[Getty Images]

The Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras recently concluded a four-day state visit to Beijing, trying to woo Chinese investment to the recession-ridden country.

Greek shipping minister Kostis Moussouroulis said in Beijing that the orders accounted for more than 60 per cent of the recent global orders of Greek shipowners.

The shipping industry, including shipbuilding, is one of the most important sectors for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

In the next decade, China will remain an important global exporter and become an increasingly important importer, according to the minister.

The new orders are the investment of Greek shipowners for the future, said Moussouroulis.

Wang Qi, general manager of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co.,Ltd, said Greece has become an important client of China’s shipbuilding enterprises.

As one of China’s major shipbuilding companies, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co.,Ltd has built a total of 67 ships for Greek shipowners in recent years, accounting for about 30 percent of the company’s output, Wang said.

Source: Agencies

The Doha Trade talks have been stalled for years due to differences on trade barriers, agricultural subsidies [Getty Images]

“It is politically impossible to contemplate other areas and leave agriculture out. Industrial goods, services and agriculture were in the core of the Doha Round in 2008 and will continue to be once it is resumed. There is no way to take any of the three from the board,” said Azevedo.

He said his greatest challenge after assuming office would be to make the Doha Development Round move forward.

Negotiations for the Doha Round have been suspended for years due to differences on issues such as trade barriers and agricultural subsidies.

Azevedo said at a press conference in Brazil’s foreign ministry in Brasilia, the federal capital of Brazil, that the dilemma will have to be addressed once negotiations are resumed.

The diplomat admitted that the current scenario is not favorable to the fall of trade barriers because of the adverse effects of the 2008 financial crisis.

“Some 20 per cent of the protectionist measures introduced since 2008 have been lifted, which means that 80 per cent are still active,” Azevedo said, stressing the importance of resuming negotiations to the world trade club.

He expressed optimism over the next WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in December in Bali, Indonesia, where matters such as agriculture, tariffs, food security and subsidies will be discussed.

“The negotiations are not advancing the way we expect. There is some pessimism in Geneva. I hope we can revert that to have a consensus by December. I have not given up on Bali yet,” said Azevedo.

Azevedo, who served as Brazil’s ambassador to the WTO since 2008, will take office as the next director general in September.

Azevedo beat Mexico’s Herminio Blanco, widely seen as the favored choice of the United States in the race for the top spot.

Source: Agencies

India is the UK’s biggest visa operation in the world [AP]

The Super Priority Visa Service was announced by British prime minister David Cameron during his visit to the country in February this year.

India is the UK’s biggest visa operation in the world, processing around 400,000 applications each year.

Mr Cameron, during his India visit in February this year described India as a key strategic partner in what he has called a “Global Race”.

The first-of-its-kind service launched by the UK Home Office is open for appointment bookings in India from today.

“I am delighted to see the Super Priority Visa service being launched in India before any other country,” said Sir James Bevan, the British High Commissioner to India.

“For the first time, Indian visitors will now have the option of a same-day visa to the UK. This underlines our strong commitment to make an already excellent visa service even better. We expect this new service to be particularly useful for business,” he said, adding that it will cater to those who need to travel on very short notice.

Source: Agencies

The Indian government agreed to fund the project under a credit line extended to the Sri Lankan government in 2010 [AP]

The project is funded by a line of credit by the Indian government.

The Sri Lankan government has sought to boost infrastructure development in the region ravaged by the civil war.

Minister for economic development Basil Rajapaksa, together with transport minister Kumara Welgama, inaugurated the long- awaited train services on the MedawachchiyaMadhu segment of the Northern Railway Track.

Commissioning the service, Rajapaksa said India had been with Sri Lanka at every stage of rehabilitation and reconstruction of north Sri Lanka.

Railway services to the north were suspended in 1983 after Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) blew up key railway bridges connecting the northern peninsula to the mainland.

Since the war ended in 2009, the Sri Lankan government has set in motion plans to reconnect the north via rail and invited assistance from foreign countries.

In 2010, the Indian government agreed to fund the project under a credit line extended to the Sri Lankan government.

The project is being executed by the Indian Railway Ministry’s IRCON International Limited to restore the 252 km-railway line that would connect different parts of the country.

The reconstructed track is a 43 km long segment in the Northern Railway Line project covering a total length of 252 km, which was constructed at a total cost of $81.3 million.

“The railway tracks were completely destroyed during the devastating civil war, with train traffic being terminated for the last 23 years”  Ircon International general manager S L Gupta told media at the opening ceremony.

“The government of India has extended its support to the government of Sri Lanka to rebuild these tracks according to modern specifications. The total length of reconstruction is 252 km at an envisaged cost of 650 million US dollars, which will be completed in phases,” added Gupta.

The second phase of the track is to be completed in July, said Gupta

Source: Agencies

The Dreamliner planes were grounded in January after a series of faults with the lithium-ion batteries [AP]

“The first commercial flight of the Dreamliner will start on Wednesday from Delhi to Kolkata. Out of the six of the Boeing 787 planes, two have been already modified following the battery fire incidents,” India’s civil aviation minister Ajit Singh told reporters in Delhi.

Air India is one of Boeing’s initial customers for the Dreamliner planes.

The airline grounded all six of its 787s in the middle of January after being asked to do so by India’s director general of civil aviation.

Singh said the first international flight of the Dreamliner will be on May 22.

The national carrier will begin full-scale global operations with these planes from Delhi to Birmingham and Sydney to Melbourne from August, Rome and Milan from October and Moscow from early next year, the minister said.

The remaining four of the total six Dreamliners with Air India will become operational at the end of the month, Singh said, adding that another eight Dreamliner planes will be delivered by Boeing by December, taking the total to 14.

The airline has ordered a total of 27 Dreamliners.

The B-787s have remained grounded since January 17 after a fire in the lithium-ion batteries of a parked plane in Boston and a case of forced landing of another B-787 for the same reason in Japan.

The minister refused to divulge the amount of compensation the US aircraft manufacturer would give to Air India but said the airline has set up an internal committee to talk to Boeing on the issue.

Recent news reports quote Qatar Airways as saying it will receive compensation from Boeing for $200 million in lost revenues for its five Boeing 787 aircrafts.

With inputs from Agencies

Praxair is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America [AP]

Upon its completion in late 2014, the base is expected to provide 5,000 tonnes of liquid oxygen per day to local industrial enterprises, said Zhang Xuetao, vice president of Praxair (China) Investment, headquartered in Shanghai.

Situated in the Changshou Chemical Park, the production base will be run by a joint venture co-established by Praxair and Chongqing Chemical and Pharmaceutical Holding (Group) Company with a total investment of 1.1 billion yuan ($177 million), according to Zhang.

The vice president said Praxair would supply two sets of up-to-date, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly gas separation devices and aims to develop the production base into an industrial model in China.

Praxair is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, and one of the largest worldwide, with annual sales of more than $4 billion.

The company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric, process and specialty gases, and high-performance surface coatings.

Praxair is also the world’s largest supplier of carbon dioxide.

With inputs from Agencies

[Xinhua]

Helen Qiao, chief economist of Greater China of Morgan Stanley, said that so far statistics showed that the Chinese economy is in a mild recovery.

“For the first half of the year, we are expecting twilight… but going through the second half, we are expecting better growth under very supportive monetary policy easing,” she said.

Qiao expressed her surprise on the first quarter GDP growth of 2013.

“In sequential terms, it was actually very low. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the number was actually as low as 6.4 pe rcent in quarter on quarter seasonally adjusted. That was 2.4 per cent lower than the fourth quarter in 2012,” Qiao said.

Qiao noted that April will be a very crucial month to be observed to look at how strong the growth recovery has become.

“Especially we are expecting more policy stimulus coming from the urbanization initiatives at the end of the year,” said Qiao.

However, Qiao still perceived that the achievement of the target is not impossible.

“To sum up, we are keeping our real GDP growth forecast of 8.2 per cent this year, but not without risk.”

Xinhua

The prices in the vegetables basket eased to 5.43 per cent in April from 12.16 per cent in March [Getty Images]

The prices in the vegetables basket eased to 5.43 per cent in April from 12.16 per cent in March.

Inflation in protein-based items — egg, meat and fish — stood at 13.60 per cent during the month.

In oils and fats segment, it was 7.52 per cent.

The overall food and beverages segment saw an inflation of 10.61 per cent in April as against 12.42 per cent in March.

In urban areas, retail inflation declined to 9.73 per cent in April from 10.38 per cent in March.

The CPI for rural population fell to 9.16 per cent during the reported month from 10.33 per cent in March.

The data for wholesale price index-based inflation is expected on Tuesday.

In order to accelerate economic growth, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) earlier this month cut key interest rates by 0.25 per cent.

“Although headline WPI inflation has eased by March, 2013 to come close to the Reserve Bank’s tolerance threshold, it is important to note that food price pressures persist and supply constraints are endemic, which could lead to a generalisation of inflation…,” the RBI had said.

Source: Agencies

Vale SA is the world’s largest iron ore producer [Getty Images]

“This is a step towards backward integration strategy of IFFCO in order to strengthen its phosphate sourcing for manufacturing of phosphatic fertilisers in India,” IFFCO managing director U S Awasthi said in a statement.

Vale SA is the world’s largest iron ore producer.

However, the terms of quantity of supplies would be further discussed, he said.

Fertiliser major IFFCO has reported a nine per cent increase in its profit-before-tax for fiscal 2012-13.

IFFCO has five manufacturing plants in the country. The co-operative has diversified into general insurance and communication businesses through joint venture firms IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance Ltd and IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Ltd.

Vale SA produces and sells iron ore, pellets, manganese, alloys, gold, nickel, copper, kaolin, bauxite, alumina, aluminum, and potash. The Company is based in Brazil, where it owns and operates railroads and maritime terminals.

Source: Agencies

The Brazilian government also announced its intention to make another issuance in December [AP Images]

The bonds sold are due on January 5, 2023, with a yield of 2.75 per cent a year.

The selling came one day after the Brazilian government raised $750 million selling bonds due 2023 in European and US markets.

It was the first issuance of global bonds of a total of $800 million in foreign currency since September 2012 when Brazil sold $1.35 billion worth of bonds ($100 million in Asian markets and $1.25 billion in European and US markets).

The Brazilian government also announced its intention to make another issuance in December.

Brazil’s sovereign credit ratings in international agencies have improved in the past years.

The country’s bonds in foreign currency are currently rated Baa2 at Moody’s and BBB at Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s Ratings.

Source: Agencies