Search Results for: Libya

BY PAUL COCHRANE

IRAN has been under international financial and other trading scrutiny since the Islamic revolution 30 years ago, with sanctions by the United States tightened under the Clinton administration through the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. And since Iran’s decision to embark on a nuclear programme, US sanctions have intensified, but in the face of such restrictions Iranian banks and individuals are increasingly using joint venture banks in the Middle East and South America to bypass scrutiny.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AGREEMENT has been struck over future European Union (EU) targets for CO2 emissions from cars, with an informal deal being forged by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers. The agreement is a compromise, with energy and automobile companies securing a phase-in between 2012 and 2015 of an agreed 120g/km target.…

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 PAUL COCHRANE

THE SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 attacks on the US resulted in a raft of regulations to curb terrorist financing, but seven years on Al Qaeda is still at large, has adapted to the new regulatory environment to raise funds, and morphed into an international terrorist Hydra.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

ALGERIA’S paint sector has been experiencing healthy growth in recent years on the back of a petro-dollar fuelled construction boom, yet should the country’s initiatives at modernising and expanding its economy continue at the same pace as over the last decade, there is potential for significantly greater expansion in the paint and coatings market.…

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 MARK ROWE

WHEN the European Union’s (EU) energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, visited Turkmenistan last autumn it served notice that this central Asian ex-Soviet republic had come in from the cold. Once a pariah on the international stage, because of the activity of its crazed former president Sapamurat Niyazov (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT), Turkmenistan has become something more than a bit player in the international energy sector.…

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 PAUL COCHRANE, in Tripoli and Beirut

THE OPENING up of Libya’s economy could not have come at a better time for international oil companies, which have been beset in recent years by dwindling easily accessible oil reserves, tighter controls over exploration rights and extraction, and heightened security concerns.…