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Morshed, Natwar talks to cover all bilateral issues
Dhaka: Bangladesh will discuss all issues with India with an open mind when the foreign ministers of the two countries meet here on August 6, Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan said yesterday.

"We'll discuss all issues of mutual interest during the forthcoming visit of Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh," Morshed told members of Overseas Correspondents Association, Bangladesh, (OCAB) at a briefing at the Jatiyo Press Club here.

OCAB president welcomed the minister to their forum while general secretary Shamim Ahmed gave the vote of thanks.

Responding to a volley of questions, Morshed said issues including border problems, trade imbalance, tariff and para-tariff barriers, water, India's river-linking project and Tipaimukh dam are likely to figure prominently when the two sides meet.

Noting that the coming visit of Singh would be the first by any minister of the ruling United Progressive Alliance government of India, Morshed emphasized the need for confidence building measures from both sides in finding solution to some of the bilateral problems.

What is required, he said, is for India to be sensitive to Bangladesh's concern over the river-linking project and Tipaimukh dam. If the dam is constructed, a major area of Bangladesh will dry up, he said.

Morshed told a questioner that the issue of expansion of UNSC membership should not hijack the agenda of developing countries regarding the UN reforms. Bangladesh will see whom to support when the question comes in the proper shape, he said.

Expressing optimism about the holding of the 13th SAARC Summit in November, he ruled out further postponement of the twice-postponed13th SAARC summit.
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Iran changes position on purchase of LNG by India
New Delhi: The change in leadership in Iran may bring in some attitudinal changes with respect to the ongoing negotiations regarding the import of Iranian gas into India. The impression has been conveyed to a delegation of Indian state-run oil firms, which was in Tehran last week to negotiate the purchase of an additional 2.5 million tonnes of LNG.

According to sources in the Indian delegation, the National Iranian Gas Export Co told the Indian side that the new regime had indicated that there would be changes at the micro level, while keeping the broad position intact.

''The new leadership supports the policy of gas exports, but the focus may slightly shift in favour of gas supplies on priority to the neighbouring countries and the countries in the east, including India and China, vis-a-vis European countries,'' say the proceedings of the meeting.

As for the price, ''The expectations are on the higher side, particularly, considering the consistent high crude oil prices,'' it quotes the NIGEC official.

The visiting delegation got a first-hand experience of the strategic change with the Iranians raising India's take-or-pay liability to 98 per cent from 95 per cent that was agreed in the pact signed this June for purchase of initial 5 million tonnes of LNG.

Iranian officials also informed that equity participation of Indian buyers would be lower at 5 per cent as against 10 per cent that they got for first 5 million tonnes.

However, the biggest blow came when NIGEC officials quoted a ceiling price linked to $40 a barrel when just a month ago the Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh had offered a ceiling linked to $37 a barrel.

''The Indian side expressed surprise that the present offer of NIGEC is much higher than the offer made by their minister (Zanganeh) to minister (Aiyar) in their last meeting,'' say the minutes of the meeting.

However, a day later, on July 26, the Iranian team lowered the ceiling to $36, still a dollar higher than what Aiyar had suggested. It brought down the escalation rate to 1.54 per cent from originally quoted 2 per cent.

''It was also stated that NIGEC is not prepared to discuss anything less than what has been offered - in view of the rigid position adopted by NIGEC team, no further progress could be achieved in the matter,'' the minutes say.

The officials are worried that the Iranian stance could harden further when negotiations on piped gas starts sometime next year after India and Pakistan have decided on their participation in the pipeline by the end of this year.
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Oil bonds to bail out petro PSUs
New Delhi: The Centre proposes to issue oil bonds of Rs5,762.85 crore to state-owned petroleum companies to liquidate the outstanding balance in the Oil Pool Account. The proposal is part of the first supplementary demand for grants for the current fiscal tabled in Parliament.

Parliamentary approval has been sought for undertaking gross additional expenditure of Rs 14,661.36 crore, including a net cash outgo of Rs 6,818.56 crore, in the first supplementary demand for grants for the current fiscal.

Following the dismantling of the administered price mechanism (APM) from April 1, 2002, the Oil Pool Account was also wound up. The Centre had issued oil bonds amounting to Rs 9,400 crore at the end of March 2002 to partially liquidate the outstandings of the oil companies estimated to be over Rs 15,000 crore against the Oil Pool Account.

These bonds have a maturity of seven years. The government had decided to issue Special Government Bonds for the remaining amount after the completion of special audit.

The move is expected to help oil companies raise resources by securitsing the bonds. The oil companies would need permission to sell the bonds.

Finance ministry officials said that the bonds would be issued soon after Parliamentary assent was received.

The supplementary demand for grants also included an assistance of Rs 500 crore to Punjab & Sind Bank and a compensation of Rs 616 crore to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd for rural telephone.

The allocation to BSNL involves a cash outgo. Another Rs 300 crore is provided for transfers to the Universal Service Obligation Fund to meet the costs of telephone operators in setting up networks in rural areas.

The government has proposed to provide Rs 500 crore to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to enable it to receive matching credit from Japan bank of International Cooperation.

The Centre also proposed Rs 3,376 crore through loans and advances to the states under additional central assistance for externally-aided projects for expenditure on ongoing projects.

A special central assistance of Rs 632 crore to Jammu & Kashmir has also been proposed along with an allocation of Rs 672 crore to the states under the Accelarated Irrigation Benefit Programme.
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