According to Indian Foreign Ministry, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not participate in the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) which will be held in November in Pakistan. The possibility of Modi's participation in the summit in Pakistan has long been an intrigue against the backdrop of another crisis between the two countries. Indiaт authorities for a long time did not give an answer to the question whether Modi will travel to Pakistan, explaining that there is still quite a lot of time before the summit and the decision will be announced later. As a result, the Foreign Ministry announced that Modi refused to go to the SAARC summit at 27 of September, nine days after the rebel attack on a military unit in Indian Kashmir.

OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) member-states agreed on Wednesday, 28^th September to limit their oil production to 32,5-33 mln barrels per day (b/d). This decision entails a cut of 700,000 b/d from current levels and the abandonment of a previous strategy of unlimited production. Markets reacted to the cut, a first in 8 years, with a 5% increase in oil prices. The ultimate decision on per-country production quotas will be made at the next meeting in November. Non-OPEC countries will be also invited then to join these cuts.

On Wednesday in the Netherlands, the Joint Investigation Team released preliminary results of the criminal examination relating to the MH17 flight. The investigation has been underway for more than 2 years. Russian separatists have long been suspected of downing the flight in Eastern Ukraine, which killed everyone on board. Dutch officials claim they have a wealth of information that links Russian Federation to the crash. Mobile phone towers, intercepted phone calls, and eyewitnesses all lead officials to believe that Russia was definitely involved in the crash.

Barack Obama nominated career diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis as the nation's first ambassador to Cuba in 55 years after the US President and the Cuban President Raúl Castro announced a thaw in relations in December 2014. Obama received credentials last year from José Ramón Cabañas Rodríguez, the first Cuban ambassador to the US since 1961. Since then US administration has moved to relax restrictions on commerce, trade, and travel to Cuba and direct commercial flights from the US to Cuba. For now US embargo against Cuba remains in place since only the Congress can lift it and the strong Republican leadership is not expected to do so anytime soon.

During the annual meeting of business leaders in Davos, researchers from World Economic Forum (WEF) have published Global Competitiveness Report 2016/2017. For the eight time they adjudged the first place for Switzerland. It narrowly ahead of Singapore which is on the second position for the sixth year in a row. They are followed by the USA, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong and Finland. The biggest change in ranking experienced India, which ranked 39th position, climbing up 16 places. The Global Competitiveness Report’s ranking is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI). It was introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2005. GCI scores are based on 12 categories – the pillars of competitiveness.

Last Monday night the most promising and expected debates of the last decade finally gone. The key topics of this discussion were economic development, job creation, racial problems, police violence, cyber security, terrorism, Islamic state. Donald Trump has insisted on its outstanding business capabilities that enable him to solve problems in the country, and his good relations with the people. Hillary Clinton has briefly listed the details of her campaign and talked a lot about Donald Trump.