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With seven-round hikes in just four months, the price of gold has climbed close to Tk 15,000 a tola (11.66 gram) in the local market, raising the price of the precious yellow metal by about Tk 300 per unit at one go effective from Wednesday.
   The Bangladesh Jewellers’ Samity on Tuesday decided to raise the price per gram of 22 carat gold to Tk 1,284 from Tk 1,257 and 21 carat to Tk 1,226 from Tk 1,200 of a week back.
   The latest price hike will push up the price per tola of the fine grade 22 carat gold to Tk 14,971 from Tk 14,657 and of much-used guinea gold (21 carat gold) to Tk 14,295 a tola from Tk 13,992, fixed on January 28.
   ‘Price hike happened just following rise in gold price in international market,’ said ATKM Azmal, a member of the Samity.
   Azmal, owner of the renowned ornament maker the Goldsmith said present price uprising in international markets might continue and the price in Bangladesh market will also go up further.
   The price of gold, which was $460 an ounce three months back, crossed $570 on Tuesday hitting a 25-year high.
   According to Azmal, the global investors especially bankers are increasingly putting their money in precious metals due to worries about inflation and geopolitical tensions, fuelling price hike of gold, traditionally believed to be a safe investment option.
   Earlier on January 18, BJA raised price of gold by Tk 300 a tola. In November, price of 22 carat gold, was Tk 12,884, and the price of 21 carat gold was Tk 12,290 per tola, up from Tk 12,360 and Tk 11,800 respectively in October 2005.
   Guinea gold price was at Tk 9,700 a tola in October 2004 and Tk 8,800 in September 2003.
   As in most other countries, gold prices in Bangladesh do not respond daily to the international price fluctuations. Local jewellers adjust the prices periodically with the global price trends.
   The association executives said Bangladesh has more than 10,000 jewellery shops. Some 1,200 of them are located in Dhaka and share the major portion of sales.
   Gold shop owners in Dhaka said their sales drastically fell in recent months after the precious yellow metal’s price increased abnormally.
   Regular sales of gift items—small ornaments—have been affected most, said some jewellers at the Baitul Mukarram Market, the country’s gold jewellery hub.

The textile and jute minister, Shajahan Siraj, Wednesday invited both local and foreign entrepreneurs to invest in the country’s textile industry, particularly in woven sub-sector, to help the major export earner face the challenge of quota-free trade regime.
   “We’ll have to develop the woven sub-sector to help the garments industry survive in the quota-free world,” he said, inaugurating a four-day textile and RMG machinery show at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre.
   Some 236 exhibitors from 22 technologically developed countries are attending the 3rd Dhaka International Textiles and Garments Machinery Exhibition-2006, organised by the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association in cooperation with Malaysian company ES Event Management.
   The energy and mineral resources advisor and BOI executive chairman, Mahmudur Rahman and the ES Event Management director, Chong Chong Tik, also spoke at the function, chaired by BTMA vice-chairman M Jamal Uddin.
   The minister said the locally produced woven fabrics contribute only 25 percent of the total demand of the country’s RMG industry while knit sub-sector’s contribution reached 80 percent, indicating more investment is required in the woven sub-sector.
   He mentioned the incentives Bangladesh offers to the investors in the textile industry, which include duty-free import of machinery and spare parts by the factories inside EPZs and industrial park areas.
   The exhibitors displayed a wide range of hi-tech primary textile and RMG machinery in 500 stalls—considered the highest as compared to any other events in the country.
   Enterprises taking part in the fair are from countries like USA, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Singapore, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Turkey, Thailand, UK, Spain, Taiwan and Bangladesh.
   The exhibition showcased new technology, state-of-the-art equipment, materials and services as well as provided avenues for international suppliers to expand business to the lucrative market and accelerate Bangladeshi technological advances to ensure quality, speed and competitive advantages in textile and garment industry.

A three-day US Trade Show 2006 began in Dhaka on Wednesday, with an objective to promote US businesses in Bangladesh, which enjoys a huge trade surplus with the world’s biggest economy.
   The foreign minister, M Morshed Khan, inaugurated the trade show. The charge d’affaires of the US mission in Dhaka, Judith A Chammas, was present at the opening ceremony at the city’s Sheraton Hotel.
   It is very important for Bangladesh to get duty-free access for at least some of its ready-made garment products to the US market, M Morshed Khan said at the inaugural ceremony.
   He said it was necessary to look at the implications and complications of the WTO Hong Kong ministerial meeting of December last year to ensure a win-win situation in the US-Bangladesh bilateral trade.
   Judith A Chammas said the trade show was an example of US commitment to strengthening the US-Bangladesh business relationship.
   The purpose of the event was to showcase American products and services available in Bangladesh, and thereby promote American exports, she said.
   From January to November last year, the United States imported about $2.5 billion in goods from Bangladesh, while Bangladesh only imported less than $300 million from the US, she mentioned.
   The American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh and the US embassy jointly organised the annual trade show, 15th of its kind.
   The AmCham president, Andrew L Fawthrop, and the executive director, A Gafur, among others, addressed the ceremony.
   Fair organisers informed that 75 exhibitors were showcasing various American goods and services at 127 booths in the fair.
   The products and services include soft drinks, market and social research, retail measurement services, health and beauty products, educational service, training, diagnostic products, software, life insurance, shipping and logistic services, air cargo transportation and textile machineries.
   Organisers and exhibitors said the show would help the visitors greatly to be acquainted with the American products and services that are available in Bangladesh and that would increase the purchases of American goods and services.
   The trade show will remain open from 10:00am to 8:00pm till Friday. Entry fee is Tk 20 per visitor.

Bangladesh and Vietnam have set a target of raising the volume of two-way trade between the two countries to $100 million by 2010 from $ 54 million.
   ‘Trade relation between Vietnam and Bangladesh is on the right track,’ the Vietnam trade minister, Truong Dinh Tuyen, said Tuesday at the signing of a cooperation agreement during a meeting of the Bangladesh-Vietnam Joint Committee for economic, Commercial, cultural and scientific cooperation that ended Tuesday in Hanoi.
   He said the trade volume of the two countries rose from $ 19.3 million in 2001 to $ 54 million in 2005. ‘It is expected that it will reach $100 million by 2010,’ media reports said quoting the minister.
   The Bangladesh finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman and the Vietnam trade minister were present at the agreement signing ceremony.
   During a meeting with the deputy prime minister of Vietnam, Vu Khoan, Saifur said Bangladesh and Vietnam are developing countries with numerous similarities, including in the economic reform process.
   He hoped both countries could learn from each other’s experiences.
   Khoan said trade relations between the two countries had greatly expanded over the past five years and to further boost the two-way trade they must encourage their businessmen to work together.
   Vietnam exports fabrics, fibres, computers electronics and agricultural products to Bangladesh and imports textile accessories and leather and leather goods.

A proliferation of bilateral free trade deals in Asia risks creating a ‘spaghetti bowl’ of overlapping measures that could actually harm companies, the head of the Asia Development Bank said Wednesday.
   ‘We now have an explosion of new trade and investment incentives—currently 15 under implementation, close to 10 signed, more than 20 under negotiation and at least 16 more proposed,’ said Haruhiko Kuroda.
   He referred to this as a ‘spaghetti bowl’ or ‘Asian noodle’ effect because the initiatives overlap in country coverages but vary in scope.
   If various free trade agreements exist in Asia, a Thai company for example importing goods could be subjected to complicated rules depending on the origin of the products it is buying.
   A single free trade area across East Asia would solve the problem but could be hard to achieve, he added.
   One possibility was the creation of a free trade pact between Japan and China which could then be enlarged to include other countries but this would be hard to achieve politically.
   ‘If we have a Japan-China FTA then a major part of trade in Asia will be covered by this and it could help lead to an overarching ASEAN FTA,’ he said.

Swedish telecommunications equipment manufacturer Ericsson on Wednesday announced the launch of a full-fledged company in Bangladesh — LM Ericsson Bangladesh Limited — with an aim to support its customers in a more efficient and cost effective way.
   Ericsson has been present in Bangladesh since 1997, supporting its customers through a local branch office, Ericsson AB, in Dhaka.
   Announcing the launch of the company, Arun Bansal, country manager of Ericsson Bangladesh, said the new company will have greater flexibility to work with its local partners to provide more cost-effective network roll out solutions.
   ‘Partnership with local telecom companies will also enable Ericsson to enhance its contribution towards the development of Bangladesh telecom industry through sharing and transfer of knowledge,’ Basal said at a press briefing in the Hotel Sonargaon in the city.
   He said that Ericsson has also planned to double its staff strength within next six months to 320 from the current number of around 160 employees.
   Addressing the press conference, Karl-Henrik Sundstrom, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Ericsson said, over the past few years, Bangladesh has been witnessing a phenomenal growth in the telecommunications industry and ‘we are confident that this trend will continue.’
   According to analyst reports, the number of mobile phone users in Bangladesh stood at 9.4 million in 2005, up 144 per cent from 3.85 million in 2004.
   The number of GSM subscribers in the world is expected to reach 3 billion in 2008, some 80 per cent of which will come from high growth markets such as Bangladesh.
   ‘This strategic move will put us in an even stronger position to support our customers in meeting the fast growing demand for communications service in this country,’ Sundstrom said.
   Addressing the press briefing, Jan Signell, president of Ericsson South East Asia said, ‘with this new company status, we will be able to broaden our service offerings to include managed services that can help operators to reduce their expenditure and launch new services fast and efficiently for meeting the growing customer demand’.

The adviser to the energy and mineral resources and executive chairman of the Board of Investment, Mahmudur Rahman, on Tuesday stressed upon the importance of strategic development of economic zones in the country to ensure further growth and development of the private sector.
   He was speaking as chief guest at the inaugural session of a workshop on ‘Enhancing Economic Zones and Reducing Administrative Barriers’ organised jointly by the BoI, SEDF and FIAS.
   Rahman in his address pointed out the improvement of economic zones and the reduction of administrative barriers as two different methods to help drive private sector development.
   He added that it was necessary to continually upgrade both the physical and governance aspects of Bangladesh’s investment climate.
   To this end, the government was determined to strengthen the country’s existing economic zones and commence planning for a special economic zone, he also mentioned.
   Mahmudur commented that the recent analysis of the economic zones arrangements in Bangladesh carried out by SEDF and FIAS, which was presented at the workshop, provided the government with an excellent strategic path to move forward.
   At that same time, the soft side of the investment climate for business — policies and regulations — also needed to be strengthened.
   Speaking on the economy, Rahman said ‘today, we have achieved 7 per cent economic growth, 10 per cent growth in manufacturing, 9.5 per cent industrial growth, and nearly $800 million in investment.’
   He also presented the government’s private sector development vision for 2015, saying that the government aimed to quadruple the annual foreign direct investment inflow, achieve a GDP growth rate of 8 per cent and achieve investment worth 26 per cent of annual gross domestic product, all of which was aimed at driving per capita annual income up to the equivalent of $1,000.

With vibrant economies and more than a billion people each, China and India might seem obvious candidates for the Group of Eight, but analysts say the road to membership will be long.
   Russia is now heading the G8 for the first time, inevitably triggering questions about why
   the two Asian giants have not joined long ago. China must look on from the sidelines, although it has an economy that is roughly five times larger than Russia’s.
   A G8 finance ministers’ meeting in Moscow on Friday and Saturday will group Russia with what were once seen as
   the world’s mightiest economies: the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.
   China officially became the world’s fourth largest economy after recording GDP growth of 9.9 per cent last year, and is a top priority for most nations when they look at their trade strategies.
   Its official stance, repeated by local government-employed researchers, is a pronounced lack of interest in membership.
   In contrast to China’s lukewarm attitude towards the G8, India seems to be all in favour of membership.
   ‘India would like to be part of the G8 if invited. But it’s up to the G8 to decide on expanding the group and include whoever it wants,’ said a senior New Delhi government official, who asked not to be named.
   That leaves the issue of what the G8 itself thinks about inviting a large new country.
   Russia’s recent decision to use its energy exports as a political weapon against Ukraine may serve as a warning.
   ‘Russia’s energy shenanigans with the Ukraine have alerted G8 members to the hazards of prematurely extending membership to an ‘immature’ democracy and economy,’ said Jane Skanderup, an expert on the Asian political economy at the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies..
   China would now like to enjoy G8 member status but is wary of a new vehicle for concessions using membership as a bait, the G8 could try to press China on revaluing its currency or even on democratization, she said.

They know the country well, understand its culture and laws and have learnt to spread their risks. Investment funds say they have established a beachhead for future growth in Vietnam, even though it is a tough market.
   ‘In two or three years’ time, investment capital will be between 1.0 and $1.5 billion,’ said Dominic Scriven, director of Dragon Capital, a chief investor in Vietnam Enterprise Investments Limited.
   That compares with the current $700 million held between six international corporates which have invested in nine investment funds. Scriven said this had leapt from $400 million in 1996.
   While those sums are small compared with international standards, last year they yielded a dazzling 20 to 40 per cent return. Two funds have been established in the past three months with a further two to be set up this year.
   VEIL is the country’s biggest player, surviving the economic ups and downs since it was established in 1994 when the end of the American embargo inspired dreams of another Asian tiger in the making.
   But three years later, the East Asian financial crisis pushed many countries in the region to the verge of bankruptcy. In Vietnam, Scriven said, ‘half of the investment capital was lost.’
   As Hanoi moved from state planning to a market economy over the past 20 years, foreign investors have had notable successes but also many failures.
   ‘Only investors knowing Vietnam very well should make direct investments there,’ said Markus Winkler, managing director of VGZ, a security portfolio firm in Switzerland.
   Alternatively, investment funds specialising in Vietnam hold another solution for investors seeking to reduce their risk in a country where their knowledge is limited, he said.
   ‘Some companies, notably Japanese and Taiwanese,’ said Rick Mayo-Smith, chief executive of Indochina Capital, ‘begin with a ‘China plus 1’ strategy in Vietnam because they don’t want to put all their eggs in the same basket.’
   Global institutions like the World Bank’s investment arm, the International Finance Corporation, have an entirely different rationale.
   The IFC has pumped an overall $500 million into Vietnam. That includes $20 million held by Dragon Capital’s VEIL with the aim of backing private businesses, and thereby promoting job creation and local industry.
   Investments primed by fund managers include consumption goods, banks, construction, high technology, tourism, property, confectionary and shoes—industries that fuelled a growth rate of 8.4 per cent last year.
   Vietnam has registered annual growth of about 7.0 per cent since 2000, outstripping all other countries in the region except China, and fund managers say it is economically maturing.

Hit by hefty custom and excise duties and other taxes, Alang and Sosiya ship breaking yards in west India’s Gujarat, considered to be among the biggest in the world, are fast losing out business to Bangladesh, Pakistan and China.
   The ship breaking yard comprises a total of 173 plots along necklace shaped beach of Alang, which has been leased out by the Gujarat Maritime Board, the controlling authority of the ship- breakers. At the peak of activity here as many as 150 plots are in operation, serviced by an estimated 35,000 workers, majority of them migrants.
   Since the yard started functioning in 1983, more than 4000 vessels have been dismantled here representing over 27 million light displacement tonnage—the net weight used to calculate scrap value.
   In the 1990’s the yard accounted for 90 per cent of the total ships broken in the world.
   But now the number of ships coming to the yard has drastically come down mainly due to heavy duties levied and also, partly, due to frequent protests by environmental groups who have been opposing the entry of the asbestos laden ships in the Indian shores, according to ship-breakers.
   The best years for the shipyard were 1996 to 2000 when most of the ship breaking plots were busy dismantling ships. In 1997 it broke 348 ships when it was at the peak of operations. Now most of the plots are empty. Last year it broke only 52 ships.
   While Alang is gasping for survival, it is Bangladesh Pakistan and China which are emerging as major ship breaking and recycling yards.
   ‘If this trend is not reversed then the day is not far when the ship-breakers will be forced to completely close down their business, rendering a large number of people jobless,’ said Mukesh Patel of Shriram Vessel and Scrap Pvt Ltd, the company which has purchased the controversial decommissioned French aircraft carrier Clemenceau.
   A major concern for the ship breakers is the fact that they have to pay five per cent custom duty and 16 per cent excise duty which is quite high as compared to the duties levied in other countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and China.
   M Shah, a ship breaker said ‘another problem that is plaguing the industry is the inordinate delay of getting the ships cleared by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board after they have been purchased by the ship.
   ‘We buy the ship, bring it to the shore for breaking, but inspection by GPCB takes as much as a month which shoots up the interest burden,’ he rued.
   A spokesman of the Gujarat Maritime Board, meanwhile, said the GMB has sent a draft proposal to the government to take various measures to save the ship breaking industry by reducing custom duty and other charges.
   Sanjay Shah Director of MCC Shipping and Supply Services Pvt Ltd at Alang said ‘this region which falls in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat has only two main industries—Diamond polishing industries and Ship-breaking industries. But now both are in doldrums.
   While the diamond polishing units have shifted mainly to Surat, the ship-breaking industries are facing the onslaught of steep duties and opposition from the environmental NGOs’.
   ‘The shipping companies are not ready to send ships to India for breaking which is gradually affecting the economy of this region and the people living here,’ said Shah.
   As a result a number of steel rolling mills, foundries, scrap shops and many other industries that survive on ship scrap as raw material are suffering. ‘It is the mega steel companies which are out to destroy the Alang Ship breaking yards by funding the environmental NGO’s,’ Patel alleged.
   Samvardhan Trust, an NGO coming out in support of the ship breakers, said ‘preserving the environment is one thing, but spelling death-knell for the ship-breaking yards of Alang by opposing ships here is another.’
   A trustee of the NGO, Yashodhar Bhatt, said ‘we appeal to all sections of society like academicians, scientists, leaders in the field of industries and agriculture and government to come forward to save the dying ship breaking industries of Gujarat’.

Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has issued a new presidential regulation on energy policy that prioritises domestic gas consumption over export sales, a local newspaper reported Wednesday.
   The regulation was issued after a cabinet meeting and was aimed at emphasising the country’s new policy of reducing its dependence on oil-based fuels, The Jakarta Post quoted a minister as saying.
   ‘With the issuance of the regulation, the government will have greater scope to allocate more gas supplies to the domestic market,’ said energy and mineral resources minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro.
   As a result of the new policy, he said, Indonesia would no longer prioritise the planned construction of the trans-ASEAN gas pipeline, at least until such time as it had constructed an integrated gas pipeline network serving the domestic market.
   Indonesia’s gas reserves of 188.34 trillion cubic feet are among the most extensive in the world. It has become one of the biggest liquefied natural gas suppliers to major economies such as Japan. At present, the country sells 44 per cent of its annual gas production domestically.
   On Tuesday, president Yudhoyono also issued a presidential instruction for the development of bio-diesel and liquefied coal as alternative energy sources.
   Detikcom news website reported that the government has targeted by 2025 to make coal as the largest energy source with 35 per cent, trailed by gas with 30 per cent, oil 20 per cent, and other energy sources 15 per cent.

Japan hopes to open talks with India by this summer on a free-trade agreement, which would open the way for Asia’s largest economy to invest more in the emerging giant, an official said Wednesday.
   Japan and India started a joint study group last May on the possibility of starting talks on a trade deal.
   It is due to submit a report in June, said Naoyasu Yoshimura, a trade ministry official at the division of trade policy toward India.
   ‘It is expected that the negotiations would start after the submission of the report,’ he said.
   Japan’s foreign minister Taro Aso on a visit to India in January promised Indian leaders to seek a free trade agreement, according to Yoshimura.
   ‘As the importance of India in the global economy is growing, Japanese companies are expecting a promising future in the nation’s market,’ Yoshimura said.
   Indian finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram visited Tokyo last month and said New Delhi hoped to secure a free-trade deal with Japan before China.
   Japanese leaders have called for a strengthening of economic and political ties with India as a counterweight to China’s growing regional influence while Tokyo has also been seeking more free trade pacts amid a deadlock in multilateral negotiations.
   It has signed free trade pacts with Singapore, Mexico and Malaysia and reached broad agreements with Thailand and the Philippines. It is also negotiating with South Korea, Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as a whole.

Singapore fashion retailer FJ Benjamin announced Wednesday plans to further expand its in-house clothing label RAOUL to the Middle East under a franchise agreement.
   The aim is to open nine RAOUL stores offering men’s clothing by 2009 in Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar under the franchise agreement inked with Dubai-based Apparel LLC, a retailer with a strong presence in the Middle East.
   It will be the first time that FJ Benjamin sells the RAOUL clothing label under a franchise agreement with a third party retailer, the company said.
   ‘We are delighted to have Apparel LLC as our partners,’ said Douglas Benjamin, chief executive of FJ Benjamin.
   ‘Apparel LLC is a fine company with an extensive network of stores and a proven track record,’ he said.
   Apparel LLC has an existing chain of stores in the Middle East selling popular labels including Bally shoe wear and Tommy Hilfiger clothing.
   Last month, FJ Benjamin announced it has secured the rights to bring the popular US clothing brands, Gap and Banana Republic, to Singapore and Malaysia.

The Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, has disbursed Tk 603.33 crore among the rural poor people last year under its rural development scheme, said a press release on Tuesday.
   The growth rate of the disbursed fund was 43 per cent as the bank disbursed Tk 421.68 crore in the previous year.
   Under the scheme, the number of investment clients stood at 1,64,116 and number of group members stood at 2,17,443 with 99 per cent recovery rate.
   Some 4,421 tube-wells and 2,204 sanitary latrines were also distributed on ‘profit free’ basis among the members.
   The rural development scheme was introduced in 1995 and the programme is being run in 4,560 villages through the bank’s 101 branches.
   Investment facilities are being allowed on easy terms for production of various types of crops and 343 kinds of non-farming activities.

Thailand’s exports of vehicles and auto parts grew 47.6 per cent in 2005 to 297.6 billion baht ($7.4 billion) and are forecast to continue expanding this year, the industry said Wednesday.
   Exports of completely built cars rose 33 per cent to 4,40,640 units worth 203.1 billion baht, while the export of auto parts jumped 80 per cent to 94.4 billion baht, Toyota Motor Thailand said in a statement.
   ‘Thailand exported car and car parts to 80 countries worldwide and the growth... resulted from the expansion of completely built cars and parts in IMV projects (multi-purpose vehicles).’ Toyota Motor Thailand said.

The United States Tuesday welcomed a World Trade Organisation ruling that found the European Union put up unfair restrictions on genetically modified crops.
   ‘We’re pleased with the outcome,’ said a US trade official who asked to remain anonymous but confirmed earlier reports that the confidential WTO dispute panel report backed the complaint by the United States, Canada and Argentina. ‘The panel agreed with us.’
   The official declined to comment on the specifics of the ruling, saying US authorities had not yet reviewed the document of several hundred pages, and that it still was subject to appeal.
   ‘We’re not at the end of this road, but the report is a significant milestone,’ the official stated.
   The official said the EU moratorium affected ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ of potential trade in crops including corn, soybeans and cotton, and that ‘there was no scientific basis for that. The reason was a political reason.’
   Although the EU officially lifted its moratorium in 2004, Washington has complained of foot-dragging by Brussels in approving new crops and argued that some individual countries were improperly banning some biotech crops.
   ‘We would hope the EU would comply with its obligations,’ the official said, adding that the EU approval process has been ‘languishing’ despite the lifting of the moratorium.
   ‘When you have products that are still languishing from the mid-1990s, obviously we think there is still a problem that has to be addressed.’
   In its confidential, preliminary decision, the WTO panel said that Europe must fall into line with the rules of global commerce.
   These are set by the 149 trading nations in the WTO and refereed by the Geneva-based body, which can authorize retaliatory customs duties against members who fail to respect its decisions.
   Argentina, Canada and the United States brought their complaint before the WTO in May 2003, charging that a European moratorium on imports of genetically modified organisms in place since 1998 was more about business protectionism than concerns about the health of consumers or the environment.
   The US-based Biotechnology Industry Organisation also praised the WTO move.
   ‘Resolution of this issue is important to farmers around the world,’ spokesman Sean Darragh said.
   ‘The European Union’s inaction has effectively blocked up to $300 million of US agricultural exports annually to the detriment of American farmers. Globally, more than eight million farmers in 21 countries have already adopted biotech crops.’
   But US-based advocacy group Public Citizen denounced what it called a ‘WTO invasion of such a hyper-sensitive, value-laden policy about something as intimate as the very nature of food.’
   ‘If the WTO can meddle with domestic policies about what food comes into our homes, it makes very clear that the last thing anyone needs is to expand the power or scope of this unaccountable, corporate-controlled body,’ said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.

The European Commission downplayed Wednesday a World Trade Organisation ruling that found the European Union had imposed unfair restrictions on genetically modified crops.
   In a first reaction to the ruling, the EU’s executive arm said the decision would not have an impact on its rules on GM crops.
   ‘For the moment, we see no consequences for our legislation which we consider to be toughest in the world,’ commission spokeswoman for environment issues Barbara Helfferich said.
   A WTO dispute settlement panel backed a 2003 complaint by Argentina, Canada and the United States charging that a European moratorium on imports of GMOs, in place since 1998, reflected business protectionism rather than
   concerns about the health of consumers or the environment, according to diplomats in Geneva.

Russia is offering to use extra oil revenue to repay in advance $11-12 billion owed to the Paris Club of creditor
   nations and will raise the issue this week at the Group of Eight summit in Moscow, a senior source in the finance
   ministry said.
   ‘We’re talking about repaying $11 to $12 billion before the deadline,’ the source said.
   In 2004 the German government sold five billion euros worth of Russian debt in the form of bonds to private investors.
   The stabilisation fund is financed by the extra tax revenue Russia has gained as a result of high oil prices.
   In May 2005, Moscow used the fund to repay $15 billion in debt to the Paris Club.

S Korea and India announced yesterday the start of negotiations aimed at signing a free trade deal by the end of next year.
   Yonhap news agency quoted a statement from the ministry of foreign affairs and trade as saying that S Korea president Roh Moo-hyun and visiting Indian president Abdul Kalam agreed to begin specific negotiations on the trade pact during a summit earlier that day.
   S Korea and India will begin the first round of free trade talks in March in India’s capital New Delhi, the ministry said.
   After the summit, Korea trade minister Kim Hyun-jong and Indian rural development minister Radhuvansh Prasad Singh made a joint announcement on the start of a comprehensive economic partnership agreement.
   The same day, the two sides also inked an agreement on science and technology envisaging exchanges of scientists and technologists, joint research, and harmonisation of customs procedures to facilitate trade and crack down on economic crimes.

Fast emerging economies like those of India and China are considered the biggest challenge to the British economy over the next five years, a new survey has found.
   In a study conducted by Deloitte/YouGov, on public attitudes of British people to global economic competition, 79 per cent of 2,704 people identified China as the largest threat to the UK in the manufacturing sector.
   India, which now houses a number of call centres for UK firms, was seen as the main challenge to the UK by 45 per cent of those surveyed.
   A separate Deloitte report said the UK could fall from sixth to the 12th most competitive global economy by 2010.
   The survey found that 64 per cent of respondents expressed a negative reaction to such off-shoring, and a quarter also held the opinion that existing off-shoring programmes should be reversed. Just six per cent said they supported their continuation.
   ‘The survey results clearly show the uncertainty that exists among the UK population when it comes to the growing prowess of India and China,’ said Deloitte’s head of consulting, David Owen.
   ‘There needs to be a great understanding among the public that the transfer of certain jobs to other locations is a trend that is likely to continue and brings with it opportunities as well as threats. UK-located companies should benefit from, rather than be threatened by the increasingly global nature of the product and services markets,’ he said.
   To help boost UK competitiveness, 75 per cent of the survey’s respondents said there should be greater investment in education and training.
   A further 60 per cent said there should be more support for small business start-ups.
   ‘One possible way for government to raise skills is for tax credits to be awarded to businesses for training spend, similar to the incentives used to raise UK level of innovation,’ Owen said.
   Deloitte’s separate Trading Places report on the world’s most competitive countries, put the US in first place, followed by Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany and the UK.

Southeast Asia’s largest phone operator, Singapore Telecommunications, said Wednesday net profit for the third quarter rose 16 per cent from a year earlier with regional mobile associates providing the mainstay of earnings growth.
   Net profit for the three months to December totalled 885 million Singapore dollars ($546 million), above analyst forecasts of 721-779 million dollars.
   The quarter’s results were boosted by an exceptional gain of 105 million dollars resulting from the sale of a stake in local mail company SingPost, the company said.
   Operating revenue rose 4.2 per cent compared with a year earlier, to 3.63 billion dollars for the quarter, the company said.
   For the nine months to December, net profit rose 11.9 per cent to 2.49 billion dollars and revenues were 5.4 per cent higher at 9.88 billion dollars.
   Total pretax profits rose 35 per cent to 432 million dollars during the December quarter.
   The five associates—India’s Bharti, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom, Telkomsel in Indonesia, Globe Telecom in the Philippines and Thailand’s Advanced Info Service—now account for 32 per cent of SingTel’s pretax earnings, the company said.
   Bharti and Telkomsel were the star performers with pretax profit contributions up 53 per cent and 51 per cent.

France will take back asbestos from a decommissioned warship heading for an Indian ship-breaking yard if the New Delhi government wants it to, France’s ambassador said Wednesday.
   ‘Our commitment is total and we are prepared to take back the asbestos, which will be removed from the ship, whatever is the quantity, if the Indian authorities so desire,’ ambassador Dominique Girard told reporters after a tour of the yard at Alang in western Gujarat state.
   ‘We will abide by the decision of the Indian government and the Indian courts. It’s out of the question to force our way into India. The warship is not there to be used for that.’
   The immediate fate of the Clemenceau carrier depends on a ruling on February 13 by the Indian Supreme Court which will decide if the ship should be allowed into Indian waters.
   Environmental group Greenpeace charges that the warship, due to be salvaged for its steel, is full of asbestos and other toxic chemicals.
   France says the vessel carries 45 tonnes of carcinogenic asbestos insulation, but the firm that helped partially decontaminate it before the trip says the amount is between 500 and 1,000 tonnes.
   Girard said there was no ‘plan B’ if the Indian authorities did not allow the Clemenceau to head to India.
   He said that France was sending its own expertise and would monitor closely the health of the roughly 45 workers likely to be involved in the collection of asbestos waste at the Shree Ram yard at Alang.
   ‘We will be bringing the relevant equipment to make sure the working conditions of those people are the same as those in Europe,’ the diplomat said.
   An Indian commission that prepared a report for the Supreme Court complained Monday it was still awaiting information from Paris on the warship. The commission is reportedly split on whether to allow the boat to dock.
   Girard said documents relating to the amount of asbestos on the ship should be with Indian officials by the end of Thursday.
   Staff at the yard said India’s shipbreaking industry was equipped to handle hazardous material on board the 27,000-tonne vessel and the staff were fully screened.
   The ship-breaking yard at Alang has experienced a major downturn in work since 2003, and Indian officials said the break-up of the Clemenceau would provide work for hundreds of workers at Alang.
   Several hundred workers protested outside the restricted shipyard area by burning an effigy representing Greenpeace during the visit by the ambassador. Others unfurled a banner saying: ‘Greenpeace Go Back’.
   Kishorchandra Bhatt, an official of the Hindu nationalist party Shiv Sena, said: ‘If this ship comes to the yard, these men will get some money.

China’s love for mobile text messaging was at its peak during the Lunar New Year holiday when some 12.6 billion messages were sent during the eight-day period, state press reported Wednesday.
   The huge number of New Year greetings meant that each mobile phone user in China sent an average 30 messages during the holiday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
   The flurry of messages brought in some 1.2 billion yuan (148 million dollars) in revenues for China’s mobile telephone companies, the report added.
   China had some 393 million mobile phone users at the end of 2005, with many of them only recently discovering the convenience of text messaging services and their lower costs when compared to telephone calls, it said.

The European Commission said Wednesday it was opening an investigation into rules in Luxembourg that allow holding and financial companies to avoid corporate taxes.
   ‘It is time to review this old-fashioned regime favouring multinational groups setting up their financial activities in Luxembourg,’ competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement.
   ‘It appears it may unduly affect the functioning and competitiveness of the EU’s financial industry,’ she added.
   Luxembourg’s corporate tax code encourages big foreign companies to set up special subsidiaries for internal financing and licencing operations by not making them pay taxes on earnings, dividends, interest and royalties.

Russia and India have reached agreement under which Delhi will reimburse its debt of around one billion dollars to Moscow which will then invest the funds in India’s economy, Russian Economy Minister German Gref said Wednesday.
   ‘The accord will be initialed very soon,’ Interfax news agency quoted Gref as saying on his return from India. Gref said Russia hoped the deal would be signed before Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov visits India in March.

The Disney company is in talks with Chinese officials to build a new theme park in Shanghai, a newspaper here said Wednesday.
   ‘We have ongoing discussions—ongoing and ongoing and ongoing—with the Chinese government about a park in Shanghai,’ Disney chief executive Robert Iger told The Standard.
   Disney officials were unavailable for comment on the report.
   The company has previously hinted at a Shanghai resort but has said no new park would be opened in mainland China before 2010.

Mittal Steel on Tuesday registered its hostile takeover bid for Arcelor with regulators in Luxembourg, where the European steelmaker has its headquarters, Justice Minister Luc Frieden said.
   The country’s Financial Sector Monitoring Commission will now review the deal and is expected either to approve or reject it within in a week.
   Mittal, the world’s biggest steel producer, launched an 18.6-billion-euro (22.3-billion-dollar) takeover bid for number two Arcelor late last month.
   Luxembourg authorities are reviewing the bid because Arcelor is incorporated in that country.

Oil prices fell through the key $63 support level in Asian trade Wednesday as geopolitical concerns faded, dealers said.
   New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, was down 23 cents at $62.86 a barrel after skidding $2.02 to close at $63.00 a barrel in the United States Tuesday.
   ‘Right around $63 is a very important support point,’ said Tony Nunan, manager for energy risk management at Mitsubishi Corp’s international petroleum business in Tokyo.
   Having broken through $63, market players are betting the price will drop to the next support level of about $60, he said.
   The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, voted Saturday to refer Tehran to the Security Council over its nuclear programme. In retaliation, Iran resumed uranium enrichment and stopped UN spot checks of its nuclear sites.
   Some dealers fear that possible UN sanctions against Iran may lead to supply disruptions from the oil-rich nation.
   The Islamic republic is the second-biggest producer within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and exports 2.7 million barrels of crude per day.
   Analyst consensus forecasts are for crude stocks to have risen by 8,00,000 barrels last week, while gasoline (petrol) reserves are predicted to have increased by 1.6 million barrels.
   John Kilduff, analyst at Fimat USA, agreed that some of the concerns about a standoff with Iran affecting the oil market have retreated.
   Nunan also warned that the geopolitical risk from Iran has not gone away and unrest in oil-rich Nigeria has also not been resolved.

Indian share prices closed 0.37 per cent lower as investors and funds locked in gains after hitting a record high in the previous trading session, dealers said.
   They said weak global market trends also dampened sentiment, led by concerns over possible firm US interest rates.
   The benchmark 30-share Sesex fell 37.46 points to 10,044.82. Losers led gainers 1,396 to 1,090 on turnover of 36.99 billion rupees.
   The Indian rupee closed flat against the dollar at 44.2. Against the euro, the rupee broadly flat at 52.9.
   'We saw a bit of a cooling-off after the markets had run up sharply in previous days. Buying support continues to be seen at lower levels,' said Manoj Kakaiya of brokerage ULJK Securities. The Sensex had risen 339 points in three consecutive trading days.
   'We expect choppy trading sessions ahead with heavy selling expected towards the close of the week,' Kakaiya said.
   Stock markets and banking institutions will be closed Thursday to observe a religious holiday.
   Metals, particularly aluminium stocks, fell on weakening global trends and profit-taking by mutual funds.
   Aluminium maker Hindalco closed three rupees or 1.79 per cent down at 165 rupees.
   Leading private-sector steel maker Tata Steel fell 16.2 rupees or 3.9 per cent to 392.1 rupees after Australia's BlueScope Steel cut its annual earnings guidance by a quarter due to higher Chinese output.
   Software major Infosys, however, gained on fund buying, closing 32 rupees or 1.12 per cent up at 2,903.1 rupees.

The Nikkei average fell 2.68 percent on Wednesday as Toyota Motor Corp slid after reporting earnings in line with market expectations while investors took profits on Advantest Corp and other recent gainers.
   A fall in oil prices hit oil developers such as Teikoku Oil Co. Ltd, while Mizuho Financial Group Inc extended its losses after its retail banking unit, Mizuho Bank, said one of its employees had been arrested on suspicion of leaking data on individual and corporate clients.
   “Now that earnings (reports) are mostly over, the market lacks incentives to trade on ... the market needed a rest anyway,” said Kenichi Azuma, an equity strategist at Cosmo Securities Co Ltd.
   Azuma expects the market to stay in a tight range for another month.
   The benchmark Nikkei fell 448.31 points to 16,272.68, posting its biggest one-day percentage drop since mid-January.

BB settles bid worth Tk 15cr in reverse repo auction
Bangladesh Bank Wednesday settled one bid of 1-day term worth Tk 15 crore in reverse repo auctions for banks and financial institutions, a statement said. The interest rate against the accepted bid was 5.5 percent per annum.
— BDNews

Vietnam eyes 15pc industrial
growth by 2010
Vietnam has targeted annual industrial growth of 15.2-15.5 per cent between 2006 and 2010 with focus on highly competitive and labor-incentive industries, local media reported Wednesday. Vice Industry Minister Bui Xuan Khu said focus would be on agriculture, forestry and seafood processing, textile, garment, footwear, electronics and shipbuilding, newspaper Vietnam News said. The industries should apply more advanced technologies and offer more professional training to their staff, he said.
— Xinhua

Karachi Port operations slow
Five ships carrying palm oil, general cargo and containers are expected to arrive at the outer anchorage on Wednesday, according to KPT sources. Cargo handling activity fell to a lowest level owing to lesser handling of both export and import tonnage, falling to 23,928 tons comprising 5,110 tons of export cargo and 18,818 tons of import tonnage. Berthing activity at the wharves was modest.
— Dawn

Portugal Telecom shares soar
Shares in former state monopoly Portugal Telecom soared by more than 18 per cent Tuesday after the Portuguese conglomerate Sonae launched a surprise 10.7-billion-euro ($12.8-billion) bid for the company. Sonae, led by Belmiro de Azevedo, Portugal's richest man, said in a statement late Monday that it would pay 9.50 euros a share.
— AFP