CANBERRA: Indonesian airlines will be allowed to fly into
CANBERRA: Indonesian airlines will be allowed to fly into international regional airports in Australia, the Australian government said Monday.
Transport Minister John Anderson and Tourism Minister Joe Hockey said in statements the new arrangements provided unrestricted air services between all Australia's regional international airports and Indonesia for the airlines of both countries.
"Today's announcement is another step in the implementation of the government's plan to grant unlimited capacity to all foreign airlines to operate to international airports other than Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth," Anderson said.
Hockey said the states and the Northern Territory could market their destinations with Australian and Indonesian carriers without the need for airlines to worry about bilateral restrictions on local market access. -- AFP
World gold mine output likely down
SYDNEY: Initial estimates for global gold mine production point to a substantial fall during the first half of calendar 2002, Gold Fields Mineral Services Ltd., a London-based industry research group said late Monday.
The falls are mainly due to lower output from the U.S. and Indonesia and a fall in the number of new deposits that could start producing in the short term, said the group in compiling their initial estimates for global mine production for the first half of calendar 2002.
"GFMS now believe that the world's current mine production levels may not be sustainable," it said.
Depleting reserves at mature operations in North America, "a marked decline in new deposits timetabled to come on stream in the short term" means that the global mine production could fall, GFMS said. -- Dow Jones
Thai cabinet OKs global bond plan
BANGKOK: The Thai Cabinet approved Tuesday a plan to issue in October up to US$1 billion in 10-year global bonds - the country's first global sovereign issue in five years - finance ministry Deputy Permanent Secretary Sommai Phasee said.
The ministry expects a coupon rate at a premium of 145 to 155 basis points over the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasurys, it said in its proposal to the Cabinet. The spread mustn't exceed 175 basis points.
U.S. banks JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Salomon Smith Barney, and Germany's Deutsche Bank AG will be the lead underwriters for the bond.
The bond will be marketed to investors in the U.S., Europe and Asia before its formal launch in mid-October, the finance ministry had said earlier.
Proceeds of the bond issue will be used to partially refinance over $2 billion in loans from the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The remaining debt will be refinanced through issues of Euro Commercial Paper and the government budget. -- Dow Jones
India to introduce 'bio-diesel'
NEW DELHI: India is planning to introduce a low-cost "bio- diesel" extracted from hardy trees as an alternative for vehicle- owners harangued by spiraling fuel costs due to volatile global markets.
"Research on bio-diesel as an efficient, clean and 100 percent natural energy alternative to petroleum fuels have been successful. We are readying a case for its launch," junior minister for rural development Annasaheb M K Patil told the Press Trust of India.
The fuel can be taken out of local tree varieties such as Jetropha, Karanja and Mahua, which grow in abundance in many parts of the country.
"Our research shows that bio-diesel can be used as an independent fuel to power vehicles, giving equal power and better Octane number than the contemporary diesel. It can also be blended with diesel to begin with," Patil added.
He said an investment of 200 billion rupees (US$4 billion) would be needed to set up refining plants based on the technology. -- AFP
Singapore's key exports up 14.7%
SINGAPORE: Singapore's key exports rose 14.7 percent in August from a year earlier with growth moderating from the previous month as the city-state faces a rocky recovery from recession, official data showed Tuesday.
The expansion in the non-oil domestic exports to S$8.6 billion (US$4.8 billion) followed a 16.8 percent increase in July.
Although Singapore's traditional export strength in electronics products continued to show a gradual improvement, it was the performance of pharmaceuticals which drove the performance upwards.
"This robust performance was contributed largely by higher shipments of pharmaceuticals to Puerto Rico" for the US market, the government trade body International Enterprise Singapore (IES) said.
Petrochemical exports to China and disk media products to Japan were other strong performers, it said. -- AFP