India will make yet another effort at the ministerial level to give a push to Doha Round of WTO trade talks before leaders of the G-20 meet in Seoul next month.
After a three-and-a-half-hour meeting, which was stormy at times, the Congress Working Committee, the party's highest policy making body, authorised incumbent chief Sonia Gandhi to schedule the internal elections after the conclusion of assembly polls in five states due to be held in April-May.
The fresh initiative by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma to meet ambassadors of the key members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, in a bid to revive the deadlocked Doha round of trade negotiations, is well-timed though a positive outcome may be doubtful.
The Commerce Ministry wants the Reserve Bank to reduce interest rate for dollar credit in its forthcoming monetary policy to help sustain the fledgling recovery in the exports sector.
Officials in the government, however, said India could only lodge a protest and not take legal action against the US.
There are plenty of shootouts and a fair amount of sex over the nine brisk episodes though the dialogue is thankfully free of profanity, observes Deepa Gahlot.
India is negotiating for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Malaysia and Japan and a broad based trade and investment agreement with the EU.
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After the heat it faced on climate change stand for the Copenhagen summit, the government on Tuesday came under scanner as the Opposition felt that India might come under US pressure on the trade talks in WTO.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and to Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, the industry body has outlined its view on the climate change negotiations based on Indian industry's feedback and called for the prime minister to urge the developed world to provide technology transfer and funds to help mitigate the crisis.
"Any country shouldn't be giving military aid to Pakistan until it works effectively in a demonstrative manner to dismantle the terror infrastructure," Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma told media-persons in New Delhi.
Currently, trade between India and Africa stands at about $45 billion.
In reply to a Rajya Sabha question, minister of state for information and broadcasting Anand Sharma stated that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had informed that a comparison of entry level package prices of a few DTH operators with CAS offerings reveals that DTH pricing in the country are not exorbitant.
Replying to supplementaries in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour, commerce minister Anand Sharma said, "There can be no negative impact of organised retailing on unorganised sector as 96 per cent of retail business is in unorganised sector.
The agreement that provides for both India and ASEAN reducing tariff on agreed goods has come into force with all but Cambodia and Philippines.
Sheela Bhatt explores and explains the Rahul Gandhi phenomenon and what it means for the Congress party and the nation's politics.
The government's disinvestment programme made a muted re-start with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approving the part-sale of its stake in two power companies -- NTPC and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam -- but postponing a decision on the overall disinvestment policy.
Data on primary and fuel items would continue to be released on weekly basis.
US President Barack Obama would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Toronto, a top Indian official said Wednesday. "The Prime Minister would be traveling for the G-20, he will be meeting President Obama," Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma told Indian media-persons in Washington.
The country would also ink the free trade pact with Malaysia in the same week.
The zero-duty EPCG scheme is in addition to the 3 per cent EPCG scheme that was introduced last year.
These may weaken India's long-standing demand of easy, flexible rules.
The five-year Foreign Trade Policy, to be unveiled on August 27, is expected to give incentives to Indian exporters to widen their global markets beyond the United States, the European Union and Japan in the face of the economic crisis in these key destinations.
The pact on trade in goods under the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement was signed by Indian commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma and ASEAN economic ministers after more than six years of intense negotiations.
Officials said several witnesses were heard on the impact of the pandemic. They added that this was the longest meeting of the panel without a break so far.
But the government rejected their demand and instead promised to hold an internal inquiry.
Sources said Sonia Gandhi referred to Azad and others twice during her brief address and the issues raised by them.
Earlier, only Azad was scheduled to meet Sonia Gandhi.
Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma warned against protectionist measures resorted to by developed countries saying those measures would further deepen recession and delay a recovery in the world economy.
For the second time since Press Note 2 and 4 were issued in February 2009, the Department of Economic Affairs in the finance ministry has raised questions on their implementation, this time over an application before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
The country is on track to surpass the export target of $200 billion for the current fiscal, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said in New Delhi on Monday.
The 10-member ASEAN described the Indo-US nuclear deal as an extremely positive step, hoping that the two countries would be able to conclude the pact soon.
India and the United Kingdom have agreed on the text of a landmark civil nuclear agreement and a formal pact may be signed within a week, Britain's Business Secretary Lord Peter Mandelson announced on Thursday. "The civil nuclear deal text has been agreed to and it will be signed soon, may be within a week after ministerial approvals," Lord Mandelson told a joint press conference with Commerce Minister Anand Sharma.
India on Monday condemned the deadly terror attack on a police training centre in Lahore and asked Pakistan to continue dismantling the terror infrastructure on its soil.
India was fourth in 2008, in terms of FDI inflows, among developing countries, he said referring to UNCTAD World Investment Report (WIR) 2009.
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