Join us for a Webinar on Wed, March 12 at 11am EST.

This webinar will share thoughts and reflections from Ken Cutshaw, a lawyer and business executive who has undertaken and advised on business investments in India, China and the USA. He will offer insights of recent business transactions. He will also offer thoughts on the franchising business trends for both China and India. India continues to liberalize and encourage foreign direct investment and Indian investment outside of India. There is a new trend for Legal Process Outsourcing that he will share. China has been expanding its business markets for internal investment and at the same time tightening up safety regulations in food processing and manufacturing. The US shows trends towards protectionism with outsourcing regulations. This presentation will bring you up to date on many relevant legal / investment issues for your practical business concerns.

Kenneth A. Cutshaw, Honorary Consul for the country of India in the US and Executive VP for Church's Chicken, has extensive experience with a wide spectrum of global business transactions and authored the Corporate Counsel's Guide to Doing Business in China.

The only cost is your long distance phone call to dial- in.

Title: Practical Business Concerns Between India & China
Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.3.9 (Panther®) or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/2803747 67

Next India-China war game later this year: Antony(Thaindian News, Mar 3)
India Monday clearly signalled its intention to ramp up its military ties with China with the defence ministry announcing that the second war game between the two armies would be conducted in this country in September-October. "The next joint exercise between India and China is likely to be held in September-October," Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

India still seeks support for U.S. nuclear deal(The Boston Globe, Mar 3)
India said on Monday it was still looking for political support at home for a controversial nuclear deal with the United States, even as Washington says time is running out. The communists have threatened to pull down the government if the ruling Congress party tries to push through the deal, which would allow India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and technology.

India's growth will continue to moderate in 2008 - Moody's Economy.com(Forbes, Mar 3)
Moody's Economy.com said that although the prospects of the Indian economy remain upbeat, growth will continue to moderate in 2008 as domestic demand eases and exports cool. It noted that the Indian economy moderated in the fourth quarter of 2007 as gross domestic product growth slowed to 8.4 pct compared with 8.9 pct. Nevertheless, the key financial, insurance and business services sector remained buoyant, and manufacturing was impressive.

Opinion
Budget Binge(Yhe Wall Street Journal, Mar 3)
The arcane world of Indian politics is riddled with many a mystery, but the hardest one to unravel is why the ruling class thinks the economy is badly in need of a fix. While India's amazing economic expansion story is celebrated by almost every other constituency, the present government is strangely defensive about the fallout of headline-grabbing growth numbers.

Decision on Cairn India pipeline cost recovery scheme in 2 weeks - official (Forbes, Mar 4)
The Indian government will arrive at a decision on Cairn India Ltd's cost recovery scheme for its Rajasthan-Gujarat pipeline in two weeks, M S Srinivasan, the petroleum secretary told reporters in Mumbai.

India allows ONGC to buy stake in Venezuela oilfield(Reuters, Mar 3)
India's cabinet on Monday allowed Oil and Natural Gas Corpto acquire a 40 percent stake in the San Cristobal oilfield in Venezuela for $356 million. The amount includes a signature bonus of $174 million and capital expenditure of $182 million for buying the stake in the field, located in the Orinoco oil belt, a government statement said.

Draft law on energy due soon(China Daily, Mar 3)
China's new draft energy law will soon be submitted to the State Council for review as the period for public comment has ended, a senior energy official said yesterday. The draft law calls for a more market- oriented pricing system and requires oil companies to set up inventories to supplement the state's strategic petroleum reserves.

China's south to build nation's largest offshore wind farm: report(AFP, Mar 4)
China will build its largest offshore wind farm in the southern province of Guangdong, state media reported Tuesday, in a bid to alleviate looming power shortages. The facility, covering a sea area of 240 square kilometres (93 square miles), includes a 1.25- million-kilowatt wind farm, an eight-million-kilowatt power plant and a dock construction project, the Xinhua news agency said.

U.S.-China meetings on clean energy could ease global warming(Seattle Post Intelligencer, Mar 2)
With international pressure to limit greenhouse gases growing, representatives of the world's two biggest energy users -- the United States and China -- kicked off a series of talks on clean energy here over the weekend. Although the meetings between U.S. and Chinese government officials involved midlevel bureaucrats, participants hope they will lead to higher- level talks and ultimately a full-fledged partnership on climate-friendly energy.

Opinion
China's energy quest and the Indian Ocean(UPI, Mar 4)
China's building of a port in Pakistan, its extra- polite friendship with the rulers of Myanmar and now its offer to Iran to pick up gas from Pakistan if India shows a lack of interest, is all part of the country's quest for energy to feed its export economy.

China home-grown 3G tech trial successful(Xinhua, Mar 2)
And there's one more item that's looks set for commercial use in time for the Olympics and that's China's third generation telecom technology. The country's home grown 3G standard TD-SDMA received a boost Friday when network trials went off without a hitch.China's Third Generation Mobile Telephony Association has been testing their system with the home-grown technology at a large scale among more than ten major cities around the country. Meanwhile, several CCTV reporters also tried out some video calls in Beijing. And they have found out the connection is good and steady.

Rivals Gain on India in Offshoring(Business Week, Mar 3)
India is losing its stranglehold as the offshoring destination of choice as China, Morocco and Hungary gain ground. Fewer global delivery centres were opened in India by the UK's 20 largest IT services suppliers than in each of the three countries over the last year.

China and Singapore sign memorandum on digital media and technology cooperation (People's Daliy, Mar 4)
China News Service reported that China and Singapore signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on March 3 to promote collaborations on interactive digital media (IDM) technology research and development. The MoU marks a new level of cooperation between both countries in this field.

Asia-Pacific telecom sector well-positioned to manage risks - Fitch(CNN Money, Feb 29)
Fitch Ratings said its overall outlook for the Asia- Pacific telecommunications sector in 2008 is stable, reflecting the view that operators are relatively well- positioned to manage risks. Fitch said in a report that while revenue growth is likely to slow, cash flow from operations and free cash flow (FCF) after dividends are likely to rise on aggregate, but cautioned that it expects FCF to fall for half of the 28 rated operators across Asia-Pacific.

India's "farmer friendly" budget "inspires" China! (My News, Mar 3)
The unveiling of a populist budget by India on the weekend, which promises indebted farmers a big rise in social expenditure, has received accolades from a most unexpected audience -- China's land privatisation lobby. Pledges in the budget to increase spending for health care and education and wipe out or reduce debts owed by some 40 million farmers have been hailed by China's academics as an "inspirational example" for the world's most populous country.

Open up more for farm deal: Schwab (Business Standard, Mar 4)
United States Trade Representative Ambassador Susan Schwab has told Commerce Minister Kamal Nath that India must provide "commercially significant" market opening in insurance and other financial services, distribution and retail services, express delivery and courier services, energy and environment services, and telecom services as part of the Doha services negotiations.

China building tracing system to boost food safety(Xinhua, Mar 1)
The Chinese government is strengthening its efforts in building a food produce quality tracing system to ensure food safety, with various food tracing systems applied across the country.In the logistic center of Jifa Farming Development Co. Ltd, the biggest vegetable provider in Qinhuangdao city of Hebei province, the black and white bar code appears on every package of tomatoes, celery and other green vegetables.

Opinion
The Day China Runs Dry(The Economic Observer, Feb 29)
China's massive but dwindling aquiferswouldbeon track to run virtually dry if over- pumping continued, said Lester Brown, prominent US environmental policy advocate. At that point, its grain production would dive, severely exacerbating any food price increases that had already accumulated. Without rationally priced water, Brownpredicted this scenario and a severe global food shortages as inevitable.

Opinion
Better higher education will change lives(The Times of India, Mar 2)
When I left India for post-graduate studies in 1975, there were perhaps 600 million people in India, and we had five IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology). Today, we are nearly double that population, and we have seven IITs, one of which has essentially involved the relabelling of an existing Regional Engineering College. To keep up with demand - and the needs of the marketplace - shouldn't we have had 20 IITs by now of the same standard as the original five? Or even 30?

30 central univs, 8 IITs, 7 IIMs to be set up in 11th plan(The Economic Times, Mar 4)
Thirty central universities, eight new IITs, seven IIMs, ten new National Institute of Technology will be set up in the 11th five year plan, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

Start of a school revolution(The Age, Mar 3)
China's rulers aim to transform their education system overnight, writes Jessica Shepherd.

"Our focus is on speciality products" (Business Standard, March 3)
Amid spiralling prices of metals, the need to conserve natural resources and attain energy efficiency amongst other cost saving measures, many sectors such as electronics, automobiles and construction are increasingly and alternatively using plastics as their raw material.

Chin a Manufacturing Quickens as Production Resumes (February 29, Bloomberg News)
Manufacturing activity in China, the world's fastest- growing major economy, quickened in February as companies resumed production after the nation's worst snowstorms in half a century. The Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 53.4 from 53 in January, the statistics bureau said today in an e-mailed statement. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion.

China names additional 30 state-level high-tech industrial bases (China View, March 1)
China has named 30 new state-level high-tech industrial bases, lifting the total number to 65. Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan awarded the State-level High-tech Industrial Bases to 30 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an and Tianjin, on Friday in Beijing. The 30 bases include six all- around ones and 24 that specialize respectively in civil aviation, new energy resources, microelectronics, information and biology.

India Cuts Excise Tax to Boost Manufacturing, Autos (Bloomberg News, February 29)
India's government cut excise taxes on most products to 14 percent and proposed steeper reductions for the automobile industry to spur manufacturing growth. Excise tax on most manufactured products will be reduced to 14 percent from 16 percent, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said in parliament while announcing the budget for the year starting April 1. The excise levy on small cars, two- wheelers and three-wheelers is being cut to 12 percent from 16 percent, the finance minister said.

MOFA: Taiwan must not be excluded from climate change efforts (The China Post, March 2)
Taiwan's lack of adequate representation in the United Nations prevents the country from participating in international efforts on mitigating climate change, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Elizabeth Chu said Taipei Saturday. Speaking at an international forum on climate change, Chu said that "Taiwan's access to international mechanisms to protect our interests and share our experience is very limited."

Stop penalising consumers for climate change (The Financial Times, February 28)
The campaign for a sustainable, low-carbon future is not going well. A Norwegian Arctic measuring station last week reported that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere had reached a new peak, at 394 parts per million, heading for the danger levels at which we are told violent climate change will set in. Meanwhile, an FT/Harris poll tells us that two-thirds of western European consumers are reluctant to pay more on their sky-high energy bills to cut emissions and subsidise renewables, while European industry's grumbles at the prospect of higher energy costs and even more ferocious lower-cost competition from Asia are growing louder.

New panel to fight climate change draws mixed response (Thaindian News, February 29)
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s announcement in his budget speech Friday that the government would soon set up a “permanent institutional mechanism” to coordinate the fight against climate change drew mixed reactions from India’s NGO community. Chidambaram said: “We can - and we must - do a number of things in our self-interest. We can promote clean technology products; we can review fuel emission and efficiency regulations; we can replace wood by solar as the fuel of common use; we can encourage the use of gas which is the most benign hydrocarbon; we can set up a trading platform for carbon emissions; we can build sustainable greenfield cities; and we can do more.

British miners get tough with China (Telegraph UK, March 2)
Two of Britain's biggest mining companies, Anglo American and Rio Tinto, will refuse to sign up to African joint ventures with Chinese companies unless they comply with Western environmental and human rights standards. Rio, led by chief executive Tom Albanese, and Anglo enforce their own standards on joint ventures around the world, but extending the policy to a series of recently announced projects with the Chinese should benefit Africa, where the Chinese have been heavily criticised for human rights and environmental violations.

Guilty by association? (Marketing Week, February 28)
Beijing Olympic sponsors are under pressure over China's political record, yet many of themdo business there and have benefited from that regime. Is it wise to continue the association,and how can brands ensure they are seen to live up to their declared ideals?

Virgin dials Tatas for mobile biz (The Times of India, March 3)
It's official. The Sir Richard Branson-owned Virgin group is launching the Virgin Mobile brand in India in association with Tata Teleservices. With Branson entering the world's fastest-growing mobile services market, subscribers are in for more goodies.

Innovation is the only way out (Express Computer, March 3)
With the confidence of having exceeded year-on-year projected growth, stalwarts of the Indian IT/BPO industry gathered for the 19th Nasscom India Leadership Forum held in Mumbai. Spread across three days, the event saw delegates and prominent speakers of the industry and government discuss various issues which the industry needed to deal with. This year the event focused on innovation, building talent and business growth.

Bird flu can strike again, FAO warns India (Hindustan Times, March 2)
India may be free from highly infectious bird flu now, but the UN agency Food and Agriculture Organisation has warned the government that the dreaded disease could resurface again. The UN agency also asked the government to maintain intensive surveillance in high-risk areas.

Chinese railway carries 196 mln passengers during Spring Festival travel season (China View, March 2)
Chinese railway carried a record of 196 million passengers during the Spring Festival travel season, an increase of 11.8 percent over the same period a year ago, said the Ministry of Railway here on Sunday. Spring Festival is a traditional occasion for family reunion, particularly for millions of China's migrant workers, who take up the dirtiest and cheapest jobs in cities and leave their families behind in the countryside.

Farm ministry to take up fert transportation issue with railways (The Financial Express, February 28)
Lalu's Railway Budget has not solved all the problems for agriculture sector. The problem of availability of wagons in time for transportation of chemical fertilizers and food grains and agro produces still remains. The agriculture ministry has decided to take up this issue with the railway ministry.

NEC contributes to success of transportation and logistics pilot between China and US (NEC, February 28)
NEC Corporation has participated as a solutions provider in an international transportation and logistics pilot carried out on a route from Shanghai to Los Angeles. The pilot was conducted by the Transportation and Logistics Services Industry Action Group of EPCglobal(1), the global RFID standards organization. Utilizing WebOTX RFID Manager, the RFID middleware product, NEC has significantly contributed to the success of the pilot by playing a leading role in the development of pilot systems complying with EPCIS(2) specifications created by EPCglobal. The goal of the pilot was to determine whether technical specifications created by EPCglobal contributed to realization of more advanced and efficient international logistics processes, with a view toward the application of these specifications in practical systems. The pilot was supported by numerous international logistics companies, solutions providers, hardware vendors, and others.

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