Search Results for: Russia

BY JOHN PAGNI

HAILING from arguably Europe’s most egalitarian country, Finns take equality seriously. So when it appears that some are being treated differently from others, even the normally phlegmatic, taciturn Finnish trucker may be roused into voicing an opinion.

Being a large country with a small population and a good road network, congestion is rare.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

SIGNIFICANT environmental improvements in Russia and Nigeria have been largely responsible for cutting global gas flaring over the past three years by 22 billion cubic metres (bcm), despite a 5% rise in crude oil production. The World Bank-led Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership (GGFR) says flaring peaked at 162 bcm in 2005 and declined to 140 bcm in 2008.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE RUSSIAN government has ordered the country’s oil companies to slash their flaring of oil-production associated natural gas – using "up to 95%" of the by-product. President Dmitry Medvedev told the country’s parliament: "No objections from the production companies should be accepted."…

BY MARK ROWE

SHOWROOMS full of Bentleys and Ferraris continue to grace Moscow’s most salubrious boulevards, in a display of purchasing power that suggests global recession is a world away. The reality is somewhat different: the mainstream Russian car market has taken a swinging blow from economic collapse, its fortunes plummeting almost overnight.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CORRUPTION in Greece is now considered as bad as in Romania and Bulgaria – European Union (EU) member states investigated by the European Commission over graft. Greece’s slide from 57th in last year’s Transparency International (TI) corruption perception index to 71st in this year’s report will concern its new left-wing PASOK government.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

The European Commission will spend around Euro 3 million on promoting sales outside the European Union (EU) of French spirits, Italian and Portuguese wines over the next three years. It is spending Euro 1.2 million on marketing and information campaigns in Japan and north America coordinated by Italian wine federation Federdoc; Euro 1 million promoting Portuguese ‘vinho verde’ wines within China, Norway, Latin and north America, campaigns organised by the Comissão de Viticultura da Região dos Vinhos Verdes; and Euro 912 million on promoting Cognac, with campaigns in China, Russia and north America coordinated by France’s Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC).…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

ESCADA, the bankrupt German luxury fashion brand, is ready to make a new beginning after being bought by Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal’s daughter-in-law Megha Mittal for an undisclosed amount last week. Its future now rests in the hands of a 33-year old Indian lady who has no track record in fashion but possess a strong financial backing and a lot of enthusiasm.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A HOPEFUL sign that European Union (EU) and American energy policies could become more complimentary in the future has come with the launch of a new EU-US Energy Council in Washington. It will formalise transatlantic discussions on strategic energy issues such as security of supply and developing low carbon energy sources.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

MEASURED by what’s been happening in the European cigarette market over the past 10 to 15 years, 2008 – and what we’ve seen of 2009 so far – hasn’t been that bad. It may not have been good, exactly, but considering the global recession few people will have been looking for uplift.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

THE CIGARETTE market in Argentina remained strong in 2008: the retail volume increased 3.12% from 2007 to 42.47 billion sticks, valued at Euro 1.72 billion, a 17.6% increase from 2007, according to the Argentine ministry of the economy.…