INDIA-CHINA BORDER TALKS BEGIN

 National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan with Dai Bingguo, State Councillor and Special Representative on the boundary issue of the People’s Republic of China, before the India-China delegation-level talks at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi. The Special Representatives of India and China, M.K. Narayanan and Dai Bingguo, began the 13th round of talks on the boundary issue with a wider ambit..
 Besides continuing with the “second stage” of boundary talks, they are also discussing bilateral and regional issues ahead of several bilateral high-level exchanges, including President Pratibha Patil’s visit to Beijing and a “top” Chinese leader’s arrival here later this year.


 The Special Representatives would also interact on issues of “mutual interest” such as the global economic meltdown, climate change and trade cooperation.

 Both were involved in the “second stage” of talks since their launch in 2005. Mr. Narayanan this time is being assisted by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who was previously the Indian envoy in Beijing. Informed sources said the immediate aim of the border talks was to agree on an outline for a final package. Once this consensus is reached, they will start negotiating the demarcation and delineation of the border.

DELHI MEET ON DOHA PROCESS (WTO)

DOHA ROUND

The Doha Development Round started in 2001 and continues till today. The WTO launched the current round of negotiations, the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) or Doha Round, at the fourth ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar in November 2001. The Doha round was to be an ambitious effort to make globalization more inclusive and help the world's poor, particularly by slashing barriers and subsidies in farming. The initial agenda comprised both further trade liberalization and new rule-making, underpinned by commitments to strengthen substantial assistance to developing countries.The negotiations have been highly contentious and agreement has not been reached, despite the intense negotiations at several ministerial conferences and at other sessions. Disagreements still continue over several key areas including agriculture subsidies.

India to host an “informal ministerial” in the Doha process in early September, India says the political “platform can help us in working out a path forward.” The negotiators in Geneva, from diverse economies, can then have “a clearer course of action” for framing “a rule-based global trade order,”

COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (CEPA)

 The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is a free trade agreement between India and South Korea. The agreement was signed on August 7, 2009. The signing ceremony took place in Seoul and the agreement was signed by Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and South Korean Commerce Minister Kim Jong-Hoon. The negotiations took three-and-a-half years, with the first session in February 2006. The agreement still needs to pass the South Korean parliament. It passed the Indian parliament. Once passed, the agreement will come into effect sixty days later. The South Korean government expects the agreement to pass in the fall of 2009. It is equivalent to a free trade agreement.

 The agreement, once passed, will cut South Korean tariffs on 90% of goods from India. India will cut 85% of total tariffs. The agreement will provide better access for the Indian service industry in South Korea.. Services include Information technology, engineering, finance, and the legal field. South Korean car manufactures will see large tariffs cuts to below 1%.

 The agreement will ease restrictions on foreign direct investments. Companies can own up to 65% of a company in the other country. Both countries avoided issues over agriculture, fisheries,
and mining and choose not to decrease tariffs in those areas. This was due to the very sensitive nature of these sections in the respective countries.


 Trade between India and South Korea was $15.6 billion in 2008. This is a major increase from 2002, which had a total trade amount of $2.6 billion. The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy believes the agreement will increase trade between the two countries by $3.3 billion.

 The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which he and his South Korean counterpart signed in Seoul, reflected “an expression against any protectionism,” Mr. Sharma said. For India, the economic pact was the first of its kind with any “major OECD economy.”

BRIC

BRICs is an acronym that refers to the fast-growing developing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The acronym was first coined and prominently used by Goldman Sachs in 2001The four countries, combined, currently account for more than a quarter of the world's land area and more than 40% of the world's population.