► Tariff barriers hitting export to South Asia

Foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury has said export of Bangladesh’s commodities to its South Asian neighbours is facing hurdles because of tariff barriers and restrictions. "Although Bangladesh’s share in the total intra-regional trade is 27 percent, its share in regional export is only 2.8 percent. Our export to region is faced with a number of non-tariff and para-tariff barriers, port restrictions, complicated and cumbersome customs procedures.".  (Bilaterals.Org)

► Saarc to include services sector in Safta in June

All the eight SAARC member countries would approve the inclusion of services sector in the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) during the coming schedule meeting of SAARC in June 2008, which was earlier only related to trading. President SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tariq Saeed disclosed this while talking to the newsmen at Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), here, after this noon. He said that now the time was ripe for the SAARC countries to get the maximum trade related benefits of the SAFTA, which would also open the new vistas of socio-economic and industrial development in the SAARC countries.  (The Nation,  Pakistan) 

► Bangladesh and MDGs

Bangladesh has an agenda for reducing poverty and improving lives as agreed for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. For each goal of MDG there is one or more specific target, along with specific social, economic and environmental indicators used to track progress towards the goals. The eight major goals are to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability.  (The Independent,  Bangladesh)

► China & Australia put torch to free trade talks

The Chinese and Australian governments have agreed "to unfreeze" the stalled negotiations for a free trade agreement. Kevin Rudd said that he and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao - who held discussions at the Great Hall of the People - were "both committed to ensuring that this will be a broadly based, comprehensive and substantive free trade agreement". He said that Trade Minister Simon Crean, who visits Beijing next week, would identify with his Chinese counterpart obstacles that have prevented substantial progress in 10 rounds of talks.  (Bilaterals.Org)

► Pakistan, China to bolster defence, energy, trade ties

Vowing to enhance co-operation in defence, energy and trade, President Pervez Musharraf and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao hoped on Friday that these would be further strengthened as the new government comes into power in Pakistan. President Hu Jintao described ties with Pakistan as a “high priority relationship”, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters after the meeting. He said that the two leaders had discussed co-operation in nuclear energy. Both countries hoped to raise bilateral trade between them to $15 billion, he added.  (Daily Times,  Pakistan)

► Pakistan, Mauritius to activate FTA in 18 months

Pakistan and Mauritius on Friday agreed to operationalise a free trade agreement between the two countries within 18 months to boost South-South trade. Addressing a press conference at the Ministry of Commerce after the conclusion of a three-day 7th Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting, Anand Priyay Neewoor, the head of Mauritius delegation, said the issue of sensitive products would be settled once the FTA became operational between the two countries.  (Bilaterals.Org)

► Pak-Lanka strengthen trade relations

Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka are lucrative investment locations for each other’s exporters as Pakistan is a gateway to resource-rich Central Asian States while on the other hand Sri Lanka enjoys duty-free access to huge European and Indian markets.This was the consensus developed at a meeting between Sri Lankan High Commissioner Dr Wijeratne Bandara Dorakumbure and LCCI President Mohammad Ali Mian here at LCCI on Wednesday. The Sri Lankan High Commissioner said that under the Generalised System of Preference (GSP) Sri Lanka has a free access to huge European market.  (Daily Mirror,  Sri Lanka)

► India-Africa trade can touch $50 billion by 2012: Survey

India's two-way trade with African nations could double to $50 billion by 2012 if the government signs more trade pacts and offers incentives to exporters, a survey by an industry body said on Monday. The survey of 41 companies conducted by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) also said the government should further enhance the credit lines to African countries as this would only lead to higher exports. India should look at exports of automobiles, construction materials, gems and jewellery, farm equipments, project exports, it said.  (Economic Times,  India)

► Cross-border Indo-Pak trade along LOC on the anvil

Reopened after 57 years to allow divided families to meet, the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, connecting two parts of Jammu and Kashmir, is all set to be thrown open for cross-border trade between India and Pakistan.  The bus service between the two cities named 'Carvan- e-Aman' (peace carvan), is completing three years of its launch today.  The trade via the Line of Control will be a reality within three months. "I hope, we will have trade along the LOC within 90 days. There are no bottlenecks and no logistics problem in starting the trade," Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said.  (Economic Times,  India)

► India to ban export of cement to check price rise

Concerned over the rising inflation, which touched 7.41 per cent, the government on Friday decided to ban export of cement.  The export is being banned to take care of mismatch between supply and demand of cement, Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath told reporters here.  The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) will issue a notification to ban the export later in the day, official sources said. The cement companies earlier in the month raised prices by 3 to 4 per cent citing reasons such as hike in value added tax, rising demand and soaring fuel prices.  (Economic Times,  India)

► Dhaka to sign after reviewing India, Pakistan cases 

The government has asked Bangladesh missions in India and Pakistan to send their diplomatic opinions on the Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol, an international treaty that will cut the cost of international borrowing for the country's airline industry, reports UNB. Before taking any major decision, the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry in an inter-ministerial meeting on April 7 asked the two high commissions to send their diplomatic opinions on the convention as India is at the final stage to sign it while Pakistan have already did that.  (The Financial Express,  Bangladesh)

► Asia rice panic should subside as farmers rush crop

A global rush for rice that has heightened food security anxiety across Asia should slow in coming months, as consumer nations replenish lowly stocks, extra crops boost supplies and a sense of panic subsides.  Rice output is set to rise this year as major producers plant additional crops, likely slowing or halting a rally that has caused prices to more than double since January and added a new element of political risk to policymakers’ inflation headache caused by the surge in global food prices. Even before those fresh crops hit the market rice analysts.  (Daily Times,  Pakistan)

► ADB to focus on inclusive, sustainable growth

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will focus its work on inclusive and sustainable growth of the Asia and Pacific region, the Manila-based multilateral institution said in a press release on Tuesday. To fight poverty in the region of over 600 million people surviving on one U.S. dollar a day, the ADB has launched Strategy 2020, a new long-term strategy to fight poverty in Asia and the Pacific. The strategy will refocus ADB operations on three development agenda, including inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.  (English Peoples Daily,  China)

► OECD foresees global slowdown

The world’s leading industrialised economies, along with emerging market powerhouses China and India, are headed for slower growth in the near term, the OECD warned here on Friday. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said its overall composite index of leading indicators in the 29 countries covered by its research increased by 0.1 point in February from January but was down 2.4 points from February 2007. The index, known as the CLI, provides early signals of turning points between upswings and downswings in economic activity.  (Dawn,  Pakistan)

► Asian economic growth to slow but stay robust: IMF 

Asia is set for slower but still robust economic growth despite a US recession unless the global financial crisis worsens, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday. Emerging Asian growth is expected to be 7.5 per cent in 2008, rising to 7.8 per cent next year, propelled by expansion in China and India, the IMF said in the April edition of its biannual World Economic Outlook report. "The emerging and developing economies have so far been less affected by financial market developments and have continued to grow at a rapid pace, led by China and India.  (The Financial Express,  Bangladesh)

► Food prices to put 100 mn people at risk: WB

A doubling of food prices in the last three years could potentially put 100 million people in low income countries deeper into poverty and raise the global poverty rate as much as 3 to 5 percentage points, a senior World Bank official said on Thursday. "When it doesn't include substitution and social assistance programs, poverty rates could potentially, according to preliminary data, show poverty rates rising 3 to 5 percentage points," Marcelo Giugale, director of the World Bank's poverty reduction and economic management for the Latin America and Caribbean region, said.  (Financial Express,  India)