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The study report prepared for the commerce ministry also recommended that the government should take up immediate and extensive facilitation measures for the sector considering its high prospect.
   The report of the official export promotional agency says, $7.06 million worth of medicines were exported in July-September period of the 2004-05 financial year. In the same period of the corresponding fiscal, the country fetched $2.14 million from medicine export.
   Earning from export of pharmaceutical products stood at $2.69 million in the FY 2004, the report added.
   ‘It is a tremendous growth which will sustain and increase according to our observation and analysis,’ said Mir Shahabuddin Mohammed, vice chairman of the bureau.
   He said the bureau has recommended that the government should provide the sector with necessary support from various organs.
   Detailing export performance in some African countries, the bureau chief said the African market has a huge demand for Bangladeshi pharmaceutical products.
   A business delegation comprising bureau officials and exporters that visited Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi brought $0.5 million worth of spot orders while Beximco Pharma, a leading exporter, bagged another order worth $1,00,000 in the following month, he told New Age.
   More such orders are in progress, the bureau chief said, adding that by February the bureau would send second mission to Africa which will visit Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Morocco and Algeria.
   Bangladeshi pharmaceutical products have so far reached 79 countries, including Singapore, the EU and the Middle East.
   He said the government is going to form this month a business promotion council to facilitate export of pharmaceutical products.
   Headed by the commerce secretary, the body styled as Pharmaceutical Products Export Business Promotion Council will have a major representation from the private sector.
   The council will put forward a set of recommendations to the government on how it can further encourage and support the exporters to compete with the global market by maintaining quality of products.
   In recent years, investment also significantly increased in the local pharmaceutical sector not only to meet the demand of the Tk 3,000 crore plus local market with a 15 per cent annual growth but also to expand export market.
   A total of 141 pharmaceutical companies are now in operation in the country and many others under construction, the study said.
   Though 10 to 12 companies are now exporting medicines, but 30 other big pharmaceutical companies have sophisticated production plants with a capacity of meeting international standard like the United States Federal Drug Agency (USFDA).
   Entrepreneurs here have specially been encouraged by an export option that will provide special advantage to the least developed countries, including Bangladesh, for substantially increasing their medicine exports from 2006 to 2016 to the WTO-ruled markets. An LDC will not require meeting patent and other obligations to export medicines to other member countries.
   Among 49 LDCs, Bangladesh is among the top five having most advanced industries in this sector, observers said.
   The bureau recommendations went in line with some demands that have been placed to the government earlier by the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries.
   Their demands included establishment of a government-run central testing laboratory for export-oriented pharmaceuticals to enhance reputation of the local pharmaceutical products abroad through dependable quality certification.
   The association also demanded establishment of an active pharmaceutical ingredients plant.

Non-economic factors like deterioration of law and order situation, political instability dampen private sector’s endeavours for industrialisation, Bangladesh Chamber of Industries president A K Azad has said.
   To promote industrialisation, the country needs both foreign and local investment, for which entrepreneurs’ confidence in overall investment climate must be restored and they must be assured of policy consistency and infrastructure supports.
   Azad, who reelected as BCI president, made these comments at the chamber’s annual general meeting Wednesday, stressing the need for increasing port efficiency, ensuring uninterrupted supply of electricity and gas at reasonable tariffs, reducing transport cost and improving law and order situation.
   He also emphasized the need for accountability and good governance at all levels.
   The 18th AGM of the chamber discussed elaborately the problems and impediments of industrial development and investment promotion, post-MFA situation, state of backward linkage industries, bank interest rate and abnormal price hike.
   The contribution of industry sector to GDP was 16 per cent in 2003-04 while industrial growth was 7.7 per cent compared with 6.5 per cent in 2001-02. This growth was propelled by good performance in garments, knitwear, soft drinks, footwear, pharmaceuticals, ceramics and cement sectors, the BCI president listed.
   “BCI thinks that measures should be taken to exploit other potential sectors for achieving expected target by giving special incentives,” Azad said. He stressed that the country’s industrial sector needs to attain at least 10 per cent annual growth within a short period in order to sustain stiff global competition.
   General members demanded that interest rate must come down to encourage investment in the much-needed backward linkage industries for readymade garment sector. They also put emphasis on setting up of more exclusive investment zones and diversification of export.
   Newly-elected leaders of the chamber including senior vice president Shamsur Rahman, vice president Shahid and directors Rajjab Sharif, Jahangir Alam. Abdul Tahid Majumder, Shamim Ahmed, Enayet Ullah Siddiqui, Shahidul Islam, F A Hannan and Delowar Hossain Raja attended the meeting. Former president of BCI Sharif M Afzal Hossain and current secretary general Nuruzzaman Bhuiyan were also present.

More than 16,000 mining companies across China have been shut down or ordered to halt production over the past seven months for breaching environmental regulations, state media reported.
   The crackdown was ordered after growing numbers of public complaints, the China Daily said, citing Xiong Yuehui from the environment supervision and inspection bureau at the State Environmental Protection Administration.
   During the campaign, inspectors found that local governments and companies in some regions ignore ecological protection in mines.
   Many other companies have no awareness of environmental issues, with little uniform supervision or management systems to deal with the problem.
   The newspaper said authorities would suggest that the State Council, or cabinet, enact a code to help protect the environment in mining areas.
   China relies heavily on coal to fuel its economy and mines are dotted throughout the country.
   As well as impacting the local environment, coal-burning emits large amounts of sulphur dioxide and other pollutants, causing acid rain and respiratory illnesses.
   To tackle this problem, the government has ordered pollution control measures such as installing emissions-cleaning equipment, but requirements are not strictly enforced.

Visiting leaders of the Bangladesh-British Chamber of Commerce (BBCC) and leaders of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) called upon all concerned to refrain from creating a negative image of the country in the international arena that adversely affects foreign direct investment.
   A three-member BBCC delegation led by its director general Dr Wali Tasar Uddin today held an exchange of views with the leaders of the federation at its conference room here.
   FBCCI president Abdul Awal Mintoo called upon the expatriate Bangladeshi entrepreneurs living in Britain to play the role of ambassadors in bringing foreign investment in Bangladesh.
   Citing examples of expatriate Chinese and Indian businessmen, he said they have been playing a vital role in pipelining the investment to their respective countries.
   The FBCCI leaders said the natural calamity like floods, drought and cyclone and political conflict are more or less everywhere in the world but those do not hamper the flow of foreign investment.
   But Bangladesh becomes the victim of negative propaganda by some quarters again and again, they added.
   The BBCC leaders advised the Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to exploit the opportunity of the single country fair “Expo-Bangladesh-2005” to be held in London on September 15-18.

Underscoring the unified role of economists on socio-economic development, the 15th Biennial Conference of the Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) began Wednesday at the auditorium of the Institution of Engineers in Dhaka.
   Eminent economist Professor Musharaff Hossain inaugurated the conference.
   In his inaugural speech, Musharaff reminded the country’s economists of their social responsibilities.
   He said the country’s economy has been vulnerable since the 60s.
   ‘Despite the rise in foreign aid inflow, the sustainability of the country’s development in the long run is questionable,’ he observed, adding that the goal of reducing poverty and higher farm productivity is yet to be achieved while social disparity has widened.
   The renowned economist wondered how the country would be able to move forward leaving a huge portion of its population marginalised.
   Presided over by the economic association president, Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, the inaugural session of the conference was addressed, among others, by Professor MA Sattar Mandal, the association’s vice president, and general secretary Professor Abul Barkat.
   Professor Rehman Sobhan delivered the conference address titled ‘Challenging Bangladesh’s Crisis of Governance: An Agenda for a Just Society.’
   The senior economist said the country’s future is threatened due to dysfunctional political process, persistent governance problem and growing unjust social order.
   In this connection, he stressed the need for a change in the present political culture and an effective role of the civil society.
   ‘Improving politics through its democratisation and access of resources to all level are the need of the hour’, he said.
   Honorary crests were also handed over to the association’s former presidents and general secretaries at the function.

Bangladesh Automobiles Assemblers & Manufacturers Association Wednesday urged the government to cut customs duty on import of raw materials for the sector.
   The association led by Abdul Matlub Ahmad met commerce minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury at his office, talking on problems faced by the automobile assemblers and manufactures, a press release said.
   They told Altaf that customs duty on import of raw materials for assemblers and manufacturers is the same as for finished products, raising the final cost of assembling and manufacturing and making the products less competitive with finished ones.
   This is forcing many automobile units to close down, they said.
   The Minister was also informed that taking the benefit of some gaps in the current Import Policy regarding import of reconditioned and commercial vehicles, very old junk vehicles are being imported through Chittagong and Benapole using false documentation.

Agricultural experts on Wednesday suggested that the authorities concerned should beef up coordination among the government organisations aimed at providing adequate information to the farmers to boost up production.
   The farmers are deprived of getting proper information due to lack of coordination among the concerned government organisations like Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and others such as research council and marketing divisions, they observed.
   The observations were made at a seminar organised by SAARC Agricultural Information Council (SAIC) on “Empowering farmers with information” in observance of SAARC Charter Day-2004 at BARC auditorium here.
   Vice-chancellor of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University Prof. Dr A M Farooque attended the seminar as chief guest with Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) Dr M. Nurul Alam in the chair. FAO consultant Dr M Motlubor Rahman presented keynote paper on the topic while Director SAIC Dr Wais Kabir welcomed the guests.
   The speakers laid emphasis on updating information wire house and farmers guidelines and involve the mass media for disseminating information on agriculture including pest management, soil fertility, weather and inputs to the farmers to equip them with modern farming process.
   Dr A M Farooque stressed on providing education to the farmers so that they could adopt the modern technology in agriculture. “Illiteracy is one of the major problems in development of the sector as the farmers can not adopt modern idea and technology rapidly due to lack of education,” he added.
   Dr Nurul Alam opined that the agricultural marketing division should be strengthened by increasing manpower aimed at reducing price gap of agricultural output between producers and the consumers.
   He informed that coordination is still prevailing among the concerned government organisations and that National Agriculture Technical Committee (NATC) is working for providing information to the farmers. He said other programmes including supplying upazila and fertilizers guidelines are also going on smoothly.
   Later, prizes were distributed among the winners of children art competition on agriculture organised by SAIC on this occasion.

Optimum cultivation of onion in summer can greatly help Bangladesh save its hard-earned foreign currency.
   Experts observed this at a day-long regional workshop and said the country’s north-west region holds tremendous potentiality for onion production.
   At present around 1.6 lakh tonnes of onion is being produced on 34,000 hectares of land against the annual requirement of 3.5 lakh tonnes in the country.
   They said a large amount of foreign currency worth about Taka 500 crore was being spent annually to meet the demand for onion in the country.
   The workshop on “review of work orogramme 2004-05, especially on the establishment of summer onion demonstrations under Northwest Crop Diversification project (NCDP)” was jointly organised by the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and the NCDP here.
   As many as 100 district and upazila level agriculture officials and successful farmers from 8 districts of the region took part in the workshop, held at the local Postal Academy conference hall.
   Additional Director of DAE Lal Mahmud chaired the function.
   The participants-both officials and farmers-during various interactions described their success stories about onion cultivation.
   They said a farmer could earn a net profit of Taka 90,000 in each season through cultivating onion on one hectare of land.
   The farmers underscored the need for availability of adequate seed and providing practical training to make the onion cultivation more effective in the region.
   Onion is normally cultivated during winter but summer cultivation is a new idea, which has already started bringing significant success for the farmers.

Several banks on Tuesday rowed back on forecasts that Taiwan will match next week’s expected US interest rate rise, underscoring how Asia’s monetary policy no longer moves in lockstep with America’s.
   Taiwan said on Monday that, like several of its neighbours, falling food prices helped to dampen inflation in November.
   Annual consumer price inflation fell to 1.5 per cent from 2.4 per cent in October, while seasonally adjusted month-on-month inflation dropped 1.1 per cent, thanks in part to a 3.7 per cent slide in food prices.
   The Fed is expected to raise the federal funds rate by a quarter-point to 2.25 per cent on Dec 14.

Motorola, a global leader in wireless, broadband and automotive communications technologies with annual sales volume of $27 billion, has introduced Canopy Wireless Broadband Access System and a range of Wi-Fi solutions in Bangladesh recently with a view to providing easily deployable and secure seamless connectivity for wireless networks.
   Motorola’s Canopy and Wi-Fi solutions are affordable, reliable, and high-speed wireless broadband services to corporate and residential users, promoters said.
   Local ICT company, Ektoo Limited, has been appointed as Motorola’s authorised networking solutions provider for Canopy products in Bangladesh.
   Benhur Mesfin, business director, Wireless Networking Solutions, Motorola’s Commercial, Government and Industrial Solutions Sector said, ‘This innovative system supports additional delivery options for public networks, wireless, ISPs and small-to moderate sized private networks’.
   In Bangladesh, Canopy has been deployed by BRAC BD Mail Network Ltd, an Internet service provider that operates its own multi-megabit IP Metro Area Network in Dhaka.

A two-day business management training workshop on SouthAsia SME Toolkit began at Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry building on Wednesday.
   The DCCI-SEDF Knowledge Centre in cooperation with the DCCI Business Institute organised the workshop, says a press release.
   The main objective of the workshop is to provide hands-on, computer-based training on selected business management topics of the toolkit and demonstrate its most effective use.
   Md Sabur Khan, a DCCI director who is also co-ordinator of the chamber’s standing committee on industries and small and medium enterprises development, inaugurated the programme as the chief guest.
   Md Hossain Ali, the chamber’s economic consultant and acting executive director of the business institute and Md Sajid Anwar, Knowledge Center associate and course co-ordinator, were present at the inauguration.
   Vincent Akue, consultant, IFC, Washington, has conducted the workshop as the resource person.
   In his inaugural speech, Md Sabur Khan, managing director of the Daffodil Computers, said, ‘IT becomes an integral part of today’s modern information era. It is possible to access, analyse, share, manage, protect and present business information more effectively. The applications and utilities of SME Toolkit no doubt facilitate enhancement in productivity.’

IBM is selling its PC-making business to China’s largest personal computer maker, Lenovo Group Ltd., for $1.25 billion, marking the US giant’s retreat from an industry it helped pioneer in 1981.
   The deal, which forms the world’s third-largest PC business, is the latest example of a Chinese company buying a Western brand and manufacturing operations to make its mark on the world stage.
   At the same time, it frees IBM to focus on higher-margin businesses such as computer services and software.
   “On paper, this goes a way to achieving what Lenovo and IBM are hoping to achieve. Now it’s up to execution,” said Gartner analyst Martin Gilliland. “IBM is fairly safe because their goal was to get out of the PC business because they don’t make any money out of it. Now Lenovo has to make it a success.”
   The deal, which took 13 months to negotiate, calls for Lenovo to pay IBM $650 million in cash and $600 million in stock. It will also assume $500 million in IBM debt.
   IBM will hold an 18.9 per cent stake in Lenovo, which will relocate its PC business from Beijing to New York and possibly list shares on Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange. Stephen Ward, IBM senior vice president, will become Lenovo’s chief executive officer.
   “The price tag was a little bit lower than I would have expected,” said Marty Shagrin, an analyst at Victory Capital Management in Cleveland, Ohio, which holds IBM shares in its $40 billion portfolio. “But obsessing about the price misses the point that IBM for a long time has wanted to become more of a services and software company.”
   The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter of next year, will result in a pre-tax gain of $900 million to $1.2 billion, said Mark Loughridge, IBM’s chief financial officer, on a conference call. It will enable IBM to improve gross profit margins by 3 per centage points, he added.
   Lenovo will jump from eighth place among PC makers to number three, combining its 2.2 per cent share with the 5.5 per cent held by IBM, according to Gartner. The combined businesses had sales of $12 billion last year.
   Dell Inc. leads the market with a 16.7 per cent share, followed by Hewlett-Packard at 15 per cent.
   The sale of IBM’s PC desktop and notebook computer lines allows the company to concentrate on more profitable operations including powerful server computers, storage and computer chips, analysts have said.
   For Lenovo, which is battling intense competition in its home market, the deal with the world’s largest computer company marks a breakthrough in its efforts to build its business overseas. It gives it a brand ranked the world’s third-most valuable by BusinessWeek/Interbrand.
   The former IBM PC products will use the IBM logo for up to five years before switching to a Lenovo brand. Lenovo will be under pressure to boost the profitability of the business it is buying, analysts have said.
   “In terms of survival, this is a good deal. I think Lenovo’s share price will remain stable when they resume trading,” said Tat Au Yang, managing director of Apex Capital Management in Hong Kong.
   The deal makes the company part of a small but growing group of Chinese manufacturers buying overseas brands. Notable among them is TCL International Holdings Ltd., which controls the RCA television brand through a joint venture it set up with France’s Thomson.
   “Our unwavering goal has been to create a truly international enterprise,” said Chuanzhi Liu, chairman of Lenovo.
   Lenovo will take ownership of IBM’s “Think” trademark family, including its ThinkPad notebook brand and its ThinkCenter desktop line.
   It will also buy out IBM’s interest in its PC making joint venture with Lenovo rival Great Wall Technology, China’s number two PC maker.
   Lenovo will hire 10,000 IBM PC employees, including about 2,300 in the United States — mostly product designers, marketers and sales specialists. The remaining 7,700 are mostly in the Great Wall venture in China.
   Lenovo and IBM said they will form a broad-based alliance under which IBM’s Global Services unit will be the preferred supplier of technical services and customer financing to Lenovo’s PC business.
   Lenovo will be the preferred supplier of PCs to IBM, allowing IBM to continue offering its corporate customers a full range of computers. The PCs will be co-branded under a five-year brand licensing deal.
   The Chinese firm will issue shares to IBM at HK$2.675 each, which was their closing price on Friday. Lenovo’s stock, down 20 per cent this year, has been suspended since Monday morning.
   “Today’s announcement further strengthens IBM’s focus on the enterprise, while creating a new global business that is better positioned to capture the opportunities in the PC industry going forward,” IBM Chairman and CEO Samuel Palmisano said in a statement.
   Yuanqing Yang, currently vice chairman, president and chief executive officer of Lenovo, will be Lenovo’s chairman after the deal closes, which is expected to happen in the second quarter of 2005.

Europe stepped up verbal attacks on the United States over its yawning deficits but failed to arrest the euro’s record-breaking, and economically damaging, rally against the dollar.
   After the 12 euro nations late Monday issued a statement expressing concern at sharp volatility in currency rates, European Union (news - web sites) finance ministers made clear that the onus lies with Washington to balance the world economy.
   “We were quite unanimous behind saying that the euro group’s message is addressed essentially to the American authorities,” Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said Tuesday as he arrived for the EU meeting.
   “It’s necessary to persuade our American colleagues to take measures against its budgetary and trade imbalances,” he said, addressing the huge US deficits that lie at the heart of the dollar’s current weakness.
   Currency traders, however, shrugged off the EU expressions of concern to mark the euro up to a new high of 1.3467 dollars in early London trading on Tuesday, topping a previous record summit of 1.3460 dollars scaled on Friday.
   Dealers said that despite the eurozone statement, which was agreed jointly with the European Central Bank (ECB) and the EU’s executive commission, actual intervention in the markets remains a distant possibility for now.
   Nevertheless Europe is growing increasingly fretful that the euro’s rally is choking off the export growth on which it is banking to power itself out of a three-year economic slowdown.
   Japan has grown similarly alarmed about the yen’s rise against the dollar, but has been more explicit than Europe on the prospect of intervening directly in the foreign exchange markets.
   Austrian Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser noted that following US President George W. Bush (news - web sites)’s re-election last month, the world would likely have to wait for a clear policy direction to emerge from Washington.
   But he said: “Each economic zone must regulate its own problems — Europe in driving through structural reforms and the United States in reducing its trade and budget deficits.”
   The eurozone and ECB statement said: “We are of the opinion that excessive volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates are undesirable for economic growth.”
   Without specifically addressing the United States, it added: “All major countries and economic areas must play their part more actively in reducing global imbalances by putting in place the appropriate economic policies.
   “We will monitor the situation closely.”
   EU economic affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia said the EU’s executive commission was “somewhat more worried” about the eurozone economy than when it published its autumn forecasts in October.

Japan’s economy grew a meagre 0.1 per cent in the three months to September, according to revised data that showed the recovery had been weaker than previously thought and a recession was only narrowly avoided this year.
   Gross domestic product (GDP) figures released today under new calculation methods also showed the economy contracted by 0.1 per cent in April-June from the previous quarter rather than grew 0.3 per cent.
   Two quarters of contraction technically constitute a recession. Japan has suffered four in the past decade but another seemed far away at the start of the year, when the official statistics showed the economy was roaring ahead.
   “All in all it’s painting a picture of a recovery much weaker and much patchier than previously portrayed,” said Paul Sheard, chief economist at Lehman Brothers Japan.
   “Certainly it seems growth is peaking out and there’s a loss of momentum. It puts the spotlight on the government and its somewhat rosy view of the sustainability of the expansion.”
   Economics Minister Heizo Takenaka, speaking to reporters after the data came out, maintained his view that the economy was still on track for growth and simply consolidating for now.
   However, only a day earlier staff at Takenaka’s Cabinet Office published indices that suggested economic conditions were likely to weaken in the months ahead. The leading indicator was below 50, signifying weakness, for the second month in a row.
   “Although the real GDP figure is still growing slightly, the underlying trend and the outlook could be slightly weaker given falling consumption,” said Takashi Shikano, an economist at UFJ Tsubasa Securities.
   The revised GDP data showed capital spending rose 1.1 per cent in July- September, compared with a preliminary estimate of a 0.2 per cent drop, but private sector consumption grew only 0.2 per cent, versus an original estimate of a 0.9 per cent gain.
   The Cabinet Office said consumption had been revised down in part due to new calculation methods for spending on big-ticket items and information technology outlays.
   The overall quarter-on-quarter growth rate, which was unchanged from the preliminary estimate, was held down by a new method for calculating the effects of price changes on the economy.
   The GDP deflator is used to derive the real rate of growth by stripping the effect of price changes from nominal GDP.

China and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will begin a first round of negotiations over setting up a free trade agreement (FTA) next month, state media reported today.
   “The first round of the FTA talks will start in January, most probably in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,” Faisal Al-Ghais, chairman of the GCC ambassadors in Beijing was quoted as saying by China Daily.
   The GCC groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
   The FTA deal is expected to include tariff reductions, simplification of the flow of goods and facilitation of mutual investments between China and Gulf nations, the newspaper said.
   The report did not put a value on the FTA but said bilateral trade between China and GCC nations is estimated to exceed 20 billion dollars in 2004, compared with 16.9 billion dollars in 2003.
   China is the GCC’s third largest trading partner after the United States and Japan.
   “The two sides will pursue a gradual and practical approach following the China-ASEAN FTA model,” Al-Ghais said. The negotiations will start with goods, before moving onto “more complex” issues such as mechanisms of dispute settlement, investment and services.
   If established, it would be China’s second FTA with a regional group after signing a framework FTA accord with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
   China this week begun a first round of negotiations over a proposed FTA with New Zealand. It is also in talks with several other potential FTA partners, including Australia, Chile and South Africa.
   An FTA between China and the GCC, which holds 45 per cent of the world’s oil reserves and accounts for 20 per cent of oil production, would help shore up China’s energy supplies.
   China is increasingly importing oil due to strong domestic demand, stemming from a fast growing economy.

US trade officials said yesterday that former European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy would be a “strong candidate” to lead the World Trade Organization, but stopped short of formally endorsing him.
   “To be fair, there are a number of fine candidates being discussed,” said Richard Mills, a spokesman for US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick. “The next WTO director general needs to be part of leading the WTO toward an ambitious outcome in the Doha negotiations and we welcome a slate of strong candidates.”
   “Ambassador Zoellick has great respect for Mr. Lamy and thinks he would be a strong candidate should Europe put him forward,” Mills said from Paris, where Zoellick met on Monday with new EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.
   Earlier on Tuesday, the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, gave preliminary backing to Lamy, a French Socialist, in the race for the top post at the WTO.
   Former Thai deputy premier Supachai Panitchpakdi is due to step down as WTO director general at the end of August 2005.
   The main job of the next director general would be to lead world trade talks launched three years ago in Doha, Qatar, to a successful conclusion after a bumpy start.
   The WTO has told interested candidates to announce themselves by the end of December. The WTO General Council, which includes all 148 member states, makes its decision in May.
   Brazil, Uruguay and Mauritius are also expected to field candidates.
   “We and other WTO members will participate in discussions with all the candidates in order to help us determine the best choice,” Mills said.
   Meanwhile, some US business lobbyists think Zoellick may himself be headed to a new job after four years as the top US trade negotiator.

The United States has paid US companies $285 million this year under a programme that has been declared illegal by the World Trade Organization and triggered retaliation threats from European Union, Japan and others, a government spokeswoman said yesterday.
   US Custom Service and Border Protection received more than 1,900 requests this year for so-called Byrd amendment payments under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 and paid on 473 claims, an agency spokeswoman said.
   The legislation requires Customs to distribute money raised by anti- dumping and anti-subsidy duties on “unfairly” priced imports to companies that originally sought the duties.
   It is named after Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat who played a key role in its passage.
   A breakdown of which companies received money this year was not immediately available. The United States has paid out more than $710 million to ball bearing, steel, seafood, pasta, candle and other companies in the three previous years under the programme.
   The WTO has repeatedly ruled that programme violates world trade rules. Last month, it gave the EU, Japan and other trading partners final approval to collectively apply sanctions on $150 million worth of US exports.
   President George W. Bush responded to that decision by pledging to work with Congress to comply with WTO rulings against the Byrd amendment. However, no action is expected on the legislative front before next year.
   The programme remains popular with many lawmakers, who see it as an important tool to help companies deal with unfair trade.
   In Paris, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick told a forum hosted by Business Week magazine that there was “great sensitivity” in Congress to repealing the provision.
   Zoellick has suggested revamping the programme to send the money to worker retraining and community assistance programmes.
   The EU, which has won the right to retaliate against $50 million of American exports, has threatened to take that step in early 2005. Japan has the right to slap extra duties on $80 million of US exports in the dispute.

The United States said yesterday it was backing Iraq’s and Afghanistan’s bids to join the World Trade Organization but said there was no consensus on Iran’s effort to join.
   Baghdad and Kabul were expected to present their candidacies December 13 to join the multilateral organization, which must make a unanimous recommendation. Iran also will try to join but its efforts have been stymied 19 times by the United States in recent years.
   “The United States supports the applications of Afghanistan and Iraq for membership in the World Trade Organization, and we believe that there is broad support within the organization for these applications,” State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.
   “We would note that there is not the same consensus in the organization on the question of Iran’s accession. And so we’ll see what comes out of the meeting,” Ereli added.

China Aviation Oil chief executive Chen Jiulin was arrested after returning to Singapore in connection with the 550-million-dollar trading scandal involving his company.
   “Chen Jiulin, the ex-chief executive of China Aviation Oil, has returned to Singapore this morning,” a police statement said.
   “He has been placed under arrest and is currently assisting (the) Commercial Affairs Department in investigations into offences under the Securities and Futures Act.”
   Chen left Singapore for China last week, shortly after publicly disclosing the Singapore-listed jet fuel provider had lost 550 million dollars in speculative oil derivatives trading that began last year.
   The Commercial Affairs Department, which is the police force’s white collar crime division, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Singapore Exchange launched an investigating into the affair last week amid allegations of insider trading.
   They had been pushing for Chen’s return to Singapore since last week. Four other senior China Aviation Oil figures also surrendered their passports to police this week although they have not been arrested.
   Adding to the complexity of the case are the actions of China Aviation Oil’s parent firm, Chinese government-owned China Aviation Oil Holding Co. (CAOHC), which has come under scrutiny for a share sell-off in October.
   CAOHC reduced its stake in China Aviation Oil from 75 per cent to 60 per cent on October 20, raising about 120 million dollars in the process.
   In an affidavit filed by Chen in Singapore’s High Court just before he left the country, he said CAOHC had been informed 10 days earlier that China Aviation Oil was wracking up massive losses.
   The Singapore government’s investment vehicle, Temasek Holdings, bought a two per cent stake in China Aviation Oil in the October 20 sell-off for about 12 million dollars.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected to take a "wait and see" stance on what action to take in the face of a fall in oil prices, several ministers said ahead of a cartel meeting.
   With falling oil prices and the weak dollar cutting into OPEC members' recent windfall profits, energy ministers coming to Cairo for the meeting Friday are facing the question of how quickly should they cut back production from recent record high levels of more than 55 dollars a barrel.
   Libyan Oil Minister Fathi Hamed Ben Shatwan said "we need to do something" in face of the recent slump in oil prices but he also recommended that the cartel "wait and see" for the time being.
   OPEC president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said in Jakarta that the cartel might postpone discussions on cutting oil production quotas until a clear picture of supply and demand emerges in the first quarter of 2005.
   "We may do it (cut the quota), pending the situation in the first quarter," Yusgiantoro, who is also Indonesia's energy minister, said.
   "My feeling is we'll have to wait to see the situation in the first quarter because winter will still be around then," he said.
   OPEC's total current production quota, excluding Iraq 27 million barrels per day (bpd) although its real output, including Iraq, is thought to be closer to 30 million bpd.
   The cartel has been pumping for months at close to full capacity amid soaring oil prices.
   However, global oil prices have been falling recently since a peak in October and on Tuesday they slid to the lowest level in more than four months in New York as traders anticipated weak demand and growing commercial inventories in a warm start to the US winter.
   As oil prices tumble lower, the chances that OPEC will cut back output from current record levels grows.
   The newly appointed United Arab Emirates energy minister said late on Tuesday that OPEC should consider cutting back output if oil prices continue to slide.
   "All options are open to the (OPEC) ministers. It might be appropriate to adhere to production quotas in the first stage because this enhances the organization's credibility. If prices continue to slip, the lowering of the output ceiling would be discussed," Mohammad bin Dhaen al-Hamli told the state WAM news agency.
   The soaring price of oil over the last year has brought in bumper profits for OPEC members states, many of which rely on crude revenues to balance their budgets.
   However, at the same time, the drop in the value of the dollar, in which global oil prices are set, has reduced the buying power of OPEC states for goods and services from the eurozone and Asia.
   OPEC spokesman Omar Ibrahim told journalists here Tuesday: "The decline in the US currency dollar is having a very big impact on our incomes, especially when you realise that most OPEC members still import so much of what we need."
   Oil prices have now fallen by about a quarter from the record high 55.67 dollars a barrel seen in New York in October as supply fears faded.
   Adjusted for inflation, current prices are far below the levels reached in the wake of the 1979 Iranian revolution when they surged to upwards of 80 dollars a barrel in today's money.

CSE remains higher
Trading at Chittagong Stock Exchange closed higher Wednesday with the gainers outnumbering the losers. CSE All Share Price Index rose by 23.66 points or 0.68 per cent to close at 3501.18 from 3477.52 points on Tuesday. CSE-30 Index also increased by 20.47 points or 0.63 per cent to close at 3376.41 from Tuesday’s 3355.94 points. Of the 95 listed issues traded Wednesday, 52 gained, 31 declined and 12 remained unchanged. Some 940,382 shares and debentures worth Tk 10.99 crore changed hands against 1,262,852 shares valued at Tk 8.10 crore on the previous trading day. Market capitalization stood at 209.73 billion Wednesday from Tk 208.15 billion on Tuesday.
— UNB

Chinese to be new chairman of HSBC
ONG KONG’S top banker, David Eldon, will retire as chairman of the city’s biggest lender, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (Hong Kong Bank), in May, paving the way for the appointment of the first Chinese chairman of the bank. Scottish-born David Eldon, 59, will step down at the next annual meeting of the bank’s London-based parent, HSBC Holdings, on May 24. He will be replaced as chairman of the group’s Asia-Pacific unit by Vincent Cheng Hoi-chuen, 56, presently vice chairman and chief executive of the group’s subsidiary, Hang Seng Bank. Eldon joined the HSBC Group in 1968 and became chairman of the Hang Seng Bank in 1998 and the HSBC (Hong Kong Bank) in 1999. Cheng will be the first Chinese chairman of the HSBC (Hong Kong Bank) in the banking group’s history. However, speaking Monday night at a hastily convened press conference, Cheng ruled out suggestions that his appointment reflected a localization drive at HSBC. Cheng joined the HSBC Group in 1978, and has been vice chairman and chief executive of the Hang Seng Bank since 1998.
— Xinhuanet

Porsche Predicts Continued Strong Profits
German luxury automaker Porsche AG expects continued strong profits in its fiscal year ending July 31 despite the potential burden of the strong euro on US. sales, company executives said Wednesday. Car sales and revenues should rise in fiscal 2005, driven by the relaunch of Porsche's 911 and Boxster sports cars, chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking said at the company's annual news conference in Stuttgart. "You can assume that we will secure our very strong profitability," Wiedeking said. In its last fiscal year, Stuttgart-based Porsche posted an 8.3 per cent increase in net profit to 612 million euros. Sales rose 14 per cent to 6.36 billion euros, thanks to sales of the Cayenne sports utility vehicle. Porsche shares were up more than 3 per cent at 497 euros ($661.85) at midday on the Frankfurt stock exchange. Car sales and revenues should rise in fiscal 2005, driven by the relaunch of Porsche's 911 and Boxster sports cars, chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking said at the company's annual news conference in Stuttgart. "You can assume that we will secure our very strong profitability," Wiedeking said. In its last fiscal year, Stuttgart-based Porsche posted an 8.3 per cent increase in net profit to 612 million euros. Sales rose 14 per cent to 6.36 billion euros, thanks to sales of the Cayenne sports utility vehicle.
— Internet

BBC to axe 10% jobs, budget in transformation
The BBC, the world’s largest public broadcasting company, has announced Tuesday that it would cut 2,900 jobs or about 10 per cent of its workforce, and save ?320 million, or about $620 million,  as part of a “transformation” designed to safeguard the 82-year-old organization’s future in the digital era. Tuesday’s announcement contained four significant unknown quantities for the eventual number of job losses: a targeted 15 per cent efficiency saving; the opening up of more opportunities for external producers and a corresponding reduction in the BBC’s in-house production capacity; and possible sales or joint ventures of its broadcasting and resources units, which employ a further 1,000 staff each. The cutbacks do not affect the internationally oriented BBC World Service radio, which is funded by the Foreign Office, and BBC World television, one of the broadcaster’s commercial operations. Mark Thompson, the director general who took over earlier this year after his predecessor was forced to resign following a political dispute with the government, told the corporation’s staff “there will be a period of pain and uncertainty and I am sorry for that.”
— Xinhuanet

Pak rupee down by 12.3 per cent against euro
The rupee lost 12.3 per cent value against the euro in the first five months of this fiscal year, coming down to 79.12 a euro at end-November from 70.46 at end-June 2004. The rupee depreciated sharply against the single European currency simply because the US dollar that serves as a reference currency for determining the value of other foreign currencies in Pakistan’s inter bank market weakened against the euro during this period. For the same reason, the rupee lost 7.6 per cent value against the UK pound sterling in five months to November coming down to 113 a pound from 105.10 a pound at end-June. The local currency shed 8.6 pr cent of its value against Japanese yen also, as the yen rose to 0.5787 at end-November from 0.5327 at end-June 2004. In July-November 2004, the US dollar depreciated by 8.8 per cent against the euro and by 5.2 per cent against pound sterling. It also lost 5.8 per cent value against Japanese Yen during this period.
— Dawn