South Africa to speed up trade agreement with India

JOHANNESBURG, July 26: The South African Government is to press its regional partners in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) to speed up the finalization of the preferential trade agreement with India that could double the current $6-billion trade between the two countries.

SACU consists of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. “We have been going far too slowly on the preferential trade agreement,” South African Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies conceded to captains of business and industry from India and South Africa at the closing session on Saturday of the Doing Business with India Conference organized here by the Indian mission and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). “We are saying where can we give each other preferences. Let us try to accommodate each other in ways that are mutually beneficial, so this trade agreement is very important,” he added.

“The reasons that I heard it is moving so slowly has to do with the dynamics of SACU itself,” Davis said. “We have to negotiate trade agreements with our partners in SACU. We are going to insist that this matter of negotiating with India is given the priority it deserves and that we are not going to accept any further blockages in the process. That you can take as a very firm commitment — we’re going to make this thing happen,” he added.

Davies said that both he and India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma had committed to doing everything that they could to remove any blockages in boosting trade and investment between the two countries. Analysts here believe that the current India-South Africa trade of $6 billion could be easily doubled with a preferential trade agreement. (IANS)

PM, Antony pay homage to Kargil martyrs

NEW DELHI, July 26: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister AK Antony visited the Amar Jawan Jyoti here on Sunday morning and paid homage to the Kargil war martyrs on the 10th anniversary of the armed conflict with Pakistan.
The prime minister laid a wreath at the memorial to the unknown soldier at the India Gate. “I join the entire nation in paying homage to the martyrs of the Kargil war. They sacrificed their lives in defence of Indian unity and integrity,” the prime minister said.

The prime minister is to head to Visakhapatnam later on Sunday to launch the country’s first indigenous nuclear powered submarine. The face-off in the snow-peaked mountains of Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir in the summer of 1999 had brought India and Pakistan virtually to the brink of their fourth full-scale war. An estimated 530 Indian soldiers were killed in two months of fighting before the Pakistanis were pushed back across the international border. (IANS)

Government gives approval to GSAT-11 communication satellite

Government gives approval to GSAT-11 communication satellite
Date : Jul-24-2009 12:27

The Government has given its nod for the development of Rs 500 crore advanced communication satellite to provide telecom links with small Ku-band terminals operating across the country.

The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who chaired the meeting of the Union cabinet last night, gave its approval for the design and development of GSAT-11 communication satellite, which is planned to be realized in 30 months.

The GSAT-11 is an advanced communication satellite which will be a high capacity multi-team Ku/Ka-bank spacecraft. This craft is configured with two sided large solar array panels generating around 11 KW of DC power. Moreover, the craft structure is designed for a lift-off mass of about 4,500 kgs with a dry mass of 2100 kg. The craft with 16 beams in Ku-band as well as frequency reuse factor of 4, can provide 10 GHz effective bandwidth equivalent to about 22 transponders of 36 MHz, an official release said.

Air India eyes Rs 10, 000 cr bailout package

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NEW DELHI: The beleaguered flag carrier Air India has asked for Rs 10,000 crore from the government in terms of equity. In a meeting of committee of secretaries (CoS) headed by cabinet secretary, the airline is also believed to have sought similar amount as soft loan, a government official familiar with the development said.

An Air India spokesperson said that he will not comment on the development and would not go beyond what had been mentioned in the official statement.

Air India and SBI Caps made a presentation to the CoS and gave a turnaround plan for the company. The airline was told by the high-level committee to cut cost and improve revenue for getting any assistance from the government.

"The airline would have to assure that its future sustainability is not built on cards. Instead of a long term plan for saving and revenue management the company will have to give quarterly report. They need to get a concrete plan," a senior official said on the condition of anonymity. He, however, added that the current equity base of the company is very low and it needs to be expanded.

A civil aviation ministry statement said that Air India was told to come up with a concrete cost reduction proposal including replacement of the current productivity linked incentive (PLI) with an alternative scheme within the framework of the department of public enterprises (DPE) guidelines.

The CoS is expected to meet again by the end of August to review the financial restructuring being undertaken by the airline.

The high-level panel has asked the aviation company to appoint a cost auditor to monitor, review and ensure that the cost reduction and operational efficiencies are effected. In a major relief to the cash-strapped Air India, the CoS recommended a three-months credit limit by oil companies to the airline.

Air India has an accumulated loss of Rs 7,200 crore as on March 2009. The company is currently finding it difficult to meet the operational cost.

ET