Search Results for: China

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission plans to impose until May safeguard duties of Euro 155/tonne on imports of prepared or preserved mandarins, tangerines, satsumas, clementines, wilkings, containing added sugar, except for 11,389 tonnes from China, 906 tonnes from elsewhere and all exports from 130 developing countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NATURAL disasters cost the world US$60 billion in 2003, up from around US$55 billion the previous year, a Munich Re assessment for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has claimed. The bulk of this year’s losses were caused by weather-related catastrophes, said UNEP, which is linking them with global warming.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BINDING energy conservation targets have been proposed for European Union (EU) Member States by the European Commission, a move that could further tighten fuel economy rules for Europe’s transport sector. Brussels has proposed a general energy saving target of one per cent a year from 2006-12, measured against average energy distribution from the previous five years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL accord providing for joint-research projects on transport air pollution has been struck by the European Union (EU), the United States, Japan and China. Aimed at creating a global system to measure such emissions, the deal will provide for joint vehicle testing and should lead to the next generation of European emission standards for passenger cars and light vans.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GERMANY’S Chancellor Gerhard Schroder has told television interviewers he would not oppose the sale of a German plutonium factory to China when the scheme is properly developed. He told the ZDF channel that Siemens had the “legitimate right” to export it to China, so long as the plant was used for civilian ends.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation, of the World Bank, is lending US$12 million to China’s Southern Aluminium Industry Company (SAIC) to partially finance the installation of an aluminium hot rolling mill and improve the operation of SAIC’s existing cold rolling and foil mills.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE UNITED States is to slap quota limits on imports of Chinese knitted fabrics, brassieres and dressing gowns, because it claims a surge in imports from China has disrupted its markets and could endanger US textile industry employment.…

KEITH NUTHALL
CHINESE supermarket chain Wumart has secured the support of the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) in its drive to expand, establishing10 hypermarkets, 32 supermarkets and 152 convenience stores in China over the next two years. The IFC is to invest US$6.5 million in Wumart Stores Inc, supporting its international offering on the Growth Enterprise Market of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations (UN) has framed a new anti-corruption convention and its established convention against organised crime is now coming into force. Keith Nuthall examines what this will mean for businesses, banks and governments.

THE COMMERCIAL world is often doubtful about the value of international conventions fighting crime, but their texts do at least reflect a global consensus amongst concerned governments.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed expanding import quotas for Chinese shoe exporters to come into effect when the European Union (EU) is expended in membership next year by 10 new member countries from eastern and southern Europe. For instance, quotas for footwear with outer soles of rubber or plastics would rise from 8.474 million to 18.9 million pairs from May and 14.8 million to 33.5 million for slippers and other indoor footwear; five other footwear tariff lines are affected.…