Search Results for: International business

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation has agreed to launch a new wide-ranging round of talks on liberalising commerce, negotiations that will include industrial goods, which will be combined with the ongoing discussions on services and agricultural products.

Ministers at the summit in Doha, Qatar, struck a deal after six days of bargaining, with their task being made achievable by the wide-ranging draft communiqué that was drawn up beforehand.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is about to complete its own recommendations on safety improvements in long road tunnels. Its proposals include roadside checks on lorries to detect overheating and also rules on the amount of fuel carried through tunnels.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AN UPDATED list of sensitive “dual-use” products and technologies published by the European Commission will allow some exporters a little more marketing freedom than in the past, despite the recent heightened concern about terrorism.

The revised list of items that are considered to be dangerous in the wrong hands allows for higher thresholds in a number of areas and this will permit some exporters, notably of computers, to increase sales without having to seek prior permission from Brussels.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation has announced that it has struck an agreement with international sports governing bodies to launch an anti-tobacco campaign; it would aim at persuading sports participants and spectators to abandon smoking, (including in stadiums, and block tobacco advertising, promotion and marketing.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE ENGINEERING and power group Malaysia Mining Corp is to buy a US$ 505 million stake in Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia’s newest port. The company told the Malaysian stock market last Tuesday that it had purchased a 50.1 per cent holding in the country’s newest port in Tanjung Pelepas, in a move designed to expand its infrastructure business.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A LONG-TERM strategy to reduce the amount of PCB’s and dioxins in food and animal feed has been published by the European Commission. Alongside the already announced proposed maximum limits for the chemicals, which EU health ministers are expected to agree on November 15, Brussels has now also suggested actions to take over the next five years regarding hazard identification, risk assessment, risk management, research, public information and international cooperation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has published a long-term strategy to combat the presence of PCB’s and dioxins in food, complementing its moves to establish maximum contamination values for these chemicals. For the next five years, Brussels wants to conduct hazard identification, risk assessment and management, research, public information and international co-operation on the problem.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture has been approved by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. Once it is ratified, the treaty will ensure access by all countries to plant genetic resources worldwide, to related knowledge and technologies, plus financing to make use of the agreement.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GLOBAL convention, controlling the use of potentially harmful anti-fouling paints on ships, has been formally agreed by the International Maritime Organisation; the agreement – which has been discussed since 1992 – will ban the painting or repainting of organotin compounds on ships by January, 2003.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DESPITE the disruption caused by the BSE and Foot and Mouth crises to the smooth operation of the EU bovine leather market, the epidemics may actually help the industry prosper in the future, a new European Commission study has claimed.…