India and China mull cooperation in software field
Beijing: Indian and Chinese software majors have held discussions in order to find common grounds for future cooperation. Senior executives of top Indian software companies like Infosys, TCS, Satyam, Wipro, who have already invested in China and set up operations in Beijing, participated in the 'Sino-Indian Software Industry Cooperation Summit'.

Vice mayor of the city Fan Boyuan and other officials welcomed the Indian software industries to Beijing. The local government would offer incentives and tax breaks to them if they set up bases at the Zhongguancun Software Park, dubbed as 'China's Silicon Valley', they added.

Chinese participants at the seminar, supported by Microsoft, stressed that they were willing to cooperate with Indian software firms in order to attract more Japanese and South Korean clients for Indian companies since they had the local expertise, language advantage, proximity and cultural links. In turn, the Chinese hoped that Indian software companies would enable them to gain a foothold in US and EU markets.

The seminar has been jointly organised by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform and the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission.
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Myanmar-India-Bangladesh gas pipeline agreement by March end
New Delhi: Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has said that India, Bangladesh and Myanmar will sign a tripartite agreement by March-end for the laying of a one billion dollar Myanmar-India gas pipeline.

According to Aiyar, the three sides have agreed on the draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the technical level meeting in Yangon last week and will be signing the tripartite agreement in Dhaka by the end of next month. The pipeline will run through Arakan (Rakhine) state in Myanmar, the Indian states of Mizoram and Tripura before crossing Bangladesh to Kolkata.

The 290-km pipeline is being considered by India to bring gas reserves at Shwe field in Block A-1 in offshore Myanmar, as well as volumes that are expected to be discovered in its adjacent block A-3. In both the blocks, ONGC Videsh Ltd has 20 per cent stake and GAIL (India) 10 per cent. South Korea's Daewoo is the operator of both the blocks.

Aiyar also said a Joint Project Team, comprising officials from the oil firms from the three countries, would be set up for conducting the feasibility study of the pipeline project. The feasibility study, for which international consultants would be appointed, would establish the route of the pipeline. According to Aiyar, the feasibility report is expected in six months time and construction on the pipeline should hopefully begin next year.
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