India and China in first ever strategic dialogue
New Delhi: India and China raised the level of bilateral relations today by holding their first-ever strategic dialogue. Both sides said that they covered regional and global issues like the US-led war on terrorism, non-proliferation and energy security.

The Chinese delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei after his meeting with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran also met Foreign Minister Natwar Singh. The latest round of strategic talks will pave the way for a visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo sometime in March.

The two Prime Ministers had agreed to raise the level to a strategic one during their last meeting on the sidelines of the Indo-ASEAN summit in Laos last November.
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Chinese form group to coordinate silk exports
Beijing: Twenty-eight major Chinese silk exporters have formed a group to watch and coordinate silk exports to India.A major reason behind the formation of the group is that India, a key silk export destination, is mulling anti-dumping investigations into China's silk fabric exports.

The 28 companies in the group account for 69 and 79 per cent of the total silk exports to the world and India respectively. China's silk fabric exports totalled 182 million metres from January to November last year, with a value of $368 million. Of this, 81.4 million metres, valued at $135 million, were exported to India.
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Chidambaram unveils iCERT digital signature project
New Delhi: The Union Finance Minister, P. Chidamabaram, on Monday launched the iCERT project by becoming the first recipient of the digital signature certificate from the Directorate General of Systems in the Customs and Central Excise Department, which has now become a certifying authority.

Under the iCERT project, digital signature certificates would be provided to the trading community, officers of the Central Board of Excise and Customs and the agencies directly concerned with e-governance in tax administration to render revenue transactions and related transactions over Internet secure.

It would also ensure that importers, exporters, Central excise and service tax assessees or their agents, who have obtained the certificate, have the facility of electronically filling not only statutory returns but also any type of communication i.e., requests, grievances, refund claims, adjudication documents, payment advice to banks etc over the Internet without any risk to security, an official release said.

The users of this facility need not come to the Customs or Central Excise offices but interact over the Internet with competent authorities without any risk of impersonation. The electronic transactions would be authenticated by the digital certificates and would be legally valid and could be used as evidence under Indian law. The Information Technology Act, 2000 provides legal recognition to the electronic records as well as to the process of authentication of electronic records by affixing digital signatures.

The iCERT Certifying Authority would be issuing CLASS 3 digital signature certificates that carry the highest assurance levels necessary for authenticating financial transactions involving crores of rupees of Government revenue.
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