Japan will provide 371 billion Yen or Rs 21,590 crores as official development assistance(ODA) to India for various infrastructure projects, including the dedicated freight corridor. 1. El Salvador first nation to impose ban on metal mining A finance ministry statement issued in New Delhi said the El Salvador has made total commitment of Japan International Cooperation history after becoming the Agency ODA during two financial years 2015-16 and first country in the world to 2016-17 is 761.40 billion yen, which is 43.50 per cent of ban metal mining. the total target for five years. • Lawmakers in the Points to Remember water-parched • Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. country passed the ban in a unanimous vote, declaring • Tokyo is the Capital of Japan while Yen is the El Salvador a mining-free territory. Currency. • The decision followed a long and bitter struggle to • Shinzo Abe is the present Prime Minister of Japan. protect the Central American country’s diminishing water sources from polluting mining projects. Moreno wins Ecuador presidential race Points to Remember Ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno was declared the winner • El Salvador is in a state of water crisis, hence it has of Ecuador’s Presidential runoff. banned metal mining because it causes water But his rival, conservative banker Guillermo Lasso, has pollution. yet to concede defeat and demanded a recount after three • El Salvador is the smallest and the most densely exit polls showed him winning. populated country in Central America. The National Electoral Council said Mr. Moreno beat Mr. • San Salvador is the capital of El Salvador while Dollar Lasso 51 per cent to 49 per cent. is its currency. Points to Remember • Salvador Sanchez Ceren is the President of El • Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in Salvador. northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Myanmar joins ADB’s South Asia economic body Pacific Ocean to the west. Myanmar has formally become a full member of South Asia • Dollar is the currency of Ecuador. Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) programme of Asian Development Bank (ADB) being the seventh country to World Autism Awareness Day 2017: 2 April join the group. The ninth annual World Autism Awareness Day was observed The SASEC programme of ADB was formed in 2001 in on April 2, 2017. response to the request of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Every year, autism organizations around the world Nepal to assist in facilitating economic cooperation among celebrate the day with unique fundraising and awareness- them. raising events. Sri Lanka and Maldives joined the sub-regional group in Theme for the year 2017 is "Toward Autonomy and Self- 2014. Determination". Points to Remember • SASEC programme was formed in 2001 by ADB. It Bangladesh is organising World parliamentarians has seven members now. conference • Asian Development Bank was founded in 1966. Its A mega conference of world headquarters is in Manila, Philippines. parliamentarians is being held in • Takehiko Nakao is the President of Asian Dhaka to focus on ways and means Development Bank. to end political and economic inequality for upholding democracy Japan commits 371 billion Yen assistance for and human rights. infrastructure projects in India Some 687 members of 131 national parliaments of as many countries are expected to join the five-day 1 WiFiStudy.com conference organised jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary India had imposed safeguard duty in September 2015 to Union (IPU) and Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad. protect domestic steel manufacturers. Some 1,348 delegates will participate in the conference. Japan, which is the second largest steel producer, had argued that duties imposed by India are against the WTO Malaysia to set up technology park in Andhra Pradesh norms. A Malaysian company has agreed to help set up a technology Points to Remember park in Andhra Pradesh that’s expected to attract private China is the largest steel producer in the world. Japan sector investment of $100 million in the first phase. ranks second while India is on third place. The Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board and The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an MIGHT Technology have signed a memorandum of intergovernmental organization which regulates understanding to collaborate on building the park, which international trade. will cover 250 acres and focus on new technologies. The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under The MoU was exchanged in New Delhi in the presence of the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Malaysia’s Prime April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs Minister Najib Razak. and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. WTO is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. International Mine Awareness Day: 4 April Roberto Azevedo is the Director General of WTO, which International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine has 164 members. Action is observed on 4 April every year. On 8 December 2005, the General Assembly declared World Health Day - 7 April 2017 that 4 April of each year shall be observed as the The World Health Day is a global health awareness day International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in celebrated every year on 7 April, under the sponsorship of the Mine Action. World Health Organization (WHO). Theme for the year 2017 is Needs driven. People In 1948, the WHO held the First World Health Assembly. Centred. The Assembly decided to celebrate 7 April of each year, with effect from 1950, as the World Health Day. Iceland to make equal payment law for men and women The Theme for the year 2017 is ‘Depression: Let’s talk.’ Iceland's parliament has presented a bill that would require public and private businesses to prove they offer equal pay to Japan Officially Recognises Bitcoin as Currency Starting employees, in what would be the first such requirement in the April 2017 world. Bitcoin has finally Iceland ranks first on the World Economic Forum's 2015 gained the recognition of Global Gender Gap Index, followed by fellow Nordic a mainstream currency nations Norway, Finland and Sweden. along the lines of other The new law aims to close a seven percent wage gap fiat currencies. between men and women in the island nation. The privilege Points to Remember follows the implementation of a new law in Japan which Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic categorizes Bitcoin as a legal payment option within the Ocean. country. Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland while Krona is the The much-awaited law went into effect on April 1, 2017. Currency. Points to Remember Guoni Johannesson is the President of Iceland while Bitcoin is both a cryptocurrency and an electronic Bjarni Benediktsson is the Prime Minister. payment system invented by an unidentified programmer, or group of programmers, under the name of Satoshi WTO sets up panel to decide on import duty on steel Nakamoto. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has decided to set up Bitcoin was introduced on 31 October 2008 to a a panel to resolve dispute between India and Japan on cryptography mailing list, and released as open-source safeguard duty imposed by India on certain categories of software in 2009. steel. 2 WiFiStudy.com India jumps 12 spots in WEF’s global travel & tourism visiting Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull even as the ranking much-awaited free trade agreement remained elusive. India has jumped 12 places to 40th rank globally in travel and The two countries signed six agreements, including one tourism competitiveness list by World Economic Forum for expanding counterterrorism cooperation, but could not (WEF). conclude negotiations for Comprehensive Economic India is one of the countries that improved the most as it Cooperation Agreement (CECA) which they have been gained 12 places in Asia, but lagged behind its other Asian negotiating. peers like Japan and China which were ranked way ahead Points to Remember at 4th and 13th place, respectively. Australia is a country comprising the mainland of the Spain is ranked at the top in the list. Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous India has seen continued growth in international arrivals smaller islands. It is the world's sixth-largest country by over the past 15 years, reaching the 8 million mark in 2015, total area. WEF said. Malcolm Turnbull is the Prime Minister of Australia. Points to Remember Its capital is Canberra while Dollar is the currency. The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Swiss nonprofit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva. 12th Indo-Mongolian Joint Military Exercise Nomadic Klaus Schwab is the executive chairman of the World Elephant held in Vairengte Economic Forum. It was established in 1971. 12th “iteration of Indo-Mongolian Joint Military Exercise The motto of WEF is ‘Committed to improving the state Nomadic Elephant is presently under way at Vairengte from 05 of the world’. April 2017 till 18 April 2017.” Vairengte in Mizoram houses the elite Counter-Insurgency India ranks 9th in bribery and corrupt practices in and Jungle Warfare School of the Indian Army. businesses India ranks ninth among 41 G-7 foreign ministers meeting held in Lucca, Italy countries in bribery and The G7 Ministers of Foreign Affairs held their annual meet on corrupt practices in 10-11 April in Lucca. businesses, as per the EY A traditional meeting held once a year between the seven Europe, Middle East, India and most industrialised countries of the world with the Africa (EMEIA) Fraud Survey 2017. participation of the European Union, the G7 Foreign The ranking has improved marginally from the survey Ministers Meeting usually deals with the most urging findings in 2015 when India was at the sixth position.