Putin arrives on three-day visit
New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in New Delhi on a three-day visit to the country. Putin was received at Delhi airport by the Communication and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran. During his visit, India and Russia expect to sign several accords.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Putin are scheduled to hold wide-ranging talks on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual concern today. After this, the two sides will come out with a Joint Declaration, which will set out the overall vision of cooperation while spelling out specific areas.

The two countries will also sign an agreement under which India will join the Global Satellite Navigation System promoted by Russia. Three Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) will also be signed on banking arrangements in either country.

Eight Russian banks have also been identified which will have linkages with Indian banks. These include the SBI, Canara and ICICI banks.
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India-China trade at a record $10 billion for 2004
Mumbai: Total bilateral trade volume between India and China has reached a record level of $10 billion (around Rs45,000 crore) during the first nine months of 2004, up by 83.8 per cent against the same period last year, according to Yuan Nansheng, the Consul General of China.

During the period under review, India's export to China was about $5.8 billion and India's import from China at about $4 billion, according to Nansheng, who was speaking at the press meet of 2004 South China Commodities (Mumbai India) Exhibition. In 2003, the bilateral trade volume recorded was at $7.6 billion.

India's major exports to China include iron ore, plastic and linoleum, marine products, cotton yarn and fabrics, organic and inorganic chemicals, aluminium and pharma products. China's exports to India include organic chemicals, coal and briquette, medicine and pharma products, textile yarn, non-ferrous metals and projects goods.

"Sino-India trade is in favour of India by nearly $1.8 billion which is a very good news. To strengthen bilateral trade between two countries, a joint study group consisting of officials and economists of both countries has been formed to examine the potential complementarities in expanding trade and economic ties and explore the feasibility of setting up India-China Free trade Area," Mr Nansheng said.

South China Commodities (Mumbai) Exhibition 2004, with companies from entire South China, has been organised by the China Council for Promotion of International Trade and co-organised by Hunan Provincial Department of Commerce. Worldex GEC (India) has been appointed to manage this event.

The exhibition will be opened for business visitors on December 9, 10 and 11 and for general visitors on December 12, at Hotel Grand Hyatt (Santacruz, Mumbai).
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Indo-LAC meet augurs well for growth in trade
Kolkata: The recent two-day Indo-LAC (Latin American and Caribbean Countries) Buyer-Seller Meet (BSM) in Delhi organised by the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), has generated enquiries worth $15 million and confirmed spot orders of $1 million for Indian engineering goods companies. This augurs well for a major boost in two-way trade in engineering goods between India and the LAC region.

EEPC said that thirty-eight companies from as many as fourteen countries in the LAC region, straddling various segments of manufacturing activities, participated in the BSM. Among the participating countries are Columbia, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, El Salvador and Peru.

On the home front, 98 Indian engineering companies, mainly from Mumbai, Delhi and Coimbatore, participated in the meet. This is the third such BSM organised by EEPC in the last three years, beginning from 2001. The other meets for this fiscal are planned to be held in January and March 2005, in Delhi and Mumbai.

Some of the Indian companies, which participated, are Atlas Cycles, PEC Ltd, Bajaj International & Bajaj Temp, Tata International, HMT International, JK Files & Tools, Taparia Tools, Sundaram Clayton, Usha Martin, Polar Industries and Marlboro Engineering.

The items mainly included auto components, utensils, agri-machinery, including farm implements like tractors and spare parts for pumps, and textile machinery.
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Asian oil producers and buyers to meet in Jan '05
New Delhi: Oil ministers of major West Asian crude oil producers are among those scheduled to attend an international conference in New Delhi on January 6 to discuss the stability, security and sustainability of oil supplies with major consumer nations.

"All West Asian oil producers have confirmed their attendance at the Asian Oil Buyers and Sellers Conference," the Petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, said here Eight major oil producers - Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Oman, the UAE, Malaysia and Indonesia will come face to face with four significant buyers of crude in the Asian market - India, China, Korea and Japan.

Aiyar said the conference was an attempt by India to bring about a consensus among the key Asian oil producers and buyers for creating a price benchmark different from the prevailing benchmarks based out of London and New York. "We want to see if we can evolve an Asian oil products market that could service as a marker for the markets such as India," he said.
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Steel regulatory authority on the cards
Mumbai: The Government is ready with a regulatory authority to monitor and control steel prices and could set it up whenever the need arises, the Union Minister of Steel, Chemicals and Fertilisers, Ram Vilas Paswan, has said here.

The regulatory authority, National Steel Regulatory Commission, would facilitate the Government to keep a check on steel prices and control speculative tendencies, Paswan said. However, he urged the industry to be prudent on price increases. The regulatory authority would function independently on the lines of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the Minister said.

He also said today that the Steel Ministry has suggested to the Government to do away with incentives for steel exports to ensure that domestic requirement of steel is met. Some of the steel manufacturers have reduced exports in order to cater to domestic demand.

He also indicated that state-owned steel companies would not raise prices. His statement puts to rest speculation that Steel Authority of India was planning to raise steel prices.

On Wednesday, Tata Steel had announced an increase in steel prices to the extent of Rs500 a tonne. A company official said the main reason for hiking prices was the recent increase in freight costs to the extent of 10 per cent.

Internationally steel prices have also been on an upward move primarily because of sustained Chinese demand. Besides, raw material and fuel price increases have forced steel manufacturers worldwide to hike steel prices.
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