Aziz visit: India not looking at territorial solutions to Kashmir
New Delhi: India has stressed that it was not looking at "territorial solutions" to Jammu and Kashmir even as the Pakistan Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, said that the "essence" of the President, Pervez Musharraf's "proposals" was discussed as a "piece of information" with the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

Aziz clarified that no proposals on Kashmir were presented to India and that the options listed for discussion by Gen. Musharraf were merely the basis for internal debate within Pakistan.

The Pakistani leader, who called on the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, also met the Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath, and the Petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar. He left for Pakistan after addressing a joint meeting of business associations.

The Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran, said that the modalities of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service would be discussed in official-level talks on December 7-8. Differences persist on the travel documents to be used by the passengers of the bus service.

Saran also announced that the two countries had agreed to establish banking relations. Saran also said that the two sides discussed a number of proposals on how to push the SAARC process forward. Dr. Singh suggested that SAARC set up a "high economic council" comprising the Finance or Commerce Ministers.

To questions, Saran said that during his meeting with Aziz, Dr. Singh "very clearly recalled" the assurance given by Pakistan in the January 6 joint statement that its territory would not be used by terrorist elements against India.

On the gas pipeline, Aziz said Pakistan had asked India to join this trans-national project. "However, if they [the Indian side] have other sources of energy, Pakistan is going ahead with this pipeline for its own use."
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Cabinet decisions: Monthly hike in LPG prices rolled back
New Delhi: Under pressure from the Left parties, the Government on Wednesday rolled back its decision to increase the price of domestic cooking gas by Rs5 per cylinder each month.

The Government had, on November 4, taken a decision to raise the price of LPG by Rs20 per cylinder with immediate effect which was to be followed by a hike of Rs5 per cylinder in each subsequent month to cover the steep hike in input costs and bring down the subsidy on cooking gas to nil.

The decision to roll back the monthly increases, according to sources, follows the UPA Coordination Committee meeting earlier in the morning where the Left parties demanded a roll back in LPG prices.

The Petroleum Ministry's proposal to raise the price of natural gas for fertiliser and power units has been referred to a high-powered Group of Ministers (GoM).

The Ministry had proposed to raise the price of natural gas by 12 per cent for fertiliser plants and by 26 per cent for power stations in the interim period till complete deregulation of the natural gas sector.

In another decision, the Cabinet has referred the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Bill also to a Group of Ministers (GoM). The proposed Bill seeks to set up a Petroleum Regulatory Board for petroleum and petroleum products, including natural gas, but not crude oil.

The Bill seeks to empower the Central Government to broadly lay down the policy framework and intervene in matters adversely affecting public interest in certain exigencies as well as maintaining a data bank of information on activities relating to petro-products to enable planning and development thereof.

The CCEA has also approved the proposal of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) to make an additional investment of $1.07 billion for the phase-I development of the Sakhalin-I offshore field. This will be in addition to $1.7 billion already approved.

The Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, said that OVL, the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), would raise the additional money from its own resources.
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India seeks MFN status from Pak
New Delhi: India has sought a Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status from Pakistan apart from using the neighbouring country's territory as a transit for sourcing gas from Central Asia as part of a wider economic and trade co-operation between the two nations.

``The proposed Iran-India gas pipeline passing through Pakistan cannot be looked at in isolation. MFN status and transit rights are part of the wider trade and economic relations. We cannot consider all these issues separately,'' the Union Petroleum Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, told reporters after a 45-minute meeting with the visiting Pakistan Prime Minister, Mr Shaukat Aziz.

According to the Pakistan Foreign Secretary, Mr Riyaz Khokkar, the Iran-India gas pipeline passing through Pakistan was ``a major confidence building measure (CBM) not just for the two countries but for the whole region, including Iran.''

During his meeting, Aiyar reminded the Pakistani Prime Minister that he had written to his Pakistani counterpart on exporting diesel from India and using Pakistan as a transit for importing gas from Iran, a response to which was awaited.

On the $4.16-billion Iran-India pipeline, New Delhi also wants Islamabad to guarantee security of physical infrastructure - 760-km of the 2,775-km pipeline will pass through Pakistan - and guarantee for uninterrupted supplies.

Iran has been pursuing the pipeline proposal, which will save India millions of dollars in energy cost, with New Delhi and Islamabad since 1996, but tensions between the two countries has blocked any progress.

Pakistan is expected to get $600 million -$800 million annually in transit fee alone. Iran plans to sell 85 million standard cubic meters per day of natural gas from the pipeline, 57 mmscmd of which are destined for India and the remaining 28 mmscmd for consumption in Pakistan.
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SAIL and RINL to form joint ventures abroad
Visakhapatnam: Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) as well as Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) are currently engaged in an attempt to form joint ventures with companies abroad as a permanent measure to overcome the coking coal scarcity.

According to the Union Secretary for Steel, Dr. Manoranjan, Australian and other companies are invoking an emergency clause and cutting down on supplies, though Indian companies have long-term contracts with them. Consequently PSU steel companies are trying for joint ventures with one team currently in Canada and another visiting Australia shortly.

On the issue of the merger of IISCO and SAIL, the Secretary said that it was very much on the cards. There were a few issues to be sorted out. On the expansion plans of RINL here, he said the board had approved the plans and sent them to the Ministry.
The country's steel production this year may be in the range of 36-40 million tonnes and imports 1.5 million tonnes.
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Last date for filing trade returns extended to Dec 31
New Delhi: Exporters and importers can now file their annual import/export trade returns up to December 31, with the Government extending the last date for filing of such returns from October 31 to December 31.

An official release also said that star exporters seeking renewal of up-gradation of their existing status would not be required to file detailed bank realisation statements. As part of procedural simplification measures to step up exports, the Commerce Ministry has also dispensed with the system of nexus examination by an expert committee for issuance of EPCG licences.
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