CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ BHUBANESWAR l tuesday l january 13, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late CITY EDITION Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Germany’s Friedrich Merz on Monday | PTI Trade talks back, India on Pax Silica: Gor Modi, Merz agree to What is Pax Silica and why is India joining now? J aya nt h J a c o b @ New Delhi Signalling an early effort to stabilise India-US ties that have come under strain amid tariff disputes and market jitters, Washington’s new ambassador to New Delhi, Sergio Gor, on Monday said the two sides will take up the outstanding trade issues during a call on Tuesday . In a parallel strategic move, Gor said India will be invited next month to join US-led Pax Silica initiative to secure silicon and critical tech supply chain. Speaking on his first day in office, Gor sought to portray Sergio Gor during a press meet at the US Embassy in New Delhi on Monday | pti Pax Silica is a US-led economic security partnership to protect critical technology supply chains, including AI, semiconductors, minerals, etc. Members include UK, Israel, Japan, and Australia. After a month on the sidelines, India is now set to join, a move widely seen as a diplomatic warm-up current frictions as manageable within a mature partnership. “Real friends can disagree, but always resolve their differences in the end,” he said. Stressing that talks remain active, Gor said: “The next call on trade will occur tomorrow.” He did not elaborate on the level at which the discussions would take place but noted: “India is the world’s largest nation, so it’s not an easy task to get this across the finish line, but we are determined to get there.” Gor also linked trade to a broader recalibration of US diplomacy. Citing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he said 2026 would be “a year of reciprocity defined by “fair trade, mu,” tual respect, and shared security.” He stressed that while commerce is a key pillar of the relationship, cooperation would continue across security coun, ter-terrorism, energy technolo, gy education and health. , Majhi lays foundation stone for new Assembly, Lok Seva Bhawan complex E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar E x p r e s s Re a d Elevated corridor plan for capital city Bhubaneswar: In a big push to road and traffic infrastructure expansion in the state capital, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday laid the foundation stone for a `952 crore elevated corridor project from Jayadev Vihar to Nandankanan | P5 Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday laid the foundation stone of the new state Assembly building integrated with a state-of-the-art Lok Seva Bhawan complex in the capital city, which would be constructed at a cost of `3,623 crore. Announcing the start of work on ambitious projects at a statelevel function here, Majhi said the new Assembly building will be constructed to meet the state’s future legislative requirements. It will have a capacity to seat 300 members, he said. “At present, the strength of the Odisha Legislative Assembly is 147. After the next delimitation exercise, the number is Proposed design of Assembly complex likely to increase to around 200. Therefore, we are constructing the new Assembly building keeping in mind the needs of the next 50 to 100 years,” Majhi told mediapersons. He added that the expanded capacity is aimed at ensuring that the state’s governance infrastructure remains futureready and capable of accommodating any rise in the number of elected representatives foll ow i n g p o p u l a t i o n - b a s e d delimitation. Works minister Prithiviraj Harichandan said that an integrated secretariat (Lok Seva Bhawan) complex will streamline administrative functions under a common campus and make governance more effective. The secretariat, presently , remains scattered and unplanned. He said the development of the complex will be taken up in three phases. Phase-I will witness new secretariat-cum-mant r a l aya ( 3 b a s e m e n t s + ground+11 floors), new office building near Powerhouse Square (3B+G+11), Biparjaya Parichalana Bhawan (3B+G+11), service building (B+G+1) and allied infrastructure at an estimated cost of `3,623 crore.  Continued on P7 upgrade bilateral strategic relations nouncements across defence, trade, critical minerals and semiconductors. Both sides IN a big push amid rising glo- noted that bilateral trade in bal protectionism, German goods and services crossed Chancellor Friedrich Merz $50 billion in 2024, amounting on Monday was optimistic of to over 25% of India’s trade sealing a landmark with EU. EU-India free trade They signed joint agreement by Janudeclarations of inary-end, with top tent on boosting biEU leaders likely lateral defence inOur growing trade visiting New Delhi dustrial ties. and investment to sign it, following Modi and Merz ties have infused wide-ranging talks etched a bilateral new energy into with Prime Minisdialogue mechaIndia and Germany’s ter Narendra Modi nism for the Indorelationship in Ahmedabad. Pacific, besides the Welcoming Merz establishment of Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, PM Track 1.5 Foreign Modi framed the Policy and Security visit as historic, coming at a Dialogue. Germany also antime when India and Germa- nounced visa free transit for ny have completed 25 years Indians. of strategic partnership and Further, they signed an are commemorating 75 years offtake agreement for green of diplomatic relations. ammonia between AM Green The talks, accompanied by (India) and Uniper Global a delegation of 23 German (Germany). Germany comCEOs, resulted in the signing mitted 1.24 billion euros for of 19 MoUs and several an- renewable energy projects. D i l i p S i n g h K s h at r i ya @ Ahmedabad focus onrule notification players in sports ministry’s Outstanding sportspersons with Olympic credentials to get Indian Olympic Association spot as new rules kick in | P13 PSLV’s 3rd-stage fails for second time in a row PSLV-C62 lifts off from SDSC on Monday | PTI B o s k y K h a nn a @ Bengaluru The most-awaited first commercial satellite launch of 2026 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), the PSLVC62 carrying EOS-N1 and 15 other satellites, failed to reach its designated orbit on Monday. The rocket lifted off from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, at 10.18 am. The first two stages went as planned, Isro chair man V Narayanan said. Then, during the third-stage separation, there was a drop in chamber pressure during engine firing, causing the rocket to deviate from its designated path. At the space centre, tension was palpable when the computer screens tracking the rocket started showing errors. Errors appeared from the 378th second of the launch, and after 425 seconds, the failure was noted. “During the end of the third stage, we saw disturbances in the vehicle. Deviations from its designated flight path were observed. We are collecting and analysing data,” the Isro chief said. This is the second consecutive failure of the PSLV’s thirdstage. In May last year, the third cryogenic section of the rocket failed.