International Relations Mixed Practice — MCQs with Answers (Set 22)

Russia became India’s top oil supplier by January 2023, reaching about 40% of India’s oil imports in 2023.

The Ministers specifically discussed Punatsangchhu-I, Punatsangchhu-II, Sankosh, and Chukha. These represent both completed projects and ones still under development.

India funded projects like Chukha and Tala with a 60% grant and a 40% loan. This financing model has been central to the two countries’ hydropower partnership.

Punatsangchhu-II, a 1,020 MW project, was completed on 28 August 2025. Its final unit’s synchronisation lifted Bhutan’s total capacity by about 40%.

The Chukha Hydroelectric Project, commissioned in 1987, was Bhutan’s first mega power project. India funded it mostly through grants, following a 1974 bilateral agreement.

Manohar Lal met Lyonpo Gem Tshering, Bhutan’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, in New Delhi. They discussed hydropower, cross-border electricity trade, and renewable energy.

India shared its experience with the Tariff-Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB) framework, a public-private partnership model used to develop transmission systems.

Sri Lanka scrapped the coal plant in 2016, shifting toward renewable energy. NTPC returned in 2022, this time partnering with Ceylon Electricity Board on a solar power project at the same site.

The interconnection targets a final capacity of 1,000 MW, reached in two phases. Phase 1 would first enable 500 MW of transmission.

The HVDC link runs from Madurai to Mannar, in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. About 120 km of the roughly 250 km route runs undersea, through the Palk Strait.

The two sides met in New Delhi to review bilateral cooperation in the power sector. The Indian side was led by Union Power Minister Manohar Lal.

Around 15,000 Indians and people of Indian origin live in Panama, the largest Indian community in Central America, many linked to the Colon Free Zone’s trade activity.

The four priority areas were maritime security, technical collaboration between India’s Directorate General of Shipping and the Panama Maritime Authority, maritime education and skilling, and digital maritime transformation. Joint naval exercises were not among them.

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal held the talks with Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez, in New Delhi.

Bilateral trade between India and Panama stands at about $597.71 million, covering minerals, apparel, textiles, and electrical equipment.

India opened its first resident embassy in Central America at Panama in 1973, more than a decade after establishing formal diplomatic relations in 1962.

The bust was unveiled at the Museum of the City of Skopje, which Murmu called “a lasting symbol of friendship.”

MoS Jitin Prasada answered the Lok Sabha question on 21 July 2026, on expanding FTAs and export promotion measures.

President Murmu was pointing to the ancient expeditions of warriors and traders from Macedon, beginning with Alexander the Great’s invasion of India.

India announced it would double its ITEC training slots for North Macedonia, including new courses in Artificial Intelligence.

Bilateral trade rose from just $37.12 million in 2019-20 to about $133 million in 2025, more than a threefold increase.

The July 2026 State Visit covered Moldova, North Macedonia, and Romania, from 19-25 July 2026.

India-Moldova bilateral trade stood at just $16.75 million in 2023-24, a small figure by India’s standards.

The July 2026 State Visit covered Moldova, North Macedonia, and Romania, from 19-25 July 2026.

President Murmu’s July 2026 visit was the first-ever visit by an Indian President to Moldova.