Indian Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday that some 10 billion rupees (210 million US dollars) worth of export orders from Iraq were put on hold after the conflict in Iraq began.

Gulf nations accounted for 11 percent of India's total exports.

India's exports were also being hurt by rising oil prices, extra insurance charges and overall uncertainty in the Middle East, which is a transit route for the bulk of exports from India to Europe and the United States, economists said.

Exports of Malaysia's cars and palm oil to the Middle East have been seriously affected by the war in Iraq, Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz told a news briefing last week.

Malaysia's national car-maker Proton was forced to cancel a shipment of 5,000 cars worth 150 million ring it (39.5 million US dollars) to Iraq for delivery in July, he said.

Proton is currently unable to deliver another 6,000 cars to Kuwait, Iran and the United Arab Emirates because of the on-going conflict in Iraq.

At the same time, some of Malaysia's palm oil shipments to Iraq under the United Nations oil-for-food program were now stuck in Abu Dhabi. Malaysia is the world's largest palm oil exporter.

A Bangladeshi leather goods exporter said a good number of importers in Italy, Germany and France have delayed their shipments since the war began. He feared that export orders worth 67.79 million US dollars might be canceled.

Bangladesh, whose jute goods exports to the Middle East account for one third of the country's total jute goods exports, also suffered cancellation of orders for jute goods from Middle East buyers.

The war also disrupted the travel industry in the Asia-Pacific region amid widespread anti-American rallies and heightened fears of terrorist attacks.

The total number of tourists visiting Nepal declined by 10 percent in March, compared with the same period last year, due to the US-led war in Iraq, the Nepal Tourism Board said Thursday.

Although the number of Indian visitors arriving in Nepal grew by 19 percent, accounting for 30 percent of the total air arrivals in March, tourists from other countries recorded a decrease of 16 percent.

Nepali tourist industry's traditional markets, namely the United States, Britain and Germany recorded declines of 23 percent,38 percent and 35 percent respectively in the month.

In Thailand, Deputy governor of the Thai Tourism Authority Santichai Ueajongprasit predicted that sharp decline in the number of tourists between April to June could cause Thailand to lose about 1.2 billion baht (28.6 million US dollars) in revenue.

Asia's top carrier Japan Airlines said that 10,000 passengers canceled bookings for international flights in March because of the war in Iraq.

Australia's flag carrier Qantas announced that it would cut international flights by 20 percent and warned that it would not meet this year' s profit target as passengers delay bookings.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) said it is unlikely to achieve its net profit target of 1 billion pesos (18.66 million US dollars) for the current financial year ending March 31, mainly due to the Iraq war.

Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong's largest carrier, confirmed that from mid-April through the end of May, it will cut flights to eight Asian destinations due to falling passenger demand.

Meanwhile, Air New Zealand planned to cancel 3.3 percent of its overseas flights for May and June, citing a 15 percent to 20 percent drop in bookings on its Auckland-Hong Kong route.

(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2003)