Search Results for: South Africa

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WEST African countries that have spearheaded the call for reductions in cotton subsidies at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round have released a proposed formula guaranteeing these cuts are significant. If proposals tabled by the so-called Cotton-Four states Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali are accepted, cotton reductions would be deeper than cuts to agricultural subsidies in general.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Cairo

FOREIGN investment in Egypt is on the rise, spurred on by new legislation, deregulation and a pro-business Cabinet under Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, although there are still plenty of pitfalls for the unwary and unprepared.

Indeed, the door has only recently opened wide to overseas investors, with Egypt in 1997 allowing foreign companies 100% ownership of Egyptian companies, the repatriation of dividends and tax exemptions.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Sydney

NON-metallic minerals, long considered the poor relations in the extended family of industrial minerals, are suddenly popular again.

They have found favour once more because of their molecular structures and their usefulness in the rapidly advancing world of nanotechnology.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has been authorised to renegotiate clothing and textile trade agreements with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, given that existing deals are about to lapse. The European Union (EU) Council of Ministers told the Commission to "modify provisions on trade in textiles" contained in the EU’s general partnership and cooperation agreements with both countries, although it did not give further guidance.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is to open a European Union duty-free tariff banana import quota of 615,000 tonnes for ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) countries for March-December 2006: five tranches of 93,630 tonnes "first come, first served", the remaining 146,850 tonnes reserved for established suppliers.…

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

THE MULTILATERAL Investment Guarantee Agency, or MIGA, is the international organisation companies turn to when they want to invest in a jurisdiction where their assets might not be that safe. Non-ferrous metal miners and processors use MIGA to cover risks that are too tough for the private insurance industry.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

FACT BOX

Population of Cyprus: 793,100

Number of students enrolled at university: 5,000 (see text)

Percentage of university students who are Cypriots: 90%

Percentage of Cypriots (excluding mature students) attending university in Cyprus or other countries: 80%

INTERVIEW

OUT of every ten young people who apply for a place at the University of Cyprus, only three actually gets admitted.…

BY STEVEN SWINDELLS, in Johannesburg

CENTRAL bankers, drug barons, warlords, corporate bosses and small town crooks in Africa are all washing their money despite attempts by governments and international law enforcement agencies to bring them to book. But financial crime has never been as lucrative as now on the world’s poorest continent.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, in New Delhi

THE INDIAN economy is booming and so, as a result, is the country’s US$1.8 billion paint and coating industry, which registered a 10 to 12% annual growth for third consecutive year, taking 2002-03, 2003-04, and 2004-05 into account.…