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The country is poised to attract billions of dollars of investment from oil-rich Middle East countries with Saudi prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Abdur Rahman Al Saud set to take over the Rupali Bank shortly, investment promotion officials said.
   However, officials of the Board of Investment have cautioned that opportunity of ‘investment influx’ from that region would largely depend on how the next government handles the potential investors without delay in taking decision on such investment proposals.
   The princes and business tycoons of the Middle East have been facing problems in investing or depositing money with banks and financial institutions of the West in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the twin towers in New York on September 11, 2001.
   The recent spate of price spiralling of petroleum products worldwide further brought for them a lot of surplus money — a situation that has created opportunities for countries like Bangladesh to attract investment.
   However, the government’s indecision over the offer by another Saudi prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s Kingdom Group to buy Sonargaon Hotel or Dhaka Sheraton Hotel has been seen as an opportunity lost for having an investment of $1 billion, the board officials pointed out.
   Investment by Egypt’s Orascom in Sheba Telecom, which is now renamed as banglalink, and commissioning of another mobile phone project Warid Telecom by Dhabi Group of the United Arab Emirates are the forerunners of Middle East companies, which are willing to enter afresh or expand their existing operations.
   Investment in these two telecom ventures would eventually exceed $800 million whereas the latter (Dhabi Group) has identified a number of other sectors such as infrastructures and hospitality for investment in Bangladesh, according to the investment board.
   Also, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, a subsidiary of the Kuwait government, conveyed the Bangladesh government that it wanted to invest in construction of oil pipeline in the Bay of Bengal to facilitate easy transport of the item from mother vessels to the seashore.
   Moreover, the Privatisation Commission officials are optimistic that the biggest investment from the Middle East would be from Prince Bandar. Only in Rupali Bank, he is set to invest $530 million — an amount of $330 million for buying the bank plus $200 million re-capitalisation — in next few months.
   Prince Bandar has been selected the highest bidder in the Rupali Bank privatisation bidding and the selection has now been awaiting approval by the prime minister. Prince Bandar’s offer at $330 million has paved the way for the first major takeover of a Bangladeshi local bank by a foreigner.
   In a meeting with the Bangladesh Bank before offering price in the tender process of the Rupali Bank, a delegation representing the Saudi prince expressed their willingness to invest several billion dollars in a number of areas including hospitality and energy, should the government of Bangladesh provide them with special facilities for investing money.
   ‘The Middle East countries have a lot of surplus money and we have got an opportunity of bringing that money for investing in various projects in our country. It will depend on how prudently we handle the proposals,’ the executive chairman of the investment board, Mahmudur Rahman, told New Age on Saturday.

Activists Friday condemned Singapore and Indonesia for clamping down on protests linked to a global financial meeting here next week and vowed to stage demonstrations in other cities.
   They accused Singapore of putting pressure on Indonesia to ban a conference in the nearby Indonesian island of Batam timed to coincide with the upcoming International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings here.
   Anti-globalisation activists had planned to hold their conference and protests in Batam, less than an hour by boat from Singapore, after Singapore police refused to relax a long-standing ban on public demonstrations.
   But the Batam conference now appears to have been scuttled by Indonesia, and Singapore has barred a number of non-government organisation (NGO) figures from entering the city-state.
   ‘It is very clear that the Batam officials’ position not to allow the conference was because of pressure from the Singaporean government,’ said Lidy Nacpil, international coordinator for Jubilee South, a key participant in the Batam conference.
   Manila-based Nacpil told AFP that until two days ago, national agencies in Jakarta and the Batam local authorities had been cooperative with the NGOs planning to hold the Batam conference.
   ‘But in the past 24-30 hours, there was a total turnaround,’ she said in a telephone interview from the Philippine capital.
   In Jakarta, foreign ministry spokesman Desra Percaya denied Indonesia had been pressured to ban the conference in Batam, one of nearby Indonesian islands that wealthy Singapore is helping to promote to international investors.
   The Singapore police Friday confirmed they have banned certain activists deemed to be ‘undesirable’ from entering the country, but had no comment on the allegations that Singapore had pressured Indonesia.
   They did give any names or say how many would be barred, but campaigners alleged about 20 NGO members who were already accredited by the World Bank and IMF to attend the September 19-20 annual meetings have now been ‘blacklisted’.
   ‘Every country reserves the right to determine whether a foreigner would be eligible for entry into the country,’ police said.
   ‘We are condemning them both,’ said Nacpil, referring to Singapore and Indonesia.
   Her group Jubilee South brings together 85 groups in 40 countries in the Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa.
   ‘We also should not forget that the World Bank and the IMF bear part of the responsibility because of having chosen Singapore in the first place, knowing fully well their track record as far as protests are concerned,’ she added.
   With their meeting in Batam banned, international NGOs will now focus on mobilising protests in key cities.

Bangladesh knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association is going to set up soon a research and training institute with support from GTZ for development of the country’s apparel industry.
   Sources said that GTZ, the German government’s development agency, would provide financial support partially to the project— ‘Institute of Apparel and Technology’.
   The knitwear association has already started work on the project and rented in August a floor beside its Dhaka office.
   The association president, Fuzlul Hoque, said, ‘We want to start the research institute primarily from October though it could not be fully developed’ adding ‘The country has no research institute in the apparel sector.’
   He said that the institute would undertake market research on the apparel sector, its development and also provide training to persons on management and publish research papers.
   He also said BKMEA also seeks fund for further development of the institute from donors.
   Some of the readymade garment entrepreneurs felt the need for market research and said entrepreneurs in this sector are to be acquainted with new markets to gain better access and also diversify their products.

The reduction of import duties on some items is unlikely to have any positive impact on prices of essentials imported from India as traders of the next-door neighbour adjust the export prices to keep their profit margins intact, importers and trade forwarders said.
   The government reduced five per cent duty on the import of onion, gram and chickpeas on Thursday as a measure to check price hike ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.
   Immediate past general secretary of the Clearing and Forwarding Agents’ Association of Hilli Land Port in Dinajpur Shahinur Islam Mandal said Saturday the reduction of duties will have no impact in case of import items from India in controlling market prices.
   He said the Indian exporters’ syndicates always increase export prices of commodities soon after the tax reduction by the Bangladesh government and Bangladeshi importers are forced to open LCs as per the increased value of commodities re-fixed by the Indian exporters.
   As a result, the Indian exporters become the beneficiaries of reduction of import taxes on any item by Bangladesh government. In the past, the Indian exporters’ syndicates re-fixed and increased prices of their export items like sugar, rice, pulses, onions and all other items whenever Bangladesh government reduced import taxes on those items, he said.
   He said, ‘Reduction of import taxes on any item helps the Bangladeshi markets and consumers only in case of commodities imported from other countries except India as the exporters of other countries never increased prices of their export items like that of the Indians whenever Bangladesh government reduced import taxes on any item.’
   The Indian exporters immediately increased export prices of the concerned commodities when the Bangladesh government reduced five per cent duty on the import of onion, gram, and chickpea’. Besides, there are internal price hike of these commodities in India itself this time, he said.
   ‘Though it takes sometime for arrival of the import goods from abroad to give positive results it will have no effect in cases of the goods to be imported from India to check the situation,’ Shahinur said.
   Some local traders told BSS that the government decision of reducing duty on some essential commodities might bring some impacts on the market situation ahead of the Ramadan.
   Shahinur, however, said the recent government decision of waiving or reducing duties on importing rice, wheat, edible oil, lentil, gram, motor dal, onion, garlic, turmeric, chili and ginger will, however, not help in cases of importing the same from India.
   A number of businessmen at Hilli Land Port supported the views expressed by him, adding that the Indian exporters have become the beneficiaries of the tax reduction.
   At Rangpur Pourasabha Market Saturday, most of the essentials were found selling at higher prices than the previous week’s levels.
   District marketing officer of Rangpur Anwarul Islam said special measures of monitoring the market situation have been taken and a meeting in this connection will be held at the conference room of the deputy commissioner here on September 13.

Leading economic indicators suggest that growth is set to slow in the world’s biggest economies, while major developing powers India, Russia and Brazil continue to expand, the OECD said on Friday.
   The OECD composite leading indicator decreased to 109.5 in July from 109.8 in June, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said. Data for India, Russia and Brazil indicated that ‘steady expansion’ lay ahead, while indicators suggested ‘a slightly weakening outlook for China’.
   For the 30 OECD members, which do not include China, India or Russia, the six-month rate of change was lower for the fourth month in a row.
   The same measure was lower for China and India; rose for Brazil and was steady for Russia.

The global economy continues to grow briskly but the risks of an economic downturn have increased since April, the head of the International Monetary Fund Rodrigo Rato said on Friday.
   ‘Global imbalances have increased, energy prices have increased and certainly the pressures of protectionist positions and the not successful turnaround of the Doha round are all elements that have increased,’ Rato told a news conference after a speech to business and political leaders.
   ‘In that respect, although we are witnessing a strong growth performance, the downturn risk has increased since April,’ he added.
   In its semiannual World Economic Outlook in April, the IMF forecast global growth of 4.9 per cent in 2006 and said risks were slanted more to the downside by growing economic imbalances.
   In his speech, the IMF chief said the world economy had shown resilience despite higher oil prices, interest rate rises and some market turbulence.
   Rato warned of inflation risks, fears that high oil prices could feed into inflation, and setbacks in the Doha trade talks. The dangers of a disorderly adjustment of global imbalances could be exacerbated by these risks, he added.
   Rato said the US economy was slowing to a more sustainable pace, while elsewhere growth was encouraging.
   He said he was troubled by the failure of countries to reach an agreement in the Doha trade talks, adding that trade has been a cornerstone of world growth for six decades.
   ‘There is now a need to ensure that the current impasse marks a brief pause, rather than a collapse, in the negotiations,’ Rato said.
   He said upcoming IMF-led multilateral discussions among officials from leading eco-
   nomies will focus on how to narrow current account imbalances while maintaining robust growth.
   The IMF has been under pressure from its 184 member countries over its effectiveness in addressing the imbalances problem, caused by the large U.S. deficits and massive surpluses elsewhere, including in emerging Asia and in oil exporting countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia.

OPEC meeting is due in Vienna on Monday. The cartel is likely to maintain status quo in oil output. Experts say the oil price hike that the market witnessed during the past three years may not recur. The consumers remain vulnerable to the vagaries of  the fast-changing global scenario.
   The market analysts are not prone to make rash forecast. They advise caution. They expect gasoline price to drop to $2.50 a gallon from $2.70 gallon in US market. The oil price has tripled during the past three years.
   OPEC provides a third of world’s oil need daily. If OPEC slashes its production it may provoke a backlash all over the world.
   An expert said OPEC is happy to take the price the market is giving them. The forecasters predict that the oil price is likely to drop further in the absence of supply shocks.
   The world oil demand totals 86.3 million barrels a day. The supply of oil will increase with more oil coming to the markets from non-Opec countries. The rise in oil output in non-OPEC countries is likely to increase to 900.000 barrels a day. The OPEC last revised its output ceiling in July 2005 raising production by 500,000 barrels a day to 28 millions. The increased production in Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Libya has offset the lowering of production in Iran, Venezuela, Indonesia and Niger.

Five winners — one each for five categories — have been selected for Citigroup Micro-entrepreneurship Awards programme launched by Citigroup Foundation.
   The awards will be given in five categories - ‘Best Innovative Micro Business’, ‘Best Woman Micro-entrepreneur’, ‘Best Micro-entrepreneur’, ‘Best Microfinance Institution’ and ‘Best Programme for the Hardcore Poor ’ of the year.
   The selection was made by the advisory council from more than 565 applications.
   The winners will be finally announced on September 19, says a press release.
   This award, managed by Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation and Citibank, NA Bangladesh, is aimed at recognising unsung heroes who have literally graduated from microcredit taker into a microentreprenuer and largely contributing to the economic growth of Bangladesh.

Europe will ‘pay a heavy price’ if it does not deepen ties with Asia as the region strengthens links with key trading partners like the United States, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.
   ‘Europe has many urgent priorities but it must strive to deepen its relationship with Asia,’ Lee said in a speech in London late Thursday ahead of a summit of Asian and European leaders in Helsinki, Finland on September 10-11.
   ‘If Europe is left out of Asia at a time when the region is growing and linking up with partners all over the world, it will pay a heavy price, not just in economic growth and vitality, but also in its international influence.’
   Copies of Lee’s speech were released by the government here.
   Lee said Europe’s engagement with Asia must go beyond China and India to include Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a 10-member regional bloc.
   ‘This way, Europe can participate fully in the transformation of Asia, build up its stake in the region and play a full role in an important part of the world,’ he said.
   ASEAN, which is negotiating free-trade agreements with China, India and Japan, also wants to launch talks with the European Union.
   Asian countries are eager to ride on the rapid growth of regional giants China and India but are also keen to expand their ties with developed nations like the United States—the ultimate destination of many Asian exports—and Europe, he said.
   ‘The US will be the world’s most advanced and powerful economy for many decades to come,’ said Lee, also citing Washington’s role in maintaining regional stability.
   The Singapore leader said that a European stake in Asia’s growth would reduce the chances of friction and protectionism between the two continents.
   ‘Without such a stake, at the very least Europe will miss out on Asia’s opportunities, or worse it may see Asia as an economic threat, take countermeasures to protect itself and so weaken the global trading system.’
   Despite several risks to economic growth, among them religious extremism and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, Asia’s transformation will continue and new opportunities will open up, Lee said.
   Protectionism is a risk, he said, as he called for a revival of global free trade talks under the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
   ‘Without the forward momentum of a new trade round, we risk slipping backwards to beggar-thy-neighbour protectionism,’ he warned.
   ‘For now, the stars do not seem aligned to get the Doha Round back on track because of the political timetables in key countries but failure would leave us all worse off.’
   Lee said it was crucial for all participants, including the European Union, ‘to do their utmost to revive the round and secure a positive outcome.’

The port of Beirut welcomed its first big cargo ships Saturday since Israel ended its punishing eight-week blockade, a major boost for an import-hungry country where 80 per cent of goods arrive by sea.
   ‘Two boats arrived at 2:00 am (2300 GMT Friday) and we immediately started to unload,’ said the port’s director, Hassan Kraytem. ‘We’re back in business and everyone is working.’
   Kraytem said two smaller vessels had arrived Friday and three ships were expected Sunday.
   By mid-morning, the two container ships were almost completely unloaded and activity slowed nearly to a halt along the two kilometres (1.2 miles) of wharves and freight yards.
   Lebanese police and soldiers outnumbered dockworkers, and security was reinforced by 250 French soldiers who had landed early in the day.
   They were a logistics unit tasked with preparing for the arrival of a 900-man combat battalion in the next couple of weeks.
   The lifting of the naval blockade a day after Israel dropped restrictions on air traffic was seen as an essential step in reviving the country’s shattered economy following a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah that ended August 14.
   ‘Beirut port is a reflection of Lebanon’s economy,’ said Kraytem. ‘We are an essential part of the economy.’
   Not only do 80 per cent of imports arrive here, but 60 per cent of exports leave from the port as well
   One economist told AFP the outlook for 2006 was grim.
   ‘While we had expected GDP (gross domestic product) growth of five to six per cent, it will undoubtedly be only some 2.5 per cent as the result of the blockade, or even zero, if you take into account the direct and indirect losses caused by the conflict,’ he said.
   International aid would give the country a boost, but ‘there is another blockade, an unseen one’, the analyst added.
   He pointed to a ‘’blockade’ on investment and on confidence, which cannot be lifted until there is a definitive peace and a resolution to the political situation in Lebanon.’
   Kraytem said it was hard to calculate losses to the port itself from the 34-day war, and the 58-day blockade that continued until Friday.
   ‘We hope that in the next two months we will be back to normal,’ he said, explaining that monthly revenues were usually in the neighborhood of eight to 10 million dollars.
   The privately owned Beirut Port Authority had forecast traffic of 700,000 20-foot containers in 2006. The figure for June was a record 60,078 containers, but the affect of the war, which broke out on July 12, was evident in that month’s figures of 20,000.
   And in early August, of course, there was nothing.
   From the window of his office, Kraytem pointed to thousands of empty containers stacked up along roughly two-thirds of the port’s length.
   The port, which usually received six ships a day, was also an essential gateway for merchandise headed for neighbouring countries.

Palestinian businessmen appealed Saturday for armed groups to halt attacks near crossing points into the Gaza Strip in order to allow Israel to reopen them and boost economic activity.
   ‘We address you, the national and Islamic forces ... so that you take serious and courageous measures to put an end to the deterioration of the situation and prevent the (Israeli) occupation from continuing the blockade,’ the main business groups said in a joint statement.
   They asked militant groups not to make border crossings a part of their conflict with Israel, a reference to repeated attacks at Karni, the frequently closed transit point for all goods entering Gaza.
   Gaza Chamber of Commerce official Mohammed Al-Qidwa told a press conference the Palestinians themselves were to blame for the blockade.
   ‘We are the ones who gave (Israel) the reasons and opportunities to close the crossing points,’ Qidwa said.
   ‘Without security, there can be no crossing points,’ he added, stressing that the blockade had forced many companies to transfer their activities abroad.
   The business groups said the situation had ‘completely paralysed the industrial, agricultural and construction sectors and caused many companies and workshops that provide work for 30,000 people to close’.
   Recently, the Israeli army announced the discovery of a tunnel dug between the Gaza Strip and the Karni terminal, saying it was intended for use in launching attacks.
   Since March 12, Palestinian workers have been banned from entering Israel.
   Gaza’s only link with the outside world bypassing Israel—the Rafah crossing with Egypt—has been open for just a few days since Israel launched a massive offensive against the territory after the capture of a soldier by militants in June.

South Korea and the European Union signed on Saturday a cooperation agreement covering Seoul’s participation in Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation project.
   The agreement was inked in the presence of visiting South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun during an EU-South Korea summit taking place ahead of the Asia-Europe Meeting on Sunday and Monday in Helsinki.
   Europe hopes the Galileo project, scheduled to be operational by 2010, will rival the reigning global positioning system (GPS) from the United States.
   Unlike GPS, which is controlled by the US military, Galileo will stay under civilian control, increasing the EU’s strategic independence.
   The new system is expected to be more accurate than GPS, giving mariners, pilots, drivers and others an almost pinpoint-accurate navigational tool.
   The project represents an investment of 3.8 billion euros (4.8 billion dollars), which has prompted the EU to seek financial partners.

Volkswagen AG, Europe’s biggest automaker, said Friday it was open to labour union demands for job guarantees if employees agree to work longer for the same pay.
   Volkswagen is seeking drastic cuts in production costs for its VW-brand vehicles such as its flagship Golf, which are selling strongly but bringing in little profit.
   In return, the IG Metall union wants the Wolfsburg-based company to guarantee production levels at the six factories in western Germany that make VW cars — protecting jobs and ensuring that the poorly utilized plants stay open.
   Before preliminary talks on Friday, VW personnel chief Horst Neumann said the company was ‘bringing something along’ to the talks.
   ‘We are ready to bring the subject of production onto the right track,’ Neumann told reporters as he entered a hotel in Hanover where the negotiations were being held.

The Group of 20 developing nations will meet here Saturday and Sunday with the chief World Trade Organisation negotiators to set the stage for the next Doha Round of free trade talks.
   The gathering of government ministers ‘is a first step’ towards relaunching Doha talks suspended in July, Roberto Azevedo, the head of the Brazilian foreign ministry’s economics department, told reporters earlier this week.
   The goal of the weekend meeting is to send a clear political message that ‘there must be a relaunching of the Doha Round as soon as possible,’ and to ‘set the grounds’ for starting negotiations, he added.
   The G20 members want to show they are up to the challenge. Taking part in the meeting will be the G20, headed by Brazil; representatives of the less developed countries; the Africa-Caribbean-Pacific group; developing nations in the Group of 33; and the WTO’s Africa group.
   The G20 actually has 21 members: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
   US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, Japan’s Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa and WTO Director General Pascal Lamy will also attend the meeting.
   Brazil believes that the Doha Round of world trade talks can still be salvaged. The Doha Round was supposed to dismantle worldwide barriers in agricultural and industrial trade and use commerce to give developing countries a boost.
   The developing countries will meet on Saturday to discuss the issues. Then on Sunday they will receive the representatives of wealthy countries in separate meetings.
   No one expects an unblocking of Doha’s tangled negotiations; Azevedo said it is a meeting designed for ‘reflection’ rather than for ‘decisions or negotiations.’
   But Schwab indicated that the United States was also holding out hope for the Doha talks.
   ‘I am actively seeking a new way forward for the Doha Round,’ Schwab said Thursday.
   In late July, Lamy suspended Doha Round talks after negotiators from six major players, including the United States, the European Union, Brazil and India, failed to hammer out the framework of an accord after five years.
   At the same time, he asked WTO members not to withdraw their existing trade liberalization offers.
   ‘Frankly, the G6 has not been able to deliver a solution,’ Schwab said in a statement.
   ‘We need to add new voices to this dialogue and find open-minded trading partners that share the goal of an ambitious round.’
   Schwab repeated, however, that the United States had proposed ‘bold’ reform of its farming policies and now it was time for others to reciprocate, especially developing nations on market access.
   Lamy said in remarks published Wednesday that efforts to revive the stalled talks would enter a ‘crucial period’ from mid-November until early next year.
   The US Congress will decide whether to extend the US government’s ‘all or nothing’ negotiating mandate in the middle of 2007, and it is unlikely to do so unless there is some prospect of a deal, Lamy told the state-run China Daily.
   The G20’s weekend talks will be followed by a summit of the leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa.

Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm voiced caution Saturday about reforming the way small countries are represented at the International Monetary Fund, amid growing calls for a joint eurozone seat.
   Advocates of reform have long noted that some small European countries like the Netherlands and Belgium
   enjoy a proportionately bigger say than emerging economic powers like China and India because they represent groups of other small countries. However, a recently announ-
   ced reform to give more influence to big developing coun-
   tries at the IMF has re-ignited debate in Europe about pooling the say of the 12 eurozone
   countries on the international stage.
   ‘We hope to stick with the system we have now,’ Zalm said ahead of a meeting with his EU counterparts, adding that the current arrangements were ‘far better than having big blocs standing against each other in the IMF’.

Asian leaders will likely use their summit in Finland with European states to push for a revival of global trade liberalisation talks even as they press ahead with their own plans for a massive Asia-Pacific free-trade area, analysts said.
   Talks on liberalising global trade were suspended in July largely due to disagreements over subsidies given by industrialised nations, including European Union (EU) members, to their farmers.
   A senior Southeast Asian trade official said Asian leaders are likely to raise the issue of jump-starting the World Trade Organisations (WTO) talks with their European counterparts during the September 10-11 meeting in Helsinki.
   The Asian leaders could point to moves to link their economies through a slew of bilateral free-trade pacts which is hoped to lay the basis for a giant regionwide agreement, said the official, who asked not to be named.
   ‘It will not be a warning but they could impress on Europe that things are getting busy in the Asian trade front. Even the United States is trying to get on board,’ he said.
   At a meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) trade ministers in Malaysia last month, the United States signed a trade and investment pact with the regional grouping.
   That accord is widely seen as a precursor to a full-fledged free-trade pact between ASEAN and the world’s biggest economy.
   At the same meeting, Japan also proposed the creation of a free-trade zone which would group all 10 ASEAN states as well as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India—all members of the recently-formed East Asia Summit group.
   Although the proposal received only a lukewarm response, it could still be revisited in the future, especially if the WTO talks remain in limbo, the official said.
   Pressure is also mounting on the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to launch negotiations for a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific to serve as a possible alternative in case the WTO fails and to consolidate the mushrooming bilateral and regional free trade pacts.
   The APEC Business Advisory Council, in a report to APEC leaders holding their annual summit in Hanoi this November, said ‘it would be now timely’ to seriously consider such a free-trade area.
   ‘ABAC is disappointed by the suspension of the Doha Round and the strong possibility of its failure,’ said the report, seen by AFP.
   The 21-member APEC, which accounts for nearly half of world trade and 60 per cent of global economic output, includes the United States, China, Russia and other key economies.
   Moves to form an APEC-wide free trade zone could prompt Europe to ‘think hard’ about its WTO position, a Southeast Asian business leader said.
   The Asian participants in Asia Europe Meeting are: Cambodia, China, Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Myanmar, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

A US legislation to normalise trade ties with its former enemy Vietnam may be delayed due to election year heat, prompting warnings by lawmakers and trade lobby groups of a setback for American image and businesses in Asia.
   Two US senators have sought the personal intervention of US President George W. Bush to ensure that the bill granting Vietnam Permanent Normal Trade Relations is passed before his trip to the APEC summit in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi in November.
   ‘We believe that it is imperative for US prestige in Asia that Congress, with your administration’s active support, move to consider and pass this widely-supported legislation before you join APECs 20 other leaders in Hanoi this November,’ Democratic Senator Max Baucus and his Republican counterpart Gordon Smith, authors of the bill, said in the letter to Bush on Friday.
   Granting Vietnam PNTR would be ‘a move of great historic and commercial value,’ they reminded the US leader.
   Bush’s Republican party, which controls both the House of Representatives and Senate, seems reluctant to bring up any trade bills to the floor prior to the mid-term November Congressional elections due to other priorities, and scheduling and time constraints.
   A vote on the legislation, which grants Vietnam permanent most-favoured nation status, is unlikely to be taken before Congress adjourns later this month ahead of the November 7 polls, an industry publication, Inside US Trade, reported Friday.
   After the elections, Congress is likely to resume on the week of November 13, leaving only a small window before Bush attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on November 18-19. Elections results also could change the political equation in Congress.
   Vietnam, whose human rights record has come under constant questioning by Western groups, is currently ineligible for PNTR because it is subject to provisions of US law which withhold the status from certain communist or ex-communist countries.

A series of scandals at oil giant BP Plc’s US operations, has shaken investors’ faith in its head John Browne and prompted some to re-examine the record of a man often rated among the world’s most respected CEOs.
   Revelations of sloppy maintenance at key oil pipelines in Alaska, investigations into alleged manipulation of fuel markets and a string of fatal accidents at a Texas refinery
   have acutely embarrassed a
   company which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars
   cultivating a green, ethical image.
   The troubles have also hit London-based BP’s shares. The premium rating BP stock enjoyed to the sector has evaporated in the past several months, analysts said.
   Browne’s personal reputation has also taken a drubbing.
   Until recently he was one of the world’s most admired CEOs. In 2001 British Prime Minister
   Tony Blair gave him the honorific title ‘Lord Browne of Madingley’ and appointed him to the UK’s upper house of parliament.
   His early recognition of the dangers of global warming endeared Browne to environmentalists. He sits on the board of environmental group Conservation International.
   The takeover of rivals cheaply in the late 1990s when oil was at rock bottom, and a gutsy move into Russia in 2003, buying 50 per cent of TNK, led him to be seen as a visionary in the oil business.
   Now Browne has become a whipping boy for politicians, environmentalists and even oil industry executives.
   His tenure at the helm of the world’s second-largest fully publicly-traded oil company by market capitalization is being re-examined with a more critical eye.
   ‘From a management credibility perspective, the clouds have definitely not been cleared yet .. People will look with more scrutiny at his track record,’ said Dirk Hoozemans who helps manage $14 billion in energy stocks, including BP shares, at Robeco Asset Management in Rotterdam.
   Analysts are asking if the big mergers and tight cost control for which Browne was previously lauded also created underlying problems.

Hewlett-Packard chairwoman Patricia Dunn clung to her job on Friday as she was battered with accusations that she ordered a probe in which board members and reporters were illegally spied on.
   California Attorney General Bill Lockyer vowed to prosecute wrongdoers at the end of his investigation into whether private detectives hired by HP impersonated board members and journalists to get private telephone records.
   Dunn had detectives hired to ferret out who had been leaking information from board meetings to members of the press, according to the veteran Silicon Valley computer company.
   Lockyer’s office launched an investigation about a month ago after getting word that telephone records of board members were obtained by a ruse known as ‘pretexting,’ calling the telecom company and posing as customers.
   ‘We believe a crime has been committed and we are just trying to find out who did it,’ Lockyer spokesman Tom Dressler told AFP on Friday. ‘We are aggressively pursuing it.’
   While no law on the California books specifically outlawed ‘pretexting,’ the deception violated laws regarding identification theft and unauthorized access to computer data, Dressler said.
   A law awaiting signature by state Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would make ‘pretexting’ illegal.
   Dunn denied authorizing illicit tactics and said that she would bow to the will of the board if it wanted her to resign.
   The HP board planned to meet on Sunday, according to HP spokeswoman Emma Wischhusen, who gave no further information about the gathering.
   Dunn was ‘appalled’ at what happened and planned to apologize to the journalists, Wischhusen told AFP.
   ‘We are fully cooperating with the attorney general’s office and providing any material they request from us,’ Wischhusen said.
   Dunn followed in the footsteps of former chief executive officer Carly Fiorina in trying to find out how information from supposedly confidential board meetings was channelled to the press, according to HP.
   There has been a ‘long history’ of company information being leaked, HP chief executive officer Mark Hurd said in a message to employees on Friday.
   Dunn launched an investigation with the board’s knowledge and a private detective firm was enlisted, the company said.

Japan and the Philippines will sign a free-trade pact on Saturday, after overcoming the thorny issue of Filipina nurses seeking work in the world’s second-biggest economy, officials said.
   Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Philippine President Gloria Arroyo are to sign the economic partnership agreement in Helsinki ahead of the two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) that begins Sunday, Japanese government officials said.
   The deal with the Philippines will be the first of its kind for Japan because it includes landmark provisions on the movement of labour.
   Under the agreement, a limited number of Philippine nurses and caregivers will be allowed to work in Japan on condition they pass Japanese qualification examinations.
   The trade pact will also remove tariff duties on more than 90 per cent of trade in goods between the two countries.
   However, some Philippine agriculture exports to Japan, including tropical fruits, and some Japanese exports of industrial goods to the Philippines will remain subject to tariffs.

The US Treasury Department announced Friday that it had blacklisted one of Iran’s largest banks, Bank Saderat, from having any links with US-owned banks.
   The move effectively cuts Iran’s state-owned Bank Saderat off from conducting any business linked to the US financial system.
   The Treasury Department said it blacklisted Saderat because of its ‘support for terrorism.’
   ‘Bank Saderat facilitates Iran’s transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations each year,’ said Stuart Levey, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
   ‘We will no longer allow a bank like Saderat to do business in the American financial system, even indirectly,’ Levey said.
   According to the US Treasury, the bank is one of Iran’s largest with some 3,400 branch offices.
   The Treasury also said the bank had transferred funds to other ‘terrorist organisations’ including Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Ford Motor Co said on Friday it would pay veteran aerospace executive Alan Mulally $18.5 million to join the troubled automaker as its new chief executive in addition to an annual salary of $2 million.
   The one-time payments include a hiring bonus of $7.5 million and $11 million to offset the compensation Mulally gave up for ending his tenure as head of Boeing Co’s profitable commercial plane division, Ford said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
   Mulally, 61, was also granted stock options worth about $10.5 million and $5.26 million in restricted stock grants, according to details provided by Ford.
   A clause in Mulally’s contract also entitles him to a payment of $11 million if Ford undergoes a change in control or he is let go for any reason other than ‘cause’ before 2011, Ford said in its regulatory filing.
   Ford has also agreed to waive the vesting requirement on Mulally’s stock options and restricted stock grants in such a case. The SEC filing did not specify what would constitute a cause for termination under the contract.

DaimlerChrysler AG officials said Friday they were disappointed by the decision of the United Auto Workers to scuttle a series of concessions designed to help the company reduce the cost of health-care benefits.
   John Franciosi, senior vice president of employee relations, confirmed that the Chrysler Group had failed to reach agreement with the UAW on health care.
   ‘We were advised by the UAW that based on its financial analysis, it did not believe its members would ratify an agreement that achieved economic parity with deals reached at General Motors and Ford,’ said Franciosi.
   Franciosi added the company was prepared to accept a proposal that did not include the full package of concessions obtained by GM and Ford negotiators.

Crude oil futures tumbled to five-month low points on easing supply concerns this week, leading to an erosion of gains won by precious metals.
   On Friday, the Commodities Research Bureau’s index of 17 commodities fell to 322.18 points, from 328.90 points the previous week.
   GOLD: The price of gold dropped to the lowest level for one and a half months, close to 600 dollars per ounce, owing to weak oil prices and a rebounding dollar.
   Gold is seen as a good hedge against rising inflation, which to a large extent tends to be fuelled by high oil prices.
   Gold struck 640.58 dollars per ounce on Wednesday, but slid to 607.20 dollars Friday—the lowest level since July 24.
   On the London Bullion Market, gold prices slid to 610.00 dollars per ounce at Friday’s late fixing, from 621.05 dollars a week earlier.
   SILVER: Silver prices followed a similar path set by sister metal gold.
   After striking 13.27 dollars per ounce on Tuesday—the highest point since May 30 — it fell to 11.99 dollars on Friday.
   On the London Bullion Market, silver prices eased to 12.22 dollars per ounce at Friday’s fixing, from 12.75 dollars the previous week.
   PALLADIUM AND PLATINUM: Palladium and platinum also experienced a volatile week’s trading. ‘The price correction in gold and silver led to similar pressure’ on palladium and platinum, said James Moore, an analyst for specialist website TheBullionDesk.com
   On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum declined to 1,222 dollars per ounce at the late fixing Friday, from 1,241 dollars the previous week. Palladium decreased to 320 dollars per ounce on Friday from 343 dollars the previous week.
   BASE METALS: Base metal prices mostly gained, with copper rising above 8,000 dollars per tonne for the first time in a month.
   Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange rose to 8,110 dollars per tonne on Thursday, the highest reading since August 10.
   Copper prices rose also despite full production being resumed this week at the world’s biggest copper mine in Chile after a strike there lasting almost one month.
   On Friday, three-month copper prices on the London Metal Exchange jumped to 7,851 dollars per tonne from 7,601 dollars the previous week.
   Three-month aluminium prices climbed to 2,640 dollars per tonne from 2,497 dollars.
   Three-month nickel prices fell to 28,250 dollars per tonne from 28,800 dollars.
   Three-month lead prices gained to 1,313 dollars per tonne from 1,232 dollars.
   Three-month zinc prices advanced to 3,580 dollars per tonne from 3,451 dollars.
   Three-month tin prices increased to 9,205 dollars per tonne from 9,015 dollars.
   OIL: Brent North Sea crude on Friday tumbled below 66.0 dollars per barrel for the first time since April 4, while New York’s light sweet crude hit 66.69 dollars—the lowest point since April 7.
   Oil prices fell largely owing to expectations that Iran would not face economic sanctions over its nuclear programme any time soon.
   At about 1530 GMT on Friday in New York, a barrel of crude for delivery in October slumped to 66.75 dollars per barrel from 70.35 dollars the previous week.
   In London, a barrel of Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October dived to 66.15 dollars per barrel, from 70.40 dollars.
   RUBBER: Rubber prices extended losses as speculators continued to exit the market owing to adequate supplies.
   On TOCOM, Tokyo’s commodity exchange, natural rubber for February delivery dropped to 219.80 yen per kilogramme on Friday, from 242.10 yen a week earlier.
   Singapore’s RSS 3 January contract fell to 183.75 US cents per kilogramme on Friday, from 201.25 US cents a week earlier.
   COCOA: Cocoa prices steadied.
   On the LIFFE, London’s futures exchange, the price of cocoa for December delivery edged up to 849 pounds per tonne on Friday, from 845 pounds a week earlier.
   On the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT), the December contract eased to 1,492 dollars per tonne on Friday, from 1,506 dollars a week earlier.
   COFFEE: Coffee prices struck a fresh multi-year high point on concern over possible supply shortages in Vietnam and unfavourable weather in leading producer Brazil.
   On LIFFE, Robusta quality for November delivery gained to 1,543 dollars per tonne on Friday, from 1,540 dollars a week earlier.
   On NYBOT, Arabica for December delivery fell to 105.50 US cents per pound on Friday, from 107.00 cents.
   SUGAR: Sugar prices rebounded strongly, especially in London where they climbed above 400 dollars per tonne on fund buying.
   The previous week they had hit fresh low points for 2006 owing to abundant supplies.
   In London on Friday, the price of white sugar reached 422.80 dollars per tonne—the highest point for one month.
   On LIFFE, the price of a tonne of white sugar for October delivery jumped to 420 dollars, from 375.80 dollars a week earlier.
   On NYBOT, the price of unrefined sugar for October delivery stood at 11.98 US cents per pound, from 11.75 cents.
   GRAINS AND SOYA: The price of wheat hit the highest level since May 2004 in London—reaching 88.50 pounds per tonne Friday—owing to concerns that European harvest yields may not be as good as hoped.
   On the Chicago Board of Trade, the price of wheat for September delivery rose to 4.04 US dollars per bushel on Friday, from 4.00 dollars a week earlier.
   Maize for September delivery climbed to 2.32 dollars per bushel on Friday, from 2.30 dollars.
   September-dated soyabean meal—used in animal feed—dipped to 5.41 dollars per tonne on Friday, from 5.42 dollars.
   On the LIFFE, the price of a tonne of wheat for November delivery advanced to 88.00 pounds on Friday, from 86.70 pounds.
   COTTON: Cotton prices slipped further owing to forecasts of a healthy world harvest, even amid an expected downwards revision to the US harvest caused by recent dry weather.

Delta recalls pilots, attendants
Bankrupt Delta Air Lines Inc said on Friday it is recalling up to 65 pilots and about 200 flight attendants as it expands operations. Delta, which entered bankruptcy protection last September under heavy fuel and labour costs, also said it is on track to exit bankruptcy in the first half of 2007. The recall brings Delta’s staff of active pilots to 6,060, boosting it by about 1 per cent. It brings the number of Delta’s active flight attendants to about 11,200, an increase of about 2 per cent. This is the second pilot recall for Delta this year, with 64 pilots being recalled in June.
— Reuters

McDonald’s starts Chipotle share swap offer
McDonald’s Corp said on Friday it started an offer for shareholders to swap its stock for Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc shares, part of the burger giant’s plan to shed its remaining Chipotle stake. McDonald’s, which began its Chipotle spin-off in January with an initial public offering of 7.9 million shares, said in April it would sell the rest of its stake in the Mexican-style chain to focus on its flagship hamburger restaurants. Chipotle shares, which have more than doubled in value since the IPO, fell as much as 8 per cent following news of the impending increase in the number of floated Chipotle shares.
— Reuters

Conrad Black pleads not guilty
Toppled media baron Conrad Black on Friday pleaded not guilty in US federal court to a third round of charges accusing him of looting his newspaper properties. The other former executives also pleaded not guilty to the additional charges. Black and the others have denied accusations they siphoned money and misused perks from media holding companies controlled by Black. They are set to go on trial for racketeering, fraud and other charges in March. Black’s former lieutenant, David Radler, has pleaded guilty to a single fraud count and agreed to testify against the others.
— Reuters