London: For the first time in 40 years, Queen Elizabeth II will skip the Commonwealth summit to be held in Sri Lanka in November, deciding to send her son Prince Charles instead for the biennial event. 87-year-old Queen will miss the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) for the first time since 1973, Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday.
"I can confirm that the Queen will be represented by the Prince of Wales. The reason is that we are reviewing the amount of long-haul travel that is taken by the Queen. As a result of that, she won't be travelling to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting later in 2013", a spokesman said.
This year's CHOGM has been mired in controversy, with campaigners including Amnesty International calling for not holding the summit until an investigation is carried out into alleged human rights abuses in the final six months of the 26-year Sri Lankan civil war.
Britain is facing pressure to lead a boycott of the meeting, with Canada indicating that it will not attend unless specific criteria are met. However, Buckingham Palace said the Queen's decision not to attend was not related to the political situation in Lanka....
more
04:15 PM, May 07, 2013
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Jacob Zuma "interacted on several occasions" during the BRICS summit in Durban though the two sides did not hold delegation-level talks, an official said in New Delhi on Wednesday. Seeking to refute reports that the Indian delegation failed to hold a separate meeting with Zuma, who held bilateral talks with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, a spokesperson of the Ministry...
03:18 AM, Apr 04, 2013
The fifth BRICS summit has promoted unity among major emerging economies and injected fresh impetus into the cooperation mechanism, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday. ...
04:58 AM, Apr 01, 2013
Notwithstanding pledges to take the bilateral relationship to a new level, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his first meeting with new Chinese President Xi Jinping has sought a joint mechanism to assess the construction work on dams on Brahmaputra river in Tibet. ...
01:26 AM, Mar 29, 2013
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Durban. This was the first structured high-level meeting between the two countries since the change of leadership in China. ...
07:57 AM, Mar 28, 2013
The controversial Kudankulam Unit I of the atomic power reactor in Tamil Nadu will become operational by April, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said. He gave this assurance to Russian President Vladimir Putin when the two met here on Tuesday night on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. ...
12:41 PM, Mar 27, 2013
Finance Minister P Chidambaram stressed on need of BRICS development bank saying, "The bilateral funds that flow from the developed countries to the developing countries has declined. The existing multinational development banks and the regional banks are insufficiently capitalised," ...
11:22 AM, Mar 27, 2013
rime Minister Manmohan Singh is set to meet Chinese Premier Xi Jinping on Wednesday in Durban on the sidelines of the ongoing 5th BRICS Summit. This will be the first bilateral meeting between the two leaders after the recent change of leadership in China. The Prime Minister who is in South Africa for the two day conference is set to discuss macro economic stability. ...
08:00 AM, Mar 27, 2013
Four concrete deliverables are expected at the 5th BRICS Summit at Durban March 26-26, 2013, that will take the process of the five-nation bloc forward to the next level, Indian officials said on Monday. ...
05:50 AM, Mar 26, 2013
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets new Chinese President Xi Jingping on Wednesday, with both countries waiting for a new direction to bilateral ties that had seen some ups and downs in recent years, particularly over unresolved border tensions. ...
04:40 AM, Mar 26, 2013
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left on a 4-day visit to Durban on Monday to attend the BRICS Summit, expressing the hope that ways to revive global growth and faster movement on reform of institutions of global, political and economic governance will be discussed at the meeting of the emerging economies. Accompanied by a high-power delegation including Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, Singh will attend the summit...
09:58 AM, Mar 25, 2013
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves for Durban Monday for the 5th BRICS Summit over the next two days with the leaders of Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa. ...
05:52 PM, Mar 24, 2013
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal today said internet which has emerged as a powerful medium should be used for empowerment and not disruption ...
02:05 PM, Mar 21, 2013
Narendra Modi is the only Chief Minister from India to be invited to address the Google Big Tent Activate Summit 2013 on March 21 through Google hangout on the theme 'Technology in Politics'. Before delivering the address, Modi will be interacting with Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google Inc. through Google Hangout, a state government release said on Tuesday. ...
11:29 PM, Mar 19, 2013
Ahead of their meeting later in March 2013 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Durban, newly-installed Chinese Premier Li Keqiang spoke to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday and both expressed a desire to work together to boost bilateral ties. ...
04:15 AM, Mar 16, 2013
The US has welcomed the Syrian Opposition leaders' decision to attend the Rome Summit, as it insisted that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must go. Syrian National Coalition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib has said that the opposition groups will attend the Friends of Syria conference in Rome on February 28. ...
11:40 AM, Feb 26, 2013
Disappointing news about Germany's economy sent world stock markets down on February 15 as investors turned their attention to a major economic conference this weekend. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.2 per cent to 6,318.14. Germany's DAX lost 0.3 per cent to 7,607.49 and France's CAC-40 shed less than 0.1 per cent to 3,668.30. ...
03:00 PM, Feb 15, 2013
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman is in Delhi to attend a Sustainable Development Summit. ...
04:12 PM, Feb 01, 2013
An effective governance mechanism is of paramount importance for water management and water use efficiency. The issue of governance is multidimensional, encompassing social, economic, political, and legal institutions, and supported by a responsive policy framework to ensure sustainability and water use efficiency. ...
01:09 PM, Feb 01, 2013
The demand for edible oils in India has shown a compounded growth of 4.5 per cent over the last 10 years. ...
12:25 PM, Feb 01, 2013
