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Bangladesh keen to get on board India-Myanmar gas pipeline
New Delhi: India and Myanmar talks this month on a proposed gas pipeline and their lack of interest in ensuring Bangladeshi participation hin the same seems to have sent some kind of signal to Bangladesh, which may have begun to feel excluded from the project.

The initial lack of movement on the project, aimed at extracting gas from Myanmar for India and dispatching it through Bangladesh, saw Myanmar's Energy Minister Lun Thi arrive here to explore alternate routes for the pipeline. The project had seen a trilateral pact signed in January, between India, Myanmar and Bangladesh towards its realisation.

The matter was held up with Dhaka insisting that India first address issues like reduction of trade imbalance, providing a corridor for Nepalese goods to Bangladeshi ports and access to hydropower in Bhutan before moving ahead on the pipeline.

While the petroleum ministry says that they received no response to their invitation sent to the Bangladesh energy adviser through the Indian mission in Dhaka, Bangladeshi officials have complained that the invitation reached them only a day before the proposed talks in New Delhi between India and Myanmar, leaving them with no time to depute anyone. The delay, Bangladeshi officials' feel, was meant to ensure that Bangladesh was left out of the talks.

Besides helping Myanmar monetise gas from its offshore blocks A1 and A3 in Arakan (Rakhine) state, in which India holds 30 percent stake through two state-owned energy majors, the pipeline is expected to help Bangladesh evacuate gas from its eastern region.

In the eventuality of Bangladesh deciding at any time to export gas, the pipeline could become a means to transport supplies to Indian markets.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh's negotiations with India's Tata Group on its planned $2.5 billion investment for setting up a 2.4 million-tonne steel plant, a 1,000MW power plant and a one million-tonne urea fertiliser plant are "proceeding as per schedule", Bangladeshi officials said.

"We are not thinking of offering any discounted rate to the Tata Group. A fair rate will be worked out in the interest of both sides," an official said.

The Bangladesh authorities and Tata Group are expected to complete formal talks by August-end and sign agreements by Nov 31 so that the implementation of the projects can begin by December.
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WTO talks: Nath says India will not cross certain 'laxman rekhas' on agriculture
New Delhi: India on Wednesday made it clear that it would not go beyond a point to open up its market in agriculture in the WTO talks unless developed countries agree to make farm trade 'fair' to all by dismantling subsidies.

"Farm trade has to be made fair to all before insisting free trade by correcting artificiality of prices," Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, who returned after attending the WTO mini-ministerial in Dalian, China, said.

"There are certain 'laxman rekhas' beyond which India will not go in the ongoing negotiations on agriculture in the WTO Doha round to protect the interests and livelihood concerns of poor Indian farmers," he said.

Cautioning that developed countries were increasingly erecting non-tariff barriers to deny market access to developing nations especially in agriculture, Nath said there could be no 'trade-off' among agriculture, industrial tariffs and services as they formed three different pillars in WTO.

Despite some positive outcomes at the Dalian mini-ministerial, apprehensions among many countries remain as to how far and in what manner the rules of agriculture be more equitable and supportive of development, he said. The Dalian meeting provided an opportunity for some convergence on various formulae in a bid to work out two or three options that would be acceptable to all, he said.
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FICCI signs MoU with Tajikistan chamber
New Delhi: The Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Tajikistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry to strengthen economic and commercial ties between India and Tajikistan.

Under the agreement, both the chambers have agreed to facilitate exchange of business delegations and commercial information and encourage participation in each other's trade fairs. The MoU was signed during the second session of Indo-Tajikistan Joint Commission Meeting held in Tajikistan.

To double the trade turnover between the two countries in the next five years, FICCI has also identified certain sectors for co-operation.
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