Search Results for: Thailand

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWITZERLAND has complained to a key World Trade Organisation committee that its beef imports are being unfairly restricted by the USA because of concerns that they are contaminated with BSE. It has claimed at the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee that the US should not, for example, be insisting on the onsite inspection of Swiss meat plants, because the Office International des Épizooties has classified Switzerland as having a low incidence the disease.…

BY MARK ROWE
THAI canneries are looking to invest in re-exporting north American wild salmon as a means of boosting revenue. Companies are planning to promote exports of wild salmon, which have been processed in Thailand in favour of farmed salmon, usually supplied from Norway, Chile and Scotland.…

BY MARK ROWE and RICHARD HURST
WORLD sugar prices are heading for a three-year low and are projected to fall below six US cents a pound as a result of record harvests in a number of countries, particularly in Brazil, which is accused of “over-production.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Bank’s International Finance Corporation has agreed to reschedule US$204 million of its loans to Star Petroleum Refining Company Limited, Thailand, which is 64 per cent owned by Chevron-Texaco. The Thai company’s overall debt is US$549 million.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WORLD Health Organisation boss Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland has presented international football federation FIFA with her Director General’s Award for opposing tobacco use, following the banning of smoking and cigarette advertising at this year’s World Cup. Previous recipients of the award have included the King of Thailand and the current Foreign Minister of South Africa.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE THAI-Malaysian gas pipeline, a joint project between Thailand’s PTT Plc and Malaysia’s Petronas, has been approved by the Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The pipeline was originally due to go into operation this year, with the first stage expected to cost US$1 billion but has been plagued by political wrangling.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund is to help set up an Islamic Financial Services Board to regulate and lay down standards for financial transactions throughout the Islamic world. A key aim of the project is to incorporate the special insurance tenets that exist in the Islamic business world into the wider capitalist system.…

BY MARK ROWE
CAMBODIA’S increasingly stable political environment has led to an unexpected boom for the air industry in south-east Asia, with carriers moving quickly to increase the frequency of their routes to the country.

The main interest focuses on the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, one of the great sights of Asia, with the Cambodian tourism authorities announcing a US$73million plan to redevelop Siem Reap airport near the temple ruins.…

BY MARK ROWE
IT may have taken riots in Seattle and Genoa but the World Trade Organisation has finally come out all compassionate. The theory is simple. Most of the world’s poor are in developing nations. Many of those in greatest poverty are farmers.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE CHAIRMAN of General Motors China has warned that neighbouring south-east Asia’s home grown car industry will in future find itself squeezed by stiff competition from the emerging giant next door. China’s expanding middle class, robust economic growth and low rates of vehicle ownership means that car makers in south-east Asian countries such as Thailand will be hard pressed to compete in the growing Chinese market, according to Phil Murtaugh, chairman of General Motors China.…