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PM to attend G-8 meet on three day visit to the UK
London: On Thursday Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will join leaders of G-8, the world's richest nations, to discuss major issues like alleviating poverty in Africa and tackling the problem of climate change.

This is the first time, an Indian Prime Minister has been invited to attend the deliberations of G-8 -- Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and Russia.

Singh, who arrives in London on a three-day visit on Wednesday, will spend a day at the Gleneagles in Scotland with the world leaders.

On July 8, he will receive an honorary degree from his alma mater the University of Oxford. The Indian Prime Minister will be conferred the honorary doctorate in Civil Law for his role both as a leading economist and statesman. Singh had earlier received a philosophy doctorate from Oxford's Nuffield College in 1962.

The same day, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate the 75th Anniversary of the India House, the imposing structure at Aldwych, in the heart of London, housing the Indian High Commission. India House is currently getting a face-lift at an estimated cost of 190,000 pounds.
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Natwar to attend SCO summit
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh will leave for Kazakhstan on Monday to represent India as an observer at the fifth Summit of the Shanghai Corporation Organisation (SCO). The summit will be useful in strengthening economic and strategic links with the Central Asian republics.

The meeting at the Kazakh capital, Astana, is being attended by Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and leaders of key Central Asian countries. A formal decision is expected to be taken to give India, Pakistan and Iran observer status.

Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, will represent Pakistan.

Six countries, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan had formed the SCO in 2001. Gradually the organisation has expanded its ambit, from focusing on terrorism and Islamic militancy, to cooperation in political, economic, and other spheres within the region.

With the support of Beijing, Islamabad had applied for the SCO membership in 2001, a move blocked by Russia and its Central Asian allies, who wanted a full membership for India which has emerged as an economic powerhouse in the region.
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Mexico to issue multiple entry visas for Indian businessmen
Chennai: The Mexican Government has agreed to issue three-year multiple-entry visas to Indian businessmen, Luis Gerardo Hernandez, Commercial and Economic Advisor, Embassy of Mexico, New Delhi, said on Saturday.

According to R. Viswanathan, Joint Secretary In-charge of Latin America and Caribbean Division, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, the difficulty faced by Indian businessmen in securing visas from Mexico was taken up at a high-level meeting between the India's Minister of State for External Affairs, Rao Inderjit Singh, and the Mexican Interior Minister, in February.

Delivering the keynote address at the seminar, Viswanathan noted that India's trade with Mexico was set to cross the $1-billion mark this year. Last year, the two-way trade amounted to $871 million. However, Mexico being a "trading giant" with imports of $195 billion and exports of $189 billion, the potential for India to increase its trade with the country was huge, he said.

The seminar was organised as a prelude to EEPC's exhibition, Indee-Mexico 2005, to be held in Mexico City between October 12 and 15.
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Exports register growth in all major sectors
New Delhi: The country's exports have registered growth across all major sectors in 2004-05.

According to an official communiqué, agriculture and allied products exports increased by over 11 per cent in dollar terms and by over 9 per cent in rupee terms. The exports increased to Rs27,111.41 crore ($6.03 billion) during the financial year 2004-05 from Rs24,844.48 crore ($5.4 billion) during 2003-04.

Dairy and poultry products showed a record increase of over 65 per cent in the last fiscal year, while export of chemicals and related products registered a growth of over 27 per cent.

Gems and jewellery exports saw a jump of over 29 per cent to reach a level of $13.7 billion in 2004-05 compared to $10 billion in 2003-04.

According to the release, India emerged as a major exporter of petroleum products in 2004-05 at $6.7 billion, up by over 90 per cent from $3.5 billion in 2003-04. Engineering goods exports increased from $10 billion in 2003-04 to $14.5 billion in 2004-05, showing a growth of over 38 per cent.

There has been an across-the-board increase in exports of all engineering items from India including machine tools, machinery and instruments, transport equipment, iron and steel, manufactures of metals and residual engineering items, it said.

The country's exports have been on a high growth path with merchandise exports reaching $79.2 billion in 2004-05 recording a growth of 24.1 per cent in dollar terms, which is the highest since 1974-75.

India's share in world exports increased from 0.66 per cent in 2000 to 0.82 per cent in 2004.

The export target set for 2004-05 at 16 per cent was exceeded by 50 per cent.
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Baring study: KPO industry to touch $16bn
Kolkata: Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) industry has the potential to touch $16 billion by 2010 globally, according to a study carried out by Baring Private Equity Partners (India) Limited.

The study found that KPO industry has the potential to attract maximum venture capital (VC) financing in India since by definition, such activities were knowledge-driven and not capital intensive.

The Baring report said that it was expected that financing of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity would be the major uses of venture capital in KPO. The study said that higher revenue and better profit per seat would make KPO a compelling investment proposition.
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Trade delegation heads for Israel
Hyderabad: The Indo-Israel Chambers of Commerce and Industry in association with the Israel Asia Federation is leading a special high-powered young corporate leaders delegation to Israel.
On a five-day visit (July 4-8), this delegation would accompany the State Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

The President, Indo-Israel Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Ken Sagar, in a statement said, "This delegation will interact with top Israeli companies at a session termed as Israel - AP - Focus on Innovation. Israel stands out in technology strengths and the top corporate houses in AP would be able to take advantage of technology advancements through joint ventures or technology acquisitions."

Apart from specific visits to agricultural technology centres, the delegation would also visit soil salinity and soluble fertilisers centres where Israel has edge in technologies. While much emphasis is on agriculture, other technologies would also be showcased.

The delegation comprises representatives from Maytas (Satyam Group), Exiga (Raasi Group), Gayatri Group, Sujana Group, GMR Group, ICOMM Tele, TIE, Pokarna Group, Bartronics India, Bio Matrix and Nagarjuna Group among others.

Besides diamonds, which accounted for 60 per cent of India's exports to Israel in 1999, major export items from India include textiles, cotton yarn, organic chemicals and machinery.
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FICCI: Reduction in defence imports will halve procurement costs
New Delhi: A 25 to 75 per cent reduction in defence procurement imports by 2008-09 will boost the share of domestic defence procurement in manufacturing GDP between 3.9 and 6.9 per cent and push up incremental employment between 1.2 and 2 lakh, according to a FICCI study.

The reduction in the import content of procurement will also result in a cost saving of 30 per cent to 50 per cent, an analysis by the industry chamber said.

The study says that if the import content of defence procurement (goods only) is reduced by 25 per cent from the present level by 2008-09, domestic defence procurement would increase from Rs9,536 crore in 2003-04 to Rs18,000 crore in 2008-09.

This entails an increase of Rs8,500 crore (approximately) in domestic defence production over the next five years, the study said, adding that the share of domestic defence procurement in manufacturing GDP would go up from 3.9 per cent in 2003-04 to 5.3 per cent in 2008-09.
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Kolkata airport's international terminal to get major upgrade
Kolkata: The NSC Bose International Airport in Kolkata would soon become a major airport with a world-class terminal, latest navigation and communication aids and an extended secondary runway.

A modernisation plan has been undertaken by a well-known French company to give the airport a state-of-the-art look as part of a plan to upgrade the civil aviation infrastructure in the country. The French company, which has been approached to prepare the design, has developed a number of leading airports around the world, including the De Gaulle airport in Paris.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, during his recent visit here, said the new design for the airport was ready and work on modernisation should start by early 2006.

According to Airports Authority of India officials a plan has also been taken up to extend the secondary runway of the airport to facilitate landing and take-off of bigger aircraft like Boeing 747s.

Simultaneously, navigation and communication facilities at the airport would also be upgraded, including installation of the latest ILS CAT-II instrument landing system to enable flights to land during fog, heavy rain, smog, storm or poor visibility. The upgrading of existing airport infrastructure has become essential as the number of flights, both domestic and international, are increasing, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Civil Aviation Nilotpal Basu said. The domestic terminal of Kolkata airport had been modernised a few years ago.
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