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India,
Thailand Sign Air Services Pact
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India
and Thailand have signed new air services
agreement modifying the existing agreements
between the two countries. The agreement
was inked in Bangkok on 10 February after
detailed discussions between delegations
from both sides.While the Indian delegation
was led by the civil aviation secretary,
Mr Ajay Prasad, the leader of the Thai delegation
was Mr Mahidol Chantrangkum, vice-minister
of transport. The air services agreement
has been amended to provide for multiple
designations of airlines. As per the revised
agreement the number of seats per week will
go up to 8,606 till the summer of 2006,
9,216 from summer 2006, 11,046 from winter
2006, 13,136 from summer 2007, 14,186 from
winter 2007, 15,486 from summer 2008, 17,451
from winter 2008, 18,671 from summer 2009.
The designated airlines of both the countries
shall now be entitled to operate unlimited
frequency and capacity with any type of
aircraft on their respective specified route
schedules. The designated airlines of Thailand
had, before the revised agreement, entitlement
to operate up to three frequencies of 915
seats per week to and from Guwahati, Gaya
and Varanasi.
Courtesy:
The Statesman, February 15, 2006
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India
in New US South Asia Bureau
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India
will be the key player in the re-organised
South Asia bureau of the State Department
that now includes Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. These are countries
with which India has well-developed relations,
cultivated painstakingly over more than
a decade, as New Delhi positioned itself
with the break-up of the former Soviet Union.
In addition to balancing the workload between
the regional bureaus, the State Department
said: "The restructuring is designed to
foster increased cooperation among the countries
of Central Asia and South Asia as they work
towards our shared goals of security, prosperity,
stability and freedom" and advancing the
interests of Afghanistan. "This is the transformational
diplomacy of (Secretary of State Condoleezza)
Rice and the creation of a large South Asian
and Central Asian bureau - where the key
country is India," contended Walter Andersen,
a former senior State Department official
in the South Asia bureau. "The US has strategic
interest in those areas and wants them to
look southward and not northward. And creating
the bureau in that way is an affirmation
of it. "It has five more countries. And
India is making an impact in those Central
Asian countries. India had started out when
those countries became countries and has
relations with those. "They want an India
that will cooperate and have a cooperative
relationship - a stable country in an unstable
area," Andersen said.
Courtesy:
Hindustan Times, February 14, 2006
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India
Plays Key Role in Reaching ITER Agreement
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India
has played a key role in arriving at a technical
level agreement on International Thermo
Nuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project
at a meeting in Barcelona last week. "India,
which joined the ITER group last year, did
a marvellous job in helping us to reach
the consensus we needed to have," Didier
Gambier, EU Chairman of the Technical team
told 'India News in Europe' programme in
Brussels. According to the new agreement,
among other provisions, all seven parties
will enjoy tax free benefits in areas such
as customs duties and VAT. The Indian representative
that attended the meeting made substantial
suggestions regarding implementation of
privileges and immunities, Gambier said
adding, India's accession has added "flexibility"
to the project. The week-end discussions
which were mainly of technical nature reached
a "key compromise" from the legal perspective
of privileges and immunities available to
each country. "The negotiations bring all
parties with different cultures together
in that they all provide the same level
of privileges and immunity as in Europe.
From a technical perspective, this erases
all questions of ITER." All six ITER participants
- Japan, China, India, EU, Canada and Korea
- except for the US will adhere to the same
privilege and immunity agreements as discussed.
Courtesy:
Hindustan Times, February 14, 2006
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Israel
Favours India in Expanded UNSC
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Israel
on Monday said that India should get its
rightful place in the expanded United Nations
Security Council. "There are many flaws
in the UN system and these flaws needed
to be removed and Security Council expanded
to provide more representative character
to it," Israeli Ambassador to India, David
Daniele, told reporters in New Delhi. He
favoured that the world's largest democracy
should get its rightful place in the Security
Council. On the Indo-Israel relations, he
said they had been progressing in the right
direction and bilateral trade between the
two countries stood at $2.5 billion last
year. "Our target is to take it to $5 billion
by 2008," he said, adding over 100 Israeli
companies were doing business in India.
On the menace of terrorism faced by both
the countries, he said his country was satisfied
with cooperation with India in this field.
On the controversy over the IAEA resolutions,
the Israeli Ambassador said it was not a
bilateral issue between Iran and Israel
and needed to be resolved to the satisfaction
of the overwhelming majority of international
community. Reiterating his country's stand,
he said Hamas was a terrorist group and
Israeli government did not recognise it.
The Ambassador, who is here in connection
with the ongoing agri-expo where Israel
has put up a stall, saw a great potential
for involvement of agro-technology companies
of his country in Uttar Pradesh. "There
is a great scope for Israeli agro-technology
companies to expand their base in Uttar
Pradesh where agriculture is the main vocation,"
he said, adding Israeli companies were already
involved in states like Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
Courtesy:
Hindustan Times, February 14, 2006
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India,
Philippines to Sign Four Accords
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India
and the Philippines are set to give bilateral
ties a big boost by signing four accords,
including one on defence cooperation envisaging
among other things exchange of Air Force
planes, Navy ships and military instructors
during President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's three-day
official visit here. The President arrived
here today. The two countries will tomorrow
ink separate MoUs on cooperation in agriculture,
tourism and in pharmaceuticals. The Philippines
foreign secretary Mr Alberto G Romulo said
the defence agreement would deepen naval
and maritime cooperation and give substance
to the annual security dialogue between
the two countries. The MoU on pharmaceuticals
is aimed at giving the Philippines greater
access to Indian drugs. Under the MoU on
agriculture, the Philippines will be able
to tap Indian expertise in buffalo breeding,
dairy development. Buffalo meat is a key
export item from India to the Philippines.
The accord on tourism envisages joint marketing
and promotion of each others' tourism spots
besides seeking to increase flow of tourists
from the Philippines to India.
Courtesy:
The Statesman, February 04, 2006
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An
NRI Gets Key Position in The US Govt
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Entrepreneur
Kamil Hasan, the first Indian American to
be appointed as Member-at-Large of the Democratic
Party, hopes to use his position to jockey
greater influence for the community in policymaking.
Hasan, founder of the Silicon Valley-based
Hitek Venture Partners, was appointed by
oward Dean, who heads the Democratic National
Committee (DNC). "Basically this appointment
gives us a seat at the table with top leaders
of the Democratic Party," Hasan told the
media. "I expect to be involved in policymaking
and development of the platform for the
party, helping the presidential candidate."
He hoped the position would eventually lead
to increased appointments of Indian Americans
in policymaking if Democrats returned to
power in the White House.
Courtesy:
The Economic Times, February 02, 2006
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US
Law School Ties up IIT-Kharagpur For IPR
Law
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US-based
George Washington University Law School
has set up an exclusive school for the study
of Intellectual Property Rights at Indian
Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. According
to Professor Martin J Adelman, Director
of the School, the school has been set up
with a view to creating a talent pool to
deal with intellectual property litigation.
Speaking at global meet on IPR on Wednesday,
Adelman said that with the multi-fold increase
in the corporate affairs due to globalisation
of the economy, litigation pertaining to
IPR should also be increased. "There is
more need for collaboration to promote the
legal skill in IPR. The IIT Kharagpur initiative
will go a long way in this direction," he
added.
Courtesy:
Hindustan Times, February 01, 2006
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