• Burundi Energy and Mines minister dismissed
  • No Cut in EPF interest rate, reiterates Labour Minister.
  • Handloom Export Promotion Council concerns over duty drawback rate.

    • Kuwaiti Companies Call For Concerted Counterfeit Crackdown

    Kuwaiti entrepreneurs from the media, software and home video industries urge the government to step up its action to bring an end to piracy; cite hundreds of wasted job opportunities and millions in lost income

    Kuwait City, Kuwait, 9 July 2002 keralamonitor.com

    Leading Kuwaiti entrepreneurs have called on the government to step up copyright enforcement action. In a meeting held at the offices of Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO), representatives of the media industry, the software development industry and the home video industry gathered to discuss the current status of the market and look at ways to reduce intellectual property theft. Although they acknowledged the initial steps that have been taken by the government to reduce piracy, they highlighted the need for further action to make a significant impact in the market, and agreed to collaborate in a bid to ask authorities to step up their enforcement activity. The piracy of motion pictures, books and business software alone are estimated to have cost the Kuwaiti economy millions in lost revenues last year.

    KIPCO, one of the Middle East's largest investment holding companies, has frequently had its business constrained by piracy and has had to put more than one investment plan on hold because of it. The company, which owns the Showtime satellite TV network as well as Gulf Net and other information technology companies has identified piracy as a major deterrent for investment in the region, and limiting factor for the economic development of Kuwait.

    "The Kuwaiti government has taken many steps to address this problem," commented Ahmad Al Ajeel, Vice President, Marketing at KIPCO, "Through the ratifying of international agreements and setting up task forces between the different authorities, the government has laid down the framework for real action against piracy. Yet, we are far from reaching international levels of copyright protection, and a lot more enforcement is needed to fight piracy efficiently. This means that the business community will remain hesitant about investing in many domains. We call on the government to prioritize this issue. Kuwait benefits from a young and educated population that has continued to prove its creativity, but it does need support from its government to grow and thrive".

    Illegal operators in Kuwait redistribute pay TV signals without authorization from the rights holder, which is a blatant copyright infringement and a misappropriation of on-air content. Using a "Direct To Home" smart card, they collect monthly fees by rerouting illegal cables to neighboring buildings, thus taking away income from the legal channels and supplying low quality, unreliable TV viewing to consumers.

    On the other hand, the software industry remains one of the market sectors most sensitive to intellectual property infringements. Although piracy dropped in recent years, it currently still stands at 76% in Kuwait. The most common forms of piracy are hard disk loading, where reseller load unlicensed software applications onto newly purchased PCs, and counterfeiting where illegal CDs are sold directly to the consumer. Software development companies also recently identified internet piracy as a new threat, with millions of sites selling illegal software on the world wide web.

    "The development and survival of a viable software industry is difficult in Kuwait at this point," commented Tarek Al Marzouk, General Manager, Al Marzouk Software. "For example, our company has developed many products over the years, which were all pirated. Had our intellectual property been protected, our company would have grown much faster, we would have been able to invest more in research and we might have created hundreds of jobs for young Kuwaitis. As it stands today, software development is not a viable business option, simply because of piracy. There is demand for software products, but how can we sustain our business if our software is sold by the hundreds on counterfeit CDs in the street? We do thank the government for its action against this phenomenon, but a lot more needs to be done"

    Other industries have also suffered: the International Video Center which has bought video retail rights to all Kuwaiti plays has also seen its business threatened by illegal video copying.

    "We strongly believe in the creativity and the potential of the Kuwaiti theater," said Hussam Shehadeh, Managing Director, International Video Center "We invested heavily to buy video rights for Kuwaiti theater plays, yet this investment has not yielded real results because of piracy. Not only does this affect our business, but it also discourages theater producers and writers to carry on with their creative mission."

    Pirate movie CDs are predominately produced in Asian countries and smuggled into Kuwait. They are stored in a centralized location and distributed to young children who, in turn, sell them on street corners to passers by.

    No Cut in EPF interest rate, reiterates Labour Minister.


    CBT Approves multibenefit employees insurance scheme
    New Delhi :July 9, 2002

    The Labour Minister Dr. Sahib Singh has said that there will be no cut in the present rate of interest of 9.5% on deposits of Employees Provident Fund beneficiaries. Speaking to media persons at the end of a meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the Employees Provident Fund here today, the Labour Minister said that if necessary, the Cabinet would be approached to seek approval for continuing the current interest rate. The issue, however, did not figure in today's meeting of the CBT which, at its special meeting on April 12, 2002, had urged the Finance Ministry to reconsider its decision and allow the Fund to pay 9.5% to its subscribers for the current financial year. It had said that after paying 9.5% rate of interest to the subscribers the Fund would be left with a surplus of about 147 crore rupees.


    Dr. Sahib Singh said that the CBT at today's meeting gave a go ahead to necessary amendments to the Employees Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. These include a proposal to introduce a Multi-benefit Employees Insurance Scheme by the EPFO so that its beneficiaries who would lost their jobs as a result of the ongoing economic restructuring can get half of the last wage per month for one year as employment insurance. Dr. Sahib Singh said that the proposed Scheme envisages a small contribution of 1.25% by the employer and 0.5% by the employees during his tenure of employment.

    He said that the Finance Ministry has approved the Scheme but has expressed its inability to make envisaged contribution of at least 0.25% of the employees wage. The CBT also gave its approval to several other proposed amendments to the Act in lieu of the mobility of workforce from formal to informal sector due to the increase in the outsourcing of work. These include policy changes for increase in coverage, strengthening the dispute resolution mechanism, and to regulate the exempted Trusts. The CBT, however, entrusted the Labour Minister to take a decision on reducing the threshold limit for EPF coverage and deleting provisions in the Act relating to definition of 'Industry".

    The CBT also approved the Report on the Business Process Re-engineering which stipulates new procedures and processes for maintaining accounts and meeting more efficiently programme delivery obligations through the application of Information technology. The labour Minister said that it would be first introduced in Delhi and six other big cities for which the EPFO has earmarked Rs. 6.75 crore. Dr. Sahib Singh said that 8,000 staff members have been trained in the new methodology. He said nobody in the EPFO would lose his job following application of IT as the Organisation would be expanding its operations.

    Earlier inaugurating the meeting the Chairman of the CBT Dr. Sahib Singh said that the EPFO had an improved performance of about 50 % and enrolled 27.43 lakh members during the last financial year. He said that 49.84 lakh claims have settled. Recovery of PF in default amounted to Rs.2,281.85 crore during the last 30 months as compared to Rs.778.50 crore recovered during the last 9 years from 1990. The meeting was besides the CBT Members attended by the Minister of State for Labour, Ashok Pradhan, the Labour Secretary Dr. P.D.Shenoy and the Central Provident Fund Commissioner Shri Ajay Singh .

    Handloom Export Promotion Council concerns over duty drawback rate.

    New Delhi -July 9, 2002. keralamonitor.com

    Government of India has announced new rates and Duty Drawback for cotton handloom fabrics and madeups with effect from 01-06-2002 after taking into account the revised tariff rates announced in the new budget. But HEPC has expressed its concern over some of the anomalies in handloom items which can adversely affect the export performance.

    In a statement issued by Manish K. Haria, Chairman, H.E.P.C. it is said that in the case of handloom durries in serial number 57.02, the drawback rate is retained at the old rate of 9% of FOB value adopted prior to 1-6-2002 without any change in CAP values. The changes in excise duty levied on hankyarn have not been taken into cognizance which may cause severe setback to durry exporters particularly in Panipat. Similarly request of the trade and Council on introducing new entry for 70:30 cotton synthetic fibre blend, and 60:40 cotton synthetic fibre blended durry to take care of vast gap in the duty incidence on such blended durries have gone unnoticed. Other than this cotton durries whether dyed or undyed were enjoying duty drawback till 1-6-2002, but after the new announcement only cotton durries when dyed will be entitled for drawback. Consequently, many export orders on the pipeline for such processed durries are causing huge loss due to denial of duty claim for processed cotton durries with effect from 1-6-2002.

    According to the Chairman, Handloom Export Promotion Council, these anomalies will severely cripple the Handloom exports. Handloom industry is facing severe competition both internally and externally. The export of handoom during April to Feb 2002 is Rs. 1894 crores against last year export of Rs 1963 crores in the corresponding period, resulting into a decline of 3.5% in Rupee terms and 7.6% in dollar terms. Therefore, Council had taken up these issues with Ministry of Textiles, Ministry of Revenue for its early redressal, he said.


    ADB Sets up new Poverty Fund financed by United Kingdom

    keralamonitor.com

    MANILA, PHILIPPINES (9 July 2002) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has
    agreed to set up a Poverty Reduction Cooperation Fund (PRF) to provide
    grants for programs of strategic assistance for poverty reduction. The new
    fund is being financed by the United Kingdom with a contribution of £39
    million (US$55 million) and will be managed by ADB.

    The PRF will finance novel approaches to poverty reduction as well as
    traditional methods, including training and advisory services and
    institutional support.

    The United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) will
    make grants available through a £30 million regional program for poor ADB
    developing member countries excluding India and People's Republic of China
    (PRC) and a £9 million program for the PRC, where the DFID is financing
    projects. In the case of India, the fund will coordinate with the UK's
    country-specific poverty reduction fund.

    The new fund supplements two other funds for poverty reduction financed by
    Japan and the Netherlands. The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction finances
    innovative approaches for direct poverty reduction projects linked to ADB
    loans, while the Cooperation Fund in Support of the Formulation and
    Implementation of National Poverty Reduction Strategies supports strategy
    design and regional capacity-building.

    Burundi Energy and Mines minister dismissed

    keralamonitor.com

    NAIROBI, 9 July (IRIN) - Energy and Mines Minister Mathias Hitimana has been dismissed from the transitional government and replaced by the former minister of planning, Andre Nkundikije, news organisations reported.

    Hitimana's sacking was announced on Sunday on state radio, giving no reasons for the action. Commenting on this at the airport before his departure for the Organisation of African Unity summit in Durban, South Africa, President Pierre Buyoya told reporters, "When we have taken such a decision, we never explain ourselves on radios." The Associated Press quoted Hitimana as saying he did not know why he had been dismissed, but that the act constituted a violation of the August 2000 power-sharing deal by 17 political parties, the National Assembly and the government.

    Hitimana is the leader of the Parti pour la reconciliation du peuple. His successor heads the Parti vert-intwari. Both are members of the G-10, a group of Tutsi-dominated parties.

    The Burundi human rights league, Iteka, said Hitimana, who was appointed minister on 1 November 2001 at the inauguration of the transitional government, had complained about his dismissal to the former Burundi conflict mediator, Nelson Mandela.

    Meanwhile, the Australian mining company Argosy Minerals announced it had made a significant find of platinum in Burundi, Asia Intelligence Wire reported on Sunday. "The platinum intersections from the drilling work done so far are significant," it quoted Argosy Corporate Development Manager Dave Russell as saying.He described the find as accidental, because Argosy was in Burundi to assess known nickel laterite deposits. keralamonitor.com