🔹India's 🇮🇳 new foreign trade policy, adopted this month, will take steps to support international trade using the rupee currency, as it looks to boost exports amid slowing global trade 🚢. India is prepared to trade in rupees with nations facing a shortage of dollars 💵 so as to "disaster-proof" them and effectively boost its exports.

🔹India is also launching a new amnesty scheme for one-time settlement of defaults on export obligations & will run until September 2023.

🔹 Bangladesh's 🇧🇩 ministry of commerce has placed a written recommendation at the last cabinet meeting regarding the possibility and opportunity of using rupee instead of the US dollar.

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💠 India opens 60 special rupee vostro accounts in 18 countries to facilitate rupee payments.

💠 More Asian countries, such as Indonesia 🇮🇩 & the UAE 🇦🇪, are showing interest in using the Indian Rupee as a trading unit.

💠 Indian refiners have begun paying for most of their Russian 🇷🇺 oil purchased via Dubai-based traders in UAE dirhams instead of USD.

💠 India 🇮🇳 has been exploring a rupee trade settlement mechanism with Russia.

💠 India & Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 discuss the feasibility of institutionalising Rupee-Riyal trade, & introduction UPI & Rupay cards in the kingdom.

Video - Dr. Ankit Shah

🔹Russia's 🇷🇺 largest oil producer Rosneft and India's top refiner Indian 🇮🇳 Oil Corp agreed to use the Asia-focused Dubai 🇦🇪 oil price benchmark in their latest deal to deliver Russian oil to India.

🔹The decision by the two state-controlled companies to abandon the Europe-dominated Brent benchmark is part of a shift of Russia's oil sales towards Asia after Europe shunned Russian oil.

🔹Both benchmarks are denominated in dollars 💵 and set by S&P Platts, a unit of U.S.-based S&P Global Inc, but Brent is mostly used by European oil majors and traders, whereas Dubai is heavily influenced by Asian and Middle Eastern oil trading.

🔹A new contract includes Urals crude 🛢, shipped from Russia's European ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk, and Sokol oil exported from Sakhalin which will be sold at a discount of $8-$10 per barrel to Dubai quotes on a delivered basis.

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💠 Indian refiners have begun paying for most of their Russian oil purchased via Dubai-based traders in UAE dirhams instead of USD.

💠 The UAE 🇦🇪shows interest in using the Indian Rupee as a trading unit.

💠 India opens 60 special rupee vostro accounts in 18 countries, including Russia 🇷🇺 to facilitate rupee payments.

💠 India's Oil Min. - "India is not obligated to buy Russian oil at rates below the price cap imposed by the G7 & other Western nations".

💠 Russia now supplies around 35% of India’s 🇮🇳 total oil imports, it was at 1% before Feb. 2022.

💠 India buying thirty-three (33) times more 📈 Russian oil than a year earlier.

🔹The EU 🇪🇺 has been looking into the 'legal' options for using Russia's 🇷🇺 300 billion euros ($325 billion) of foreign reserves frozen in the bloc, including investing them to generate returns. The European Commission expects to generate returns of around 2.6% from investing assets belonging to Russia’s central bank frozen under EU sanctions.

🔹Such an unprecedented attempt raises legal, political and economic questions, and EU countries last month set up a working group to look into what can be done. In accordance with international law, Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves are protected by sovereign immunity, and the involvement of oligarchs in the Kremlin's criminal regime still needs to be proven in court.

🔹A trio of US 🇺🇸 political & legal experts has argued that moral logic and existing international law is sufficient for the US, EU and G7 to confiscate the frozen funds and give them to Ukraine 🇺🇦.

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💠 The EU disregards that assets of private entities are considered foreign investments, which enjoy protection against expropriation without compensation & a right to fair & equitable treatment under international treaties that Russia has with a lot of EU countries.

💠The US/EU has undermined ‘Lex Mercatoria’ (Latin – ‘Merchant Law’). The autonomous legal order of international economic relations for trade & rules for settling disputes. The west has now now destroyed, how money & currencies function in relationship to trade & private property rights.

Video courtesy Geopolitics & Empire. Former South African 🇿🇦 President Thabo Mbeki.

🔹President Kais Saied of Tunisia 🇹🇳 instructed the country’s FM Nabil Ammar to initiate procedures that would appoint a new ambassador to Syria 🇸🇾. This is the latest move towards Arab states' normalisation with the gov't of Bashar al-Assad.

🔹Tunisia was among several Arab countries that severed their ties with Assad a decade ago, but Tunis returned a limited diplomatic mission to Syria in 2017. Saied had previously announced that Tunisia would strengthen ties with Syria, & in February he decided to raise the level of Tunisian diplomatic representation in Damascus.

🔹Meanwhile, Egypt 🇪🇬 is working with Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 to facilitate Damascus’ return to the Arab League. On Saturday, Syria's FM met his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo for the first such visit in more than a decade.

🔹US 🇺🇸 Assistant Secretary of State said to Arab countries that they should 'get something in return' from Syria for normalisation.

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💠 UAE 🇦🇪 President M. bin Zayed Al Nahyan, visited by Syrian Preisident B. Assad. UAE calls for Damascus to be reintegrated into the wider Arab region.

💠 President Assad visited Russia 🇷🇺 to discuss political/economic issues on the Syrian crisis.

💠 Türkiye 🇹🇷 has agreed to fully withdraw its troops from northern Syria following tripartite talks involving Moscow, Ankara and Damascus.

💠 US sanctions on Syria restrict international aid arriving in Syria during the aftermath of recent earthquakes.

💠 Türkiye believes the presence of Iran in ongoing talks between Türkiye, Syria, & Russia is beneficial for resolving the conflict in Syria.

Video courtesy The Cradle: UN spokesperson unaware of US soldiers in Syria, unable to say if it violates international law.

🔹Israeli 🇮🇱 forces brutally assaulted dozens of Palestinian worshippers inside Al-Aqsa Mosque 🕌 in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday (4th April) night and forcibly removed them from the site where they were observing the holy month of Ramadan.

🔹Dozens of heavily armed officers stormed the site before firing tear gas and stun grenades into the Qibli prayer hall - the building with the silver dome - where hundreds of men, women, elderly people and children were staying overnight to pray.

🔹Israeli officers then beat worshippers with batons and riot guns, wounding many, before arresting them. Their conditions were not immediately made clear. Israeli police released a statement saying it detained dozens of "rioters" from Al-Aqsa Mosque to restore order at the site.

🔹Jordan 🇯🇴, which acts as custodian of Jerusalem’s Christian and Muslim holy sites under a status quo arrangement in place since the 1967 war, condemned Israel’s “flagrant” storming of the compound. Egypt 🇪🇬 called for an immediate halt to Israel’s “blatant assault on worshippers”.

🔹Palestinians 🇵🇸 are also worried about far-right Israeli movements that want to demolish the Islamic structures in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and build a Jewish temple in their place.

Video courtesy Maajid Nawaz & Husam Zomlot

🔹 China 🇨🇳 is open to talks with Malaysia 🇲🇾 on forming an Asian Monetary Fund, said PM Anwar Ibrahim, reviving a decades old proposal to reduce reliance on the US dollar, despite ongoing issues of disputes over the South China Sea which could drive a wedge between the countries.

🔹 PM A. Ibrahim told the Malaysian parliament, “...there is no reason for Malaysia to continue depending on the dollar,”. Malaysia’s central bank is already working on enabling the two nations to negotiate on trade matters using the ringgit and renminbi.

🔹PM A. Ibrahim made a big splash of his maiden bilateral visit to China last week, when he oversaw the signing of 170 billion ringgit (US$38.6 billion) worth of investment commitments by Chinese firms in various sectors. It was a record figure spread across 19 separate deals signed between Chinese and Malaysian businesses.

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💠 An official meeting of all ASEAN nations' 🇧🇳 🇰🇭 🇮🇩 🇱🇦🇲🇾 🇲🇲 🇵🇭 🇸🇬 🇹🇭 🇻🇳 Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governors was held to discuss reduced dependence on the US Dollar, Euro, Yen, and British Pound from financial transactions and move to settlements in local currencies.

💠 India 🇮🇳 has given approval for opening 60 special rupee vostro accounts (SRVA) in 18 countries including Malaysia for settling payments in Indian rupees.

💠 The US 🇺🇸 sanctioned Iran-based petrochemical manufacturers and subsidiaries in Malaysia.

💠 Malaysia accused of helping sell Russia’s 🇷🇺 crude using new “shadow” shipping & financing infrastructure, resulting in Malaysia exporting twice as much crude to China it can produce.

Video courtesy RT

🔹Belarusian 🇧🇾 President A. Lukashenko visited the Russian Federation 🇷🇺 for a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State of Belarus and Russia.

🔹The Security Councils of Belarus and Russia have been instructed to begin work on the Union State security concept. The Military Doctrine of the Union State has been recently adopted. “We have repeatedly stressed that the western borders of Russia and Belarus, as the states united by the Union State Treaty, should be reliably protected.

🔹President Lukashenko stated that the failed attempts at an economic blockade were followed by military blackmail in the form of a consistent build-up of NATO forces and means near the Union State border, especially around Kaliningrad Oblast.

🔹During a trip to China, France's 🇫🇷 President E. Macron noted that no country can deploy nuclear weapons in the territory of another country. President Lukashenko was asked to comment on that. The Belarusian leader responded by saying: “I agree with him. This is why Americans should remove all the nuclear weapons from five or six countries where they are deployed.

🔹During the years of its existence the Union State has implemented more than 60 joint scientific and technical programs in various areas, including space exploration, information technologies, agriculture, production of materials and devices.

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💠 President Putin visits Belarus with delegation to discuss economic, military, & energy cooperation as Belarus now has the rotating presidency of the Collective Security Treaty Organization 🇧🇾🇦🇲🇰🇿🇰🇬🇹🇯🇷🇺.

Video courtesy Intel Republic

🔹Iran 🇮🇷 and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 will exchange technical delegations within the next few days to make preparations for the reopening of embassies in Tehran and Riyadh as well as their respective consulates. Both countries' foreign ministers signed a joint statement after holding talks in Beijing 🇨🇳 today.

🔹The two ministers also pledged to continue reengagement in other areas, including direct flights, issuing travel visas, commerce, and security cooperation. Iran and Saudi Arabia were described as “brotherly nations” in the statement. The ministers thanked China for hosting them and Switzerland 🇨🇭for its role in representing the interests of the two nations.

🔹“The two sides have agreed to promote cooperation in any field that could ensure regional security and stability and fulfill the interests of its nations and countries,”.

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💠 Saudi Arabia & Iran agreed to resume diplomatic ties mediated by China.

💠 Iran welcomes Saudi investments into it's oil 🛢and gas industry.

Video courtesy PressTV

🔹 The Shanghai 🇨🇳 Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange (SHPGX) made history by announcing the first-ever deal on importing 65,000 tons of LNG from the UAE 🇦🇪, settled in the Chinese yuan. China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) and French 🇫🇷 TotalEnergies finalized the transaction, and TotalEnergies confirmed that the LNG imported was from the Persian Gulf state.

🔹 The chairman of the SHPGX, Guo Xu said that the deal is “a meaningful attempt to promote multi-currency pricing, settlement and cross-border payment in international LNG 🚢 trading. It also provides a new channel for international players to participate in the Chinese market, helping to build a new pattern of dual circulation in China.”

🔹So far the CNOOC-Total deal is a standalone, and US 🇺🇸 officials hope to keep it that way. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, among others, argues that the yuan is no threat to the dollar. Subject to capital controls, the yuan can’t match the global liquidity of the dollar without a radical change in Chinese monetary policy.

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💠 China 🇨🇳 signed a 27-year landmark $60 billion agreement for purchases of LNG from Qatar 🇶🇦.

💠 Russia's oil sold to India will be priced in the UAE's 🇦🇪 Dubai oil price benchmark.

💠Gazprom 🇷🇺 move payments for gas exports to China away from USD/Euros & shift to rubles & yuan.

💠 The share of trade between Russia & China in national currencies has reached roughly half of turnover (yuan- ruble).

Video courtesy Sean Foo

🔹Russian 🇷🇺 FM S. Lavrov met on April 6th-7th with his Turkish 🇹🇷 counterpart M. Cavusoglu at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. The grain deal extension was discussed, FM Lavrov spoke about no progress by the West to fulfill their side of the deal.

🔹Disconnection from the SWIFT system, the obstacles to insure and reinsure cargo under normal conditions, the restrictions for Russian ships 🚢 to enter ports and foreign ships to enter Russian ports have not been addressed. FM Lavrov assured countries in need of Russian grain, that a workaround will be done to deliver if they do not extend the deal.

🔹Moscow and Ankara share the view that the unstable geopolitical situation confirms the necessity to create a gas hub in Türkiye to transport Russian gas.

🔹Türkiye's balanced policy has made it possible to prevent an escalation of the war in Ukraine and keep it from spilling over into their country. Türkiye continues to push for negotiations between the two countries. Ankara also believes that a peace agreement between Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 and Armenia 🇦🇲needs to be concluded as soon as possible.

🔹The Russian, Iranian, Syrian 🇸🇾 and Turkish foreign ministers are in preparations to hold a meeting on the normalization of relations between Ankara and Damascus. A possibility exists that a meeting between the Turkish and Syrian presidents would take place before Türkiye's elections.

🔹Moscow will continue to provide assistance to Ankara in the reconstruction of its earthquake-ruined infrastructure, FM Lavrov said. He used the meeting to express his deepest condolences to the Turkish people over the tragedy.

Video courtesy Euronews

🔹Officials from The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 were in Yemen’s 🇾🇪 capital on April 9th for talks with the Iran 🇮🇷-backed Houthi rebels, as part of international efforts to find a negotiated settlement to Yemen’s nine-year war. The Saudi delegation, chaired by the kingdom’s ambassador to Yemen, met with the head of the Houthi’s supreme political council, which runs rebel-held areas in Yemen.

🔹An Omani 🇴🇲 delegation, which arrived in Sanaa on April 8th, joined the talks. Hans Grundberg, the U.N. envoy for Yemen, described the ongoing efforts as “the closest Yemen has been to real progress towards lasting peace” since the war began.

🔹The Saudi-Houthi talks are focused on a full reopening of Houthi-controlled ports and 🇾🇪 Sanaa airport, payment of wages for public servants, rebuilding efforts and a timeline for foreign forces to exit the country. The Houthis on April 8th had received 13 detainees released by Saudi Arabia in exchange for a Saudi detainee freed earlier, ahead of a wider prisoner exchange agreed by the warring sides.

🔹At talks in Switzerland🇨🇭last month attended by the UN 🇺🇳 and Red Cross, the Yemeni gov't and the Houthis agreed to free 887 detainees. The 13 prisoners are part of that agreement. Saudi Arabia and the Houthis reached a draft deal last month to revive a cease-fire that expired in October.

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💠 Iran and Saudi Arabia make preparations for the reopening of embassies in Tehran and Riyadh. This comes after both countries agreed to resume diplomatic ties mediated by China 🇨🇳.

Video courtesy PressTV

🔹 Germany 🇩🇪 has retaliated, by ordering Chad's 🇹🇩 ambassador to leave the country, today (April 11th) responding to the central African nation's expulsion of the German ambassador on April 8th. Chad's gov't gave German Ambassador Gordon Kricke 48 hours to leave, citing his “discourteous attitude” and accusing him of failing to respect diplomatic customs. Germany still has lower-ranking diplomats in Chad's capital N'Djamena.

🔹A Chadian gov't official told AFP anonymously that N'Djamena blamed the diplomat for "interfering too much" in the "governance of the country", as well as "remarks tending to divide the Chadians".

🔹Chadian 🇹🇩 sources said Ambassador 🇩🇪 Gordon Kricke had criticised delays in holding elections, and a ruling last year that will allow interim military leader Mahamat Idriss Deby to run in elections in 2024.

🔹Military leaders of Chad originally promised an 18-month transition to elections when Deby seized power after his father, President Idriss Deby, was killed on the battlefield during a conflict with rebels.

🔹But last year, the military gov't extended the timeline by two years, delaying elections until October 2024, sparking protests in which dozens of civilians were killed, and worrying regional powers and the US who have warned against extending military rule.

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💠 Chad's Authorities nationalized all oil/gas assets of a subsidiary of 🇺🇸 Exxonmobil due to Exxon's conflicting terms.

💠 Chad & other African presidents agreed to step up military coordination in their countries' war against Boko Haram & ISIS terrorists, who are now receiving weapons from Ukraine 🇺🇦.

💠 In 2022, Chad declared a national food emergency as a third of the population needs food aid.

Video courtesy AfrikaNow AfrikaTomorrow

🔹China 🇨🇳 boosted its gold reserves for a 5th straight month. The PBoC raised its holdings by about 18 tons in March, with 'total stockpiles' now sit at about 2,068 tons, after growing by about 102 tons in the four months before March.

🔹Central banks accumulated gold at the fastest pace on record in the first two months of 2023, as they collectively bought a net 125 tonnes of the metal, the highest amount for the YTD period since banks became net buyers in 2010. The top purchasers were Singapore 🇸🇬, Türkiye 🇹🇷, China 🇨🇳, Russia 🇷🇺 & India 🇮🇳.

🔹Russia’s 🇷🇺 central bank gold bullion holdings jumped by 1 million ounces over the past year Mar. '22- Feb '23.

🔹India's 🇮🇳 gold imports have declined by about 30% during the Apr. - Feb. period of '22-'23, compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. Silver 🪙 imports have increased by 66% for the same period.

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💠 Gold hits 11th straight month of net outflows leaving the COMEX vaults.

💠 China imports highest volume of gold in 2022, since 2018.

💠Central banks are scooping up gold 📈at the fastest pace since 1967.

💠 Prof. Everisto Benyera on the shift in relationship between Africa, gold & the USD.

💠 BRICS 🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦 plan an international reserve currency based on a basket of the national currencies, backed by commodities such as gold.

Video courtesy Sean Foo

🔹 USA 🇺🇸- 18,000 cows were killed in an explosion at the South Fork Dairy farm near Dimmitt, Texas, on April 10-11th. A dairy farm worker rescued from inside the structure was taken to an area hospital and was in critical but stable condition. The death toll is equivalent to nearly three times the number of cattle led to slaughter each day across the US.

🔹This was the biggest single-incident death of cattle 🐄 in the country since the Animal Welfare Institute began tracking barn and farm fires in 2013. The farm is nearly 10 times larger than the average dairy herd in Texas. Castro County, where the fire occurred, is open prairie land dotted with dairy farms and cattle ranches.

🔹The company's losses in livestock could stretch into the tens of millions of dollars. That doesn't include equipment and structure loss. Texas ranks fourth nationally in milk🥛production, home to 319 Grade A dairies with an estimated 625,000 cows.

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💠 The U.S. beef cow herd dropped to its lowest level since 1962. Severe drought & rising costs for livestock feed are given as the reason.

💠 Vermont 🇺🇸- Beef cattle pasture not growing back due to drought. Cattle feed quality and volume are both down about 50% in 2022 from a normal year.

💠 The young, future calf-producing cows 🐂 – are at their lowest point nationally since USDA began keeping numbers in 1973.

Video courtesy RawAlerts & KCBD

🔹Europe's optimism as natural gas spot prices come down 80% from their peak levels in 2022 may be short-lived. Despite an exceptionally warm winter of 2022-2023, Europe is still paying 6 times the price for natural gas as that of in the USA 🇺🇸.

🔹US LNG exports to Europe increased y-o-y by 140% in 2022. Last month, US. overall LNG exports were 7.79 million tonnes, a record high.

🔹Multiple factors are not in Europe's favour: Asian countries are increasingly seeking long-term LNG supply contracts, existing Russian LNG deliveries to Europe are likely to end soon, electricity generation from wind turbines in Europe continues to be quite low and the continent's summer demand will increase, as hydropower levels are set to drop.

🔹Europe has failed to secure enough long-term contracts for LNG to offset their cut-off from Russian 🇷🇺 gas imports. Europe bought much of its LNG last year on the spot market, where prices are often much higher than gas bought under long-term contracts.

🔹EU 🇪🇺 member states proposed that the bloc create a legal option to let countries stop Russian firms booking the infrastructure capacity needed to ship LNG to Europe. The proposal, which is part of a law containing broader rules on EU gas markets, must be negotiated with the EU Parliament.

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💠 Spain 🇪🇸has imported 84% more Russian LNG since Feb. '22, highlighting the persistent reliance the EU has on Russian energy.

💠 The EU's LNG imports from Russia 🇷🇺 in 2022 rose by 31% and 35% compared to 2020 & 2021 volumes, respectively,

💠 Head of the EU 🇪🇺Energy Regulator admits, the EU’s price cap is an untested tool that may not work as intended to prevent gas price spikes. "The gas price cap is “a difficult creature, it’s unprecedented, it’s untested”.

💠 Chinese 🇨🇳co.'s that signed long-term contracts to buy U.S. LNG are selling the excess & making millions per cargo.

💠 Qatar's 🇶🇦 Energy Minister says EU's natural gas price caps are hypocritical.

Photo courtesy Holger Zschaepitz

🔹The Italian 🇮🇹 gov't has approved the sale of the ISAB refinery in Sicily, which is owned by Russia’s 🇷🇺 largest private oil company, Lukoil, to Cyprus’ GOI Energy, a branch of private equity group Argus. The Italian gov't needed additional time to review the deal, as the United States 🇺🇸 had asked Rome to confirm that Russia was not involved with G.O.I. energy.

🔹The gov't reportedly placed strict conditions on the deal, demanding that the new owner protect the plant’s staff of around 1,000, & GOI Energy to guarantee that oil supplies for the refinery do not come from Russia. EU 🇪🇺sanctions complicated the refinery operations since December '22 as oil was historically supplied from Russia to the refinery.

🔹The decision is good news for Lukoil and its shareholders as the sale is supposed to bring in more than $1.5 billion.

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💠 Lukoil agreed to sell the Italian ISAB refinery 🏭 to Cyprus-based G.O.I. Energy Limited, a private equity firm backed by Trafigura.

💠 Italian🇮🇹 gov't placed the ISAB refinery under trusteeship with talks of a possible future nationalisation. Lukoil said it is ready to ensure uninterrupted operation, given the feedstock stored up are of non-Russian origin 🛢.

💠 Russia’s Lukoil has turned down an offer to sell its Italian refinery to US private equity, Crossbridge Energy Partners. If a buyer is not found, the refinery will close, because it is not able to receive Russian crude due to sanctions.

Video courtesy PressTV

🔹The foreign ministers/representatives of Russia 🇷🇺, China 🇨🇳, Iran 🇮🇷 & Pakistan 🇵🇰 are holding a meeting in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand on April 13th-14th within the framework of a ministerial conference of Afghanistan’s 🇦🇫 neighboring countries.

🔹The top diplomats of Tajikistan 🇹🇯, Turkmenistan 🇹🇲 and Uzbekistan 🇺🇿 are also participating. The diplomats will discuss the further steps on facilitating Afghanistan’s political settlement, the stabilization of the humanitarian and socio-economic situation in the country as well as the development of regional economic integration and the implementation of transport and energy projects with Kabul’s participation.

🔹The ministers called on the radical Taliban movement, which has seized power in Afghanistan, to form an inclusive government and to lift all restrictive measures against women and ethnic minorities. They supported "all diplomatic efforts to promote a political solution to Afghanistan's problems,".

🔹A joint statement noted that the US 🇺🇸 & its allies must take the responsibility for the complicated situation in Afghanistan. It also confirmed that the countries represented are ready to assist in Afghanistan's reconstruction and develop economic ties with it. Russia & Pakistan reaffirmed their focus on increasing cooperation in fighting terrorism.

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💠 A bomb explosion outside the Foreign Ministry in Afghanistan’s 🇦🇫 capital Kabul killed 20 people.

💠 Pakistan participated in the 4th meeting of the ”Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan” with an emphasis on regional security & military-political stability.

💠 The Organization of Turkic States considers actions to address Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis during an OTS summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

💠 India 🇮🇳 and Russia FM's discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

Video courtesy CGTN

🔹Russia's 🇷🇺 seaborne oil product exports rose in March by 17.3% month-on-month on a daily basis. The price of Urals, Russia’s flagship export grade, has moved higher since the OPEC+ production cut, threatening the $60 price cap that the G7 & the EU agreed to impose on Moscow.

🔹Higher oil prices will make it harder to enforce the price caps and crack down on illicit oil trade without choking off supplies. OPEC+ estimates that Chinese 🇨🇳 oil demand is set to grow by 760,000 bpd 🛢this year. The biggest oil importers in Asia have been busy buying June-loading spot crude cargoes from the Middle East since the news of OPEC+ cuts.

🔹Sanctions watchdogs will have to make tough choices. Indian 🇮🇳 banks are very closely monitoring crude prices at ports, where costs of logistics are intermingled, making for a more complicated pricing mechanism, because anything above $60 would trigger EU 🇪🇺 sanctions.

🔹Iraq 🇮🇶 lowered the price of oil supplies to India in Feb. amid a steady flow of cheaper Russian shipments. India has decreased oil imports from the Middle East amid growing purchases from Russia.

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💠 Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 will voluntarily reduce its oil production by 500,000 bpd from May until the end of 2023. Other OPEC+ members will also cut.

💠 Russia's 🇷🇺 largest oil producer Rosneft and India's top refiner Indian 🇮🇳 Oil Corp agreed to use the Asia-focused Dubai 🇦🇪 oil price benchmark.

💠 Saudi Arabia will not sell oil to any country that imposes a price cap on its supply.

💠 Russia cuts oil 📉 production from March by 500,000 bpd.