Nation & States 

India, Pakistan foreign ministers meet on June 21

What is India News Service, June 18, 2004, 1630 hrs

Subcontinent watchers are setting a lot of store by the June 21 meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan. Meanwhile, the United Progressive Alliance is discussing the contours of its first ever budget. Captains of industry are trying their hand at electoral politics, and could soon be participating directly in upper house debates. 

Foreign ministers Natwar Singh and Khurshid Mehmood Kasoori are meeting face-to-face for the first time over a working lunch in China. This will be the second high-level meeting between the two countries since the Manmohan Singh government assumed office. The two countries' national security advisors \96 J N Dixit and Tariq Aziz - met in Amritsar earlier this month for a low-key meeting. The two ministers will have an informal session all to themselves. The China meeting will also mark the first of many meetings Natwar Singh and Kasuri are going to have in the next two months. After China, the two ministers will meet in Indonesia at the ASEAN Regional Forum meet on July 1 and 2.

The United Progressive Alliance is meeting Friday to decide the contours of its budget. Finance minister P Chidambaram, who is not a member of the UPA coordination committee, has been specially invited to brief coalition partners about his budgetary proposals. He is expected to take coalition partners into confidence on how he proposes to mobilize resources for the commitments made by the UPA.

Indians are applying for US patents in a big way. An Indian working for Adobe got a bonus from his company for sending in an application, and will get a bigger
bonus if his application is expected. He is only one of several innovators doing the country proud today.

US textiles manufacturers are lobbying hard in a presidential election year for an extension of the quota regime by four years, i.e., up to 2008. They have reportedly roped in some 100 Congressional representatives, both from Democrat and Republican camps, to make the US Government call for an emergency meeting of the World Trade Organisation.  The quota regime is set to end on December 31, 2004, and according to World Bank studies, China, India and Pakistan are expected to do better than the existing exporters from the developing world in a more
competitive environment. India will oppose any move to modify or repeal the
agreement on quota phase-out.

Overall:

Foreign ministers will meet: Natwar Singh and Kasuri will have their first face-to-face meeting in China on June 21.

Chidambaram will brief coalition: The finance minister is preparing to present the first ever budget of the United Progressive Alliance.

Indians applying for patents: They are innovating, and getting more US patents than ever before.

Textile regime will end: India stands to gain from the end of the WTO textile regime, but many developed countries could press for an extension.