Search Results for: Russia

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) has released plans to lend US$193 million to Russia’s ChTPZ Group to build a finishing centre for steel seamless pipes used in the oil and gas sectors. The new plant is to be located at Pervouralsk, in the Sverdlovsk region, near the southern Urals.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has warned of a boom in counterfeits of food and drink products entering the European Union, with more than 5 million fake items seized by customs officials last year. This is 118% more than the numbers of seizures in 2004, the first time the food/drink category has exceeded 5 million.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) anti-fraud unit OLAF is investigating China garlic smuggling, with low production costs and high EU duties generating high illegal profits. OLAF claims Euro 60 million in duties are being lost, with only meat (of all kinds) and sugar subject to more food-fraud inquiries – 17 are ongoing into garlic.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A JOINT European Union (EU)-Russia report on energy trading has identified the obstacles preventing further development of their mutual trade in nuclear materials. The EU-Russia energy dialogue thematic group paper said the main hurdles to EU sales into Russia, which are very small, "are the existence of unfair market conditions and of barriers to access the Russian market, for instance in…taxation, licensing and certification of equipment and customs".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced it will spend Euro 28.3 million on research to fight bird flu, which remains a threat to European Union (EU) environmental health. The studies will examine the flu’s microbiological mode of attack, human and livestock vaccine development, better diagnosis and early warning systems.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

IRAN’S US$1 billion paint sector is going through a boom period: it is expected to grow by up to 20% this year on the back of strong decorative paint growth, an expanding automotive sector, and surging demand for specialised paints in the shipping and energy sectors.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

AN AMBITIOUS and comprehensive six-year plan for saving energy throughout the 25 (soon to be 27) EU member states has been welcomed by the association of European electricity suppliers Eurelectric, which said it "contains some good solid proposals."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RUSSIA’S President Vladimir Putin has signalled a tough fight with the European Union (EU) over oncoming talks about a future energy deal, as the European Commission has mapped out the key elements it would like to see in place.…

BY MARK ROWE

OFFICIALS in the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan have called for urgent action to tackle the country’s uranium dumps, a legacy of the country’s role in the nuclear industry of the former Soviet Union. Their call has highlighted increasing concerns about how depleted uranium is stored, at a time when the United Kingdom and other governments look set to press ahead with a new generation of nuclear power stations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CANADA, in alliance with Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, has successfully scuppered plans to place chrysotile asbestos on the ‘watch list’ of the United Nations’ Rotterdam Convention, a move that would have allowed importing countries to insist on prior consent before admitting any cargoes of this mineral.…