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'Safeguard duties good for developing nations'

BS Corporate Bureau in Mumbai

At a time when the United States government has threatened Indian steel companies with imposition of safeguard duties on steel imports from India, Alan Larson, the US under secretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs, has said that these duties are, in fact, good for developing countries like India.

Larson said: "What the US has adopted as safeguards is in fact good news for developing countries like India. India has largely been spared from anti-dumping duties."

The US is considering imposition of safeguard duties on exports of certain flat steel products from India and Turkey, as domestic companies in the US have appealed to the US government against rising imports from these countries.

The safeguard duties are imposed on developing countries as an interim measure to warn the exporting country of a rise in exports, which could potentially harm the prospects of domestic industry in the US.

If the exports still continue to rise, the US might then levy anti-dumping duties on these developing countries; India, in this case.

Larson also said there is a general consensus in the Bush administration to improve relations with India, but did not elaborate, only saying: "We are going to make progress where we can."

He said the knowledge-based industries - IT and pharmaceuticals - are areas that have the potential to attract huge investments from the US.

Referring to the poor investor confidence in the US equities market following a spate of scams, Larson said: "Confidence is rising in the US markets, as investors realise that most CEOs are responsible people. Enron is only one of the thousands of companies in the US, and what happened at Enron is an exception, it is not a norm."

"I do not have any defensiveness for Enron. What Enron did is shameful, their books were dishonest," he added.

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