Search Results for: International business

KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, is lending US$250,000 to help establish a joint stock company owned by Tajik cotton farmers that will help increase yields and reduce debt. The new company, Sugd Agro Serv, will be unique in Tajikistan and will try to overcome key difficulties, such scarce technical assistance and equipment maintenance.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Atomic Energy Agency has secured a radioactive source containing a significant amount of cobalt-60 in Uganda. It had been discovered and impounded by the Ugandan authorities and the IAEA team checked its shielded container’s security and safety.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AT FIRST sight, the European Commission’s new proposals for guarding against future outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, and tackling them if they do, occur seem eminently reasonable from the farmer’s point of view. Not a lot of detail is yet known, and in any event ministers will have their say, but it seems the Brussels authorities have learned the right lessons from last year.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is to lend Euro 14 million to a Czech subsidiary of French agri-business company Groupe Soufflet so it can expand its malting interests in the east European country. The money will enable Malterie Soufflet République Tchéque to acquire shares in Obchodní Sladovny, the malting subsidiary of Czech company Tchecomalt Group.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DRAFT recommendations on improving the treatment of oil spills have been agreed by the International Maritime Organisation, during the UN agency’s third research and development Forum on High Density Oil Spill Response.

Experts present discussed the particular problems posed by this kind of pollution, including its high viscosity and tendency to sink.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has called for EU legislation that would insist that passenger ferry companies take out compulsory insurance, which would cover them for no-fault strict liability claims of up to Euro 250,000 per passenger.

In a Communication, (discussion paper), “on the enhanced safety of passenger ships,” Brussels also suggests that if a carrier is at fault, unlimited liability should apply.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE NATIONAL Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of India is to explore the creation of joint ventures with state electricity boards as well as publicly-owned foreign utilities to meet its target of boosting capacity by 20,000 megawatts by 2012.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
INTERNATIONAL moves to remove the maximum permitted dose of irradiation for food could lead to a major world trade dispute, which could undermine European Union regulations, says the London-based Food Irradiation Campaign, (FIC).

A joint study by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organisation has concluded that “no upper dose limit need be imposed” as irradiated foods are deemed “wholesome throughout the technologically useful dose range.”…

BY RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg
TROUBLED South African textile company Mooi-River Textiles, based in KwaZulu Natal, may remain open, despite concerns of imminent closure. The announcement follows a report that the company would be reopening talks with the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union to save the business’s 140 jobs.…

BY RICHARD HURST
THE SOUTH African construction company Grinaker LTA has announced that it has won a SA Rand 1.7 billion contract to design, engineer, build and mange the 865 km natural gas pipeline running from Mozambique to South Africa.

It has been commissioned by SA chemicals giant Sasol and Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos de Mocambique to have the pipeline operational by 2004.…