Short News:

Five Eyes Alliance:

• • Characteristics: It is a unique multilateral arrangement where partner countries share a wide range of intelligence, united by common principles of rule of law, robust human rights, and a shared language.
  • Role: This alliance plays a crucial role in safeguarding their shared national interests by facilitating information exchange.
  • Membership: It constitutes a coalition consisting of five intelligence agencies:
• Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States

About Surety Bond:

• It is a promise to be liable for the debt, default, or failure and protects parties involved in a contract from potential financial losses due to a breach of contract.
• Parties: It is a three-party contract by which one party (the surety) guarantees the performance or obligations of a second party (the principal) to a third party (the obligee).
• Types: There are two broad categories of surety bonds:
  • Contract surety bonds
  • Commercial (or miscellaneous) surety bonds.
• Challenges: While some of the leading general insurers like SBI General Insurance have announced their plans to issue Surety Bonds in recent months, nobody has been able to do so due to lack of supporting (technical and financial) elements.  

About Global Capacity Building Initiative:

• Aim: To share India’s development experiences, best practices and expertise with partner countries in the Global South through capacity building and training programs.
• Partnership: UN India team and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will partner to leverage India’s Technical and Economic Cooperation platform for knowledge sharing.
• Significance:
  • Complementary: To the India-UN partnership in the form of “India-UN Development Partnership Fund” which has development projects in 61 countries in the last 6 years.
  • Operationalise: Development-relevant deliverables of India’s G20 Presidency, including the G20 Action Plan for Accelerating Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), technological transformation and building Digital Public Infrastructure, among others.
  • Contribution: Global efforts towards accelerating momentum for achieving the SDGs, by strengthening South-South Cooperation.