PRIME MINISTER’S STATEMENT AT THE 8TH INDIA-ASEAN SUMMIT, HANOI

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From: Press Information Bureau Ministry of I&B <pib.kolkata@gmail.com>
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Press Information Bureau

Government of India

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Prime Minister's Office

PRIME MINISTER'S STATEMENT AT THE 8TH INDIA-ASEAN SUMMIT, HANOI

New Delhi: October 30, 2010.

 

Following is the text of the Prime Minister's statement at the 8th India-Asean Summit at Hanoi in Vietnam today:

 

"I thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, for your warm welcome and generous hospitality. It is a pleasure for all of us to gather here on the auspicious occasion of the commemoration of 1000 years of the establishment of the city of Hanoi.

 

I deeply condole the loss of lives and property in the recent tsunami in Indonesia and floods in Vietnam. I wish the people of Indonesia and Vietnam an early recovery from the unfortunate tragedy.

 

I thank Cambodia, and especially Prime Minister Hun Sen, for his strong support to India as country Coordinator and look forward to our continuing close association with Cambodia.

 

For the past five years the achievement of the India-ASEAN partnership has been to initiate cooperation in a diverse range of sectors covering political and security ties, economic cooperation and the promotion of socio-cultural links.

 

I commend the officials of both sides for developing a Plan of Action to implement the ASEAN-India Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared Prosperity for the years 2010-2015. It is an ambitious road map and the 82 Action Points reflect the vast potential and desire to develop a multi-faceted India-ASEAN relationship.

 

Our experience of implementation shows that we need to work very hard at all levels if we have to accelerate the pace of engagement as outlined in the Plan of Action. I recall that the theme of the ASEAN Summit this year is "Vision to Action". This theme is equally appropriate for our own partnership.

 

I invite the ASEAN Secretary General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan to visit India to review the mechanisms and procedures in place so that the pace of implementing agreed projects can be speeded up.

 

I would urge that the two sides make further efforts to identify concrete projects for cooperation under the India-ASEAN Science & Technology Fund, India-ASEAN Green Fund and the US $ 50 million India-ASEAN Fund announced last year.

 

India believes that ASEAN is the core around which the process of economic integration of the Asia-Pacific region should be built. India's economy has been growing rapidly for the past few years. This year we hope to achieve a growth rate of 8.5%. In the coming years, we hope to sustain a growth rate of 9-10% per year which will offer many opportunities for trade and investment. Our government has undertaken programmes for a massive transformation of rural India that is creating a huge and booming rural market for goods and services.

 

We hope that all formalities for implementing the India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement by all ASEAN States are completed at an early date. The conclusion of a Services and Investment Agreement will be an important step in our goal of comprehensive economic cooperation.

 

In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in people to people exchanges as a result of better air connectivity between India and ASEAN. More than 3 million Indian tourists visit ASEAN every year and about 380 flights connect Indian and ASEAN cities every week. This is well below the potential.

 

We invite many more tourists from the ASEAN countries to visit India to see the splendor of its rich cultural heritage. I am happy that the text of the ASEAN-India MoU for cooperation in Tourism has been finalized. I am also pleased to note that ASEAN will soon establish an ASEAN Promotional Chapter for tourism in Mumbai.

 

As a concrete measure, I am happy to announce that we will extend our visa on arrival facility to nationals of Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines and Laos with effect from 1st of January 2011.

 

We have always accorded high priority to the countries covered by the "Initiative for ASEAN integration". We hope to upgrade the level of youth exchanges as well as establish Vocational Training Centres in each of these countries.

 

Connectivity is another important area of our cooperation. As a further measure to support the ASEAN Master Plan on Connectivity, we will offer 100 IT scholarships to each of the 10 ASEAN countries over the next 5 years.

 

Science & Technology should be another focus area for our cooperation. We are ready to set up a Centre for Tracking and Data Reception and an Imaging facility for the ASEAN countries. This Centre would utilize data provided by Indian remote sensing satellites and harness it for multiple developmental applications. I propose a meeting of the heads of our space agencies in India which could work out exact details of cooperation.

 

Our cooperation in political and security matters is progressing well, including through expanded bilateral exchanges. These are important areas of our cooperation not only because of the common threats that we face but also because such cooperation helps to built mutual trust and understanding.

 

India looks forward to hosting the commemorative India-ASEAN Summit in India in the year 2012. This will be a land mark event and we must begin preparations early. The Eminent Persons Group should be set up quickly so that it can formulate a vision statement towards a long term strategic partnership between ASEAN and India that could be the theme of the Summit."

 

ad/sks/dk/kol/18:04 hrs.

 

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

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Ministry of Defence

Military Doctors and Civil Medical Experts Discuss Hospital Waste Management Issues at Conference

New Delhi: October 30, 2010.

 

A two-day annual conference on hospital waste management organised jointly by Indian Society of Hospital Waste Management (ISHWM) and Department of Health Services, Govt of NCT of Delhi, was inaugurated by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Shri Tejendra Khanna at India Habitat Centre, today.

 

The conference was attended by WHO Representative Designate to India Dr Nata Menabde, Director General (Organisation & Planning), Armed Forces Medical Services Air Mshl DP Joshi, DG Railway Health Services, senior medical and dental professionals, nursing officers and prominent doctors from hospitals and nursing homes in Delhi and other places in India and abroad.

 

ISHWM is a scientific society actively engaged in bringing about greater awareness among the doctors, health care works, nurses, paramedics and hospital administrators on safe and effective bio-medical waste management and safe disposal.

 

The Key note address was delivered by Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests Shri Rajiv Gauba. In his Presidential address, Chairman Air Marshal LK Verma highlighted the importance of effective management of the hospital waste to minimise risk of infection and enhance safety to the healthcare works and waste handlers from infectious diseases such as HIV, and Hepatitis group of diseases.

 

tks/dk/kol/18:04 hrs.

 

 

 

 

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

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Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas

India Keen to Invest in Oil Projects of Sudan

Bilateral Talks to be Held for Participation in More Exploration Blocks

New Delhi: October 30, 2010.

 

India and Sudan have expressed desire to further expand cooperation in the oil & gas sector. In a bilateral meeting held here today, the countries decided to engage their oil companies in greater discussions during the International Conference Petrotech-2010. The Petroleum Ministers of two countries, namely, Shri Murli Deora, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Govt of India and Dr Lual A. Deng, Minister of Petroleum, Govt of Sudan led the respective delegations at today's talks.

 

Shri Deora while welcoming the visiting Minister expressed keen desire of Indian Oil PSUs to further invest in the hydrocarbon sector of Sudan. It was agreed that Sudanese side will make a detailed presentation to the Oil PSUs about forthcoming investment opportunities in the exploration blocks. It was also informed that ONGC's expertise in enhancing production in the existing fields could be utilized by Sudan. Indian side underlined that ONGC has deployed its best experts in the Greater Nile Oil Project which helped in increasing the production from about 220 thousand barrels of oil per day (BOPD) to 320 thousand BOPD besides raising the oil reserves in the fields. It was also informed that OVL is keen to not only maintain but also increase the crude oil production level in the matured fields at optimum cost through IOR/EOR technology.

 

The two sides decided that first meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on hydrocarbon sector will be held soon in pursuance of the MOU signed between them earlier. Sudan offered to export more crude oil to India. It was informed that Indian companies like IOC are big importers of crude and would be interested to explore the possibilities in this regard. It was also agreed that IOC will assist in production of Bio-fuels in Sudan.

 

Indian side offered to impart training to the oil sector personnel of Sudan in its world class facilities in the entire chain of hydrocarbon value chain.

 

MoS (PNG) Shri Jitin Prasada, Petroleum Secretary, CMD ONGC, Chairman IOC, CMD GAIL, MD OVL were among those present.

 

rcj/dk/kol/18:05 hrs.

 

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

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Ministry of Railways

Railways to Sign MoU with NTPC for Joint Venture Captive Power Plant at Adra in West Bengal Tomorrow

New Delhi: October 30, 2010.

 

In a major initiative, the Ministry of Railways takes a step forward in augmenting its own internal power generation to meet its electricity requirements when it is going to sign an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), a PSU under the Ministry of Power, Government of India for a Joint Venture captive power plant at Adra in West Bengal on tomorrow i.e. 31st October 2010. The Adra power plant will have capacity of 1320 MW (2 units of 660 MW, super critical units). This power plant will employ super critical technology which is more environment friendly. The MoU will be signed at a function to be held at Anara near Adra (Purulia District, West Bengal) between the Railways and NTPC in the presence of the Union Minister of Railways, Mamata Banerjee.

 

The Minister of States for Rural Development Shri Sisir Kumar Adhikari, Government of India and the Minister of State for Shipping, Government of India, Shri Mukul Roy will also be present on the occasion. Especially present on the occasion among others will be, Member Electrical Railway Board Shri Sudesh Kumar, Member Mechanical, Railway Board, Shri Sanjiv Handa, Member Engineering, Railways Board and General Manager, South Eastern Railway, Shri A.P.Mishra and Chairman cum Managing Director, NTPC, Shri Arup Roy Choudhury.

 

In the same function, the Minister of Railways, Mamata Banerjee will also lay the foundation stone for Coach Mid-Life Rehabilitation (MLR) workshop. This will be the second such factory in the Indian Railways after Bhopal. Mid-Life Rehabilitation of coaches breathes life into old coaches and contributes immensely to improve not only their residual service life but also rejuvenate the interiors. The workshop's output will result in greater availability of coaches.

 

The peak power requirement of Railways at present is about 3500 MW and likely to go upto 4500 MW by the end of XII year plant. Railways draws its power from state distribution utilities. Railways own captive power plant will help provide power in a more reliable, cost effective, uninterrupted and at economical manner. The electricity generated by Railways' own plants will turn out to be cheaper than the power provided by state electricity boards to Railways.

 

Earlier, Railways and NTPC jointly set up 1000 MW thermal power plant at Nabinagar in Bihar which is presently under implementation stage. In addition, Railways has already made operational a 10.5 MW Wind Energy plant at Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu.

 

aks/hk/lk/tr/dk/kol/18:05 hrs.

 

--
Palash Biswas
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