Search Results for: International business

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AGREEMENT has been struck between Europe’s car manufacturers and providers of intelligent vehicle systems to ensure new eCall accident alert systems can work across the European Union (EU). Brokered by the European Commission, the memorandum of understanding has been signed by EU carmakers federation ACEA and high-tech association ERTICO.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
POLITICAL change can be like growing seasons, it moves gradually, but in a month or two, the landscape has completely changed. So when the recently appointed European Commission takes office in November, the new commissioners of concern for the farming industry will face challenges unanticipated this summer.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi has launched talks with member countries on maybe staging an emergency meeting of the WTO council for trade in goods on the oncoming abolition of textiles and clothing quotas. He has been consulting on this idea, proposed by Mauritius, Bangladesh and Nepal, which want the council to examine the costs of adjusting to a global quota-free regime from January, under the WTO’s agreement on textiles and clothing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD’S oceans are acidifying by absorbing an unprecedented amount of carbon dioxide, maybe threatening the long-term survival of many marine species, especially calcifying organisms including corals and shellfish. This conclusion came in research released to a UNESCO/ International Council for Science meeting.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COTTON production will be a future key focus of the ongoing World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha Development Round, member countries have agreed in Geneva. A half-time ‘framework’ agreement commits developed countries slashing at least 20% from all “trade distorting support” for agriculture (which includes cotton growing), including schemes limiting production.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GAZ de France’s domestic market dominance is risking energy liberalisation progress made by the French government, the International Energy Authority has warned. Although Paris had taken “commendable steps towards a sound legal and regulatory framework for liberalised energy markets….challenges…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE ANNOUNCEMENT of the policy portfolios commanded by the incoming European Commission from November generally spells good news for the European Union’s (EU) ferrous and non-ferrous sectors, senior industry figures have told Metal Bulletin. “In general … we are quite happy with the commissioners who will be responsible for industry”, said Gordon Moffat, director of the association of European iron and steel industries Eurofer.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
The European Commission is pressing ahead with the EU’s GRID project by making a grant of 52 million euros to fund 12 new research projects which Brussels said were designed to bring GRID networked computing “out of research labs and into industry.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NASCENT tourism hotspot is being nurtured by the United Nations in Afghanistan, where the former Taliban government exploded the famous Bamiyan Buddha statues. The site also sports other archaeological remains and the scenic Band-i-Amir Lake, so is being visited by Kabul ex-pats Kabul and wealthier Afghans.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PROGRESS has been made in global negotiations renewing the 1994 International Tropical Timber Agreement, which regulates trade in the commodity and expires next year. Representatives of 58 countries have asked UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) officials to draft a successor agreement for approval at a meeting next February 14-18.…