Search Results for: Morocco

INTRODUCTION

The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a reassessment of the model of relying on one or two outsourcing locations. It has demonstrated that when there is a major disruption caused by an emergency as serious as a pandemic, shipping and industrial processing can be disrupted.…

When France’s fast-food chain O’Tacos (www.o-tacos.fr) announced in 2020 that it would be selling in Italy its halal-certified French-style meat and vegetable wraps, Italian Muslims took this as a sign that halal was going mainstream in their country. O’Tacos’ first Italian outpost will open in January 2022 in Rome (delayed by Covid-19) and more openings in 2022 are planned in major Italian cities, including Milan and Bologna, said Yassin Baradai, founder of Milan-based Meem Communication (https://meemcommunication.com/…

The Polish can manufacturing and filling industry continues to attract attention from major buyers and investors from around the world, aware that this strong and innovating national sector is able to rely on a strong, reliable workforce.

Global beverage giant PepsiCo, for example, has been drawn to the Polish can manufacturing industry.…

Spain, which in the early Middle Ages was part of Islamic state called Al-Andalus – remembered as a golden age of Spanish tolerance and reason – has finally started to seriously play to win in the global halal market, through tourism and exports.…

Spain has been expanding its halal tourism and food sales, as it leverages its geographical proximity to Muslim countries in north Africa to provide travel and accommodation services.

In the CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index 2021, by CrescentRating & Mastercard, Spain climbed six positions to the 16th in the top non-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations (https://www.crescentrating.com/reports/global-muslim-travel-index-2021.html).…

The food halal market for Portugal, a largely Christian country that was in the early Middle Ages part of the Muslim world, has been expanding, serving a growing local Muslim community and Muslim tourists keen to taste Portuguese food.

Between 711 and 1249, most of Portugal was under Muslim rule, which influenced its language and culture.…

After the Second World War, Europe emerged economically and socially drained. The war had destroyed so much housing, industry and infrastructure and killed millions of people. Unsurprisingly, the societies of countries who had fought – or been fought over – and that was most of the continent – were brought their knees by the conflict.…

WHILE the imposition of age limits on the consumption of tobacco and other nicotine products remains very much a national, and in some cases sub-national jurisdiction decision, there is no doubt that the general trend worldwide is for tighter restrictions on younger consumers, even if they are often tough to enforce.…

The Moroccan garment manufacturing industry is targeting market diversification in the UK as one way of recovering from Covid-19.

Clothing makers in thus key European near-sourcing hub are still struggling with the impact of the pandemic, with general secretary of the Moroccan Textile and Garment Industry (AMITH) Fatima-Zora Alaoui highlighting to Just Style the postponement of its production showcase Maroc in Mode, which had been scheduled for October, until March 2022.…

Nearly a year on from a spottily-respected UN-brokered ceasefire between Libya’s warring factions, the country’s universities are hoping a planned new national government will deliver sufficient stability to overhaul their higher education system. Their goal is raising standards in both teaching and research.…

The under-developed system of higher education of African archipelago country São Tomé & Príncipe is growing slowly amidst expanding demand, being assisted by international projects and funds.
One major potential initiative that may cause significant progress, however, involves this Lusophone country being chosen by the Pan African Institute for Development (PAID) to host a future International University of Development Sciences.…

Ever since President Joe Biden defeated former US President Donald Trump last November (2020), foreign policy experts have been predicting change regarding American foreign policy. This is especially as regards approaches to the Middle East, notably in dealings with the Gulf states.…

INTRODUCTION

NEW technology can deliver effective maintenance strategies to clothing and textile manufacturers, helping them go beyond reactive and proactive maintenance, moving into the more sophisticated world of prediction. The goal is to deliver an optimum maintenance strategy that enables manufacturers to get the most value out of their plant and equipment by spending the least amount of time, resources and money to deliver effective performance.…

Brief:

The political crisis in Israel is deepening due to sharp disagreements between the leading parties within the national unity coalition government. What are the options facing the main political powers in the country? How did the Israeli political scene become so complicated in the first place?…

THE ACCESSION to power of President Joe Biden has sparked speculation that the recent shift in USA policy towards Israel and the Palestinian Territories pushed by his predecessor Donald Trump may be over.

Regardless of the justified criticism of Trump’s ethics and unpredictable governing style, the fact remains that his administration moved the needle in the Middle East.…

Denim companies in Tunisia are pushing forward to create a sustainable circular economy segment, making high quality jeans from recycled fabrics.

The work is being encouraged by a European Union (EU) funded regional resource efficiency initiative called SwitchMed, which is led by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).…

ARAB COUNTRIES MUST JOIN WEST IN DIPLOMATIC ENGAGEMENT WITH SYRIA TO FORGE NEW PEACE

After a 10-year-old civil war in which an estimated 400,000 people have died, calls for restoring diplomatic relations with the ruthless government of Bashar al-Assad, now controlling around 75% of the country, sound like bitter medicine.…

THE INTERNATIONAL trade in paint and coatings products and ingredients contains significant variations in prices that some experts warn maybe too good to be true and could indicate that certain trade flows are being exploited by money launderers.

Such criminals seeking to move illicit proceeds from one country to another through artificial pricing – deliberate over- and under- invoicing.…

The Ethiopian government is preparing to re-open the country’s 45 public universities as it ends a Covid-19 lockdown that began in March, despite the disease continuing to expand nationwide along with growing concerns about social discord and violence.

Ethiopia has so far recorded 90.490 Covid-19 cases (as of Wednesday, October 21), the largest number of Covid-19 cases in east Africa.…

Euromed University Fez, in Morocco, has been chosen as the regional academic partner to launch what is hoped to be a revolutionary agritech development hub aimed at transforming Moroccan small-scale subsistence farming into fully digitalised and innovative agri-food businesses.

The university – also called Université Euromed de Fès (UEMF) and based in the country’s second largest city – will help farmers to create an industry exporting quality products overseas, alleviating rural poverty and using farming techniques that counter ecological challenges.…

When Fatima Alaouia-Zohra stepped up to become the first female director-general of Morocco’s textile and clothing industry association AMITH last September (2019), she was ready to lead this important near-sourcing manufacturing hub through a process of massive change.

Little did she know that within months she would also be facing the gargantuan challenge of steering the industry through the Covid-19 global crisis, a pandemic that while hugely disruptive, creates opportunities for Moroccan clothing and textile makers.…

The cutting edge IT field of quantum computing is developing across Africa, with South Africa considered the hub, in part through an IBM centre in Johannesburg that enables academics throughout the continent to freely access its quantum computer network, based in the USA, through the cloud.…

Morocco’s clothing manufacturing sector has pivoted to making medical supplies to cope with the flood of cancelled orders from hard hit European customers that marked the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic – developing textile backward linkages that could strengthen the industry for the future.…

MAJOR European food and drink industry associations have asked the European Union (EU) and Britain to consider agreeing a temporary holding Brexit deal, preserving EU/UK free trade, once the current transitional period involving the UK follows EU rules, expires on December 31.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled measures to help food and drink manufacturers and their suppliers cope with the Covid-19 crisis. It has, for instance announced that dairy (skimmed milk powder, butter and cheese), and meat (beef, sheep and goat meat) producers will be paid ‘private storage aid’ to warehouse such products for between two and six months to reduce current excessive supplies.…

Only a handful of countries in the Middle East and Africa have dedicated whistleblowing laws – South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Uganda, Ghana, Liberia, Algeria, Morocco, and the Israel-occupied Palestinian territories, according to Blueprint for Free Speech, a charity promoting freedom of expression (https://www.blueprintforfreespeech.net/).…

Paint and coating manufacturers and retailers in North Africa have been struggling with the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, just as have their counterparts in other regions, however some markets and industries in the region seem better placed to cope with the pandemic’s economic impact than others.…

AFRICA is commonly hailed as the world’s next big focus of economic growth, but for the civil aviation industry, this prospect will require significant investment in new intra-African routes and related airport and ATC infrastructure. It will also require governments to remove immigration barriers preventing African air travellers flying to other countries on their home continent.…

NORTH Africa is a region where care for appearance, grooming and personal hygiene is integral to its cultural DNA, so while personal care product majors have a strong presence, it is maybe no surprise that local beauty manufacturers continue to bubble up with fresh ideas and products that capture the imagination of consumers.…

Morocco’s textile and garment industry is undergoing an intense process of development to better meet today’s business challenges and the intense competition within the crowded international garment production sector.  With a mere 10 kilometres of Strait of Gibraltar seawater between Morocco’s key port Tanger-Med and Spain, Morocco should be a natural choice to lead in short ordering and fast fashion for European markets, however things are never just that simple.…

GLOBAL and regional public policies promoting environmental good practice and fighting climate change have long encouraged the growth of renewable energy production. And with concern about global warming sharpening, these goals – pushed by international and regional organisations and development banks – are here to stay.…

African garment and textile manufacturers are trying to create more synergy to better integrate the supply chain within the continent, but North African producers still dominate, and are expanding capacity, particularly in Egypt, say participants at a major regional industry meeting.…

African manufacturers are trying to integrate sustainability in their textile and fashion supply chains as retailers demand compliance with increasingly high standards fuelled by consumer pressure. But to do so, manufacturers are asking for assistance from international organisations to implement change.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission – the European Union (EU) executive – has claimed its Erasmus+ higher education exchange initiative is significantly boosting tertiary studies for African students and academics, with 8,500 Africans benefiting this year (2019).

In a report on the programme, which has been hailed as a flagship of the EU’s positive international impact, the Commission said that this figure was poised to keep growing, so that it will have helped more than 35,000 African students and academics by 2020.…

THE GOVERNMENTS of Mauritius and Madagascar are intensifying their efforts to improve cooperation between the respective textile and clothing sectors of these Indian Ocean island states.

Mauritius officials stressed to just-style how nine major Mauritian textile and clothing enterprises have set up production units in Madagascar, helping boost the economy of this relatively less developed country.…

GLOBAL food and beverage company Nestlé’s restructure in the EMENA (Europe, Middle East and North Africa) region, which began in 2017, has delivered improved efficiencies and performance, according to Marco Settembri, Nestlé’s executive vice-president and EMENA zone CEO.

“It’s always a question of evolution,” Mr Settembri told just-food before the opening session of the July 4-5 2^nd European Entrepreneurship Education summit in Lille, northern France,* in which he was to speak.…

CLOSE links between Tunisian and German higher education systems are boosting Tunisia’s higher education system, but both sides agree importance of encouraging Tunisian graduates to return home after exchange studies.

The opening of a new German library at the faculty of arts, letters and humanities (FAHM), of the University of Manouba, in Tunis on May 29 is a key example of Tunisian-German collaboration in HE.…

Tunisia is underpinned its sustained growth as a denim supplier through promoting its quality specialist production that employs sustainable environmental and social practices.

Since its 2011 revolution that launched the ‘Arab Spring’, exports of denim jeans from Tunisia have doubled. According to the Tunisian exports and promotions agency CEPEX the value of jeans exported from Tunisia have risen from Tunisian dinars TND586.40 million (USD202 million) in 2010 to TND1.32 billion (USD455 million) in 2018.…

THE INTERNATIONAL Organization for Standardization (ISO) has launched a series of standards designed to help the cocoa industry ensure its products are both sustainably harvested and processed, but also traceable across their supply chains. Its ISO 34101 series is designed to promote good environmental and labour practices in a sector that involves sophisticated confectionery companies, global commodity traders and small farmers, often in poor countries, notably in west Africa.…

THE EGYPTIAN economy is still struggling to overcome the problem of low hard currency reserves, a challenge that has negatively affected the local paints and coatings industry due its high dependence on imports.

“There has been a crisis in terms of availability of US dollars to purchase raw materials and most of the raw materials are imported,” said Himanshu Vasisht, project lead for energy and chemicals at India-based market researcher Mordor Intelligence.…

WITH Kenya’s economy still growing fast – its GDP is projected to increase by 5.8% this year (2019) east Africa’s economic hub is expected to provide the paint and coatings sector plenty of extra sales. Such growth in the construction industry is reflected in its neighbouring countries, notably Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, offering additional sales for companies with the scale to score regional sales.…

MOROCCO’S clothing and textile industry association is optimistic about growth in the country’s apparel sector, with fast fashion sales to Europe driving expansion. Mohamed Tazi, general director of Morocco’s clothing and textile industry association AMITH (Association Marocaine des Industries du Textile et de l’Habillement) told just-style he is satisfied with the results of the sector regarding production and exports.…

NORTH Africa offers personal care product majors populous markets, close to European manufacturing centres, with large and growing middle classes (outside troubled Libya) – but trading in these countries is not without complication. Regulatory shifts, counterfeiting and some security concerns make these useful markets a challenge for brands to tap.…

AFRICAN garment and textile manufacturers have a long way to go to increase capacity, develop the supply chain and diversify overall production away from North Africa, an industry conference staged in Cairo has been told. But while north Africa accounts for more than USD10 billion out the continent’s USD13.54 billion in clothing and textile exports (during 2016, according to international trade data), the much discussed potential of Africa as the world’s next sourcing hub is starting to materialise.…

AFRICAN garment and textile manufacturers have a long way to go to increase capacity, develop the supply chain and diversify overall production away from North Africa, an industry conference staged in Cairo has been told. But while north Africa accounts for more than USD10 billion out the continent’s USD13.54 billion in clothing and textile exports (during 2016, according to international trade data), the much discussed potential of Africa as the world’s next sourcing hub is starting to materialise.…

DIGITAL production technologies could help African manufacturers pick up business lost by Chinese rivals because of the trade war in the USA, with brands looking to take advantage of the free trade agreements that many African countries have with the USA and Europe.…

With traditional universities increasingly using web-based learning as a way of recruiting students world-wide, University World News spoke to the head of Italy’s top online university to see how it has developed a successful model for international higher learning

Enrollments for the 2018-2019 school year at the Rome-based International Telematic University, Uninettuno, have exceeded expectations, university rector Maria Amata Garito, shared with UWN: “I can confirm that enrolments have jumped quite a bit this year – up by circa 200% compared to last year,” said Garito.…

Indonesia is seeking to open new markets for its textile and garment products – not only are free trade agreements with Australia and fellow Asian countries are on the cards, the industry’s association and the government has announced, but the industry is also targeting African export sales.…

AMERICAN meat exporters are hoping that the Trump administration aggressive trade policy approach towards China will force Beijing to remove non-tariff bureaucratic barriers that depressed sales before this year’s trade war between the two economic giants.

“We’ve already had Chinese tariffs [in the past] and the conversation is about more than just discussion of tariffs,” said Colin Woodall, vice president of government affairs at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.…

SOLAR energy in Africa ought to be a no brainer. The continent has lot of sun, and weak electricity supplies, especially in the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa. And yet, climate finance that has developed since the Paris climate change agreement of 2015, that could help grow green energy in this sunny continent, has not focused on Africa.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) paint and coating sector will be keeping a close eye on plans to craft a new EUR94.1 billion Horizon Europe research and development programme operating from 2021 to 2027. These major EU research budgets fund innovation in the sector involving companies from different countries within the EU – proposed industry and natural resources priority spending sections in the 2021-27 programme may especially promote paint and coating studies.…

UK and remaining European Union (EU) food producers are becoming increasingly anxious about the prospect of Britain crashing out of the EU single market without a replacement trade deal. It is a scenario that could leave British manufacturers facing crippling tariffs, border delays and reams of red tape.…

ACHIEVING regulatory convergence in the USD465 billion global cosmetics industry (Euromonitor 2017 figures) is an important long-term goal, industry experts agreed at European personal care product association Cosmetics Europe’s June 13-14 annual conference 2018 in Brussels. Europe is a key market for this industry – providing EUR77.6 billion’s worth of personal care product sales last year, and supporting more than two million jobs, said Cosmetics Europe president Loïc Armand, also president of L’Oréal France.…

SPAIN’S personal care product market is continuing to grow after years of post-financial crisis weakness. Spain’s skincare, cosmetic and perfume industry continues to mature, and has turned in solid sales figures for 2017, reflecting the optimistic mood of the economy after the ‘lost’ years of the recession.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) food and drink exporters could be major beneficiaries of a revised EU-Mexico trade agreement which will remove almost all bilateral tariffs left by a year 2000 deal. Under a new agreement struck in principle, Mexican import duties on EU exports of cheeses, such as gorgonzola and roquefort, and pasta (of up to 20%), will be removed, along with duties on chocolate and confectionery, (that can exceed 20%).…

NORTH Africa is never an easy market in which to do business, and the Arab Spring and its turbulent aftermath has not helped ease trade, but as the paint industry looks to 2018, there is optimism that profits can be made.…

Brussels South Charleroi Airport has has to rethink its development plans after a January 25 ruling in the European Union’s (EU) General Court forced a 500% hike in its concession fee.  The court (part of the European Court of Justice) threw out Charleroi’s challenge to the European’s Commission 2004 decision that the EUR3 million annual concession fee that Belgium’s Wallonia Region was charging the airport was an illegal subsidy under the bloc’s state aid rules.…

PROTECTIONISM and currency problems are posing challenges for north Africa’s beauty and personal care market, often forcing consumers to change their purchasing behaviour and turn to locally manufactured products, when they are available.

In Egypt, the region’s most populous country, the fall in value of the local currency, the Egyptian pound, against the Euro, has helped increase the price of imported products.…

Morocco’s Fez airport (Fès–Saïs Airport) has opened a new terminal, being inaugurated last May (2017) by King Mohammed VI, enabling it to increase its capacity to 2.5 million passengers per year. The number of passengers passing through the airport has more than tripled in less than 10 years, from 228,399 passengers in 2006 to 892,974 in 2016, so the expansion will allow the airport to manage growing volumes for years to come.…

OECD SAYS 49 JURISDICTIONS WILL AUTOMATICALLY EXCHANGE TAX INFORMATION THIS YEAR

THE IDENTITY of 49 jurisdictions that will automatically exchange tax information in 2017 under a global standard has been revealed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD).…

Africa governments are waking up to the fact that the continent could be a ‘new frontier’ for clothing manufacturing sourcing, export associations and manufacturers at Destination Africa, a trade event in Cairo, Egypt, have told just-style.

They stressed that Africa has significant opportunities to divert manufacturing from Asia due to rising production costs, especially in China, and take advantage of the proximity to European markets.…

THE EGYPT government and leather industry is planning to boost the country’s leather exports by 80%, to USD1 billion by 2020, through modernising the sector and developing dedicated manufacturing hubs. The Egyptian leather sector took a major hit in terms of lost sales and output during the political and economic instability following the 2011 revolution, and there has been no major investment for the past 15 years to upgrade facilities and improve output.…

EGYPT is trying to develop its upstream textile capabilities to bolster exports and be part of an integrated African continent-wide supply chain, linking its cut-and-sew and quality cotton fibre base. While Egypt exported USD764 million worth of fabric and yarn in 2016 according to the country’s Textile Export Council (TEC), challenges abound regarding Egypt’s efforts to generate more value-added textiles.…

DATA has been released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) that shows how African governments collect less tax as a proportion of their countries’ wealth than in Latin America and the Caribbean. Africa’s average 2015 tax-to-GDP ratio was 19.1%; compared to 22.8% in Latin America/Caribbean and 34.3% for the 35 richer countries within the OECD.…

Of course, it is not doing this by increasing policing and the number of suspicious transaction reports, but by liberalising what is now a criminal activity, the growing, processing, sale and consumption of cannabis for recreation.

By doing so, it plans to be the first G20 country to legalise and regulate the recreational use of cannabis nationwide by July 2018.…

WITH the introduction of Bill C-45 into the Canadian House of Commons earlier this year, and its securing a second reading vote in June (see https://openparliament.ca/bills/42-1/C-45/), Canada’s government has moved closer to removing millions of dollars of dirty money from its economy.…

THE ARAB Spring, for all its faults, inconsistencies and disappointments, has delivered the world one thriving open and pluralistic Arab society – Tunisia – where women especially have seized new freedoms and spending power. This is reflected in spending on spa and salon services in the country, where, according to market researcher Euromonitor International, in the year of the 2011 Jasmine Revolution the turnover of the Tunisian spa sector was just USD32.4 million.…

THE LEAGUE of Arab States’ 22 countries have imported more Brazilian textiles and clothing between January and July of 2017 than during the whole of 2016, according to the latest industry figures from the Brazilian-Arabic Chamber of Commerce (CCAB – Câmara de Comércio Árabe-Brasileira).…

THE EGYPTIAN government has said it will use German consultants to fine tune a planned subsidy system benefiting Egypt-based assemblers who source parts domestically. The goal of the ministry of industry is to smooth concerns about the incentives at the European Commission, the European Union (EU) executive, which wants freer trade between the EU and Egypt and views Egyptian government plans to favour local parts sourcing as a trade barrier.…

ROYAL Jordanian Airlines and Kuwait Airlines have been given permission to allow air passengers on USA-bound flights to resume carrying personal electronic items, including laptops, onto their planes, after they ramped up security measures. The bans, lifted July 9, had been imposed in March over American concerns that Islamic State members and other extremists could hide bombs inside laptops. …

MOROCCO is blessed with an ideal geographical position to develop a Europe-focused export-based dairy sector although its proximity to Spain – just 14 km of the Straits of Gibraltar separates the two – means this emerging market is a key focus of European exporters.…

OVER a sunny weekend in May 2017, 74,000 people headed to Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi, a futuristic events space built for the city’s 1992 Olympic Games, and many were going to learn about Spain’s organic and natural cosmetics products. On other occasions, these impressive numbers would be expected for the international pop stars who regularly perform here.…

MOROCCO is becoming an increasingly attractive destination for African students seeking to study abroad, and is now their second most popular destination on the continent, following South Africa. According to the latest statistics published by Morocco’s ministry of higher education, training and research, more than 18,000 African foreign students are currently enrolled in higher institutions in Morocco.…

IF the Arab Spring has often disappointed in political terms, leading more to armed conflict, oppression and chaos than civic democracy, it is undeniable that citizens in north Africa at least have often been able to indulge more personal freedom. This is well illustrated by women’s smoking habits, with more women choosing to smoke openly – and whatever the health risks, it is clear that women themselves are making the choice to smoke, a sign of social change in one of the world’s most conservative regions.…

THE CONTINUED success of Europe’ major technical textile fair, Techtextil, Frankfurt, (the next event runs from May 9 to 12) illustrates how the continent’s technical textile sector is thriving on its innovation.

“We don’t know what the future brings. We only know where it will be exhibited.…

NORTH Africa has never been a particular easy place to do business, but female and male consumers are prepared to spend on personal care products, and profits are there for the taking for companies that take time to understand these vibrant and often contrasting markets.…

THE MOROCCO poultry sector is expanding steadily, and is eyeing export markets in neighbouring African countries for new sales.

Poultry meat production in Morocco, one of the most important livestock sectors in the country, has increased by 7.7% over the past four years, according to statistics published by the Morocco professional poultry farming federation – FISA (Fédération Interprofessionnelle du Secteur Avicole).…

Traditional Moroccan soap has a good market among American consumers. New York–based cosmetics company Kahina Giving Beauty launched its Morocco-manufactured ‘Moroccan beldi’ in January 2016 driven by a demand for traditional Moroccan soaps in the USA. Kahina Giving Beauty founder Katharine (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT – TWO ‘A’s IN NAME) L’Heureux, told Cosmetics Business Markets.…

The Moroccan bath and shower products market grew by 8% in 2015, with a sales value of Moroccan Dirham MAD868 million (USD86.1 million) according to UK-based market research company, Euromonitor International, while the highest growth rate was reached by intimate washes with 12%.…

PAKISTAN’S denim export industry hopes that help for the textile announced by the government in February (exemption from paying sales tax and payment of long overdue tax refunds) and in a meeting with industry leaders in September (a promised reduction in energy costs) will boost this promising segment.…

THE INTERNATIONAL Organization for Standardization (ISO) has developed a series of standards designed to promote sustainability in the chocolate and cocoa sector, and wants industry input.

It has released drafts on the ISO 34101 series, on ‘sustainable and traceable cocoa beans’, and wants expert opinions on them, for submission by December 4.…

Japan’s automobile manufacturers are increasingly looking to set up plants in – or, at least, very close to – their target markets, and paint companies with expertise in the auto coatings sector are following their lead.

“In 2015, the overall Japanese paints and varnishes market recorded 0.3 per cent growth, with producers struggling to remain competitive because production in Japan is pricier due to environmental requirements and higher labour costs,” said Andrius Balsys, a research analyst who monitors the paints sector for London-based market researcher, Euromonitor International.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) customs authorities seized five million more counterfeit products at the bloc’s borders in 2015 than the year before, with China the originating country for 41% of these fakes, the European Commission’s latest annual report on the problem reveals.…

The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) spa market experienced healthy growth in 2015 compared to 2014, increasing 11% in value terms to reach Emirati Dirham AED1.57 billion (USD428 million), according to market research company Euromonitor International.

In 2016, the market is predicted to grow by 9% to hit USD435 million year-on-year, accounting for nearly 14% of the Middle East and Africa’s USD3 billion spa market, according to Euromonitor.…

The male grooming market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has grown significantly over the past decade as men become more image conscious and brand aware.

This MENA market “is growing and performing quite well, at around five per cent growth a year in constant terms,” said Amna Abbas, a research analyst at Euromonitor, in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Dubai.…

AFRICA’S economic growth means it does not just have more banks than before, banking groups are spreading across national borders. And while this can boost banks’ lending and savings security, it also complicates the job of regulators charged with ensuring such institutions are honest and solvent.…

Paint and varnish manufacturers in Japan experienced a disappointing 2015, with sluggish purchasing from the construction and automotive sectors translating into meagre 0.3% growth over the fiscal year. Analysts predict that growth will pick up in the short term, in part as a result of a spike in demand from the construction sector ahead of Tokyo hosting the 2020 Olympic Games – although industry players are concerned about the longer-term outlook for the sector.…

MOROCCO has avoided the chaos suffered by many other Arab countries as a result of the Arab Spring, but while has been tightening its anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures, experts say significant reforms are still required.…

Demand for milk is outstripping domestic supply in Egypt, the most populous market in the Middle East and North Africa. The sector has been growing at more than 10% a year as Egypt – whose population is at least 82 million – consume more dairy products, especially milk and yoghurt.…

The recent start of commercial operations at concentrating solar power (CSP) plants in Africa illustrates the potential for utility-scale CSP to capture an increasing share in the world’s power generation mix.

These plants include the 160 megawatt (MW) Noor 1 in southern Morocco, the foundation of what may become the world’s largest CSP generation site, and the 50MW Khi Solar One in South Africa.…

INCREASING demands on the part of European Union (EU) textile buyers for compliance with environmentally sustainable standards have inspired a major project launched by Moroccan trade groups into improving the practices of the country’s denim industry.

This is called the Moroccan Denim Cluster (MDC), founded in 2014 as an industry association for this segment.…

A NEW survey has concluded at least 50 million people paid bribes just to access basic public services in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in a 12 month period. Transparency International estimates are based on its September 2014 to

November 2015 survey of nearly 11,000 adults in nine countries and territories across the region: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian territories, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen.…

THE ARAB Spring has certainly been a mixed blessing for North Africa, with political instability as common as progress towards democratisation, and the region’s paint sector has not been insulated from these changes. Sales have swung up and down, with North Africa’s economies performing unevenly as the Arab Spring’s political changes shake out.…

Turkish denim firms have roared onto the global market in recent years, impressing consumers, terrifying the competition.

These companies are aided by Turkey’s high quality cotton – particularly that produced in the country’s Aegean region on the west coast. Aegean premium cotton is renowned for its ability to retain paint and for its softness and absorbency, all without genetic modification.…

THE STABLE north African kingdom of Morocco is pushing ahead with plans to grow its automotive manufacturing industry, creating a lower-cost hub for supplying nearby wealthy European markets. Indeed, with the Strait of Gibraltar crossing between Morocco and Spain being just over eight miles wide, the Morocco government’s 2014-2020 industrial acceleration policy is clear – it wants to grow its auto sector fast.…

A MEETING of the European Parliament’s special committee on tax rulings has grilled multinationals over European Union (EU) member state tax rulings. The European Commission fears they have been abused by governments giving companies low tax rates in return for registering businesses in their jurisdictions.…

Organisers of the 13th annual Istanbul Yarn Fair remain optimistic about the future of Turkey’s yarn segment, despite the country’s recent diplomatic crisis with Russia depressing this year’s turnout.

“Although the recent political issues have affected the number of Russian buyers who come to the fair, the relationship between Turkey and Russia is very strong and [built on a long history],” said Gülbin Bozkurt, project group director of Tüyap Fairs and Exhibitions Organization Inc, which organised the fair.…

Considered a key player within the cosmetics market in north Africa, Morocco’s colour cosmetics sales holds a market estimated between MAD800 million (Moroccan dirhams) and MAD1 billion (between USD81 and USD102 million). This is according to London-based market research firm Euromonitor International’s Moroccan marketing analyst Houda Bennani.…

Organisers of the 13th annual Istanbul Yarn Fair remain optimistic about the future of Turkey’s yarn segment, despite the country’s recent diplomatic crisis with Russia depressing this year’s turnout.

“Although the recent political issues have affected the number of Russian buyers who come to the fair, the relationship between Turkey and Russia is very strong and [built on a long history],” said Gülbin Bozkurt, project group director of Tüyap Fairs and Exhibitions Organization Inc, which organised the fair.…

The professional coaching sector is booming in the Middle East. Over the past decade the region has become increasingly interconnected in the global business system, and accordingly adopted international standards. This has driven the need for professional coaching and training. But with coaching modelled on US and European norms, there is a need for greater localisation, while more coaching accreditation is needed to develop further confidence in the fledgling sector.…

NEWLY trained medical graduates are now receiving degrees for studies completed within Mauritania, following an expansion of medicine higher education in this impoverished north-western Africa and largely desert country.

Mauritania has few doctors. Its 3.89 million people is served by just 0.12 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants, according to 2015 World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics.…

The latest report from European Union (EU) police agency Europol report has revealed the true extent of “the complex reality” of counterfeit goods networks across Europe. But what are the latest scams and how successful has Europol been in tackling them?…

China’s new found taste for olive oil is growing, opening up new sales channels for olive oil producing countries and Morocco is one potential beneficiary. Morocco is the fourth largest exporter of olive oil and olives after the European Union (EU), Turkey and Tunisia, currently producing between 100,000 and 120,000 tonnes per year of which 25,000 tonnes are exported.”…

Although Morocco’s garment production industry is well established, supplying giants such as Inditex, it is investing in capacity to compete with Asian rivals and new African competition, such as from Ethiopia and Mauritius.
As part of the 2014-2020 Accelerated Industrial Plan, the Moroccan government has assigned Moroccan Dirham MAD3 billion (USD304 million) for grants between these years for industrial small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with established supply chains and sales networks.…

THE MOROCCO government is negotiating a strategic industrial partnership with China that could see Chinese investment flow into the Moroccan clothing and textile manufacturing industry. Morocco’s minister of industry, trade, investment and digital economy Moulay Hafid Elalamy is coordinating the Moroccan side in the talks.…

North Africa’s entire paints and coatings market is valued at about USD1.1 billion on approximately 0.5 billion litres of coatings, according to the International Paint and Printing Inks Council (IPPIC). Of this, nearly 60% of the market value and more than 75% of market volume is comprised of decorative paints and coatings, according to data collected for the IPPIC by US-based Orr & Boss Inc.…

EUROPEAN cigarette smuggling has evolved and diversified over the past ten years, and international cooperation is often the best way to counter them, argue European Union (EU) anti-fraud officials. Meanwhile, the tobacco industry has accepted that liaising with these initiatives does bring benefits.…

GERMAN-made automobiles were the largest source of reports regarding potentially dangerous motor vehicles made to the European Union’s (EU) RAPEX consumer alert network in 2014, analysis of its data shows.
There were 194 notifications to the system relating to automobiles and parts last year, the fourth largest category following toys (650), clothing and textiles (530) and electrical appliances (217).…

Africa is emerging as a viable, even strong, sourcing alternative to Asia, but Africa still needs to learn significant lessons from its rival on establishing a strong sourcing hub, say industry experts.

For instance, sub-Saharan suppliers should note how Asia’s garment and textile industry is well-coordinated and integrated regionally, with strong inter-country links.…

In the Gulf, the harsh desert climate has always made agricultural production difficult, so fats in the form of animal lard or milk ‘ghee’, have traditionally dominated diets.
But population growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – UAE), rising affluence, booming ex-patriot populations, and increasing diversity in imports, have driven increases in sales of higher end edible oils in the region.…

TOILETRIES sales in the Arab Gulf countries remain robust, an oasis of economic and political stability in a turbulent Middle East. Elsewhere in the region, the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the rise of the Islamic State, has seen toiletries sales plummet.…

IT is a truism to say that in the information age, knowledge is power. But it is undeniable that the better mobile operators know their customers, the more they can sell. France-based Astellia, the innovative telco technology partner, has been digging deep into how data collection and analysis can help mobile operators understand users.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission dispatched on Friday (Aug 1) an emergency shipment of 1.1 million foot and mouth disease (FMD) vaccines in Algeria and Tunisia after the first cases in 15 years were detected in these countries. Industry spokesmen told the Meat Trades Journal they welcomed the move as there are worries the highly contagious virus might find a way of spreading to European cattle, sheep and goat farms.…

The Moroccan government has launched an investigation that could spark its imposition of temporary safeguard duties or quotas on imports of cold-rolled steel sheets and plated or coated sheets. Rabat has informed the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) safeguards committee of its plans, which will allow fellow member countries to comment.…

EGYPT’S paint market is in flux due to the political and economic instability that has raged in the North African country since 2011. This 180 million litre paint market, valued at USD275 million, slumped 10% in 2011, according to paint major Jotun, following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, and has struggled to recover.…

AFTER six years of financing some of the largest infrastructure projects across Africa, a groundbreaking multilateral development institution – the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) – has attained its investment grade international credit rating. Moody’s Investors Service assigned the corporation an A3 (long term) /P2 (short term) foreign currency debt rating, making the AFC, headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria the second highest investment grade rated financial institution based on the African continent, following the long-established Africa Development Bank (ADB).…

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region ranks poorly in intellectual property rights protection and enforcement. While some countries, notably in the Gulf, are gradually improving, political and economic uncertainty in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings is hampering progress in much of the rest of the region.…

NEGOTIATIONS for a renewed International Agreement on Olive Oil are intensifying in Madrid. The agreement runs out at the end of this year and its member jurisdictions, of which the European Union (EU) is the biggest, are working to forge a new agreement by December.…

THE NORTH African paint market has yet to rebound from the political and economic unrest in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt over the past three years. Demand remains sluggish compared to 2010, with many projects and government tenders on hold.

In Egypt, the 180 million litre paint market, valued at USD275 million, said Yasser Hassan, marketing and national retail sales manager, decorative department, at Jotun Paints in Cairo, dropped 10% in 2011 following the uprising against President Hosni Mubarak.…

THE MOROCCO clothing and textile industry has called on its government to work with the sector to boost exports after the release of figures showing production fell in 2013 compared to 2012. The country’s foreign exchange department (l’Office des Changes) said that the sector’s exports fell from Moroccan Dirham MAD28.2 billion (USD3.4 billion) to MAD26.3 billion (USD3.2 billion) last year.…

Governments and global organisations such as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) have participated in an emergency exercise in Morocco, responding to a simulated dirty radioactive bomb. With pretend attacks happening at the port of Tangier Med and Marrakech medina, ICAO worked with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and others on managing a hypothetical radioactive release into the atmosphere.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has voted to reduce the support the European Union (EU) gives to the traditional biofuel sector, backing European Commission proposals to amend the renewable energy directive (2009/28/EC). MEPs agreed that the law should insist that first-generation biofuels (from long-standing sources, notably food crops) should not exceed 6% of EU energy consumption in transport by 2020, compared to the 10% target for all biofuels in the existing legislation.…

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has now formally approved a new European Union (EU) offshore oil and gas drilling directive, designed to prevent accidents such as the Deepwater Horizon spill happening in coastal EU sea waters.

These new rules will require oil and gas firms to prove they can cover potential liabilities from accidents and submit major hazard reports and emergency response plans to regulators before drilling operations start.…

may be a big concept, but the road to making personal care product packaging greener is made of small incremental steps that can both provide green marketing benefits and reduce costs.

Recent innovations include reducing the size of containers, while maintaining the volume of product they hold, alongside innovations in using renewable resources and keeping packaging waste out of landfills.…

SUSTAINABILITY may be a big concept, but the road to making personal care product packaging greener is made of small incremental steps that can both provide green marketing benefits and reduce costs.

Recent innovations include reducing the size of containers, while maintaining the volume of product they hold, alongside innovations in using renewable resources and keeping packaging waste out of landfills.…

A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-funded research project has been researching the pharmaceutical applications of active ingredients extracted from herbs and aromatic plants found in Morocco. The Euro EUR442,000 MAP2ERA project has been coordinated by Morocco’s Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, working with the Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (ICSN) in France, Spain’s University of Alicante and Giraf PM, a German project management company.…

A PLANNED deepening of trade relations between the European Union (EU) and Morocco should streamline customs procedures for the EU clothing and textile industry, whether importing or exporting products from this key north African trading partner, the European Apparel and Textile Confederation (Euratex) has told just-style.com.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) and Moroccan medicine manufacturing sector could prosper through a new trade agreement now being negotiated between the EU and Morocco. The EU imported just Euro EUR17 million’s worth of pharmaceuticals from Morocco in 2012, while Morocco imported EUR330 million’s worth of EU-made medicines that year.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) cosmetics sector could prosper by a new trade agreement now being negotiated between the EU and Morocco. The EU imported just USD30.6 million’s worth of cosmetics and perfumes from Morocco in 2011, while Morocco imported USD173.2 million’s worth of EU-made cosmetics and perfumes that year.…

THE MOROCCAN Society of Tobacco (formerly Imperial Tobacco Maroc) has welcomed the launch of negotiations between the European Union (EU) and Morocco to forge a so-called ‘deep and comprehensive free trade agreement’ (DCFTA) between them. The deal would remove trade regulations and harmonise industrial standards, noted Ghassan Khaber, communications and institutional relations manager at the north African country’s dominant tobacco manufacturer.…

By Kaci Racelma, in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria; and Paul Cochrane, in Beirut 

This article appeared last March (2012) in Commercial Crime International, a specialist title run by the International Chamber of Commerce. It foreshadowed the Islamist-related unrest and rebellion that actually occurred later in Mali and Algeria….

COMMERCIAL crime may not be as omnipresent in North Africa as in some other parts of the world, but companies operating in the region have risks to contend with. Corruption is rife, smuggling across the borders with Sub-Saharan countries is a major activity, and terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) are in the ascendancy. Kaci Racelma and Paul Cochrane take a detailed look at these problems.

 “CORRUPTION is systemic in all of the Maghreb, and not likely to change,” said Dr Geoff Porter, a political risk and security consultant specialising in North Africa. “We’ll have to see what happens in Tunisia. It was a cesspool of corruption under the previous government and while the new one seems to have a zero tolerance policy to corruption, it has not been in power long enough to gauge its effectiveness,” said Dr Porter, founder of US-based North Africa Risk Consulting.…

THE ARAB Spring may have increased short-term doubts about the political stability of Europe’s southern and eastern Mediterranean neighbours, but the long-term case for energy cooperation between these regions is surely unarguable.

Europe needs more energy than it can generate, and it has (for the time being at least) money to buy energy from north Africa and the Levant.…

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has advised the European Union (EU) to launch a series of studies to help assess the risk of Rift Valley Fever being introduced to livestock and humans in north Africa and the Middle East, potentially threatening Europe.…

IT is a long way from China, east Asia and south Asia to the key developed world markets or Europe and America. And with fashion being so dynamic, demand for a line could have dampened in the months between placing an order and receiving delivery.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has put forward an action plan aimed at creating a lasting remedy for Europe’s troubled olive oil sector which has suffered a near-calamitous loss of profitability in recent years. Unveiled last June, the plan follows a sequence of temporary and not wholly successful boosts to the sector in the form of injections of private storage aid between October 2011 and May last year.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

10 SEPTEMBER 2012

MOROCCO, Tunisia, and Egypt – respectively the sixth, seventh and sixteenth largest exporters of knitwear to the European Union’s 27 member states, as measured by sales value – have traditionally been competitive knitwear producers and exporters.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

OUTSOURCING textile and apparel production is a necessary step along the supply chain for many large international brands, which – more than often – have long-standing relationships with manufacturers abroad. These partnerships have to start from somewhere, though – and with economic development continuing to grow in the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and other emerging market countries, there are many third-party companies and services that can help international buyers choose the right manufacturer.…

BY DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS

CHANTAL Ronceray is targeting fast growth in turnover at Jamal Paris, a small but ambitious halal cosmetics products company she co-founded in 2007. It is an act of faith in the long-term potential for sales among France’s 4.7 million Muslims, Europe’s largest such population.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT; AND MARK GAO, IN ISTANBUL

MOST states in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) have mulled developing nuclear power over the past decade, from Morocco to Egypt, and Jordan to Saudi Arabia, but only the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is coming close to embarking on the nuclear option thus far.…

BY KACI RACELMA

WHILE the majority of north African paint and coatings markets have been disrupted by the wave of political and economic unrest brought on by the ongoing Arab Spring revolution, relatively stable Morocco has generated modest growth.

The country’s paint companies predict an increase in domestic paints and coatings production and sales in 2012, following sluggish sales since the international financial crisis hit in 2008.…

BY KACI RACELMA, IN TIZI OUZOU, ALGERIA; AND PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

COMMERCIAL crime may not be as omnipresent in North Africa as in some other parts of the world, but companies operating in the region have risks to contend with.…

BY KACI RACELMA, IN TIZI OUZOU, ALGERIA

A TERRORIST attack on March 3 targeted the local headquarters of Algeria’s national rural police force ‘El Dark El Watani’ (in the southern Algerian border town of Tamanrasset with a booby-trapped car, leaving 23 people wounded.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE IN BEIRUT

THE ‘ARAB Spring’ uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) over the past year have had a mixed effect on Arabic publishing. Book sales have plunged due to instability, and while some countries have loosened up on censorship, others have clamped down.…

BY DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS

When talking to Accounting & Business in her Paris office, Michèle Cartier Le Guérinel often struggles to make herself heard over the noise of the renovations shaking the walls on either side of her. Several floors of her international accountancy organisation FIDEF’s headquarters, in an anachronistically new and large building on an otherwise quiet street in the most elegant seventh arrondissement (a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower), are undergoing a thorough makeover.…

BY DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS

Michèle Cartier Le Guérinel qualified as an accountant and auditor in 1985

1990-93

President of the professional association of the Essonne region, near Paris.

1993-2000, 2003-10

Elected vice president of the Compagnie Régionale des Commissaires aux Comptes de Paris (CRCC – Regional Company of the Auditors of Paris, in English).…

BY ALAN OSBORN

OLIVE oil growers in the European Union (EU) are currently facing an increasingly frustrating situation: while demand is growing internationally and harvests have been unusually good in recent years, prices are falling at a rapid rate, threatening the livelihood of the thousands of farmers in the main growing countries.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

UPRISINGS in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) this year have hit demand for printers in Lebanon, which has long been the printing hub of the region. Lebanese printers canvassed privately for Print Week MEA report that the upheavals have seen demand from Egypt and Syria decline, while transportation has been marginally affected from Lebanon due to the situation in neighbouring Syria.…

BY MEGAN DETRIE and KACI RACELMA

THE IMPACT of the Arab Spring revolution has rattled though North Africa, leaving no economic sector unscathed – including the personal care products industry. Despite the fact that the growth of the cosmetics markets in countries like Tunisia, Egypt and Libya remains limited in lieu of the year of demonstrations and political upheaval, efforts are currently being made to boost the industry.…

BY ALYSSA MCMURTRY

Spanish canned fish products giant Conservas Garavilla has said its takeover of the family owned Conservas Cuca last Thursday is "one step more in consolidating its position as a national leader of this industry." So said Estanislao Garavilla, president of holding company Galicia-based Grupo Garavilla.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A SERIES of bilateral civil aviation agreements negotiated by the European Union (EU) have remained unenforced because some EU member states have failed to ratify their terms. The European Commission has issued a report branding this "unfortunate", noting this "has the consequence of delaying their entry into force".…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

UNDER the United Nations’ Al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctions regime, more than 30 states have frozen at least US dollars USD90 million in assets as of September 2010. But Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other designated terrorist groups in the Middle East and Central Asia continue to receive funding despite the region’s widespread adoption of international regulations on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CTF).…

BY KACI RACELMA

THE MOROCCAN textile and clothing industry has been recovering energetically from the 2009 recession, with North Africa’s recent political turmoil yet to significantly impact on its fortunes, although it has prompted concerns in the industry.

Exports to Europe are of critical importance to Morocco’s clothing manufacturers, with the government and industry groups combining efforts to improve standards, promote sales abroad and create a nascent design hub for the sector within this north African kingdom.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has called for an increase in the extraction of phosphorous from waste solids and waste water to prevent environmental problems linked to fertiliser run-off and prepare for the day when phosphate rock reserves run out.…

BY LEE ADENDOORF, ALYSSA MCMURTRY, MAKKI MARSEILLES, and KEITH NUTHALL

GLOBAL olive oil manufacturing is on a roll, with the International Olive Council (IOC) saying 2009-10 world production was 3.02 million tonnes, a season-on-season increase of 354,500 tonnes (+13%). This would be the second best olive oil production year ever, next only to the record of 3.17 million tonnes produced in 2003/04.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, BY VÉRONIQUE NARAME AND BY SEYDOU TRAORÉ

North Africa’s tobacco market opens to the world

North Africa’s tobacco markets have long been dominated by state-run companies and monopolies. But change has slowly come to the region through increased economic liberalisation, enabling international brands to gain market share.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS, KEITH NUTHALL

THE KNITWEAR sector, especially at the higher end of the market spectrum, is a prey for organised counterfeiters. Sophisticated illicit manufacturers, especially in emerging markets, create copies of established brands, that can be high enough quality to fool, but poor enough to disappoint the consumer after a few wears.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

COUNTRIES negotiating a plurilateral Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) fighting fake products have announced that all remaining problems have been resolved and a final text is being drafted. This will allow the European Union (EU) and its member states, Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the USA to ratify the treaty.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

18

THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the takeover by Unilever of Sara Lee’s body and laundry care businesses, on condition it sells off the US company’s Sanex brand and related business in Europe. Following an inquiry as the European Union’s (EU) lead competition authority, Brussels concluded there were particular concerns regarding Unilever’s future dominance of some EU deodorant markets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

9

A UNITED Nations campaign could – if successful – significantly increase worldwide demand for soap. Its Global Handwashing Day has highlighted how diarrhoeal and acute respiratory diseases kill 3.5 million children aged under five annually, and that washing their hands after using toilets and before handling food can reduce such deaths by 40% and 23% respectively.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PERSONAL care product sector should benefit from a new Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), now largely negotiated. A draft text has been released by the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and Switzerland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, MJ DESCHAMPS, PAUL COCHRANE

MOROCCO is perfectly placed to be a major bio-based oils and fats exporter to Europe. It is of course very close – being separated from Spain by only nine miles of sea. And with its agriculture fed by plentiful sunshine and its rich fishing grounds, Morocco has huge potential to become a major oil and fat feedstock producer as well as an oils and fats manufacturer in its own right though its developed industrial sector.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

IT has been a tough last few years for north African knitwear, clothing and textile manufacturers, but the signs are that the knitwear sub-sector is outperforming its woven textile partners. With the European Union (EU) the region’s primary export destination, the region’s manufacturers have been hit by the end of restrictive quotas on imports from China in 2008, and then by the impact of the global financial crisis when demand slumped.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE TOWN of Asbestos in French-speaking Québec, Canada – named after the mineral that underpins its economy – is waiting to see whether its provincial government will approve a Canadian dollar CAD58 million (US dollar USD56 million) loan enabling an underground mine to tap an immense deposit.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and ALYSHAH HASHAM

THE WORLD Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has agreed to invest Australian Dollars AUD 2.4 million (US$2 million) into a tin exploration project in Morocco, carried out by Australia mining company Kasbah Resources Ltd.

This Perth-based outfit is to undertake what it calls the ‘Achmmach Tin Project’, exploring and mining tin in El Hajeb province, northwest Morocco.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, ANCA GURZU and DAVID HAWORTH

THE CONFECTIONERY manufacturing sector in the European Union (EU) has a new political boss in the shape of Romania’s Dacian Ciolo?, who became the EU’s latest agriculture Commissioner on February 10. Appointed amidst pledges he would be willing to use EU money to guarantee food production, he has promised to undertake a swift review of the EU’s reformed sugar regime.…

BY EMMA JACKSON, KEITH NUTHALL, ALAN OSBORN, PAUL COCHRANE and BILL CORCORAN

WEST Africa is becoming a key region in the booming trade of illicit cigarettes, counterfeit copies of premium brands and smuggled properly branded and manufactured sticks. So much money is being made by criminals using this often-chaotic region as a hub to receive illicit sticks and then distribute them throughout Africa that this trade is becoming a matter of serious concern to the United Nations and even NATO.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A YEAR of struggle would be the best way to sum up 2009 as far as the global clothing and textile industry is concerned. The depth and severity of the worldwide recession left many clothing and textile companies reeling, even impacting upon China, which had previously been dominating global markets.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

MOROCCO’S 150,000 tonnes per year decorative paint market, worth Moroccan Dirham (MAD) 2 billion (GBPounds 157.4 million), grew by an estimated 5 to 8% in 2008, but plunged by 30% in December in the wake of the financial crisis, according to paint manufacturer Hempel Morocco (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) auto manufacturing industry has a good chance to grab more market share in Syria following a newly signed wide-ranging association agreement, slashing steep duties imposed on EU-made auto exports. Syria already imports a significant number of EU-made cars: according to the ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association) in 2008, 7,241 (Euro 106 million’s worth) cars and SUVs were exported from the EU to Syria and this year, 3,427 (worth Euro 52 million) were sold from January to June.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPOL’s Organised Crime Threat Assessments have not always contained a wealth of detailed useful information – but its 2009 report shows how crime groups are adopting innovative technology and organisational skills: international business should take note. Keith Nuthall reports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

NEW options for UK auto-dealers will come on stream as Europe’s economy recovers thanks to Euro 600 being sunk into production in Sweden and Morocco by the European Investment Bank (EIB).

It has been channelling money towards automakers this year to help them stay afloat in the recession.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THESE are uncertain times for international aviation deals generally thanks to the global recession, but nowhere is the situation more fraught than in Washington where negotiations for the second stage of the 2007 ‘open skies’ agreement between the European Union (EU) and the USA appear to have run into the buffers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

LAID off auto workers in Spain are to receive assistance from the European Union (EU) after administrative problems holding up the handout appear to have been resolved.

The European Commission announced today (June 22) it had paid Euro 2.7 million from the European Globalisation adjustment Fund (EGF) to Spain.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have been asked to swiftly write into EU law a multi-year stock protection plan for eastern bluefin tuna. It is based on an agreement forged last November at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) at its annual meeting in Marrakech, Morocco.…

BY LUCY JONES

KNITWEAR featuring Barack Obama’s image stole the limelight at the Paris fashion week last autumn but whether the love will be returned to the global knitwear industry has yet to be seen.

Indeed, there is cause for concern, because Obama used protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE MIDDLE East and North Africa region (that economists like to award the acronym ‘MENA’) consumes 6% of the global vegetable oil market and sucks in 15% of global imports, with strong growth across the board on the back of rising per capita GDP and a burgeoning population.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON, JAMES BURNS, and JULIAN RYALL

With technological change being forced upon the auto manufacturing industry by high oil prices, plants are being retooled faster than in living memory. At such a time, companies are always looking for new ideas and technology.…

BY PHILIPPA JONES, DOMINIQUE PATTON and LUCY JONES

The growth in outsourcing within the clothing and textile sector worldwide has highlighted a key issue, and that is the relative merits of running an integrated company that handles basic production and design, or relying on a string of specialist suppliers to deliver the goods, from fibre supplies, to textile manufacture, design, clothing assembly and retail.…

BY IRINA PRENTICE

WHILE finding accurate statistics about the Libya industry is as easy as finding your way around the country’s vast deserts without a map, it is undeniable that this is a growing paint and coating market: the country is in full economic development which includes construction, boosting demand for coatings of all kinds.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have formally approved reductions to total allowable catches (TACs) in the Baltic Sea, with the aim of conserving stocks. That said, ministers did not reduce catches to the levels preferred by the European Commission: western Baltic herring catches have been cut by 39%, while Brussels wanted a 63% reduction: the Commission was mollified by a commitment from ministers to establish a long-term management plan for this stock.…

BY MARK ROWE

FOR the nuclear power plant industry, global economic crises can make for uncertain times. On the one hand, the long lead-in times associated with construction, along with copper-bottomed signed state contracts, should mean many projects continue as usual.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE FOOD & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has been helping Morocco deal with an ongoing outbreak of serious livestock disease ‘peste des petits ruminants’ (PPR) that threatens to kill millions of sheep and goats and could spread to neighbouring countries.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

THE AUTOPARTS and automotive industries are calling for far tighter world-wide enforcement against counterfeiting, as influential countries meet in Geneva to thrash out more details of a global Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

First mooted by the Office of the US Trade Representative in October 2007- and pursued aggressively by the US Chamber of Commerce – Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates have since come on board to try to develop ACTA.…

By Keith Nuthall

The launch of a new Euro-Mediterranean University in Slovenia dedicated to higher education courses focused on issues of importance to European, African and Levantine countries bordering the sea has been given a formal seal of approval. The creation of the institution was welcomed within a joint declaration issued by heads of state and government from 43 countries at a Paris summit launching a Mediterranean Union organisation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A GROUP of influential countries are debating forging an international anti-counterfeiting of goods agreement, fighting fake food and drink products. Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States have been discussing the idea.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A POWERFUL international bloc is debating forging an international anti-counterfeiting of goods agreement insisting upon cooperation over fighting fake drinks products. Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States have been discussing the idea in Geneva.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A POWERFUL international bloc is debating forging an international anti-counterfeiting of goods agreement insisting upon cooperation over fighting fake food products. Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States have been discussing the idea in Geneva.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A GROUP of influential countries are debating forging an international anti-counterfeiting of goods agreement, which would see them cooperate against the production and trade in fake tobacco products. Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States have been discussing the idea in Geneva.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WITH Dmitry Medvedev becoming Russia’s new president, the European Union (EU) has been pushing ahead to secure oil and gas supplies independent of Moscow. EU energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and external relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner met with Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey diplomats and officials to discuss gas pipeline links.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Damascus and Beirut, and HELENA FLUSFELDER, in Jerusalem

INTRODUCTION AND THE GULF

THE DENIM sector in the Middle East is as diverse as it is fragmented, with strong demand in the Gulf and Israel for major brand names and the latest trends, while in the less economically developed parts of the Levant international brands are of less importance than style.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved the latest in a series of open skies agreements negotiated with a non-EU country, the key airport market of Morocco. Ministers also approved a special protocol ensuring that Morocco planes will have full access to airports in new EU member states Bulgaria and Romania.…

BY LUCY JONES, in Dallas; ALAN OSBORN, in London; KARRYN CARTELLE, in Tokyo; BILL CORCORAN, in Johannesburg; PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut; RACHEL JONES, in Caracas; MARK ROWE; and KEITH NUTHALL

WITH the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round being slow to proceed since its 2001 launch – and only this year approaching something resembling and end game – free traders wanting to encourage global commerce have looked to bilateral and regional trade deals.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Tripoli and Beirut

THE MARKET for cosmetics and toiletries in North Africa has been growing annually by a steady 5-6% over the last five years according to market participants and official data. Overall market value for the five countries – Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco – combined is more difficult to come by due to a dearth of data, but reasonable estimates put it slightly above US$1 billion, less than half the value of the Middle East and Gulf markets.…

BY KARRYN CARTELLE, in Auckland; LUCY JONES, in Dallas, Texas; MONICA

DOBIE, in Ottawa; and BILL CORCORAN, in Johannesburg

NEW Zealand has long retained a position of prominence in the global butter products

industry, despite the fact that competitors are always looking to seize export markets in

what is an increasingly competitive market.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round moves towards completion, a big push is underway to see a wine and spirits geographical indication register established within final deal. A WTO special group for the issue met yesterday (Mon Dec 3) and supporters of the register pushed for full negotiations on the issue, ending technical discussions that have dragged on for years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round moves towards completion, a big push is underway to see a wine and spirits geographical indication register established within final deal. A WTO special group for the issue met yesterday (Mon Dec 3) and supporters of the register pushed for full negotiations on the issue, ending technical discussions that have dragged on for years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round moves towards completion, a big push is underway to see a wine and spirits geographical indication register established within final deal. A WTO special group for the issue met yesterday (Mon Dec 3) and supporters of the register pushed for full negotiations on the issue, ending technical discussions that have dragged on for years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE SECURITY of nuclear power installations may be a priority in terrorism-fearing rich countries, but not in poorer states, with many other problems. But it is equally important of course: nuclear accidents, sabotage and terror attacks are devastating wherever they occur.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has launched a research project – called EuroMedCitrusNet – aimed at reducing the transfer of pathogens from citrus fruits, through processing into final food and drink products, such as juice. Researchers will look at processing chains amongst key Mediterranean suppliers, boosting training and technology, while increasing small and medium-sized citrus fruit business participation in food safety research.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has rejected arguments by the European Commission that when a member state receives funding to reduce the size of its fishing fleet, it should not re-issue licences left unused when boats are transferred to a non-European Union (EU) register.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS the European Union’s (EU) flagship Erasmus student exchange programme approaches its 20th birthday, EU education Commissioner Jan Figel has criticised it for failing poorer students across Europe. The Slovak said: "The Erasmus grant remains far too low to allow students from less favourable financial backgrounds to enjoy the benefits of the programme.…

BY MARK ROWE

MORE countries are increasing market share and production levels, according to TDC Olive, with non-EU producers now securing significant market share: Syria (8% of global market share of olive production), Morocco (8%), Turkey (7%), Argentina (5%), Algeria (5%) and Egypt (7%).…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

MOROCCO’S US$1.37 billion tobacco market is undergoing a transformation following Altadis’ full buyout of the country’s tobacco monopoly earlier this year, with the distribution process to be overhauled and leaf production increased and diversified away from dark tobacco.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

CONTRARY to Islamic stereotyping, lingerie sales are extremely healthy in the Middle East, although the brand is not as important as the style.

Indeed, there is lingerie openly on display that in Europe would usually be confined to sex shops.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

CONTRARY to Islamic stereotyping, lingerie sales are extremely healthy in the Middle East, although the brand is not as important as the style.

Indeed, there is lingerie openly on display that in Europe would usually be confined to sex shops.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE REIMPOSITION of quota limits last year on some Chinese textile products has driven official overseas sales down, according to European Commission figures. During the first quarter of 2006, China saw an overall decrease in exports to the EU of minus 12% in volume, although unit prices increased by 9%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has renewed its European Union (EU) fishing access deal with Mauritania, initialling a new six year deal that involves a two-year protocol, but which should be renewed twice automatically, unless serious political problems emerge.

Brussels is being bullish about the deal, claiming: "It is the most important fisheries agreement concluded by the EU with a third country both in financial terms and as regards fishing opportunities for EU vessels"

And the agreement does will provide fishing rights for about 200 EU vessels on crustaceans (mainly shrimps), hake and other demersal species), cepaholopods, small pelagics and tuna.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

OVER the last five years the Middle East and North Africa region has firmly joined the global effort to fight money laundering and terrorist financing by setting up national financial intelligence units and a regional watchdog, the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENA-FATF).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers and the European Parliament have approved a new fishing agreement with Morocco, despite controversy over its covering waters off the disputed territory of the Western Sahara. The Polisario Liberation Front has since 1975 been fighting Morocco for self-determination over the largely desert territory.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE IMPLEMENTATION of the European Union’s (EU) new fishing agreement with Morocco will be delayed by at least one month after the European Parliament refused to fast track its scrutiny of the deal. Rejecting a call from the EU Council of Ministers for parliamentary committees to immediately wind-up their inquiries and for MEPs to vote on the agreement Thursday April 6, the parliament will now approve or reject its terms in May.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Cairo

WITH the fight against money laundering and counter terrorism financing relatively new to the Middle East (the first plenary session of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force

– MENA-FATF – was only held last year), financial institutions from the US and MENA met in Cairo for a Private Sector Dialogue (PSD) conference to discuss the implementation of international regulations in the region.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
INTRODUCTION

THE WORLD’S multilateral food trading system today stands at a crossroads: faced with the suspension of the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Development Round, it can either retreat to protectionism, leavened by a series of competitive bilateral trade deals, or it can grasp the nettle of liberal free trade, slash subsidies and tariffs, and then watch the economic rewards roll in.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

INTRODUCTION

THE WORLD’S multilateral food trading system today stands at a crossroads: faced with the suspension of the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Development Round, it can either retreat to protectionism, leavened by a series of competitive bilateral trade deals, or it can grasp the nettle of liberal free trade, slash subsidies and tariffs, and then watch the economic rewards roll in.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

The European Commission is urging the 25 EU member countries to intensify their fight against HIV/AIDS following the latest data on the spread of the epidemic and concern that, contrary to some perceptions, it is on the increase in Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE OFFICE International des Épizooties (OIE), the world animal health organisation, has reported an outbreak of Bonamia Ostreae amongst 580 oysters in Morocco. The OIE said that the oysters were destroyed at Khnifiss lagoon, Laayoune province, in the contested Western Sahara region.…

BY LIZ HALL, in Alicante

SINCE March 2005, Operation White Whale, an extensive international anti-money-laundering operation spearheaded by the Spain’s National Police (the Policia Nacional), has produced the arrest of 57 people and the laundering of at least Euro 250 million euros obtained through illegal drug trafficking, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry (Ministerio del Interior).…

BY MARK ROWE AND PAUL COCHRANE

INTRODUCTION

JUST as chocolate sells well in cold countries, so do soft drinks flourish in hot countries, which would suggest that North Africa and the Levant presents an inviting face to the international drinks market.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE OFFICE International des Épizooties (OIE), the world animal health organisation, has reported an outbreak of Bonamia Ostreae amongst 580 oysters in Morocco. The OIE said that the oysters were destroyed at Khnifiss lagoon, Laayoune province, in the contested Western Sahara region.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has renewed anti-dumping duties imposed upon imports into the EU of steel ropes and cables from India (30.8%), China (60.4%) including those routed through Morocco, Ukraine (51.8%) including Moldova-routed products and South Africa (38.6%).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A WELL-FINANCED international programme to remove stocks of obsolete pesticides from Africa has been launched, protecting communities from persistent organic pollutants. The first phase of the Africa Stockpiles Programme (ASP-P1) has now been approved by the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed extending anti-dumping duties imposed upon imports into the European Union (EU) of steel ropes and cables from India (30.8%), China (60.4%) including those routed through Morocco, Ukraine (51.8%) including Moldova-routed products and South Africa (38.6%).…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has negotiated open skies deals with Romania, Macedonia, Morocco, Albania and Bosnia & Herzegovina, which will enable their airlines to freely offer services to European Union (EU) airports, including cabotage. EU carriers would have similar rights in these four countries’ national territories.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHINA’S competitors in the race to exploit this year’s abolition of clothing and textile import quotas have been holding their own in sales to the European Union (EU), new trade figures show. Released by the European Commission, the statistics illustrate how China has – as expected – grown EU exports sharply: from January to May, it sold Euro 7.3 billion’s worth of clothing and textile products, up from Euro 5.4 billion the previous year.…

BY LIZ HALL, in Alicante

SINCE March 2005, Operation White Whale, an extensive international anti-money-laundering operation spearheaded by the Spain’s National Police (the Policia Nacional), has produced the arrest of 57 people and the laundering of at least Euro 250 million euros obtained through illegal drug trafficking, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry (Ministerio del Interior).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE OFFICE International des Épizooties (OIE), the world animal health organisation, has reported an outbreak of Bonamia Ostreae amongst 580 oysters in Morocco. The OIE said that the oysters were destroyed at Khnifiss lagoon, Laayoune province, in the contested Western Sahara region.…

BY MARK ROWE AND PAUL COCHRANE

INTRODUCTION

JUST as chocolate sells well in cold countries, so do soft drinks flourish in hot countries, which would suggest that North Africa and the Levant presents an inviting face to the international drinks market.…

Keith Nuthall
INTERNATIONAL tourist travel has rebounded strongly this year from its September 11-attacks induced torpor, the World Tourism Organisation has claimed. Between January and August 2004, the number of international tourist arrivals grew 12% compared to the same months in 2003, said the UN agency.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE OFFICE International des Épizooties (OIE), the world animal health organisation, has reported more than 1,000 cases of bluetongue disease amongst sheep in Morocco, with 13,000 animals being susceptible within 142 outbreaks across the country. This mirrors the recent cases in southern Spain that have led to European Union (EU) export controls.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has extended to Morocco 60.4% definitive anti-dumping duties imposed in 1999 on imports into the EU of steel ropes and cables manufactured in China, because of concerns about tariff evasion. The European Commission claims that Chinese steel ropes and cables are being diverted to Morocco, then re-exported to the EU, evading the duties.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MORROCAN-French-Austrian consortium has won a contract in what the International Finance Corporation says is the first private-public-partnership irrigation project. The group building the US$85 million Guerdane scheme’s dam and water channels will be led by Morocco’s Omnium Nord-Africain (ONA).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has struck a key fishing agreement with Morocco, allowing EU fishermen to supply the EU with Moroccan fish from March 2006-2010, covering 60,000 tons annual catches of small coastal species, such as sardines and anchovies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MOROCCO has approved new labour regulations, and the United States is claiming its recent trade agreement with the north African country encouraged its government to pass the reforms. They raise the minimum employment age from 12 to 15, reduced the standard work week from 48 to 44 hours, (with overtime rates payable for additional hours), and insist upon regular reviews of the Morocco minimum wage, which rose by 10% on July 1.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NOBODY likes to be on a blacklist, especially one written by the American government. But every year, the US state department issues a comprehensive rogues gallery of countries involved in the narcotics trade and related criminal problems. One surprising entrant: the United States.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE USA and Morocco have struck a free trade deal that will swiftly remove all Moroccan import duties on American pistachios and pecans, and within five years, on walnuts and cherries. The US will phase out tariffs on all Moroccan food exports, mostly within 15 years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE US government has released further details of its free trade agreement with Morocco. Processed poultry will gain immediate duty free access to Morocco, while lower tariff quotas have been opened for US fresh beef and poultry, to be expanded in the next few years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio has called for a redoubling of efforts to create gas networks linking European, north African and Levantine countries. Speaking to a Euro-Mediterranean ministerial conference, in Rome, de Palacio highlighted the available resources of natural gas in the EU’s Mediterranean neighbours and called for cross-border infrastructure to be improved.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ALL but one of the commonly used forms of asbestos have been added to a United Nations blacklist, enabling countries to block further imports without being challenged in global tribunals such as the World Trade Organisation. Amosite, actinolite, anthophyllite and tremolite were added to the Rotterdam Convention Prior Informed Consent (PIC) list by an intergovernmental negotiating committee, meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MOROCCO and the European Union have struck a food trade deal that will lead to both sides lowering their respective tariffs and widening import quotas for poultry meat. The deal is expected to boost the trade between them in all meats.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE TEXTILE industry is one of a limited range of sectors that will receive development aid from a six-year financial convention signed in Brussels between the European Commission and Morocco. The Euro 50 million package will especially be aimed at boosting professional training in the industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
The UN Environment Programme says that within five years most African countries will be close to phasing out leaded petrol. Egypt, Libya, Mauritius and Sudan – are already lead-free, to be joined this year by Morocco, Reunion and Tunisia.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE MOST important driver of reform in the institutions of the European Union today is the impending enlargement of the EU eastwards, to take in (Greek) Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has struck a deal with Morocco allowing it to import around 168,000 tonnes of tomatoes into the EU until next May.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
MOROCCO has been granted a loan of Euro 120 million, (about GBPounds 73 million), by the European Investment Bank, to help extend its electricity connections with Spain and Algeria. The project is part of an ambitious exchange of electrical power between Europe and north Africa, designed to help boost the liberalisation of the electrical energy markets in the EU’s African neighbours.…

KEITH NUTHALL
WATER companies may be able to help the European Union and its Member States improve standards in the sector within developing countries, as part of an initiative to be launched by Brussels at the oncoming World Summit on Sustainable Development, in Johannesburg, this August and September.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GLOBAL Forum on Food Safety Regulators has been staged in Morocco by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation and the World Health Organisation, reflecting concern about recent food safety disasters, such as BSE.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has struck a deal with Morocco allowing it to import around 168,000 tonnes of tomatoes into the EU until next May.…

Keith Nuthall
THE MOROCCAN government has informed the World Trade Organisation of how it will implement the third stage of its commitments to scrap or widen import tariffs under the WTO’s Agreement on Textile and Clothing.

60 words…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS the world’s environment ministers meet in Marrakesh, Morocco, to agree detailed rules on the operation of the Kyoto Protocol, the European Commission has formally proposed that the EU should ratify the convention and has also tabled legislation that will bring it to life in Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation has launched a general round at its summit in Qatar, which will include negotiations on liberalising export and import regimes for so-called industrial goods such as fish.

These talks have a final deadline of 2005 and, said the meeting’s communiqué, will try “to reduce or as appropriate eliminate tariffs, including the reduction or elimination of tariff peaks, high tariffs, and tariff escalation, as well as non-tariff barriers, in particular on products of export interest to developing countries.”…

BY ALAN OSBORN
DESPITE its rejection by America, the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has now been agreed and is set to move towards ratification and implementation within two years. Ministers from 180 countries reached a compromise deal over the treaty after lengthy negotiations in Marrakesh, Morocco at the week-end (finished on Saturday 10th).…

BY ALAN OSBORN
DESPITE its rejection by America, the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has now been agreed and is set to move towards ratification and implementation within two years. Ministers from 180 countries reached a compromise deal over the treaty after lengthy negotiations in Marrakesh, Morocco at the week-end (finished on Saturday 10th).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS the world’s environment ministers meet in Marrakesh, Morocco, to agree detailed rules on the operation of the Kyoto Protocol, the European Commission has formally proposed that the EU should ratify the convention and has also tabled legislation that will bring it to life in Europe.…

KEITH NUTHALL
IT is common knowledge that the European Union is becoming increasingly involved in public water policy, legislating to control the environmental quality of water supplies and watercourses. Brussels ambitions to improve water services do not, however, end at the external borders of the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GOVERNMENT representatives are to meet at Marrakesh, Morocco, from October 29 to November 9 to add detail to the Kyoto Protocol global warming deal struck this summer in Bonn between all major industrialised nations excluding America. The Moroccan meeting should allow delegates to agree procedures and institutions needed to make the protocol fully operational.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A TOP level EU delegation will fly to Tokyo next week, (July 9), in a desperate bid to salvage the Kyoto Protocol from being wrecked by the intransigence of the Bush administration in Washington. Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom, and ministers from Belgium and Sweden, (representing the current and next EU presidencies), planned their mission after reports emerged from a summit meeting between Bush and Japan’s PM Junichiro Koizumi, that Tokyo would abandon the global warming treaty, if the US refused to sign.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has tried to make up for its failure to strike fishing access deal with Morocco by forging an improved agreement with its north African neighbour Mauritania which Brussels claims its “the most important with a third country” that it has made.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission and Morocco have failed to strike an agreement which would allow Spanish and Portuguese fishing boats to take catches in Moroccan waters, bringing to an unsuccessful end six months of detailed discussions. The result is that the previous agreement, which expired in 1999, and which allowed 500 European boats to exploit catches including tuna and shrimp, is not expected to be renewed.…