Search Results for: Tunisia

By Paul Cochrane

Countless times I’ve read analysis and the blurb on the back of books that the Middle East is ‘on the brink’, a ‘tinderbox’ ready to explode due to the nepotistic nature of governments and the dire economic conditions of much of the region.…

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 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

TURKEY’S clothing and textile sector has rebounded this year on the back of strong sales to Europe and emerging markets, with clothing exports up 11% to US dollar USD9.5 billion as of August 2010, and textile exports reaching USD4.1 billion, up 23% on 2009.…

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

AN IMPORTANT step has been made towards guaranteeing the safety of electric and hybrid cars, with the adoption by the UN’s World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations of a new technical standard on this subject – a global first.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE and KEITH NUTHALL

SYRIA is such a staple of Middle East political turmoil, it is easy to forget that it is a near neighbour of Europe: less than 200 miles of sea separate it from Cyprus and it borders Turkey, which could be a European Union (EU) member by 2020.…

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

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.…