Open Trade connecting global commerce www.opentrade.in Vol.1 Issue 4 July-September ‘07 Specl ia Section NEW TRADE COMMISSIONERS’ MEDIA FORUM connecting global business Issuen This Founder Chairman Late Shri R.K. Prasad Distributed by: New Media Communication Pvt. Ltd. COVER STORY 06 in association with Trade Commissioners’ Forum, Mumbai IMF Hikes Global Managing Editor: Satya Swaroop Economic Growth Director: B.K. Sinha Group Editor: Dev Varam Projections for ‘07&‘08 Consulting Editors: Prabhuu Sinha, Rajiv Tewari Umesh Luthria & Md. Sabir Nishat Asst. Editors: Tripti Chakravorty & Susheela Singh Sub Editor: Prajwala Poojary Project Co-ordinator: Himadri Deka 08-62 COUNTRY REPORTS Strategic Advisor: Vinaya Shetty Manager: Sunil Kumar 08 Australia Account Asst.: Vrunda Gurav 10 Belgium 34 Korea Circulation: Madhavi, Jawaharlal 12 Canada 36 Malaysia Santosh Gangurde & Vijay Wangade 14 China 38 Mauritius Art Director: Santosh Nawar 16 Czech Rep. 42 Netherlands Visualizers: Maya Vichare & Sagar Banawalikar DTP: Nilima Kadam & Mohammad Ismail 18 France 43 Poland Photographer: Bilal Khan 20 Germany 45 Romania BRANCHES: 22 Indonesia 48 Russia Kolkata: 24 Iran 53 Singapore Anurag Sinha, Branch Manager, A-7/1, 55 South Africa Satyam Park, 2nd Lane, Near 3A Bus Stand, 26 Israel Thakurpukur Kolkata- 700 104 29 Italy 58 United Kingdom Tel: 098300 15667, 033-24537708 31 Japan 61 United States Email:[email protected] Pune: Jagdish Khaladkar, Regional Director, Tel: 098230 38315 EVENT 63 Geeta K., Regional Head, Sahyog Apartments 508, Narayan Peth, Patrya Maruti Chowk Pune 411 030. 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Ltd., B/302, Twin Arcade, Military Road, Marol, Andheri (E), Mumbai - 400 059 India Tel: +91-22-2925 0690 Telefax: +91-22-2925 5279 E-mail: [email protected] INTERFACE 67 www.newmediacomm.com Printed & Published by Veerendra Bhargava and printed at M/s Young Printers, A-2/237, Shah & Nahar Industrial Estate, Lower Parel, A Bengal Commitment Mumbai - 400 013 and published from B/302, Twin Arcade, to Boost Industry Military Road, Marol, Andheri (E), Mumbai - 400 059 India Tel: +91-22-2925 0690 Telefax: +91-22-2925 5279 Editor: Dev Varam The news items and information published herein have TOURISM been collected from various sources, which are considered 69 to be reliable. Readers are however requested to verify the facts before making business decisions using the same. Soon we shall be able to Office of The Trade Commissioners’ Forum Position Bengal on the 36, Maker Chamber VI, 220, Nariman Point, Mumbai-400 021. Tourist Map of the World Tel: +91-22-6669 2000. Fax:+91-22-6669 2005. OPEN TRADE 03 July-Sept 2007 EDITORIAL Dear Reader, Greetings. The world economic scenario has been undergoing a rapid change, thanks mainly to emerging market economies. In this context, it is relevant to understand an emerging or developing, market economy (EME). It is an economy of a country with low-to-middle per capita income. Such countries constitute nearly 80 percent of the global population and represent about 20 of the world's economies. China, with an annual growth rate of 11 percent is leading other emerging market economies comprising India, Brazil, Russia, South Africa among others. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its recent update of the World Economic Outlook has revised upwards its earlier projections despite a weaker than expected economic growth in the United States, the world's largest economy. The cover story of the current issue of Open Trade details the bright outlook for the world economy as assessed by the IMF, which also foresees a recovery in the US as well as higher projections for Europe, Japan, Asia and the Pacific. The issue carries write-ups on all the countries represented by the Trade Commissioners' Forum in Mumbai. The US economy has done moderately well in the first half of 2007 and is expected to maintain the same pace in the second half of the current year and in 2008 as well. Canada's exports zoomed by 30 percent in the first half of 2007 as the country's small and medium enterprises thrived on demand from emerging markets such as Mexico, India, China, Russia and chile. Japan, another major economy, is looking at East Asia for its future growth. In fact, Japan is looking at India as a promising business location. Among European countries, Britain, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands are all aiming to consolidate and sustain their economic growth through budgetary initiatives for 2007 and 2008. In Italy, buoyancy in revenue collections has helped revive the country's economy. In East Europe, Russia's economy has been riding high on an investment boom. And so are the economies of the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania, which have been healthy and robust. In the Asian region, Indonesia's economy has revived, thanks to political stability and a spurt in the inflows of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which added up to $11 billion in eight months in the current year. In Malaysia, rising domestic demand combined with investment spending, has boosted the economy. In the Middle East region, Israel continues to thrive on high-tech exports and the country's trade with India has a glittering side to it, namely diamonds. Buoyancy in global economy and higher commodity prices have benefited South Africa. India's eastern State of West Bengal is endowed with rich and varied wealth of tourist attractions. The issue carries a special section on West Bengal tourism, adding a soft touch to the current issue of Open Trade, dealing generally with a topic as hard as economics. Wish you happy reading Satya Swaroop Managing Editor [email protected] OPEN TRADE 04 July-Sept 2007 FLASH Forby presides over TCF as new President Peter F o r b y, Aus trali a 's Consul G e neral a n d Trade Commi s sio ne r f o r Western Indee ia, pr sid d over the first meeting of th eaCior' Tr de omm ssi ne s Fro um (TCF) on 14 August 200 7 i n h i s cap ai c ty a s th e og r an i zation' s new Presi dent. A l a rg e numb e r of T C F m em b ers a tte nded the m e eting. We ex tend o ur gre et i ng s to the TCF memb e rs thr o ug h Open T rade, th e Peter Forby Forum'srl jou na and info r m th emt tha the nex ts i sue (Octo b er-December) of the magazi n e wo uld be i t s fi r s t a n niv e rsar y , me g a i s sue, which th ey coul d all use a s a p l a t form to express their vi ews a s well as pu b li s h their arti cles. The f o cus of th e iss ue will be on inf r astr uc tur e and Fore i g n Di rec t Inves tment (FDI ) . TRADE COMMISSIONERS’ FORUM OPEN TRADE 05 July-Sept 2007 COVER STORY IMF Hikes Global Economic Growth Pre oj ctio sn for '07 ‘ & 08 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised its projections upwards for global growth in both 2007 and 2008, despite a weaker than expected economic growth in the US in the first quarter of the current year. The IMF, in its July 2007 World Economic Outlook than expected economic outlook. This fact is reflected by Update, said that “While the world has not experienced an upward revision of China's growth this year and next, two consecutive years of +5.0 percent growth since i.e., from 10 percent to 11.2 percent in 2007 and from 1973, it is now projecting total world output to increase 9.5 percent to 10.5 percent in 2008. by more than 5.0 percent in both 2007 and 2008. Higher Forecasts for Europe & Japan The IMF now expects total world output to increase by 5.2 percent in 2007, a figure 0.3 percent higher than The IMF has also recognized that both Europe and projected in the organization's April 2007 forecast and Japan's economic health is better than previously thought 0.5 percent higher than projected in April 2006. It has and has therefore upgraded its forecasts for both also upwardly revised its projection for world economic countries. In Europe, the outlook has risen from 2.3 to growth in 2008 by 0.3 percent, to 5.2 percent. 2.6 percent in 2007 and from 2.3 to 2.5 percent in 2008. In Japan, it has risen from 2.3 to 2.6 percent in 2007. In Faster Growth in China 2008, the IMF now expects the Japanese economy to slow to 2.0 percent, slightly more than the 1.9 percent It is not surprising that the stronger world economic projected in April. outlook can be primarily attributed to China's stronger OPEN TRADE 06 July-Sept 2007 COVER STORY For Canada, the IMF revised its growth forecast slightly The Japanese economy is expected to continue its modest higher, to 2.5 percent from the 2.4 level projected in recovery. Projected growth is 2.0 percent in 2007 on the April.