<a href=www.busrep.co.za>IOL-Business Report April 23, 2003 By Sapa-AFP

Vienna - Opec should move first to rein in supply on the world oil markets by getting its members to respect current production quotas, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Oil Minister Obeid bin Saif al-Nasseri said Wednesday.

"I think we have to tackle first compliance, then we shall see if there is a need to cut," he said upon arriving in Vienna for a meeting Thursday of the 11-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"Obviously there is oversupply in the market," Al-Nasseri said.

"I think we have to discuss the situation first and analyze the size of supply in the market then we have to take the right action," he said.

Wary of a glut on the world oil market following the end of the Iraq war, Opec is ready to take steps to ensure oil prices remain in its target range of $22-$28 a barrel, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Nouaimi said in Vienna Wednesday .

Opec had announced in January an output increase, raising its combined ceiling by 6.5 percent to 24.5 million barrels per day, to curb a surge in prices triggered by a strike in Venezuela and the threat of war in Iraq.

Opec is producing some two million barrels per day over this quota, ministers have said.

The problem now is that prices are falling, although they are still in the high range of Opec's $22-$28 a barrel band. - Sapa-AFP

Press Information Bureau-India

The 3-day International Conference on Aluminium (INCAL'03) began here today with 700 delegates from India and abroad representing primary and secondary producers, researchers, academicians and end users. Sponsored by the Ministry of Mines the conference has been organised by the Aluminium Association of India (AAI). The Conference, fourth in the series was inaugurated by the Union Minister for Mines, Shri Ramesh Bais. The main theme of the conference is "Aluminium - the metal of sustainable growth."

In his inaugural speech, the Minister outlined the unique properties and diversified use of aluminium and stressed on increasing the per capita consumption in the country. It is as low as half a kilogram in India as against 2.9 kg. in China, 3 kg. in Brazil, 4 kg. in Thailand and Malaysia and 6.4 kg. in Venezuela. He said that aluminium, after its use, can be recycled repeatedly with less consumption of power. It is used in household utensils as well as heavy automobiles and powerful aircrafts.

The Minister said that this is a promising sector as India's position in bauxite reserves is fifth in the world and it has enough non-coking coal for power generation. Its skilled manpower can be best utilized to raise the production of aluminium in the country which is below one million tonnes compared to 4 to 4.5 million tonnes in China. He said that total production of aluminium in the world is nearly 25 million tonnes. The Minister assured all help and cooperation of the Government to the Aluminium Association of India and its members in their endeavour to boost the aluminium production in India. He hoped that the conference would open up new avenues for growth of the industry in India.

Dr.A.K.Kundra, Secretary Mines said that INCAL'03 would focus on

the sustainable growth in the context of aluminium being the metal of the future. It is a forum for Indian aluminium experts to exchange their views and learn regarding the global technology developments. The President of the Association, the Chairman, NALCO Shri C.Venkataramana said that spread over three days, the conference will have 45 theme lectures and 40 contributed papers on diverse topics. Nearly 30 papers are from the experts of foreign countries. Nearly 70 overseas delegates are participating in the conference. The conference will deliberate on several aspects of primary production, downstream processes and fabrications, recycling, life cycle analysis, products, applications and end-users, health, environment and ecology, marketing and finance.

In the exposition arranged at the conference the aluminium companies have displayed their facilities, focussing on every segment of the process, product and applications chain. It is an ideal market place for equipment suppliers and technology providers.

Dr.S.K.Tamotia, CEO Indal, Mr.Gerard Frochot, Sr. Vice President, Aluninium Pechiney, Shri A.K.Agarwal, Director, Hindalco Industries, Shri Shashi K.Moudgal, Chairman INCAL-2003; Prof. K.S.S.Murthy, Hony. General Secretary, AAI and senior officials of the Ministry of Mines and the industry attended the function.

malaysiakini.com Ahmaf Albab UK 3:38pm Wed Apr 23rd, 2003

I disagree with Wan Sai Hou in his letter stating that the Iraq war was a pre-emptive strike by the US against terrorism instead of exploiting Iraq's oil reserve. Wan, ask yourself, if oil was not the issue, what is? To strike against terrorism? To free the Iraqi people against Saddam's regime? A favour to the Israelis to free the region from weapons of mass destruction (WMD)?

Firstly, the US has never been able and is still trying to prove or convince, call it what you may, the world that Iraq has WMD - something which even Hans Blix of Unmovic has said Iraq doesn’t have. As mentioned in my previous letter, Bush has already hedged his position against this point by saying that freeing the Iraqi people from Saddam's regime was justification enough.

Secondly, if the war is to strike against terrorism, shouldn’t he be looking for Osama instead? What link has there been to prove that Iraq had harboured terrorists? Finding a few people oún the wanted list of terrorists in Iraq doesn’t make Iraq a haven for terrorists. I am sure there are members of these terrorists in the US and the UK not to mention other European countries. The crux of the matter is Iraq’s link to terrorism has not been proven.

Thirdly, if it was about freeing the Iraqi people from Saddam's regime, why now? Why not in 1991 when they left the people they asked to uprise against Saddam for dead? Why not last year or a few years ago? According to Bush, Saddam has been ruling with an iron fist for a long time. So, why leave it so late to justify his actions?

Bear in mind that oúnly Iraq, which has the second largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi, has yet to be an ‘ally’ of the US. Saudi, Venezuela, Iran, to name a few. Essentially, the US will ‘control’ two-thirds of the oil reserves in the world by capturing Iraq and putting a regime the Iraqi people can choose but oúnly approved by the US government.

Below is an excerpt from ABCNews.com: "The fundamental issue is, the day after Saddam is removed, the Iraqi oil industry is open for grabs, and it will depend upon the government of Iraq to decide how it will dispense that resource," says oil consultant Rob Sobhani, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington. "Certainly, American companies would be in a very, very strong position to compete for the right." In addition, not oúnly oil is up for grabs but also the rebuilding of Iraq. Just today, Bechtel, the American engineering and construction giant, has been awarded a United States government contract that could reach US$680 million to help rebuild Iraq's infrastructure.

But read oún..."Other companies that were invited to bid were Parsons, Fluor, Louis Berger and Washington Group. A subsidiary of Halliburton, formerly run by Vice-President Dick Cheney, was invited to bid but decided instead to seek work as a subcontractor. Bechtel rose from a family business to a privately held international engineering powerhouse. Its executives have included George Shultz, a former secretary of state, and Caspar Weinberger, a former US defence secretary.

"The group and its employees have been among the biggest political donors in the general contracting industry, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based group that tracks campaign finance..."

One more point, if oil is not the reason(s), why has the coalition guarded oúnly the building that stores all documents and information oún Iraq's oil production and let other buildings, banks and even hospitals to be looted?

Wan, wake up and smell the coffee...the new US imperialist regime is arising and we better be prepared otherwise, we might be next!

Posted on Wed, Apr. 23, 2003 BY PHIL GUNSON Special to The Miami Herald

MACHIQUES, Venezuela -The blue-green mountains of the Perijá range that rise just a short distance west of this small Venezuelan town mark the official border with neighboring Colombia.

But if border residents, and the Colombian government itself, are to be believed, the border these days is little more than a line on a map, left increasingly unprotected by the Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chávez, whom they accuse of allowing Colombian leftist guerrillas to cross back and forth virtually at will.

Venezuelan Vice President José Vicente Rangel recently responded by accusing the government of President Alvaro Uribe of tolerating the actions of right-wing paramilitaries who, along certain stretches of border, he said, were the ``de facto state.''

Since Colombia virtually had abandoned the 1,367-mile common border, Rangel said, Venezuela could not be expected to step in to do the job.

The Colombians want to see the revival of coordination between the two countries' armed forces along the border.

Uribe and Chávez will be trying to take some of the heat out of these increasingly bitter exchanges when they meet today in the eastern Venezuelan city of Puerto Ordaz for their second summit since Uribe took office last August.

The summit's main focus, however, is on trade, and there is little expectation in Machiques, or in neighboring communities, that the meeting will achieve a real improvement in border security. The biggest concern is that the paramilitaries are crossing into Venezuela in pursuit of the guerrillas, potentially turning the border region into a war zone.

''The paramilitaries argue that there are guerrillas right here in Machiques,'' says Luis Martínez, vice president of the local cattle-ranchers' association.

Some ranchers say there have already been approaches by paramilitaries.

They are looking for support, even small arms, to drive out the guerrillas, who in this region belong mostly to the National Liberation Army, the smaller of Colombia's two main leftist rebel groups.

There is a general consensus that the paramilitary presence is recent, dating from around February this year. The ranchers say, however, that they have rejected such approaches, even though they fear the guerrillas.

In the past, guerrilla kidnappings and extortion were commonplace here, although both businesses have now allegedly been taken over by common criminals, who occasionally try to sell a kidnap victim to the guerrillas.

If guerrillas and paramilitaries start fighting inside Venezuela, ''there'll be a lot of collateral damage,'' says another ranchers' association director, Juan Romero. ``I'd be delighted to see an end to the guerrillas, but they should finish them off over there, not over here.''

Ranchers, church sources and leaders of the indigenous communities that inhabit the Perijá range all complain that the Venezuelan army and national guard no longer patrol the border.

In the past, the Venezuelan armed forces would mount antidrug operations in the Sierra de Perijá, to eradicate marijuana and opium poppy plantations, but these too have ceased, local residents say. The illegal crops are said to be controlled by the guerrillas.

Accusations of inactivity are hotly denied by the army, but the local army commander, Lt. Col. Gustavo Izquierdo, referred inquiries to divisional headquarters in Maracaibo.

'All I can say is that we're doing our job, and that my soldiers' blood boils when they're risking their necks and they have to listen to idiots making up this kind of story.''

Posted on Wed, Apr. 23, 2003 FABIOLA SANCHEZ KansasCity.com-Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela -Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez meets with his Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe, on Wednesday to discuss border security and trade at a moment when bilateral relations are tense.

Chavez said he's committed to improving relations with Colombia despite recent allegations by authorities from the neighboring country that Venezuela has sheltered Colombian rebels.

"We sent our affection and our best intention to continue improving relations with the sister republic of Colombia," Chavez said Tuesday.

Chavez denies his government has ever aided Colombia's leftist insurgent groups. He has said groups in both countries are trying ruin the neighbors' relationship, but he said he's optimistic that Wednesday's meeting would be a success despite his adversaries' efforts to "sabotage" it.

The South American leaders also are to sign a pact to build a natural gas pipeline connecting the two nations and an agreement in which Venezuela would supply border towns in rural Colombia with electricity, Chavez said.

Trade between the two nations, which topped US$2 billion over the last two years, will also be discussed at the summit in the southeastern city of Puerto Ordaz, located 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Caracas.

Trade with Colombia has suffered severely since Jan. 22, when Venezuela halted foreign exchange purchases to protect foreign reserves and guard against a slide in the bolivar currency.

Colombian businesses haven't been able to collect an estimated US$350 million in debts from Venezuelan importers because of delays in setting up a new foreign exchange scheme.

According to estimates from the Colombian Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce and Integration, bilateral trade could fall by as much as 60 percent this year if such problems persist.

The presidential summit will be the second that Chavez and Uribe have held in less than six months. The last meeting took place on Nov. 14 in Colombia's coastal city of Santa Marta.