Search Results for: Russia

BY ALAN OSBORN
EUROPEAN Commission energy officials have welcomed a recent joint declaration on natural gas by presidents Putin, of Russia, and Kuchma, of the Ukraine, as a “vital first step” in agreeing funnelling investment into improving the legal, safety and technical aspects of transporting Russian natural gas to the EU.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON
EASTERN European countries that built nuclear power plants while under the communist system never thought they would face deadlines for closing them down as a prerequisite for joining the European Union. Neither had they built in the next stage – decommissioning – into the prices charged for electricity in the way that the western European nuclear plant operators had done from the start.…

BY MARK ROWE
LAUNCHED in America in 1954, Kent is now sold in more than 70 countries and remains the pioneer of the micronite filter. BAT’s premier free-standing lights brand has been earmarked to add competency to BAT’s portfolio in the premium, lights and Adult Smokers Under the Age of 30 (ASU30) segment of the market.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has approved the creation of new import quotas for steel products from the Ukraine, which will last until December 31, this year. Imports into the European Union during this year will be limited to 27,414 tonnes of coils, 104,920 tonnes of heavy plate and 8,465 tonnes of other flat steel products; and for long products, quotas have been set at 3,690 tonnes for beams, 52,720 tonnes for wire rod and 66,427 or other long steel products.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RUSSIA-European Union summit has agreed that a timetable needs to be established to improve standards in the Russian nuclear industry. The two sides also agreed to frame a future agreement on regulating the import of nuclear materials into the European Union.…

BY MARK ROWE
ANOTHER leader in the ASU30 and lights segments, the American blended Pall Mall remains BAT’s leading global mid-price brand, sold in 60 countries. Launched in 1900, it today sells particularly well in eastern and central Europe as well as Italy and last year saw volumes up by 21 per cent.…

BY MARK ROWE
THERE is clearly something wrong with a law that allows a rare snake from Costa Rica to be sold in a church hall or for a reptile to be kept in a garage on a housing estate. But Britain’s animal welfare laws are, by the common agreement of just about every interested party, out-dated, confusing and, crucially, can actually cause more harm than good to animals.…

Keith Nuthall
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is to invest US$20 million in a Russian tyre manufacturing plant being built by France’s Michelin group; it is, says the bank, the first western tyre manufacturer to establish a Russia-based production line for the local market.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development has drawn up plans to lend lending Russia’s largest automobile glass manufacturer US$ 25 million; Bor Glass Works, near Nizhny Novgorod, is to spend the money on improving its auto and flat glass production and repairing a furnace.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
*Finland is the world’s most “honest” country according to Transparency International;

*New British laws will ban payments made to people just for performing their official duties;

*In countries where bribery of foreign officials is a crime, penalties range from a one-year jail sentence (Norway) to life imprisonment (South Africa);

*Half the countries replying to the UN said their legal systems did not make it impossible to obtain tax benefits for foreign payments that would constitute bribery;

*Under American law companies can make payments for “routine government action” such as obtaining licences and permits abroad.…