochistan, it said.

The majority of people in Balochistan live in extreme deprivation of resources, human rights and education, though Pakistan denies that people of the province are discontented. Its approach towards Balochistan has been security-centric while the development and governance agenda have taken the backseat. Currently, Balochistan faces the highest poverty in Pakistan, with 47 per cent of residents living below the poverty line. The province does not have basic infrastructure, employment opportunities, gas connections, and clean drinking water despite being a hub for extraction and mega projects, according to the Afghan Diaspora Network report.

“Experts blame the poor governance as a main culprit behind instability and deprivation. Quick to resort to repression, the state has considered Balochistan unidimensional as a security issue, ignoring the underlying social, economic, and political causes of the crisis. The ongoing ‘Operation Shaban’ might hit the headlines for killing terrorists, but it fails to ensure any sustainable peace and stability. The experts argue that the military cannot lead to durable peace without addressing the root causes of multiple causes of Balochistan’s unrest, including federalism, identity, and the fair distribution of resource wealth,” Kadeem Baloch, a freelance journalist based in Pakistan, wrote in the report.

On Saturday, the Baloch Republican Guards (BRG) claimed responsibility for destroying two electricity towers in the province’s Nasirabad, local media reported.

BRG spokesperson Dosteen Baloch said in a statement that the members of BRG blew up two 220 kV electricity towers going from the Och Power Plant to Punjab at the Piru Pul area near Mir Hassan area of Nasirabad, The Balochistan Post reported.

Two towers collapsed, and two more sustained severe damage as a result of the explosion. The spokesperson stated that BRG accepts responsibility for this attack and noted that such operations will continue until the independence of Balochistan from Pakistan.