ISRO contract for American firm
Bangalore: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has awarded a contract to American aerospace giant Raytheon company to install a system that will allow aircraft in India to use the constellation of global position satellite (GPS) systems of the US.

ISRO officials have said that the contract was signed early this month, under which Raytheon will supply ground-based systems of a technology demonstrator for GPS aided geo-augmented navigation (Gagan) to improve air traffic and other civil navigation.

India is investing nearly Rs110 crore ($24 million) in the venture to be jointly run by ISRO and Airports Authority of India (AAI). Raytheon will develop the hardware and software for the system and build eight reference stations in various cities, besides a master control centre and an uplink station.

ISRO is also building a navigational payload for the Gagan project, to be installed in a G-Sat satellite, to be launched in 2006. After an experimental phase for a year, the payload will be operational by 2008, ISRO officials have said.

Using special receivers, GPS signals allow one to get a positional fix anywhere in the planet, but a project like Gagan will enable the signals to be augmented to provide the accuracy needed for aircraft navigation and landing.
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Pakistan considering more imports from India
Islamabad: Ahead of Commerce Minister Kamal Nath's visit to Islamabad to attend a SAARC ministerial meet, beginning in Islamabad on Monday, Pakistan has said it was considering importing more items from India, including high-speed diesel and machinery.

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Kamal Nath, is leaving for Islamabad on Monday to participate in the 4th meeting of the SAARC Commerce Ministers to be held there on November 22-23.

Pakistan has also indicated that granting of the 'Most Favoured Nation' (MFN) status to India was linked with "sustainable political dialogue" to resolve all issues.

According to the Commerce Minister, Humayun Akhtar, Pakistan is considering adding 300 items in the imports list, including high-speed diesel, raw material and machinery. After the addition of 300 items in the import list, Pakistan's import from India would increase by 42 per cent to 1,000 items.

Akhtar's remarks have come just ahead of Nath's visit to Islamabad.

The meeting is expected to give a major and renewed thrust to trade and economic cooperation among the countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and to facilitate faster progress of negotiations on the SAARC Free Trade Area (SAFTA), which is due to come into effect from January 1, 2006 as per the agreed time frame.

According to an official communiqué, the meeting of the SAARC Commerce Ministers is preceded by the two-day 12th meet of the Committee on Economic Cooperation (CEC) held in Islamabad.

The agenda for the commerce ministers meet includes, inter alia, review of the progress on negotiations on matters relating to economic cooperation since the pervious meeting of the CEC in Kathmandu in 2002 covering the SAARC Preferential Trade Arrangement (SAPTA) including exchange of tariff concessions among members and progress on negotiations since the signing of the SAFTA agreement.

The other items on the agenda include progress in the field of investment, arbitration and avoidance of double taxation, the proposed SAARC Infrastructure Fund.
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