1.   

Indian economy to grow 5.3 pc in 2014: UN

The Indian economy is likely to witness an economic growth rate of 5.3 percent in 2014, while the global economic growth is estimated at 3 percent, says the UN. The outlook for the world represents a slight improvement compared to the expected growth of 2.1 percent. According to Pingfan Hong, the UN chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Unit, developed countries' economy should grow by a 1.9 percent next year, while developing nations should grow by around a five percent, Prensa Latina reported Thursday.

2.   

Easing of Clearance Procedures Needed for Growth of Food Processing Industries: Shri Pawar

The ongoing projects in the food processing industries sector that have been assisted by the Government will create an additional capacity of 1.7 lakh tonnes of cold storage, 1.37 lakh tonnes CA (controlled atmosphere) storage, deep freezers worth 57,000 tonne capacity, 591 reefer carriers and 103 lakh liter per day milk storage in the country.

3.   

Cabinet approves India's stand at WTO

The cabinet Thursday approved the stand taken by India at the ninth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) held in Bali in Indonesia Dec 3-7. "Prior to the Bali ministerial conference, the cabinet had provided directions to the commerce and industry minister on the stand to be taken by India. Acting on these directions, India took the position from the beginning that food security was non-negotiable," the cabinet said in a statement.

4.   

Cabinet okays FTA with Asean

The Cabinet has approved free trade agreement between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), sources said. "The pact was approved in the meeting today," sources said, adding approval paves the way for signing of the agreement between the two regions. The two sides were expected to sign the proposed pact on the sidelines of WTO meeting in Bali, but the process was delayed due to want of clearance from the Cabinet.