An equity fund to invest in Indian projects was set up by India’s largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI) and Oman’s sovereign wealth fund, State General Reserve Fund (SGRF). The agreement was signed on Wednesday by SBI Chairman O.P. Bhatt and SGRF Chief Executive Warith Al-Kharusi, in the presence of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Minister of National Economy Oman Ahmed Macki.

The joint investment fund with an initial corpus of $100 million will be funded equally and managed jointly by SBI and SGRF. The India-Oman Joint Investment Fund is being set up to make equity investment in various sectors of Indian economy. According to official statement, the fund would be limited to investments in India for the time being with no specific sector focus.

Minister Macki said that the fund operations will begin with immediate effect. Depending on the initial performance, the fund will be expanded to $1.5 billion in future. Talks were on to set up a joint fund from the time Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Oman in November, 2008.

This is a win-win situation for both countries. The fund will help India in developing and upgrading its infrastructure to keep up with its growing economy. The Sultanate of Oman, on the other hand, wants to diversify to sectors other than oil & gas, which is the mainstay of its economy. Oman government has been seeking opportunities to invest in sectors such as manufacturing, tourism, warehousing and other related industries to present an image of a modern industrialized economy to the world.

FM Pranab Mukherjee said that the agreement would be a landmark and would open up new vistas in economic relations between India and Oman. He added that signing of the fund agreement was part of the overall cooperation in various areas between the two countries.

Chinese government and the ruling Communist Party have raised their voice against the Indian government’s telecom policy of ‘blacklisting’ Chinese telecom equipment vendors. China called for a transparent investment environment for its telecom equipment manufacturers. The party’s official media termed the move of Department of Telecom (DoT) as ‘unfair’ and ‘under the table’.

“We have noticed the list and are making an investigation,” said Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming to the official Xinhua news agency, referring to the 25 Chinese companies believed to be blacklisted by DoT. “We hope India will provide a fair, open and transparent investment environment for Chinese companies.”

Mr. Deming said that China would ‘investigate through normal channels between the two governments, and communicate and negotiate with the Indian side after making the facts clear’.

However, the official media, which is believed to be the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist party, was sterner in its protest. The Global Times, a powerful English newspaper carried an editorial on the issue on Friday, which read, “India should realize that it is unwise and impossible to try to contain the growth of its neighbor.” It termed the ‘blacklisting’ move as ‘a disappointment’.

Friday’s tirade against Indian government is the most emphatic from the Chinese government till date on the telecom ban issue. While caution is the keyword, there is no denying that the matter has strained the relation between the two countries that was otherwise warming up.

Indian telecom officials denied that Chinese telecom equipment vendors are either ‘blacklisted’ or ‘banned’. The issue was attributed to the inconsistent telecom policy in the country and the issue is being rectified.

National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon, who recently visited China, when the issue featured in the official talks, said that the ban was not country-specific. He said, “An open, transparent and non-discriminatory system will be in place very soon.”

The Asian giants, China and India are exploring newer avenues for cooperation, including food management. India is losing an unbelievable 10.5% of its total food grain production post-harvest, which comes to around 20 million tonnes annually. If saved, this can feed millions of hungry countrymen, says a Planning Commission report.

Minister of State for Agriculture Prof. K V Thomas was on a six-day visit to China from June 7 to understand the techniques and technology implemented in that country in preventing food grain loss during storage and transportation. Prof. Thomas held talks with Chinese agriculture authorities including Minister for Agriculture Han Changfu, Vice Minister for Agriculture Niu Dun and Administrator of State Administration of Grain Nie Zhenbang. The Indian delegation to China included senior officials of the Food Ministry, Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC).

Prof. Thomas visited Chinese State Administration of Grain headquarters to get a firsthand understanding of the grain trade operation in China. He got to see the advanced grain inspection, classification and standardization laboratories that are set up with international collaboration. The minister also visited Dalian commodity exchange and food grain handling port, the largest Asian port specializing in grains.

Chinese delegation is likely to arrive in India in October to identify areas for technical collaboration and to evaluate training requirements for experts.

India is trying to raise its storage capacity by 170 tonnes in food grains through public- private partnership (PPP) model initiatives. China, with its 0.52 billion tonnes of food grain production and 0.32 billion tonnes of storage capacity, is the perfect partner to improve India’s dismal performance in the field.

This is vital for India, as it readies the crucial food security law.

The much-hyped India-US strategic dialogue that will lay foundation for Obama’s India visit later this year is scheduled to be held on June 2^nd and 3^rd. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna along with senior officials will be in Washington from June 1-4.

Mr. Krishna will meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the two-day strategic talks, covering a range of issues that will have local, bilateral and international repercussions. More stress will be given to counter-terrorism operations and bilateral cooperation concerning internal and global security. The US authorities are believed have taken additional steps to ensure that the dialogue achieves its objectives and to wipe out the impression that India-US relationship is cooling down under Obama’s tenure.

Minister Krishna is accompanied by Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao for the talks. A spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Vishnu Prakash said, “The strategic dialogue will enhance the Global Strategic Partnership between India and the US, by serving as a very important mechanism to review, enhance and coordinate our broad-based cooperation.”

“It would give direction to the programs currently under implementation and take initiatives to further the Indian and US developmental, security and economic interests,” Mr. Prakash added.

The US side will comprise of National Security Advisor James Jones, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, FBI Director Robert Mueller and the USAID Director Rajiv Shah, in addition to Ms. Clinton.

Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs revealed the importance his country is giving to the strategic dialogue when he said, “As President Obama himself has said, this will be one of our signature partnerships in the 21st century.”