1.   

Vice President to visit Tajikistan to boost trade, ties

Vice President Hamid Ansari will discuss ways to further the country's trade and defence ties and other bilateral issues with Tajikistan during his four-day "goodwill" visit to the central Asian nation beginning tomorrow. This is the first ever visit by an Indian Vice President to Tajikistan, a hydrocarbon and minerals-rich nation. During his visit, Ansari will hold high-level talks with Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon and its Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Trade, among others, to give fresh impetus to bilateral relations.

2.   

India-Pak trade at its peak, exports see a 15% jump

Despite tensions, India's exports to Pakistan increased by almost 15 per cent in 2012-13 even as exports to the rest of the world fell by 4 per cent. Imports from Pakistan too showed a rise, by 30 per cent. While India's exports to Pakistan added up to nearly $1.6 billion between April 2012-February 2013, up from $1.4 billion in the corresponding period last year, imports rose to $488 million from $375 million.

3.   

Germany to back India for its "intent and assurance" to economic reforms

Germany, India's largest trade partner in the European Union, will push for a successful conclusion to the India-EU talks on a free trade pact in Brussels beginning Monday, without insisting on higher FDI in insurance coming into effect, a development that could lead to a breakthrough in the talks that have been on since 2007. Instead, the Eurozone's dominant economy will rely on the Indian government's "intent and assurance" with regard to the reforms process. Further, New Delhi has agreed to reduce import duties on cars in a phased manner over the next few years to as low as 5%, thus meeting a key demand of the European Union, which has insisted on lower tariffs on cars and wine.

4.   

Foreign trading partners getting more out of free trade agreements

Are free trade agreements (FTAs) really a win-win deal as the government is making them out to be? Experience with half-a-dozen pacts that India has signed since 2004-05 shows that usually, it is the trading partner that ends up being the winner. Be it Thailand, Asean, South Korea, Japan, Singapore or Malaysia, in almost all cases, imports have grown at a faster pace than exports after the government agreed to slash tariffs. In case of Singapore, where the spurt did not take place in the first year, the growth in imports from the island nation in the second and third years more than made up for the absence of the trend at the start.