Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh get euro 100-m EC aid
New Delhi: The finance ministry has chosen Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh as partner states for the EC’s euro 100-million project to develop health and education infrastructure. These states will also receive funds for pursuing environmental projects. This is the first time that the EC will contribute for developmental projects in a partnership mode. The aid forms part of the five-year country strategy paper worked out by the EC. The strategy paper aims at charting out a plan for development and economic cooperation between India and EC during 2002-06. Initially, the EC had suggested the names of Jharkhand, Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh, Assam, J&K, Rajasthan and Sikkim. After talks with the finance ministry, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan were chosen for as the programme.

To work out the details of the aid programme, Laurence Argimon-Pistre, EC’s head of unit for India, Bhutan and Nepal at the Asia directorate general for external relations, will be visiting the country early June. She will hold discussions with the Centre and these states, and will also visit the Chhattisgarh capital.
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ICC-India wants Vajpayee to raise WTO issues at Evian Summit
New Delhi: The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)-India, representing companies such as ITC, HLL, Nestle India, Apollo Tyres, Bhel and MMTC, has urged Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to raise multilateral trade issues at the G-8 summit which are vital for the developing countries, and stressed on the need to have multilateral cooperation in the reconstruction of Iraq. In a letter to Vajpayee, chamber president Onkar S Kanwar said, “we from the International Chamber of Commerce--India, while reiterating our commitment to the successful conclusion of multilateral trade negotiations, have emphasised the concerns of the developing countries on implementation issues, greater market access for products from the developing countries and non-inclusion of investment issues at the multilateral trade negotiations.” Vajpayee has been invited for the Evian summit scheduled to be held from June 1-3.
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Jaitley to take up bilateral, WTO matters with Bush administration
New Delhi: Commerce and industry minister Arun Jaitley will take up bilateral and World Trade Organisation-related issues with the US authorities during his projected visit to America in the first week of June, before the WTO mini-ministerial in Cairo from June 21-22 and the fourth full ministerial in Cancun from September 10-14. The bilateral issues include denial of benefits of the US generalised system of preferences (GSP) scheme for about 850 chemicals and agricultural items. On WTO matters, discussions are likely to centre around agriculture, TRIPs and public health etc. During the four-day visit, Jaitley will be accompanied by commerce secretary Dipak Chatterjee and additional commerce secretary SN Menon.
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