British PM to Lanka govt: Show generosity & magnanimity towards Tamil minority

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who has been on a historic visit to northern Sri Lanka, has urged the government to show generosity and magnanimity towards the Tamil minority.

Cameron, who became the first foreign leader to visit the Jaffna region since Sri Lanka's independence, was mobbed by relatives of those who had been missing in the final stages of the country's civil war. 

He met Tamil leaders and some of the victims of the country's prolonged civil war. He later went to the offices of a leading Tamil newspaper 'Uthayan'. Several of the newspaper reporters were killed during the war. Cameron is in Sri Lanka to attend the Commonwealth Summit.

Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban visited India

Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary visited India on 16-17 October 2013. During his visit, India and Hungry signed several important agreements to further strengthen cooperation which includes a 6 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of traditional Indian medicine systems.
Earlier this year, India’s Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid had visited Hungary where he discussed regional, bilateral and international issues with his Hungarian counterpart Janos Martonyi.
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west.

Aga Khan, a Swiss-Born Philanthropist and Muslim Spiritual Leader Visited India

Aga Khan, a Swiss-Born Philanthropist and Muslim Spiritual Leader visited India from 17 to 29 September 2013. During the visit in New Delhi, Aga Khan met President of India pranab mukherji and PM of India Manmohan Singh. 
During the official visit, Aga Khan the unveiled restored Humayun’s Tomb in New Delhi on 18 September 2013. The task of restoration was done by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, in partnership with the Archaeological Survey of India, and with the support of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. The restoration work took place on the public private partnership (PPP) model and it is first of its kind on the India’s heritage site. The project was funded primarily by the Aga Khan Trust. 

• During the visit, Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad, which is the new non-profit school on 100 acre campus, was inaugurated on 20 September 2013 by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Kiran Kumar Reddy in the presence of Aga Khan, the founder and chairman of Aga Khan Development Network.

• He was also visited the cities of Hyderabad and Mumbai, where Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is involved in various flagship development projects.

About Aga Khan
Aga Khan, a Swiss-Born Philanthropist and Muslim Spiritual Leader was born on 13 December 1936 in Geneva. 

He graduated from Harvard University in 1959 with a BA Honors Degree in Islamic history.

Aga Khan, the Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network, became Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims on 11July 1957 at the age of 20, succeeding his grandfather, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan.

Filippo Grandi,Commissioner-General of UNRWA visited India

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Filippo Grandi visited India on 03-04 September 2013, to review the humanitarian assistance programme.

UNRWA and India exchanged views on a wide range of issues, including the recent developments in the West Asia region. UNRWA was presented a cheque of 1 million US dollars as part of India’s annual contribution to UNRWA, primarily for provision of food and medicines to the displaced people in the refugee camps under its various programmes. India's consistent support to the Palestinian people was appreciated during Filippo Grandi’s visit.

India has traditionally provided strong political support to the Palestinian cause at the bilateral, regional and international level. Additionally, it has been contributing economic and technical assistance to the Palestinian people, both bilaterally and through UNRWA.

UNRWA provides services and assistance to more than five million Palestinian refugees in West Asia in the form of education, health care, relief, community support and emergency response in times of armed conflict.

Foreign Minister of Nicaragua,Samuel Santos Lopez visited India

The Foreign Minister of Nicaragua, Samuel Santos Lopez paid an official visit to India since 19 August to 23 August 2013. Earlier, he had visited India in June 2008 to participate in the India-SICA (Central American Integration System) Foreign Ministers' meeting. Nicaragua is an important member of SICA with which India has an institutionalised dialogue mechanism at the Foreign minister level. During his visit, India and Nicaragua discussed bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest. India and Nicaragua enjoy warm and friendly relations and both countries share common perspectives on a wide variety of international issues. Bilateral trade between the two countries for the year 2012-13 was 60.12 million US dollars. Foreign Minister Lopez also interacted with a number of high representatives from business and industry for promoting trade and investment linkages.

The Number of Foreign Tourists in India increased to 207.31 Lakh in 2012

As per the data released by Ministry of Tourism on 26 August 2013, the number of foreign tourists visiting India has shown a steady increase in the past three years. The number of foreign tourist visits has increased to 207.31 lakh in 2012 as compared to 194.97 lakh in 2011 and 179.10 lakh during 2010. This shows an increase of almost 16 per cent in the past two years. The highest number of foreign tourists inflow was recorded in Maharashtra at 51.20 lakh followed by Tamilnadu at 35.62 lakh and Delhi at 23.46 lakh in the year 2012. The Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism has also shown a significant growth rising to 94487 crores rupees in 2012 as compared to 77591 crores rupees in 2011 and 64889 crores rupees in 2010. This marks an increase of around 46 per cent in the three year period from 2010 to 2012. The Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) is estimated as 50448 crores rupees in the period January to June 2013. The number of Domestic Tourist Visits (DTVs) to States/UTs has also shown an impressive growth of around 39 per cent in the past three years. The number of DTVs in 2012 is estimated at 103.64 crores as compared to 74.77 crores in the year 2010.

Taukelina Finikaso, the Foreign Minister of Tuvalu visited India

Taukelina Finikaso, the Foreign Minister of Tuvalu was on an official visit to India from 21 to 25 August 2013. This was the first visit of Finikaso to India after taking charge as the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade, Tourism, Environment, and Labour, Govt. of Tuvalu. 

During his visit, Finikaso discussed issues of mutual interest related to bilateral, regional and international importance with Preneet Kaur, Minister of State for External Affairs of India. He also inaugurated the newly constituted Honorary Consulate of Tuvalu, which will provide both the countries, an opportunity to expand the bilateral relations of mutual benefits.