The Hindu : Business / Economy : India willing to export petrol, diesel to Pakistan

The Hindu : Business / Economy : India willing to export petrol, diesel to Pakistan

Commerce Secretary-level talks to start in Islamabad on April 27

In the run-up to the Commerce Secretary-level talks commencing in Islamabad on April 27, India on Monday expressed its willingness to export petrol and diesel to Pakistan provided the neighbouring country lifts ban on import of petroleum products from across the border.

“We have been pressing Pakistan since 2005 to remove petroleum products particularly diesel from the list of items it does not allow to be imported from India. The issue may again be discussed when Commerce Secretaries of the two nations meet in Islamabad later this week,” a senior official said here.

Former Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer had in June 2005 raised the issue of India exporting diesel to Pakistan during his visit to Islamabad. Pakistan at that time promised to look into the demand but nothing has moved since then on this front.

Pakistan imports 4-5 million tonnes of diesel from Kuwait every year. It was the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) which had offered in 2005 to sell 3.25 lakh tonnes of diesel to Pakistan during the six months beginning October 2005 at a discount. At that time, Pakistan had sought price quotations from IOC for import of diesel at Lahore and Karachi. IOC had proposed to supply one lakh tonnes of diesel from Jamnagar to Karachi through the sea route and the remaining 2.25 lakh tonnes through the land route.

IOC had proposed to price the product in such a way that the landed cost at Lahore was at least 50 cents a barrel less than the landed cost of fuel from Kuwait. But Pakistan did not take IOC's offer and continued with importing fuel from Kuwait.

“If the restriction goes, we are ready to supply diesel as well as petrol to Pakistan. It is an opportunity and a market for us,” IOC Director (Refineries) B. N. Bankapur told reporters here.

Besides IOC, private sector Reliance Industries Limited and Essar Oil too may look at selling fuel to Pakistan if the ban is lifted. RIL and Essar have refineries on the Gujarat coast, just hours away from Karachi.

IOC also hinted at making a foray into merchant power business while consolidating its leadership position in fuel retailing and oil refining business.

IOC Chairman R. S. Butola told journalists that IOC was looking at entering into merchant power business. “We have synergy as well as feedstock for that,” he said. The company has 1,100-1,200 MW of captive power generation capacity, with most of the refineries having surplus power to trade outside.

Digboi refinery in Assam has 5 MW of surplus power for which an agreement has been signed to give it to the Assam grid.

Keywords: India-Pakistan trade

The Hindu : Business / Economy : Sharp rise in India's tea exports to Pakistan

The Hindu : Business / Economy : Sharp rise in India's tea exports to Pakistan

Industry looks to third country platform for further boost

India's tea exports to Afghanistan and Pakistan reached an all time high in 2011 and producer-exporters are increasingly looking to utilising third country platforms to cement this position.

The buyer-seller meet (BDM) proposed to be held in Abu Dhabi later this week, marks a step in this direction and the number of countries participating in this year's meet has expanded to include Russia, the world's single largest tea importer and a market where India is trying to recapture its lost share. Russia still remains India's single biggest market.

Sources at the Indian Tea Association (ITA), the apex organisation of North Indian teas, said that although official figures were not yet available, Indian exports to Pakistan and Afghanistan touched a high in 2010, a year when exports declined.

The year 2010 was marked by lower production as well as exports which at 193 million kg was 2.3 per cent lower than that of 198 million kg in 2009. It is looking to recoup some of that lost ground this year. Official statistics for destination-wise exports available only for the January-May 2010 period, show that exports to Afghanistan and Pakistan (known as AfPak) increased to 12.2 million kg from 7.4 million kg in the year-ago period. It is estimated to have touched 20 million kg by December.

The industry feels that opportunities provided by BSM meets at third country locations for exports to countries like Pakistan will help overcome the hurdles posed by the difficult political equations between the two neighbours, in the case of Pakistan, and the turmoil and logistics in the case of Afghanistan. “Many associations and trade bodies from Pakistan attend the meets in West Asia and hold trade talks freely,” a top exporter told this correspondent, adding that frequently Pakistan rerouted exports to Afghanistan.

The Abu Dhabi meet is the third such annual meet, the previous two were held in Dubai. Called the India Tea Festival, it will be held from April 29 to May 1. The event is organised by the ITA and funded by the industry. While earlier Iran, Pakistan, Egypt and UAE were the major participants, the list has expanded this year to include a larger number of producer-exporters and auction-organisers from North and South India. They will be meeting selected importers/buyers/packeters from India's key markets like Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Russia and UAE. The Indian participants include McLeod Russel, Goodricke, Assam Company, Warren Tea, Harrison's Malayalayam and Amalgamated Plantations Ltd.

Keywords: tea export

The Hindu : Business / Economy : India to consider PTA with Pak

The Hindu : Business / Economy : India to consider PTA with Pak

Even as Pakistan has agreed to actively look into the issue of granting Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, New Delhi has assured Islamabad that it would favourably consider its demand for entering into a Preferrential Trade Agreement (PTA).

The issue came up for discussion during the closed door talks between the Commerce Secretaries of the two countries during the two-day dialogue held in Islamabad. Pakistan wanted a PTA with India to be done as soon as possible that would promote bilateral trade by extending tariff concessions on products of export interest to both countries. However, the Indian side informed the Pakistan’s negotiating team that it did not have the authority to take decision on such an important issue and the matter will have to be first deliberated by the Prime Minister’s Trade and Economic Relations Committee before any final decision is taken. At the same time, India told Pakistan that it should first fulfil the obligations under SAFTA and then only talk of new arrangements.

However, officials in the Commerce and Industry Minister said the matter will come up for discussion during the meeting of the Prime Minister’s Trade and Economic Relations Committee which is meeting here Friday evening. ``We are certainly open to having such a agreement in place as it would give a positive fillip to exchange of businesses and trade between the two countries,’’ a senior Commerce Ministry official said.

On tariff and non-tariff barriers (NTBs), it was decide to set up a Working Group specifically dedicated to address and resolve clearly identified sector specific barriers to trade. The first meeting of the Working group would be held by September 2011. It was also agreed between the two countries to have a group of experts from both sides to examine the feasibility, scope and modalities of electricity trading. The group would also look into the issues of suitable sites for transmission lines, funding mechanisms and other related issues. The composition of the group would be finalised by June 2011 and first meeting would be held by October this year.

Both the sides also decided to work out how they could expand trade in all types of petroleum products. A group of experts from both sides would be set up for this purpose before June 15. It would deliberate on the issue of building cross border pipelines and use of road/rail route, including the Munabao-Khokrapar route. The first meeting of the group would be held before September this year.

In a significant development, the two sides also agreed to put in place a new initiative to promote bilateral trade in Bt. Cotton seeds. This would help Pakistan’s farmers and its textile industry by significantly raising cotton yields and ensuring better cotton security.

Keywords: India-Pak relations, SAFTA, petroleum trade, MFN status

The Hindu : Business / Economy : Timeline set for Pakistan granting MFN status to India

The Hindu : Business / Economy : Timeline set for Pakistan granting MFN status to India

In a spirit of accommodation anchored in pragmatism, the Commerce Secretaries of India and Pakistan have agreed to take on board each other's concerns regarding the trade regimes in either country and explore new avenues for bilateral trade while side-stepping the ‘so-called' ticklish issues that dominate mainstream discourse.

After two days of deliberations, a detailed joint statement was issued on Thursday, setting a timeline for addressing the identified doables including Pakistan granting the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India and moving to a negative list approach in tariff lines, and New Delhi amenable to addressing Islamabad's concerns regarding Non-Tariff Barriers that restrict the flow of Pakistani goods into India.

Briefing the journalists, Pakistan's Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood said the difference between the previous four rounds of talks on Commercial and Economic Cooperation was that this time the effort has been to create institutional mechanisms and prepare a road map to make the process “irreversible and structured.”

Complementing his counterpart's statement, Indian Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar said both sides consciously sought to break from the past while preparing a timeline for the measures that need to be taken to create an enabling environment for bilateral trade to realise its full potential.

Trade on electricity

A major new initiative proposed pertains to trade of electricity between the two countries. The two sides decided to set up a group of experts to examine the feasibility, scope and modalities of such trading. The composition of the group will be finalised by June-end and its first meeting has been scheduled by October.

Another group of experts will examine a similar proposal for trade in petroleum products including building cross-border pipelines and use of the road/rail route including the Munabao-Khokrapar route for this purpose. A third new proposal pertains to trade in Bt cotton seeds that would help Pakistani farmers and the textile industry raise cotton yields and ensure better cotton security.

Preferential arrangement

The joint statement also mentions exploring the possibility of entering into a mutually agreed preferential trade arrangement to promote trade by extending tariff concessions on products of export interest to both countries. This was proposed by Pakistan but since this is an issue to be decided by the Trade and Economic Relations Committee, the Indian side did not make any commitment. Also, India's contention is that Pakistan should honour its existing international commitments like granting the MFN status to India as per the Agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area first before exploring new trading regimes.

Asked if India agreed to give up its opposition to the European Union package for Pakistan to help tide over part of the losses faced by its textile sector owing to last year's floods, Mr. Mahmood said this was not flagged because it was not a bilateral issue as such. “It was a package formulated by the EU and it was the EU which took it to the World Trade Organisation Committee and it will be defended by them. We have approached India in the past and would like India to support us.”

Keywords: India Pakistan trade, Most Favoured Nation

First Turkish Muslim model strips for Playboy mag - Hindustan Times

First Turkish Muslim model strips for Playboy mag - Hindustan Times

Posing provocatively on the cover of German Playboy magazine with one breast exposed, Sila Sahin seems to be sending a clear and deliberate message to her conservative Turkish family. Until now, Sila Sahin, a 25-year-old Turkish German living in Berlin, had been regarded as a glowing exampl related stories

PHOTOS: Beauty in the buff

e of how a modern Muslim girl should behave in a multicultural society.

The Muslim model has upset her family by stripping for a series of saucy shots for Playboy.

A successful actress starring in German television soap opera Good Times, Bad Times, she pleased her many fans and made her Turkish family proud.

But her latest move has outraged her family and Muslim fans, reports the Daily Mail.

Posing provocatively on the cover of German Playboy magazine with one breast exposed, Sahin seems to be sending a clear and deliberate message to her conservative Turkish family.

"I did it because I wanted to be free at last. These photographs are a liberation from the restrictions of my childhood," she said.

Her family has, unsurprisingly, reacted with horror, and her mother has cut off all contact with the actress.

"My mother is still angry. It will be even more difficult with my grandparents, my aunts and my uncles," she said on the website devoted to her television soap.

She has, however, managed to talk to her actor father, who expressed concern over the pressure she will inevitably face from the Muslim community.

Sahin's declared intention was to use the controversial Playboy photoshoot as a call to action for other Turkish girls who suffer the effects of their strict backgrounds, where women's choices are often limited, husbands are chosen for the girls and chastity closely controlled.

Her message to these girls?

"For too long I tried to do everything right. I want these photos to show young Turkish women it's okay for you to live however you choose," she said.

'Many of my countrymen think it's great that I can be so free. With the shoot I hoped to say to them that we do not necessarily have to live under these rules given to us," she added.

In what is undeniably a groundbreaking move, Sahin is the first Turkish woman ever to strip for the cover of Playboy.

Indeed, in the 12-page article that accompanies the revealing photographs, Sahin says she feels 'like Che Guevara', adding that the semi-naked photoshoot was a bid to express her freedom.

'My upbringing was conservative. I was always told, you must not go out, you must not make yourself look so attractive, you mustn't have male friends," she told Playboy.

"I have always abided by what men say. As a result I developed an extreme desire for freedom. I feel like Che Guevara. I have to do everything I want, otherwise I feel like I may as well be dead," she added.

But despite her bold move, Sahin wants her family forgiveness.

"I hope you can forgive me. Please let me come home," she said in an emotional TV interview.

Bahrain turns on its Shias - Hindustan Times

Bahrain turns on its Shias - Hindustan Times

A government crackdown on the Shiite-dominated political opposition is reaching deep into Bahrain’s middle-class professions, according to local political leaders and human rights activists, potentially threatening the country’s long-term stability. Doctors, businessmen, engineers, academics, teachers and now journalists have all been targeted for questioning and detention, observers say, with hundreds arrested and hundreds more fired.

The repression extends beyond political leaders and activists associated with the largely Shiite-led demonstrations that began February 14. Family members and associates of people detained say that the government is targeting Shiites indiscriminately, regardless of their political activity, and with a particular focus on doctors and educators.

“It is retribution,” said one prominent opposition figure, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of arrest. “But it is also an ethnic cleansing of top professions.”

One political leader estimated that as many as 1,200 people have been fired in recent weeks. In many cases, the whereabouts of the detained are not known, and lawyers have no access to them.

A government spokeswoman denied claims of political retribution. “Any arrests were done because they weren’t following their rightful duties,” said Luma Bashmi of Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority.

(For additional content from The Washington Post, visit www.washingtonpost.com)