Search Results for: Japan

BY MATTHEW BRACE
SINGAPORE’S economy is rejuvenating after the horrors of early 2004 when the threat of terrorism (both internationally and closer to home in South East Asia), and then the SARS virus hit the city state hard, shrinking demand for construction and hence the amount of money to be made by the coatings sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to spend Euro 468,500 over one year on promoting the sale of Italian beef and veal in Japan, north America, Russia and non-European Union (EU) European countries. There will be matching national government funding for public relations, promotion and publicity campaign coordinated by cooperative organisation Naturalcarni.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COLLECTIVE bargaining remains dominant for settling pay and working time conditions in European workplaces, covering around two-thirds of workers in the European Union (EU). This contrasts with one-fifth of the Japanese workers and only one-eighth of American workers, said a report from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission will spend Euro millions over the next three years promoting French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German and Austrian wines in key foreign markets. Announcing the latest of a series of such grants, (matched by national funding), Brussels noted that the main targets would be north America, China, Russia, India, Japan and non-European Union countries in central and eastern Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission will stage a wide-ranging competition inquiry into the energy sector, with officials to “identify obstacles to competition – be it regulation, state aid, private barriers” then “propose solutions, working closely with national administrations, regulatory bodies and competition authorities”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LEATHER industry could shed significant numbers of jobs in poor and rich countries following a successful World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha Development Round agreement on industrial and textile goods. Its aim is to slash tariffs across the board, and in that instance, said a UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report, there will be winners and losers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A UNITED Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction, in Japan, has agreed a “Hyogo Framework for Action: 2005 – 2015,” which calls on governments to put disaster risk management at the centre of their national policies and for rich states to help improve disaster preparedness in poor countries.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Forum for Renewable Energy Sources (EUFORES) is opposing European Commission plans to roll its Intelligent Energy for Europe (IEE) programme into a new umbrella scheme promoting competitiveness and innovation. Brussels is considering its medium-term spending plans from 2007-2013 and wants more flexibility in its ability to boost economic productivity in the European Union (EU), following its so-called ‘Lisbon strategy’ to outpace the US and Japan.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
FOLLOWING a recent official visit to Japan, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin claimed he had convinced the Japanese government to hasten its scientific investigations on his country’s BSE outbreaks, so it swiftly reopens its borders to Canadian beef.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

IMPORTANT changes in the European auto manufacturing industry are expected next year following the introduction of a new crackdown on dangerous chemicals by the European Union (EU). The proposed legislation, known as REACH (registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals), has been recently adopted by the European Parliament and now requires the assent of the 25 EU member countries and this is likely to be given – at least in principle – before the year-end.…