Recent 6 months news in Agreements

Union Minister S Jaishankar has co-chaired the 9th Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) with the Foreign Minister of Suriname, Melvin Bouva. During the visit, he also met with the President of Suriname, Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, and the National Assembly Chairman Ashwin Adhin.

During the trip, India handed over a passion fruit processing facility completed under Indian grant assistance and offered soft loans to Suriname for infrastructure and strategic sectors.

Additionally, During his visit to Trinidad & Tobago, Union Minister S Jaishankar held a bilateral meeting with the PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar, to discuss bilateral collaboration. A total of 8 MoUs were signed between India and T&T to strengthen cooperation across various sectors.

PM Narendra Modi has undertaken a two-day official visit to the Netherlands at the invitation of the Dutch PM Rob Jetten. During the visit, PM Modi met Dutch King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima at Palace Huis ten Bosch, and held a high-level meeting with PM Jetten at Catshuis, the official residence of the Dutch PM in The Hague.

Both nations signed a total of 17 agreements and adopted the “Roadmap of India-Netherlands Strategic Partnership” for a 5-year period spanning from 2026 to 2030. It is to be noted that the Leiden University Library of the Netherlands restituted the 11th-century Chola Copper Plates to india in the presence of both leaders.

PM Narendra Modi has visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and held a meeting with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. UAE has committed to invest $5 billion in India through various entities.

During the visit, the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) signed an MoU with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to enhance the energy security of India. Additionally, the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) signed a strategic collaboration agreement with ADNOC for the long-term supply of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has signed an MoU with the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) to leverage the expertise of the latter in geotechnical engineering and natural hazard mitigation.

The collaboration aims to strengthen engineering capabilities, particularly in geologically sensitive and challenging terrains.

The National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), established by the SEBI, has signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to advance Corporate Governance, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards, and capital markets in India.

The collaboration will focus on knowledge exchange, research, policy support, and cooperation in financial and corporate regulation.

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has signed an MoU with the Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, to collaborate on Executive Education Programmes. The partnership aims to develop future-ready leadership within SAIL by integrating academic knowledge with real-world applications.

India has assumed the chairmanship of the Common Criteria Development Board (CCDB) for a 2-year period, from April 2026 to April 2028. The leadership was confirmed during the 1st Quarter Meeting of the Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA) held in Tokyo, Japan.

Under the CCRA, member countries accept each other’s IT security certificates without re-certification, facilitating seamless global trade in secure IT products. It is to be noted that India has been a member of the CCRA since 2013.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has signed an MoU with the National University of Singapore Institute of Systems Science (NUS-ISS) to strengthen AI governance and digital leadership capabilities among Indian enterprises.

The Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) has signed MoUs with the State Pharmacy Councils of Bihar, Maharashtra, and Mizoram to strengthen medicine safety, promote rational drug use, and enhance pharmacovigilance activities across India.

DY Patil International University (DYPIU) in Akurdi, Pune (Maharashtra) has signed an MoU with the French software corporation Dassault Systèmes to establish an advanced Digital Engineering and Digital Manufacturing Experience Centre on the campus of the university.

India and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized United Nations (UN) agency, have launched an 8-year Country Strategic Opportunities Programme (COSOP) for the 2026–2033 period.

The initiative, announced during the ‘IFAD–India Partnership for Rural Prosperity’ event at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, aims to strengthen the rural economy of India and promote inclusive, climate-resilient development.

Additionally, IFAD and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) have signed a strategic partnership agreement to strengthen rural finance systems and support innovation in the agriculture and allied sectors.

The Union Government has signed reform-linked MoUs with the Union Territory (UT) of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the State of West Bengal under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) 2.0.

The agreements mark a strategic transition in the national focus from initial infrastructure creation towards ensuring long-term sustainability, service delivery, and local accountability.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has renewed its strategic partnership with the Department of Sports and Youth Services (DSYS) of the Government of Odisha by signing a 5-year MoU.

The agreement builds upon the initial collaboration established in 2023. The partnership aims to expand elite youth football and solidify the position of Odisha as the premier football hub in India.

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) has signed a tripartite MoU with HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co Ltd (HD KSOE), National Shipbuilding & Heavy Industries Park Tamil Nadu Ltd (NSHIP-TN), and Sagarmala Finance Corporation Ltd (SMFCL) to develop the first Mega Greenfield Shipyard in India at Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu.

The project will have an annual shipbuilding capacity of 2.5 million Gross Tonnage (MGT). The agreement was exchanged during the state visit of the President of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Lee Jae Myung. It is part of the India-ROK Comprehensive Framework ‘VOYAGES’ (Shared Vision for Operation of Yard Assisted Growth with Efficiency and Scale).

India and the UAE have signed 6 agreements to enhance cooperation in the energy and defence sectors during the visit of PM Narendra Modi to Abu Dhabi. Entities based in the UAE have committed an investment of $5 billion in India.

The UAE has also announced a plan to double the crude oil export capacity by 2027. This involves the construction of an additional pipeline to the Port of Fujairah to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

IndiaAI Mission has signed an MoU with the Bengaluru-based Karya, a Nonprofit Organization (NPO), to enhance accessibility within the AI economy. The partnership focuses on data, technology, and capacity building, specifically to strengthen the infrastructure of AIKosh, the national AI data platform of India for research and development (R&D). Both organizations also aim to develop model evaluation frameworks and establish standards for dataset quality, validation, and interoperability.

The Ministry of Textiles has signed an MoU with the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) to conduct evidence-based policy research in the textile and apparel sector.

The collaboration aims to support the formulation of data-driven and analytically robust policies to strengthen the domestic textile industry.

The Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has signed an MoU with Prasar Bharati, the public service broadcaster of India, to enhance investor awareness across the country. Under the partnership, informative scroll messages will be broadcast on Doordarshan (DD) across its national and regional networks.

India has partnered with Japan to strengthen bilateral cooperation in health research and quantum technology. A Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) was signed between the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to collaborate on biomedical research and medical devices.

Additionally, a Letter of Intent (LoI) was signed between the Cabinet Office of Japan and the DST for cooperation in the field of Quantum Science and Technology.

Union Minister S Jaishankar visited Jamaica, marking the first ever bilateral visit by an Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) to the country. During the visit, he held delegation-level talks with Andrew Michael Holness, the Prime Minister of Jamaica. India and Jamaica signed 3 MoUs to enhance cooperation in health, broadcasting, and the solarisation of the Hugh Lawson Shearer Building.