Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika (r) met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Algiers, Algeria on Friday. Russia is erasing Algeria's estimated $4.7b to Moscow. (AFP Photo)

ALGIERS, Algeria, March 11--Russia and Algeria signed an agreement Friday to write off Algeria’s entire $4.7 billion debt, Ria Novosti said.
“The Russian side will write off $4.7372465415 billion, which corresponds to Algeria’s entire debt owed to Russia on previous loans as of February 1, 2006,“ the document says.
The second part of the document cancels all of Algeria’s commitments on state loans with term lengths of more than a year, which were secured with the former Soviet Union, debts on similar commercial loans, and special repayment accounts that Vneshtorgbank of the USSR opened in the Central Bank of Algeria under the interbank agreements of 1981 and 1985.
“Guarantees relating to the specified categories of debt will also be annulled,“ the agreement says.
The parties also agreed that there were no other financial claims between them, except those mentioned in the agreement.
Meanwhile, The head of Russian energy giant Gazprom said Friday that Algeria might take part in building liquefied natural gas plants in Russia.
Alexei Miller, who is a member of the Russian delegation accompanying President Vladimir Putin on his first visit to Algeria, said, “Cooperation with Algeria in this sphere interests us, given the country’s experience, which goes back decades, and we do not rule out its participation in building facilities to liquefy natural gas on Russian soil.“
Miller said projects in this area were important to Gazprom, which is seeking to diversify its final products.
“We are moving toward producing liquefied natural gas along with pipeline gas,“ Miller said, adding that in the 1960s, Algeria was a pioneer in this sphere.
Miller said a memorandum on cooperation with Algerian state-owned energy company Sonatrak could be signed in April.
Russia and Algeria, a major oil and gas producer and a long-standing supplier of natural gas to Europe, may also join efforts in prospecting, developing oil and gas deposits, and in repairing and modernizing pipelines and wells in Algeria.
Miller also said that Gazprom might open an office in Algeria.
“We will consider opening a Gazprom representative office in Algeria if a memorandum is implemented successfully,“ he said.

LONDON, March 11--Microsoft says it is doing all it can to meet the EC’s demands Microsoft’s efforts to comply with the European Commission’s anti-competition ruling are “entirely inadequate“, Brussels has warned, according to BBC.
The Commission said it would impose fines of up to 2m euros (£1.4m) a day if the firm continued to drag its feet.
The comments followed reviews of how the US giant was meeting EC demands that it open up its Windows operating systems to rivals.
Microsoft rejected the claims saying it had “surpassed“ the EC’s requirements.
The US giant’s troubles go back to March 2004, when it was fined 497m euros for abusing its dominant market position in a landmark EC ruling.
But more importantly it was also ordered to open up its core software systems to rivals making it easier for them to build products which would work with Windows.
However, Brussels is still pressing the firm for more detailed information about its systems and claims the software giant is failing to meet its demands.
“Microsoft is still not in compliance with its obligations under the March 2004 Commission decision,“ the Commission said after the latest reviews of its performance.
The reports, by the Commission’s Monitoring Trustee and Colorado consultant TAEUS, found that parts of the latest documentation provided by Microsoft were “entirely inadequate, devoted to obsolete functionality and self-contradictory“, the Commission said.
“TAEUS concludes that Microsoft’s documentation was written ’primarily to maximize volume while minimizing useful information’,“ it added in a statement.
But Microsoft rejected the findings, saying the information it had offered “meets and surpasses the requirements of the Commissions 2004 decision“.
Microsoft has challenged the ruling, and a hearing on its underlying case is due to be heard on 24 April at the European Court of First Instance, Europe’s second highest court.

ABUJA, Nigeria,
March 11--South Korea and Nigeria closed a massive oil field development deal during South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun’s presidential visit here on Thursday night.
The deal will secure Korea at least 12 billion barrels of oil when the exploration into the deep waters of Equatorial Guinea is completed, Ria Novosti quoted Commerce, Industry and Energy Ministry officials accompanying the president as saying.
The two countries have been discussing details of the project since the two signed a memorandum of understanding in August last year.
The completion of the pact was part of the energy talks Roh held with his Nigerian counterpart President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The ministry officials estimate the consortium of Korea National Oil Corporation and Korea Electric Power Corporation and others will see some 1.2 trillion won of net profit from the development project.
The officials said the exploration deal will also help Nigeria improve its faltering electric power system by constructing a power plant generating 2.25 million kilowatts of electricity.
The agreement is a milestone in Korea’s active involvement in the country which boasts Africa’s largest reserves of oil, they said.
The president is currently on an eight day tour of key African nations.
After holding summit talks on Thursday, Roh spent his second day in Nigeria attending a luncheon of business delegates and meeting representatives of Korean residents here.
During the business forum, Roh offered details of Korea’s grandiose initiative on a comprehensive aid package to the continent under the title “Korea’s Initiative for Africa’s Development.“
The plan, involving such measures as tripling the overall amount of official development assistance by year 2008, will also include devising an innovative method to collect funds for the aid to the African continent.
Sources say the government is considering a suggestion that the Korean public donate 1,000 won for every airplane ticket they purchase to go into the Africa development fund.

TOKYO, March 11--Third-ranked Japanese automaker Honda Motor plans to build a new major factory in Japan for the first time in 30 years, amid a Japanese economic recovery, a news report said Saturday.
According to AFP, the site will initially make advanced fuel-efficient engines by as early as 2008, and may possibly assemble finished vehicles in the future, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said, without citing sources.
The plant is slated for Saitama prefecture, just north of Tokyo, with the initial investment estimated at 30 billion yen (252.16 million dollars), including the cost for land, the newspaper said.
At full capacity, the plant is expected to crank out around 200,000 engines a year, the newspaper said.
Amid predictions that fuel-efficient engines and hybrid vehicles will spread rapidly, Honda sees the need not only to engage in technological development but also to accumulate expertise in mass production, the Nihon Keizai said.
This led to its plan to spend huge sums to construct a domestic plant, it said.
Honda officials could not be reached for immediate comment.
The last time the firm built a domestic mass-production factory was in Kumamoto prefecture in 1976, it said.
Under the plan, the factory would be the third largest plant in Japan, the newspaper said.
Honda plans to first set up production lines for its new VTEC engine, which features both low fuel-consumption and high power, and for V-10 engines geared for high-end sports cars, the Nihon Keizai said.
The automaker is also considering setting up a production line there for hybrid systems powered by gasoline-fueled engines and electric motors, it said.
The firm is also considering assembling finished cars in the future, the paper said.
Honda plans to keep operating its existing facilities even after the new plant is completed, the Nihon Keizai said.

Qatar's Rasgas has agreed to supply an additional 2.2 million tons of LNG, which is the requirement for full operation of the 2,150 MW Ratnagiri plant

NEW DELHI, India, March 11--Qatar has indicated to help India to solve the problem of requirement of 2.2 million tons of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) for Ratnagiri Power and Gas Ltd, Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported here Friday.
“Qatar’s Rasgas has agreed to supply an additional 2.2 million tons of LNG, which is the requirement for full operation of the 2,150 MW Ratnagiri plant,“ IANS quoted Petroleum Secretary M.S. Srinivasan as saying.
The Petroleum Secretary declined to comment on the price of the gas other than to state that it was affordable.
“We hope to start receiving the LNG supplies for the Ratnagiri terminal by December this year. It depends on our preparedness to receive that LNG. We are gearing up for that,“ said Srinivasan.
The work on the Ratnagiri terminal, which is of five million tons capacity, would be monitored on a fortnightly basis to ensure its preparedness by November to begin trial runs before the first shipment arrives from Qatar in December.
The gas supplies would help to reduce the cost of power generation by the Ratnagiri plant, which is expected to initially start 740 MW power generation from May, using its holdover stock of naphtha fuel. The remaining two blocks will commence production once the LNG supplies start arriving.
Meanwhile, Qatar is increasingly becoming a primary player in the production and export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other products, notably gas-to-liquids (GTL).
According to Middle East Economic Digest (MEED), Qatar’s oil capacity stands to reach 875,000 barrels per day (bpd) by year-end.
In a span of one decade, Qatar’s oil industry attracted investments worth $7.7 billion. Undoubtedly, this is a considerable amount for a country with a gross domestic product of $30 billion.

BEIJING, March 11--China and the United States are expected to start a new round of talks on expansion of air services between the two countries this month, Xinhuanet quoted a senior US airline official as saying.
The talks, regarding the expansion of civil aviation rights, will take place this month, Athar Khan, managing director for the Asia Pacific region of American Airlines, said during a recent interview.
The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, the nation’s industry regulator, would not confirm the information.
However, Khan said, the talks are expected to allow one more US carrier to fly to China next year although he admitted he could not be specific.
China and the United States signed an agreement in July 2004 to allow the number of weekly return flights between the countries to increase from 54 to 249 by 2010. It also allows five additional airlines from each country to serve the US-China market.
Khan’s company is one of the two airlines that have been authorized to fly to China in accordance with the deal.
United Airlines launched daily non-stop flights between Shanghai and Chicago last November. American Airlines, one of the world’s largest, will also begin a daily non-stop service between Chicago and Shanghai on April 2.
Currently, Chinese airlines can handle only 80 per cent of the approved capacity of flights to and from the United States, whereas US airlines are looking to increase flights.
However, Li Jiaxiang, chairman of Air China, said the liberalization of the market will bring more opportunities than challenges.
China has large potential in outbound travel, Li said at a recent seminar on Sino-US co-operation in Beijing. He added that the signing of the memorandum of understanding on tourism partnership between the two countries in 2004 must serve as momentum for the aviation market.
He urged the airlines of the two countries to co-operate more in marketing and code-sharing to improve network and avoid vicious competition.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, March 11--Experts from Malaysia and other Asean countries as well as Europe in the area of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are expected to deliver their views on the subject at a two-day seminar here, beginning Monday, March 13.
According to Bernama, the seminar “IPR Seminar:Empowering Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs)“ under the EU-funded EC-ASEAN Intellectual Property Rights Co-operation Programme (ECAPII), is being jointly organised by the EU-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EUMCCI) and the Malaysian Intellectual Property Office (MyIPO).
The Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Commission (EC) in Malaysia, Thierry Rommel, said this to Bernama here Saturday.
He said the event would see over 200 influential business leaders, regulators and researchers exchanging ideas with experts from the European Patent Office (EPO), the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) as well as Malaysian and ASEAN IP-related offices.
“Through practical workshops and information sessions, participants will have access to the latest evolution on trademark strategies and retrieval of patent information,“ he said.
In addition, he said EU and ASEAN SMEs and IP-related institutions will showcase their activities and organisations in an exhibition to be held alongside the event.
Touching on the benefits to SMEs, Rommel said SMEs were major driving forces in developing a country’s industry, business and economics.
“Successful SMEs bring prosperity to their local communities, participate in the economic development of provincial areas and promote trading and investment to national and international levels.
“SMEs dynamic development also attracts foreign investment and boosts national exports. Many SMEs however are unaware of the benefits that IPRs can bring such as safeguarding their products, inventions and IP related assets,“ he said.