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Call for step up economic reforms

NEW DELHI: India will continue its economic reforms, but must step up its pace to remove social and regional imbalances in development, the president said on Wednesday. Although President K.R. Narayanan is the constitutional figurehead, his speech to parliament on the opening day of the budget session of parliament reflects the government's views.

N Korean economy hit by power shortage

SEOUL: North Korea has been hit by its worst power shortage, caused by years of natural disasters and a US stranglehold on its nuclear industry, its state media said on Wednesday. "Never before in the history of Korea has there been such power shortage as today. This is adversely affecting the overall economic life in the DPRK (North Korea)," said the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) monitored in Seoul. AFP

Chinese, EU begin third day of talks

BEIJING: European Union trade negotiators arrived at China's ministry of foreign trade and economic cooperation (MOFTEC) on Wednesday for a second day of talks on a bilateral trade deal. The EU delegation made no comment to waiting reporters as it went into the ministry in two black diplomat cars. AFP

ADB vows to support Philippine

MANILA: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has vowed to help the Philippine government's poverty eradication efforts by stepping up cooperation with its pro-poor programme. The bank made the promise in a meeting on Tuesday between its president, Tadao Chino, and Philippine President Joseph Estrada. The meeting was also attended by Finance Secretary Jose Pardo, Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Felipe Medalla and Presidential Chief of Staff Aprodicio Laquian. APP

Vietnamese inflation

HANOI: Vietnam's inflation fell 1.2 percent year-on-year in the month to February 22, official figures showed on Wednesday, reflecting the continued slump in consumer demand. Prices rose 1.6 percent month-on-month, according to the general department of statistics, compared to a 0.4 percent increase in January. AFP

Airbus sees slower global orders

SINGAPORE: Europe's Airbus Industrie on Wednesday forecast a worldwide slowdown in new plane orders this year despite Asia's rebound, but was confident of again edging out US rival Boeing Co. "We see some slowdown in orders. The average demand is about 750 a year," the European aircraft consortium's chief executive officer, Noel Forgeard, told a news conference at Asian Aerospace 2000, the region's top air show. Airbus Vice President John Lealy told AFP the company expects between 300 and 350 new orders this year. Boeing, historically the top producer of commercial jetliners, last year lost the annual orders race to Airbus for only the second time. AFP

Taiwanese business tycoon

TAIPEI: Taiwan's leading petrochemical tycoon Y.C. Wang, the chairman of the Formosa Plastics Group, is in China exploring further investment opportunities, a company official said on Wednesday. He has already pumped three billion US dollars in a mainland thermal power plant, and is studying the possibility of investing in herbal medicine and preparing for the group's future expansion into the biotechnology industry, the United Daily News reported. AFP

Thai Airways' denial

BANGKOK: Thai Airways International (THAI) on Wednesday issued a categorical denial of persistent reports that it is considering walking away from the Star Alliance. The airline said in a statement that mounting speculation it may respond to the imminent arrival in the alliance of regional competitor Singapore Airlines (SIA) by leaving were wrong. AFP