INDO-SWEDISH TIES: Sweden keen on expanding trade ties!

For LEED Consultancy / IGBC Certifications, Green Building Design, Green Homes, Green Factory Buildings, Green SEZs, Green Townships & Energy Audits - www.greentekindika.com

Special Correspondent, The Hindu / CHENNAI, August 10, 2011.

Lars-Olof Lindgren, Ambassador of Sweden to India, flanked by Arun Vasu, Consul-General of the Consulate of Sweden, Chennai (left), and T.T. Ashok, chairman, CII Southern Region, and Managing Director, Taylor Rubber Pvt.Ltd., at a press conference in Chennai on Tuesday. Photo: M. Vedhan - The Hindu.

Sweden is keen on expanding its business and investment legacy in India as it explores symbiotic trade ties across a range of sectors, Ambassador of Sweden to India Lars-Olof Lindgren said on Tuesday.

Addressing reporters after a luncheon meet hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) -Southern Region, Mr. Lindgren said the one thing that he emphasises at meetings with the Indian business class, politicians, and bureaucrats, is that although Sweden and India are different in many aspects, there is great potential for both countries to do more together for mutual benefit.

The disconnect between the potential and the actual is reflected in the fact that though bilateral trade ties go back by over a century, Swedish exports to India constitute barely 1 per cent of its international trade. This fact was put up in starker relief when Sweden managed to tide over the global financial crisis, only to be caught up in a secondary crisis as low demand across Europe choked its export mainstay.

“We realise that our export composition is far from ideal,” Mr. Lindgren said.

Since the recession, Sweden has been able to bounce back, and last year the economy registered a 5.5 per cent growth average, which, “in the European context, is quite remarkable.”

Sweden is keen to build on its investment legacy in India, especially in the South. At present, India is Sweden's third largest trading partner after China and Japan in Asia, while Sweden is the 12th largest FDI investor in India.

“If we can find ways of stimulating Swedish companies to look at south India as a trade and investment destination, I'm all for it,” he said.

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2340760.ece

INDO-NIPPON TIES: India, Japan open markets!

For LEED Consultancy, Green Building Design, Green Homes, Green Factory Buildings, Green SEZs, Green Townships,

www.greentekindika.com

Special Correspondent, The Hindu /  NEW DELHI, August 1, 2011.

Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar and Japanese Ambassador Akitaka Saiki exchange documents after signing an agreement during the first meeting of Joint Committee of India- Japan CEPA , in New Delhi on Monday. Photo Rajeev Bhatt, The Hindu.

Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement comes into force from Monday

India and Japan on Monday asserted that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which came in to force from Monday, would give a big boost to bilateral trade, enabling it to touch the $25-billion mark by 2014.

Immediately after the first meeting of the Joint Committee of India-Japan CEPA here, Japanese Ambassador Akitaka Saiki said business communities of the two countries should make the best use of this new economic arrangement. “This arrangement will definitely facilitate and enhance both ways flow of trade and investment,'' Mr. Saiki said.

Good for commerce

“CEPA comes into force with effect from Monday. It will be good for commerce, trade and investment for India and Japan. It is a part of the building block for much large agenda for building a comprehensive economic partnership for East Asia, which covers ASEAN, China, Korea, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand,'' Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar told reporters here.

Officials said CEPA would bring immediate gains to exporters of textiles, seafood and spices to Japan, as duties on these products would be eliminated. It would ultimately result in the removal of duties on almost 90 per cent of the products traded between the countries.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/article2313667.ece

INDO-PAK TIES: India’s economic rise presents huge opportunity for Pak: U.S.!

www.greentekindika.com

Download your free copy of “My First Beer” Now with the Smashwords Summer/Winter promotion, ending July 31, 2011

@ http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52213

PTI / The Hindu / WASHINGTON, July 16, 2011.

India’s rise offers a huge opportunity for Pakistan which is facing major economic challenges, a top U.S. official has said, advocating that Islamabad should consider improving its trade ties with its neighbour.

“India’s economic rise presents a huge opportunity for Pakistan, a bilateral breakthrough could provide a catalyst for wider regional economic integration in South and Central Asia,” Robert Hormats, Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, said.

Mr. Hormats said the pace of economic integration in the Asia Pacific region as a whole over the last two decades has been unprecedented and should serve as an example for other regions.

“It should, and I believe it can, be replicated in South Asia as well. Hundreds of millions of people would benefit from such increased collaboration,” he said.

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2233003.ece

INDO-US TIES: Pace of financial reform a point of contention?

LEED Consultancy, Green Building Design, Green Homes, Green Factory Buildings, Green SEZs, Green Townships.

www.greentekindika.com

Have you read, “Mayhem of the Miserables!” available @ http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52075

NARAYAN LAKSHMAN / THE HINDU / WASHINGTON, June 28, 2011.

The question of whether economic reforms in India have been progressing quickly enough is likely to be a major debating point during the second India-United States Financial and Economic Partnership talks, if comments by Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner indicated the general mood here.

Speaking at a panel discussion organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Brookings Institution Mr. Geithner hinted that the U.S. hoped for a more rapid pace of reforms. He said, “From our perspective the key thing is the outlook for reform... India is now at the point where future growth will depend on the success of the next wave of reforms, not just in the financial sector, but importantly in the financial sector.”

Arguing that the Indian economy had “outgrown its financial system,” Mr. Geithner also said he would be speaking to Mr. Pranab “about things that are important to us as the Indian authorities look for ways to improve the quality of the investment environment.”

Yet Mr. Pranab appeared to disagree with such an assessment of the investment climate and pace of reform. He said that in India “the rate of savings and investment is reasonably high” and “the various structural reforms that we had undertaken and which will come in the course of time... will ensure that there is an investment-friendly environment, which can attract investment from different parts of the world.”

The Minister added that while questions had been raised over the drop in foreign institutional investment flows in the Indian economy earlier this year, “Almost every year, in the first few months of the calendar year, FII flows slow down.” However this gets offset by a rise in flows in later parts of the year, he said.

Deeper social-structural concerns also appeared to be topmost on the minds of Indian officials speaking at the event, including the thorny question of land acquisition for infrastructure and other projects.

While both the Minister and the Secretary admitted that there was $1 trillion worth of untapped potential for investments to meet India’s infrastructural demand, R. Gopalan, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs of India, said, “There are issues such as land acquisition, environmental clearances, rehabilitation of displaced persons which cause concern on account of their potential to introduce time and cost overruns.”

However, Mr. Gopalan assured, there is a “sustained and continuous policy churn which is happening in these areas, with a view to resolving these impediments.”

We should undertake financial reforms to meet our National Objectives and not to suit the trade expectations of US!

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2142484.ece

INDO-PAK RELATIONS: The other Kashmir!

Have you read, “Mayhem of the Miserables!” available @ http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52075

SHUJAAT BUKHARI / The Hindu          OPINION » OP-ED June 14, 2011.

STUNNING FACE: After the devastating earthquake in 2005, the face of Muzaffarabad has been transformed. Much of 

this has to do with aid pouring in from West Asia. Photo: Shujaat Bukhari / The Hindu.

Impressions after a second visit to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. What is striking, though, is the strong support for India-Pakistan Confidence Building Measures.

For a journalist working in Jammu and Kashmir, the Kashmir on the other side of the Line of Control (LoC) is always on top of one's mind. I have been fortunate to visit the area that Indians know as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), and Pakistanis know as “Azad Jammu and Kashmir,” (AJK) twice. The first time was in 2004. A conference organised by “Azad Jammu and Kashmir” University last month gave me the opportunity for a second visit.

As a resident of Baramulla, I should have been able to make it to Muzaffarabad, the capital on the other side, within five hours by road, had the governments of India and Pakistan allowed our three-member delegation to travel on the much-vaunted cross LoC bus.

However, the walls between the two sides built over 60 years forced me to travel via Delhi-Lahore-Islamabad — the journey thus took me almost three days.

Nevertheless, this longer route was interesting in itself. The 180-km Islamabad-Muzaffarabad road reminded me of the winding Srinagar-Jammu highway, while the mountainscape and the gushing waters of the Jhelum resembled Patnitop and the waters of the Chenab.

Entry point...............................

Some voices..............................

Muzaffarabad and Srinagar........

CBMs.......................................

01) Kashmir has been the sole obsessive issue for some on both sides, ignoring the bilateral trade, cultural exchange and common economic development;

02) We invite the World's largest Arms dealer to arbitrate, whose main business is 'Arms Sale' as 'Arbitration' is not a profitable business.

03) Fools are those Neighbours who invite outsiders to settle the disputes!

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2101764.ece#.TfbRyxQn7To;twitter