Mechel Announces Blast Furnace Commissioning at its Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant Subsidiary

Moscow, Russia – April 6, 2009 – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announces that blast furnace No. 4 was officially commissioned today at its Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant subsidiary (CMP). The furnace was temporarily delayed last November due to its third category capital repair.

Blast furnace No. 4 was delayed in November of last year, in connection with the plant’s revised production programs and planned lower output. The unit was used for its capital repair while it temporary stayed idle. The renewed furnace will produce about 3,000 tones of pig iron daily. Until the commissioning of blast furnace No. 4, the plant’s workshop operated with two blast furnaces, whose daily capacity was over 7,500 tonnes of pig iron, and ensured the operation of the plant’s steel melting workshops in accordance with the available orders.

Preparation for the capital repair was performed on a tight schedule. Blocks and components required for the repair were manufactured at CMP’s subsidiary, Spetsremzavod OOO.

During the capital repair, the unit’s power equipment, including the coolers and cooling system, and the main runners at the cast house were replaced. In addition, the blast furnace top equipment was renewed, charging system equipment was revised and installed, and the air heaters block was repaired. New technical solutions were applied while replacing the blast furnace lining using refractories made by Mayerton. The main feature of the completed reconstruction was the new cooling system equipment as 233 coolers in aggregate were installed during the repair.

“The implemented measures will provide a 10% increase in the actual productivity of blast furnace No. 4 and extend its overhaul life, which will positively influence the economic performance of the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant’s blast furnace workshop. The completed reconstructions and capital repairs of the equipment will allow CMP to give maximum effective response to the growing demands for metal products and ensure future production consistent with the market needs,” Mechel OAO Senior Vice President Vladimir Polin commented.

Kamal Nath to represent India at the 7th ASEAN-Indo Summit

 
Commerce & Industry Minister Shri Kamal Nath would be representing the Prime Minister at the 7th ASEAN-India Summit and the 4th East Asia Summit scheduled to be held during 11 – 12 April 2009 in, Thailand. 

These Summits are held annually by the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN) and attended by Heads of State/Government of the 10 ASEAN member countries and its dialogue partners such as India, China, Japan, Korea, etc. A notable feature of the East Asia Summit (comprising Leaders of ASEAN, India, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand) this time would be a focus session with Heads of International Agencies such as World Bank, IMF, ADB, etc. 

India would be looking forward to progress in various cooperation initiatives with ASEAN including Free Trade Agreement, Open Skies Policy, Science & Technology Fund, Tourism etc. India would also take up matters related to Energy, Environment, Disaster Mitigation, Economic Partnership Study, etc in the meeting of the 16 – member East Asia Summit.

PM’s statement to the press at the conclusion of G-20 Summit

Following is the text of statement of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to the press at the conclusion of G-20 Summit at London on April 2nd, 2009:

1. We met in London at a significant moment for the world economy and therefore for the world as a whole. I am grateful to Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the initiative that he has taken to host this second Summit of leaders of the G-20, and for the excellent arrangements that were made for our meetings. 

2. The purpose of this Summit meeting was to take forward the search for solutions to the economic crisis facing the global economy today. The world is going though the worst recession since the Great Depression. We have fared much better than others though we are also affected. This is a global crisis requiring global solutions. 

3. Earlier today and yesterday evening, we discussed various ways in which the crisis can be addressed. All countries have used monetary policy. An effective fiscal stimulus is also being resorted to by all major economies. There was agreement that credit flows to developing countries also must be restored. There was also agreement that we must tackle the crisis in a way which does not create other problems for the future. For instance, protectionism or restrictions on the free flow of trade and persons would be counter productive. Nor can development be halted or sacrificed in the search for solutions to the financial crisis. Hence the need for special attention to the needs of developing countries. 

4. I was happy to note that our views received wide acceptance and support. 

5. We emphasised the need to make good the decline that has taken place in capital flows to developing countries by providing adequate resources to the international financial institutions. I am happy to say that the G-20 have agreed to expand the resources of the IMF and the ADB and to also bring forward the quota review in the IMF. The leaders have also agreed to a fresh issue of SDRs. These are positive decisions. Together they involve a massive provision of $ 1.1 trillion tar emerging market economies. India does not need IMF funding but we have been in favour of expanding IMF resources as this will help developing countries that need assistance. It will restore confidence about emerging markets. 

6. We also discussed and agreed on broad direction for improvements in regulatory and supervisory structure for the world’s financial system. These will take time to take effect but they are very important. They will be carried forward by the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) and the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision, the two key standard setting bodies. India is now a member of both bodies. Broadening representation in these bodies is an important improvement. The directions of the reform of financial regulation and supervision that have been agreed are in line with our own thinking in India.

7. This meeting has shown the utility of the G-20 Leaders’ process, and we took forward to the next Summit meeting of G-20 leaders in the second half of the year, and to the early implementation of what has been agreed today. There is a continuing need to redefine the role of our institutions of global economic governance to deal with the problems of today and to reflect contemporary realities. 

8. As you know, I also had an opportunity to meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday, where we reviewed our bilateral relationship and discussed ways of taking India-UK relations forward. India and the UK enjoy a close partnership in diverse fields of human endeavour. We are determined to and confident of carrying this partnership forward. 

9. Earlier this afternoon I met with President Barack Obama of the United States of America. This was our first meeting and was marked by exceptional warmth and cordiality. We reviewed our bilateral relations. I thanked President Obama for all that he has done in the US Senate and outside in the past few years to make possible the transformation of India-US relations, and to bring to fruition our civil nuclear initiative. Today we discussed several positive and constructive steps to take the India-US global partnership forward. 

10. We discussed regional and global issues, including the threat that terrorism emanating from our nei9hbourhood poses to all free societies, and the international efforts that are required to deal with this problem. We had a significant convergence of views and approaches in this regard. President Obama informed me of the new comprehensive US strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. I welcomed his clear enunciation of the problems and the goals. India will continue to play a constructive role, working to build peace and stability in our periphery. 

11. I leave London satisfied that my bilateral and other meetings have been productive and useful, and that the 0-20 Leaders Summit has shown a way forward. The process of overcoming the global crisis will not be easy. Given the goodwill and the meeting of minds among leaders that was possible in London over the last two days, the world has a basis to begin solving the crisis. The international community can and must work together to do so.

The U.S. unemployment rate at 8.5 percent

NPR.org, April 3, 2009 · The U.S. unemployment rate for March reached 8.5 percent for the first time since the 1980s, the Labor Department said Friday, as employers slashed 663,000 more jobs in an effort to cut costs amid a deep recession.

The unemployment rate is an increase from the previous figure of 8.1 percent and represents the loss of 5.1 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, the department said.

Meanwhile, government data for January was revised to show monthly job losses of 741,000 — more layoffs for a month than at any time since October 1949. The decline in nonfarm payrolls in February was not revised, remaining at 651,000. 

Manufacturing was hardest hit in the new report, with the sector losing 161,000 jobs in March. Construction industries lost 126,000 jobs, and the service sector axed 358,000 positions.

The average work week in March dropped to 33.2 hours, a new record low, indicating that many companies are reducing workers' hours.

The deterioration in the jobs market comes despite a few hopeful signs recently that the recession — now the longest since World War II — could be easing.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has indicated that the recession could end later this year, setting the stage for a recovery next year. But most analysts expect the economy to remain frail for many months to come.

"This is about as bad as it gets in a recession, so I think –- and I cross my fingers when I say this –- we should see, yes, further job losses in the months ahead, but they are not going to be as severe as they have been over the last several months," Hugh Johnson, the chairman and chief investment adviser of investment firm Johnson Illington Advisors, told NPR.

"We'll start to see job losses in the third and fourth quarters of the year, but they're not going to be as severe," Johnson said.

From NPR and wire service reports

ASEAN Global Dialogue to Make its Debut

ASEAN Secretariat, 3 April 2009

The ASEAN Global Dialogue, co-hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Royal Thai Government and the ASEAN Secretariat, will be held on 12 April 2009 at the Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. The Prime Minister of Thailand, H.E. Abhisit Vejjajiva, will deliver the opening remarks at the event. 

The ASEAN Global Dialogue is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, bringing together leaders and key decision-makers from the ASEAN and East Asia countries and key international organisations, to discuss the pertinent challenges that the world is facing with now - the global financial meltdown and its destructive consequences; climate change; international conflicts and tensions; and food and energy security among others – and how the region can contribute to the search for solutions to these challenges. 

Leaders from key international organisations who are taking part in the panel are: Haruhito Kuroda of the Asian Development Bank; Dominique Strauss-Kahn of the International Monetary Fund; Ban Ki Moon of the United Nations; Supachai Panitchpakdi of UNCTAD; Robert Zoellick of the World Bank; and Pascal Lamy of the World Trade Organization. The panel and dialogue will be moderated by Dr Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General of ASEAN.

This will be the first major event in Asia following the G20 Summit in London.

G20 governance initiatives are laudable, yet largest stimulus in history requires transparency

Berlin, 02 April 2009 

Transparency International (TI) welcomes the Group of 20 decision to prioritise transparency as a means to curb systemic risks in the global financial and economic system and to provide a stimulus that also extends to the developing world. 

“Agreeing to tackle opacity and to establish a new global governance body in the form of the Financial Stability Board announced today, is the kind of decisive action that we expected from this summit,” said Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International. “In the long term, however, the G20’s initial steps towards transparency must be taken beyond the corridors of power and properly implemented, with input from civil society”, said Labelle. 

As the direction set by the G20 summit is taken forward, it is essential for the largest macro-economic stimulus in history to include effective safeguards, with transparency, accountability and integrity at the forefront, in all aspects, particularly related to the public management of taxpayers’ funds. 

The newly announced Financial Stability Board, tasked by the G20 to provide an early warning mechanism, should have accountability, integrity and transparency at its core. Civil society participation on the FSB would be one of many steps required for its success. 

A reform of the “shadow banking system”, as UK Prime Minister Brown termed hedge funds along with credit rating agencies, would require a strong dose of transparency. TI has called for governance measures in this area to extend whistle-blowing procedures and protection to anonymous information on excessive risk-taking, as a key focus. 

The nefarious role of tax havens as places where illicit gains can be stashed, has been rightly addressed by this summit. TI expects that the G20’s bold statement declaring the end of banking secrecy will go beyond a blacklist to include international cooperation and the actual recovery of assets looted from poor countries. The key priority now is for the G20 to follow up and implement their commitments. A vital first step is legislation and tax treaties in line with OECD standards. 

Stabilising and reviving the global economy must be the short-term priority, but the bigger agenda – with broader opportunities – requires ensuring that the new regulatory order be rooted in transparency and accountability. The G20 has taken initial steps to use that window of opportunity and TI looks forward to civil society involvement. 

Transparency International made specific recommendations to the G20 to restore public trust in the global economy and give back hope to the millions of people facing an unstable future. The recommendations –many of them reflected in the summit communiqué- covered a range of issues, from the use of public funds in ‘bail-out’ programmes to strengthening the role of development banks and regulatory authorities. 

The three aims of this G20 Summit -stabilising financial markets, strengthening the global and economic systems and setting a path for sustainable growth- cannot be achieved without addressing a key root cause of the current meltdown, namely a severe lack of basic governance measures, transparency and accountability.

The updated poverty maps to help targeted policy intervention for poverty reduction A new generation of poverty maps launched
 
 
 
DHAKA, April 2, 2009: The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the World Bank, in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP), updated the Poverty Maps for Bangladesh. Poverty mapping is an important statistical instrument that can estimate the poverty incidence at Upazila levels. The new generation of poverty maps released yesterday is based on the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) of 2005 and the Population Census of 2001. The updating exercise was financially supported by the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID).

Bangladesh has experienced significant poverty reduction over the past two decades. The poverty incidence declined from 57 percent at the beginning of the 1990s to 40 percent in 2005. However, a closer look to the recent reduction in the national poverty rate shows uneven progress amongst different areas and communities. In fact, there remain many areas where the incidence of poverty is far larger than the national figures would suggest. 

The poverty maps enable government, civil society and development partners to identify poorer areas with great accuracy. Recognizing the geographical and regional variations and spatial inequality in growth and poverty allows for more effective targeting of policy interventions and programs based on local conditions. 

“World Bank is happy to produce the new generation of poverty maps in collaboration with Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and World Food Programme (WFP)” said Xian Zhu, Country Director, World Bank. “These data will be very helpful for the government to plan and evaluate the poverty reduction strategy and resource allocation.” 

Poverty maps can be constructed to show both poverty rates and extreme poverty rates. Hence, if resources are limited, a map of extreme poverty may provide a useful guiding tool for prioritization and programming of policy interventions and resource allocations. However, poverty maps need regular updates to reflect the gains and inequalities created by the rapid economic growth or the external shocks from natural disaster. 

“In response to the demand for updating poverty maps of 2001, we started to produce new poverty maps in mid 2007” said A Y M Ekramul Hoque, Director General, BBS. “The poverty mapping exercise will strengthened BBS’ capacity to produce, update and use future poverty maps. Further these spatial data will be critical inputs in planning poverty alleviation strategy.” 

“Updating poverty maps without a new Census is a daunting exercise” said Nobuo Yoshida, a poverty economist in the World Bank. “Bangladesh is among the first countries that overcame this challenge by adopting the latest methodological improvements. There is no doubt that the lessons learnt during this exercise will benefit development practitioners and researchers around the world.” 

Comparing poverty maps with other maps of educational attainment, natural disasters, and access to markets and infrastructure, is useful to see potential bottlenecks of poor areas. For example, poverty appears to be highly associated with low agricultural wages. Agriculture wage rate in the west is lower than in the east, which may be one of contributing factors to why the western part of the country lags behind the eastern part in poverty reduction.

“The poverty maps being released today are critical inputs for WFP’s own planning, targeting, and the allocation of our resources.” Said John Aylieff, Representative, WFP “We look forward to working with the Government of Bangladesh, the World Bank, and all our partners, to ensure that these maps are widely accessible for use in programmes aimed at poverty and hunger reduction."

Poverty is also correlated with proneness to natural disasters and market accessibility. For example this is the case in the monga and coastal areas. Both areas are very poor and suffer from repeated natural disasters and limited access to Dhaka. In contrast, the areas between Dhaka and Chittagong cities enjoy proximity to the two growth poles and low incidence of poverty.

The poverty maps, along with maps of access to markets and infrastructure, can be used for assessing the economic and poverty impact of infrastructure investment. For instance, such a spatial database can show what areas are likely to enjoy benefits from the Padma Bridge. However, it is worth noting that such comparisons can be a good starting point for planning and more careful studies are needed to design planning and policy interventions.