Search Results for: World Trade Organisation⊂mit=Search

BY RICHARD HURST
THE WORLD Bank and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) have agreed to fund a US$55.77 million environmental management programme in Zambia’s copper mining region. The Copperbelt Environmental Project (CEP) will try to improve the compliance of Zambian copper producers with the country’s environmental regulations.…

BY PHILIP FINE

A TINY wire antenna and a computer chip the size of a piece of glitter will be imbedded into most retail product materials in the next few years, if all goes as

planned by those currently involved in developing a revolutionary tracking system.…

BY PHILIP FINE

US organic producers are urging legislators to repeal a section of a new

law that waters down the definition of organic meat. The 2003 Omnibus

Appropriations Bill exempts those raising organic livestock from purchasing

organic feed if it costs twice as much as conventionally produced feed.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
LIFE isn’t going to get any easier for hill and mountain farmers if Dr Franz Fischler, EU farm commissioner, has his way. He wants to “de-couple” payments from production for farmers generally and introduce direct fixed supports based on farm size, past output and acceptance of environmental and other standards.…

BY MARK ROWE
IT is only four letters long but for a little word AFTA is having a big impact on the Malaysian tobacco industry. AFTA, the impending free trade block for south-east Asia, is forcing the Malaysian tobacco industry, widely regarded as having the most sophisticated (and expensive) leaf production and manufacturing infrastructure in the region, to radically overhaul the way it goes about its business.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE MEXICAN government has launched the first stage of disputes proceedings at the World Trade Organisation, (formal talks), over claims that the reimposition by the United States of anti-dumping duties on its exports of oil country tubular goods broke global trading regulations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has announced it will invest up to US$3 million in expanding a textile industry joint venture in Tajikstan, the poorest former Soviet republic. The money will be sunk into Tajik-Italian-American garment company Javoni, the largest foreign-local textile joint venture in the country; its local partner is part state owned Abreshim SA, the largest textile company in Tajikstan and it is majority owned by international garment company Carrera Group.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A LOT of people are saying that cigar smoking may be in serious long-term decline given the way things are going in America. World Tobacco is inclined to treat the figures a little more cautiously. It is true there has almost certainly been a sharp drop in American consumption in recent years but, as Chris Boon, the premium cigar manager at British American Tobacco, points out, there are no true figures: “you draw own conclusions and arrive at an estimate.”…

BY PHILIP FINE

IN its comprehensive annual report on worldwide drugs activities, the US

government is asking foreign countries to be more transparent with information on

their legal chemical industries that might be useful in controlling the production and trade in illicit drug precursors.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SPANISH government has agreed to cooperate with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to fight breaches of copyright, especially in digital publishing. A joint memorandum of understanding committed both sides to cooperate over training, publicity campaigns and information exchanges.…