India & Turkmenistan

GAIL (India) Limited inked the gas sale and purchase agreement (GSPA) with TurkmenGaz, Turkmenistan’s national oil company, for the 7.6-billion TAPI project. The agreement would enable India to bring gas from Turkmenistan. The Union Cabinet of India had approved the TAPI project on 17 May 2012, which subsequently paved the way for signing the agreement. The proposed 1680 km pipeline of which, 144 km falls in Turkmenistan, 735 km in Afghanistan and 800 km in Pakistan, will have a capacity to supply 90 MSCMD (Million Standard Cubic Metres per Day) of gas. India and Pakistan each will be entitled to have 38 mscmd of the gas while the remaining 14 mscmd will be given to Afghanistan. The TAPI pipeline is expected to be operational in 2018 and supply gas for the next 30 years. The GSPA includes all the terms and conditions related to the pact and will be signed bilaterally between the members. The bids for building and operating the pipeline will be invited following the agreements among all the member countries.

India & Colombia

India and Colombia signed a Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) in New Delhi for the Years 2012-2016. The CEP was signed in conformity with the provision established in the Cultural Agreement between the
Government of India and the Government of Colombia. CEP was signed in Bogota, capital of Columbia on 22 May 1974. The CEP includes areas such as Cultural Heritage, Museums, Archives, Exhibitions, Scenic Arts, Visual Arts, Cinematography, Radio and Television, Music, Libraries, Book and Literature, Creative Industries and Editorial Industry for cooperation. Both India and Colombia shall contribute to the exchange and cooperation between institutions and organisations that deals with cultural affairs, as well as amongst cultural creators, researchers and cultural agents of the two nations. India and Colombia shall exchange visits of cultural
delegations. Both the nations have agreed to set up a joint working group to look after the implementations of their  programme. The joint working group will have a meeting alternately in India and in Colombia when decided by both the nations.

India & Pakistan

The Union Cabinet in a meeting headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the signing of a new liberal visa regime with Pakistan thereby paving way for easing travel restrictions and increasing people-to-people
exchange. The Cabinet had given its approval to signing of the agreement that would allow common people from either country  to visit at least three earmarked cities. India and Pakistan had decided to ease visa regulations
during the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in New Delhi on 8  April 2012. As per the cabinet’s directive , businessmen are likely to be issued multi-entry non-police reporting visas and given access to at least five cities instead of three at present. The credentials of the businessmen for qualifying for such a visa will  however be endorsed by the nodal chambers of commerce on both sides. From India, it will be Federation of Indian Chambers of  Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and from the Pakistani side, it will be Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI). It was proposed under the new visa regime, that senior citizens would be exempt  from police reporting on both sides. Pakistan decided to allow bigger trucks and containers to carry goods into its territory. Earlier, only 10 wheeler capacity trucks were allowed. Post the easing of terms  the number was increased to 22- wheeler capacity trucks. Also, it decided to allow containers with the opening of the new integrated check post (ICP) facility on the Attari-  Wag ah border. Pakistan’s initiative is likely to give a big  boost to the trade between  the two nations.

India & UAE

India and the UAE signed an agreement in Abu Dhabi to amend the double taxation avoidance treaty, paving the way for greater sharing of tax related information between the two countries and also agreed to set up a joint committee to look after consular issues.The India-UAE  agreement on avoidance of double taxation was updated to bring it at par with the internationally accepted standards. Now the banking  information as well as any
information without any domestic tax interest can be shared between the two nations. A Joint Committee will be set up to look into and address the concerns of Indian and Emirati nationals on counsellar  issues. These include issues such as judicial matters like detention or arrest, travel documents like passport and visa and others affecting the people.It is expected that the agreements will protect the interests of the people and promote
stronger relations between the two countries.

India & BRICS

The Fourth BRICS summit was held in New Delhi. The theme of the summit was BRICS partnership for Global Stability, Security and Prosperity. The summit was participated by India, Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa. At the end of the summit, Delhi Declaration was issued. Development banks of BRICS signed two agreements-

i) Master agreement on extending credit facility in local currency.

ii) BRICS Multilateral letter of credit confirmation facility agreement.  The five participating banks are Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social- BNDES, Brazil; State Corporation Bank for Development
and Foreign Economic Affairs- Vnesheconombank of Russia; Export-Import bank of India; China Development Bank Corporation, and Development Bank of Southern Africa. These two agreements are expected to enhance cooperation among the BRICS development banks and to significantly promote intra-BRICS trade.

Highlights of Delhi Declaration

• BRICS nations agreed on the reform of IMF and world bank.

• Brazil, India, China and South Africa congr atulated the Russian Federation on its accession to the WTO.

• BRICS nation said they were committed to playing their part in the global fight against limate change and will contribute to the global effort in dealing with climate change issues.

The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) idea was first conceived in 2001 by Goldman Sachs as part of an economic modeling exercise to forecast global  economic trends over the next half century; the acronym BRIC was first used in 2001 by Goldman Sachs in their Global Economics Paper No. 66, “The World Needs Better Economic BRICs”. BRIC Foreign Ministers at their meeting in New York on 21st September 2010 agreed that South Africa may be invited to join BRIC. Accordingly, China, as the host of 3rd BRICS Summit, invited South African President to attend the Summit in Sanya on 14 April 2011 with the concurrence of other BRIC Leaders.

India & Britain

India and Britain held the fifth ministerial level India-UK economic financial dialogue in New Delhi on 2 April 2012. Both nations discussed ways to strengthen their mutual cooperation and further boost trade and investment between them. Highlights of the dialogue are as following:

• Both nations agreed that while the global economy has stabilized in recent months, growth will remain subdued and at risk from a series of threats.

• India and Britain welcomed the exchange of ideas in financing infrastructure as part of the Dialogue, noting that both countries share a common aim of increasing the role of institutional investors in infr astructure financing.

• India and Britain also discussed the importance of developing deep and efficient capital markets to support  infrastructure financing in India. Foreign capital can playan important part in this process.

• Both nations supported the progress on the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) roadmap for foreign banks in India.

• Both sides agreed that there was a clear benefit to sharing  experiences on this and welcomed the ongoing technical collaboration to assist the FSLRC (Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission) in carrying out its mandate.

• Both sides welcomed the Cannes Action Plan for Growth and Jobs agreed at the November 2011 Cannes Summit.

• Both nations are committed to ensuring that the IMF is  adequately resourced to play itssystemic role in the  international financial system in support of its entire membership and that the quota and governance reforms of the IMF are implemented within the agreed timelines.

• Both sides agreed to remain committed to pursuing the financial regulatory reform agenda according to the time  table agreed in G-20 in an internationally consistent and non-discriminatory manner. This will be monitored by the Financial Stability Board through its Coordination Framework for Implementation Monitoring. Both sides discussed the joint approaches to meeting these commitments and will continue to work together to strengthen the global financial system.

• Both sides recognized the need for countries to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and engage in automatic exchange of information where legally r equired to improve tax compliance and decrease tax evasion.

• Recognising the importance of open trade for the global economy, India and UK reaffirmed their commitment to refrain from protectionism.

• India and the UK welcomed the 40% year on year increase in the export of goods from the UK to India and the increase by 35.05% of exports from India to UK in 2011.

India & China

A Chinese official on Wednesday ruled out any decision being taken on granting member status to India and Pakistan when heads of state from the six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet here on June 6, stressing that “no time table should be set” on expanding the security grouping. Vice-Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping told reporters that it was the view of the organisation that SCO observers India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia, who have been pushing for member  status for more than three years, still needed to do more in the way of preparatory work, while the members — China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan — would keep “an open attitude”. External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari would attend the SCO Beijing Summit on June 6 and 7, said Mr. Cheng. “We welcome relevant countries to become members of the SCO,” he said. “The relevant countries should work hard towards political, legal and technical  preparations for [membership]. The relevant work is going on about expansion of membership. The decision should be made through consensus and consultation, and no timetable should be set. That is to say, when the conditions are ripe, the decision should be made through consensus.” Afghanistan is expected to join the SCO as an observer at the Beijing summit while Turkey is set to be granted status as a dialogue partner. The June summit, which is the 12th meeting of SCO heads of state and the third to be held in China, will mark the first instance since 2005 when the grouping has admitted a new obser ver. Sri Lanka and Belarus were taken in as dialogue partners in 2010. The situation in Afghanistan and the Iranian nuclear issue are likely to top the summit’s agenda. Presidents Hamid Karzai and  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are expected to attend the June summit and also hold talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines. A greater role for the SCO’s members in Afghanistan in the aftermath of NATO agreeing plans earlier this week to transfer combat  operations to Afghan security force  by mid-2013 will be in the spotlight.