US Congress delegation backs India's bid Security Council seat
New Delhi: A group of US Congressmen on Thursday voiced strong support for New Delhi's claim for a permanent seat in the expanded UN Security Council.

"We support India's place in the UN Security Council," Senator Sam Brownback told reporters here in response to a question.

James Leach, who heads the delegation, backed Brownbacks assertion. Brownback also asserted, "When it (India) becomes a permanent member, it will have all powers as others in the group."

Congressman Earl Blumenauer said there is a "strong interest and support for India to assume its rightful role in the UN."

"It appears the (Bush) Administration is looking at the issue and we will lend our support to it," said Diane Watson, Congresswoman from California, at a FICCI meeting later.

The delegation members, which met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and some other Indian leaders, appreciated India's role in helping other tsunami-hit countries in the neighbourhood despite itself having been affected.

"We thank India for its immediate help to its neighbours after tsunami struck," Brownback said, noting that Indian naval ships and relief material moved swiftly to Sri Lanka and other countries. "India was incredibly quick to move to Sri Lanka in hours," Leach noted.
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Indo-UK panel to work towards doubling trade
New Delhi: The Indo-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) was launched here on Thursday by the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, and the visiting UK Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Ms Patricia Hewitt.

The launch of JETCO is aimed at strengthening the bilateral relationship between the two countries. The committee was announced in the Joint Declaration signed on September 20, 2004, by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh and the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

After signing the agreement, Kamal Nath said that it would provide the institutional mechanism to build on the existing relationship and play a vital role in doubling bilateral trade from the current level of $6 billion. He said that JETCO would help identify areas where trade could be enhanced, besides, pointing out the obstacles for increased bilateral trade and investment.

Ms Hewitt said that JETCO would be a vital new link between British and Indian economies and provide the framework for improving business-to-business links. Ms Hewitt was accompanied by a 15-member high-level business delegation from the UK.

JETCO will be co-chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister of India and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Government of the UK.
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Move afoot for Rs3,000-cr HVDS power project
Hyderabad: The State Government and power utilities have firmed up plans for a Rs3,000-crore high-voltage distribution system (HVDS), to provide reliable power supply at affordable costs to over 1.6 crore consumers.

The HVDS is expected to further reduce transmission and distribution, commercial losses and arrest theft of energy. An annual investment of Rs1,000 crore has been envisaged over the next three years.
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Stanford plans programmes for growing companies
Bangalore: The Stanford Graduate School of Business is broadening its scope of programmes for growing companies. Stanford is one of the premier American universities.

Stanford University says that there was increasing interest among small and medium companies to keep abreast of developments in business schools so that they could sharpen their strategies in order to emulate corporates like Infosys. Stanford was in talks with major companies such as Reliance Industries, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals, HP India and Infosys on having customised programmes for its top executives. The programmes would be in the areas of global marketing strategies; organisational development and leadership.

Stanford's goal is to get four to five companies to send their executives to Stanford every year.
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Harvard varsity plans office in Mumbai
Kolkata: Harvard University proposes to set up an office in Mumbai to spearhead its liaison activities. The office, expected to come up shortly, will help Harvard create key partnerships in India and will also allow faculty members to visit countries like India for gaining greater experience.

Prof Sugata Bose, Gardiner professor of history at Harvard, referred to the university's programme to award grants to twenty members of its faculty to visit India.He added that the interest shown by his colleagues is quite an encouraging sign.

Prof Bose was addressing a plenary (Partnerships with NRIs) at CII Partnership Summit 2005 on Thursday.

The university is fast becoming aware of the need to concentrate on South Asian nations, and has recently offered a course on India, conducted by Prof Bose and Prof Amartya Sen. The course has drawn a number of students from many nations, which is said to reflect a growing trend.

Prof. Bose also said that the Indian Diaspora should learn from overseas Chinese on ways of building partnerships with the motherland.
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