Archive

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INDIAN government has sought formal talks at the World Trade Organisation with Argentina over what it claims is discriminatory treatment of its pharmaceutical exports. The south Americans insist that for medicines to enter Argentina, they must have been made in a country included on one of two official Buenos Aires lists, linked to specific inspection regimes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU’S development and humanitarian aid Commissioner Poul Nielson (SPELLING CORRECT) and trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy have met European pharmaceutical industry leaders to discuss how to implement the new Brussels action programme on treating major communicable diseases, namely HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which was approved by the Council of Ministers this May.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is urging EU governments to take new measures against the spread of anti-microbial resistance. In a formal discussion paper, Brussels has proposed a more prudent use of antibiotics and other such agents, including raising awareness among the public, a “prescription only” approach and improved monitoring of consumption.…

Keith Nuthall
DISCRIMINATORY landing fees in European Union airports, which have favoured local carriers over those from other EU Member States, have been abolished across the continent, according to the European Commission. This follows six years of competition inquiries staged by its officials into the problem.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced that Greece’s Thessaloniki and Heraklion, (Crete), airports are to receive investment of Euro 131 million from the European Regional Development Fund, as part of a Euro 1.4 billion injection of EU cash to update Greek transport services.…

BY KATE REW
NEW York City Mayor, Rudolph Guiliani has called for the privatisation of JFK International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in a speech outlining his vision of their future.

Speaking at the New York-based Wings Club, Mayor Giuliani called for the consolidation of the body, which oversees the two airports into one agency, the Airport Improvement Corporation, in order to improve service and convenience, while accommodating increasing passenger traffic.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE, in Columbo, Sri Lanka
THE AIRPORT Authority of India, (AAI), is studying ways to speed the clearance of cargo through Indian airports because of concerns that it is taking an excessively long time. V.K. Duggal, Chairman of Scope Air, (Standing Committee on Promotion of Exports-by Air), said at a meeting in Chennai, that the AAI was studying ways of reducing the time cargo remained at airports, notably by providing facilities to major airlines to set up their own X-Ray machines.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
THE PRESIDENT of the Japanese Shipowners’ Association has criticised plans to redevelop and expand Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, because of concerns that approaching planes would fly so low over Tokyo Bay, they could hinder the navigation of container ships.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE, in Columbo, Sri Lanka
THE SRI Lanka government has drawn up a plan to develop the country’s rundown Ratmalana airport as a joint civil and military facility, at a cost of (SL) Rupees 880 million, a senior official of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airports Development has told the island’s Press.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is seeking legal authority to undermine the series of bilateral ‘open skies’ agreements struck between individual EU Member States, and the USA.

These deals allow airlines from both sides the right to fly to each others’ territory and on to another country, but not to undertake onward domestic flights to a neighbouring terminal.…