document.writeln("

Downer in India for trade talks
New Delhi:.Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday, and is scheduled to hold talks with India's K. Natwar Singh, besides meeting the ministers of defense and environment.

Trade, regional security and energy cooperation would be on the agenda during talks between Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and his Indian counterpart, officials said

Australia has offered to export coal to meet India's burgeoning energy needs.

A possible visit to India by Australia's Prime Minister John Howard later this year, would also be discussed, officials said.
Back to News Review index page  

US to help Indian pharmaceuticals meet FDA standards
Washington DC: The United States has assured visiting Health and Family Welfare Minister Ambumani Ramadoss that it would provide all possible help to enable Indian drugs to reach it's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards, which are a must for them to be sold in that country.

The assurance was given by Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt and acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Lester M. Crawford, Ramadoss told reporters here yesterday.

"FDA has promised to help set American standards in a host of fields, including the drug industry, cosmetics, medical equipment, medical diagnostics and so on", the minister said.

"India is going to have a separate National Drug Authority", he said, giving his reasons for meeting the FDA chief.

Ramadoss said the authority would be "independent like the Telecom Authority, regulating the industry to make it more quality-oriented", adding that India had the fourth-largest pharmaceutical industry in the world.

"The Government of India is also taking special steps to develop Ayurvedic and other indigenous medicines and testing them according to international testing methods so that eventually they could capture a trillion dollar market abroad", the Minister said.

He pointed out that the US National Institute of Health had 80 ongoing projects in India.
Back to News Review index page  

Iranian piped gas to cost $2.40-2.49 per mBtu
Islamabad: Importing gas from Iran through a pipeline via Pakistan will work out cheaper for India. Consultants estimate that it would cost just between 2.40 to 2.49 USD per million British thermal unit (mBtu) as opposed to shipping in liquefied natural gas (LNG), which would cost 4,10 USD per mBtu.

New Delhi and Islamabad have agreed to use the Iran- Pakistan-India pipeline to import gas for meeting their energy needs.

According to consultants working on the project if India goes in for on a 56-inch wide line from Assaluyeh in southern Iran to Rajasthan border in India, with a capacity to convey 137 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) gas, the construction would cost 4.5 billion USD. The delivered price of gas at Rajasthan border would be 2.40 USD per mBtu, the official said.

Whereas gas fed through a 48-inch pipeline, which would cost only 3.9 billion USD to build, would cost 2.43 USD per mBtu and the same through a 42-inch pipeline, costing 3.1 billion USD, would cost a little higher at 2.49 USD per mBtu.

However, Iran has been insisting on a price equivalent to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the natural gas it proposes to sell to India through the pipeline.
Back to News Review index page