EU-India relations in upgrade mode
New Delhi: The European Union (EU) has proposed to firm up "a strategic partnership" with India at the forthcoming EU-India summit in the Hague, Netherlands on November 8.

The Ambassador of the Netherlands, Eric F.Ch. Niehe, representing the Presidency of the EU, has said, "There is a consensus among the EU members. EU is keen on upgrading the EU-India relationship to the level of strategic partners as in the case of the US, China, Russia, Canada and Japan."

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, is leading a high-level delegation, which includes the External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, and the Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, to meet with his European counterparts, led by the Netherlands Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenede, and the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, at this bilateral summit.

The EU-India summit is the fifth in an annual series that began in Lisbon (Portugal) in June 2000 and has since been carried forward in New Delhi (November 2001), Copenhagen (October 2002) and New Delhi (November 2003).

The head of the EC delegation in India, Francisco da Camara Gomes, said that the EU and Indian leaders would discuss a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues at the summit which would include their participation in the UN and other global bodies in a more coherent manner. They would also dwell at length on multilateral issues such as counter-terrorism, disarmament and climate change and regional developments.
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Fuel prices hiked
New Delhi: The UPA Government has decided to increase the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG from midnight tonight. While the price of LPG is to be increased by Rs20 per cylinder with immediate effect and subsequently by Rs5 each month, the new prices of petrol and diesel are to be worked out by the oil marketing companies based on a formula worked out by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). As had been expected, the poor man's fuel, the price of kerosene has been left untouched.

The Petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, said that the prices of petrol would be linked to its import parity prices while the increase in diesel prices would be pegged at half of its import parity. This means that the prices of petrol and diesel would be raised in line with the increase in global crude prices. Accordingly, prices of petrol are set to go up by about Rs2.20 per litre while diesel prices are to be dearer by about Rs2.10 per litre from midnight tonight.

Petrol and diesel prices had not been hiked for over three months, while LPG prices were last raised on June 15. Till now, petrol was being sold at Rs2.20 per litre below the imported cost while diesel was priced at Rs4.15 per litre below cost.
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