Search Results for: International business

BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADA and the US have failed to solve the looming softwood lumber dispute at the Summit of the Americas, in Quebec City.

The US International Trade Commission will probably now hear claims by the American timber industry that Canada has flooded the US with cheap timber illegally and investigate how it contributed to the closure of 150 American lumber mills.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EAST Asian shipping companies are expected to receive a boost from the ratification by China of the Bangkok Agreement, making one of Asia’s oldest trade accords the world’s largest in terms of market potential.

With China joining the arrangement – which is based on shared trade preferences – it becomes the largest regional trade arrangement, opening up a market with a combined population of more than 2.5 billion, said the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, (ESCAP).…

BY MIKE FOX
AZURIX, the troubled water subsidiary of the giant energy company Enron, has confirmed that it would like to sell its north American water interests.

Azurix has a company policy of not commenting on its plans for acquisitions or divestments, but the potential sale of its north American subsidiary was revealed when it put in a bid to develop a US$150million water treatment plant that would eventually form part of a US$2billion distribution system in Houston Texas, home to the corporate headquarters of both companies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SO SWEEPING has been the foot-and-mouth tragedy in the UK, that British farmers might be forgiven for assuming that they have been singled out for retribution by the Almighty, in return for long forgotten sins.

This is far from being the truth, of course.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BRITISH Maritime Law Association has called on European Union legislators to be careful when framing any possible directive on environmental liability, to make sure that its regulations do not clash with existing international conventions on sea pollution.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SHELL chairman Sir Mark Moody Stuart has launched an environmental group, which aims to forge a common front among multi-national businesses initiative at next year’s second Earth Summit, at Johannesburg, South Africa. “Business Action for Sustainable Development” is to hold its first strategy meeting in October and is expected to be a vehicle allowing industrial giants to influence debates at the UN environment conference, also known as Rio II.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the acquisition by US-based smart card manufacturer Schlumberger of Sema, the British information technology and business services company. Sema provides primarily standardised software and consulting services, such as data management, customer care, billing and call centres.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ARABIC Internet Names Consortium has been set up, to establish domain names in Arabic characters and developing the computer coding necessary to make these addresses work and enable web browsers to negotiate their way through the net in the language.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SHIPPING companies will be able to source information about European Union research projects focusing on the computerisation of maritime transport systems, via a new Internet site. Managed by Brussels’ SWAN project, the site includes information on maritime research, technology and development projects funded by the European Commission’s Information Society Technologies Programme (IST).…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE SUPPLY and quality of water services and their environmental management have been near the top of the research agendas of institutions of the European Union this year, with the European Commission’s directorate generals (DG) for research and the environment being particularly active.…