M A I N   N E W S

China ready for pact with India

Beijing, July 15
In what could be the most important political development in the post- cold war period, China has shed its initial inhibitions to form a strategic triangle along with India and Russia.

“On many international issues, China, Russia and India have a similar or near-identical stand and concerns,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said.

“We hope to further strengthen the cooperation with Russia and India,” Zhang replied when asked whether Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who left for Moscow today, would discuss the issue of trilateral cooperation between India, China and Russia during the summit with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

The re-think by Beijing is attributed to the failure of the USA to respond favourably to the Communist state’s security concerns. In the past, Beijing had distanced itself from the idea of trilateral cooperation between China, India and Russia.

However, many Chinese scholars are opposed to a US hegemony and stress the need for enhanced cooperation among China, Russia and India to ensure a multipolar world and a new international political and economic order.

Preparing ground for a tie-up that has potential for far-reaching global ramifications, scholars from the three nations are scheduled to meet in Moscow in September to find ways and means to cooperate and explore a common approach. PTI

UTI creates liquidity option

Mumbai, July 15
All US-64 investors holding units on June 30, 2001, may offer repurchase up to 3,000 units per unit holder from August 1, 2001 to May 31, 2003, at the price beginning with Rs 10 or the net asset value whichever is higher.

The repurchase price of Rs 10 (face value) will be for the month of August and for the subsequent months it will increase by 10 paise till May 2003. But if the net asset value is higher, the US-64 units will be repurchased at this value the board of trustees of the UTI approved this measure at a meeting here today after M. Damodaran was appointed as its new Chairman, UTI officials said.

US-64 scheme will fully reopen for sale and repurchases at NAV-based prices with effect from January 1, 2002, they said.

Adequate liquidity arrangements have been made to ensure that any funds needed for redemption will be made available to the UTI without it having to resort to a large-scale sale of its investments in the market, the officials added. PTI