The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has given instructions to its Missions abroad to vigorously pursue the economic component of its relations with the host countries, reports The Economic Times. As the country is pushing for double-digit economic growth, the government views the trade relationships with other nations vital for its own growth.

The new diplomatic approach, with added emphasis on economic ties with the host country, was presented by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna in his address to the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of Ministry of External Affairs held in Mumbai on Friday. The 175 Indian Missions abroad are being asked to expedite negotiations on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with host countries as well as regional groupings.

At present, India is actively pursuing FTAs with countries such as Australia, Japan, Russia, and Canada. The regional blocks that the country is engaged in FTA negotiations are 27-nation European Union, six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), 16-nation East Asia Summit and five-nation South African Customs Union (SACU). India has already signed FTAs with ASEAN (in goods), South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.

Since last year, the external affairs ministry started shifting its focus to economic diplomacy and has earmarked a separate budget for the same. The budget will fund organizing buyer-seller meets and promoting Brand India abroad. The budget allocation in this head for the current year is Rs 8 crore. The ET reports that this amount is in addition to the budget of the Commerce Ministry and other departments.

The recent UNCTAD’s World Investment Prospect Survey, which lists India among the top five investment destinations, has added more thrust to the MEA initiative. The MEA has created a website indiainbusiness.nic.in to serve as a single point source of information on Indian economy and prospects of starting a business venture in the country.

India’s three low-cost carriers, JetLite, IndiGo and SpiceJet, are aiming for a major image makeover, with the government approving purchase of 46 new aircrafts worth a total of Rs 19,000 crore ($5 billion). The proposals for acquisition were cleared by the Empowered Committee of the Civil Aviation Ministry last week. The delivery of new planes is expected to begin in November.

IndiGo, the country’s largest low-cost carrier, accounting for 16.9% of market share received the go-ahead from the committee to buy 14 A-320s. This purchase will be made during the next fiscal 2011-12. The New Delhi-based SpiceJet has managed to corner the lion’s share in the order. It will purchase 30 Boeing 737-800s at a cost of Rs 12,660 crore ($2.7 billion) that will be delivered from 2014. JetLite, the third carrier involved, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jet Airways, got all clear from government to buy two Boeing 737-800s. This purchase will be made immediately, with delivery in November.

Out of the approval given for 46 aircrafts, the order for 32 planes goes to the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing and 14 will be supplied by its European rival Airbus.

IndiGo’s new acquisition plans are in addition to its purchase of 150 new aircrafts, cleared by the government last month. These are scheduled for delivery over the next 2-3 years. The delivery of the 100 Airbus A320 jets ordered by IndiGo in 2005 is still continuing and will run until 2015. These massive expansions of fleet by IndiGo are in concert with its plans to fly international routes.

The three low-cost carriers together fly almost half of the domestic passengers in the country. As the country’s economy prospers, the number of air travelers is expected to witness an increase by 8-10% annually.

The latest development in the ongoing saga of decontrolling sugar from government control is Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar meeting the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday to present a case for liberating the sector. Earlier the parliamentary panel on food and agriculture had recommended against sugar decontrol, saying that it will harm both farmers and consumers.

The sugar industry, at present, is controlled by government, by specifying the quantity to be sold in the open market and through public distribution system (PDS) every month. With the imminent bumper crop, which will be ready in two months’ time, the move to decontrol sugar is gaining momentum.

The presentation made by Mr. Pawar to the Prime Minister is believed to include plans and methods Food Ministry will be adapting to free sugar industry from governmental control. Mr. Pawar is understood to have discussed the beneficial outcomes of the move for farmers and consumers.

Among the proposals put forth by Food Ministry is doing away with the practice of setting monthly quota for sale of sugar in open market and through ration shops. Now, sugar mills are bound by law to sell 20% of the sugar produced to government for sale in ration shops. To meet the sugar requirement for PDS, the ministry has advocated purchase of sugar from the open market.

It is believed that the Food Ministry has proposed to give freedom to farmers to sell their produce wherever they want to, instead of the present practice of selling sugarcane to specified mills.

Earlier, Mr. Pawar had hinted that despite decontrolling sugar industry, the government would continue to fix Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane to protect farmers from exploitation. This is the minimum price to be paid by mills to buy sugarcane from farmers.

The BlackBerry issue is not yet resolved; the government is stepping up efforts to get data access to all communication services in the country. The Home Secretary G K Pillai said that notices are being sent to all companies providing communication services in India to make available access solutions to security agencies so that they can monitor the data as and when required. The firms are also being asked to set up a server in India.

Most important among the service providers who are issued notices are Google and Skype, the internet phone call provider. The notice asks the firms to make suitable arrangements to provide access to their services within the next 60 days.

Meanwhile, Research In Motion (RIM), the BlackBerry maker averted an imminent ban on its services by agreeing to set up a server in India and provide partial access to its encrypted data. Home Minister P Chidambaram confirmed that RIM has already begun providing access to some of the communications transmitted through its system. The government has given the smartphone maker a 60-day extension of August 31 deadline for complete compliance. The minister added that there won’t be any compromise on national security with regards to BlackBerry, Google or Skype.

“Discussion on technical solutions for further access is continuing and the matter will be reviewed within 60 days,” the minister concluded. “Our stand is firm. We look forward to get access to data… There is no uncertainty over it.”

Mr. Pillai said, “People who operate communication services in India should have servers in India as well as make available access to law enforcement agencies, whatever communications passes through telecommunication network in India and that has been made clear to RIM of BlackBerry but also to other companies.”