INDIA & THE WORLD BILATERAL AFFAIRS AUGUST 2009

INDIA & THE WORLD BILATERAL AFFAIRS AUGUST 2009

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to implement Avahan, an initiative of the foundation to check the spread of HIV/AIDS in India. Avahan funds targeted HIV-prevention programmes in six Indian States and along the national trucking routes.
• Mauritius to use AP e-procurement tech
  The Government of Mauritius has signed a formal memorandum of agreement with the Andhra Pradesh Government to source e-procurement solutions. The Mauritius Government would use the Andhra Pradesh Government’s e-procurement platform in order to aggregate demand from various Government departments and ensure reduced inventory costs. Also, this would result in lower cost of procurement, transparency and help achieve effective tendering process. Andhra Pradesh, one of the front runners in implementing the e-governance initiatives, had so far concluded 61,534 tenders worth Rs 1.08 lakh crore, involving 206 departments and agencies.
• India has signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that will include tariff cuts on an estimated 4,000 products. The FTA is expected to boost trade between the two to US$50 billion by next year. The agreement will be implemented beginning January 1, 2010 and will take out duties on about 3,200 products by December 2013, while duties on the remaining 800 products will be brought down to zero or near zero levels by December 2016.
• India, China to set up hotline
  India and China have decided to set up a hotline between Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Wen Jiabao as a confidence building measure. The decision was taken during the 13th Round of India-China Special Representatives talks on the boundary question.
• India-Singapore Joint Venture For Tourism Promotion
  According to the plan, the tourists who visit Singapore will be given an option to include a four-five day trip to India in their itinerary.
• India, South Korea signed bilateral trade agreement
  South Korea and India signed a bilateral trade agreement to cut duties on  goods as auto parts and electronics and to boost cooperation between the two Asian economic powerhouses.
  Both sides started negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in March, 2006, committing them to drastically lower import tariffs on cars and other manufactured items.
  The CEPA is similar to the free trade agreements (FTA) South Korea has signed with the U.S. and other trading partners, but phases out tariffs more slowly.