Search Results for: Russia

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is making its largest ever loan to the leasing sector in Russia, lending US$150 million to Austria’s Raiffeisen-Leasing for on-lending to Russian businesses. The focus of the loan will be enabling construction, telecommunications and transport companies companies lease industrial equipment and vehicles.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has confirmed that countries in its eastern Europe and central Asia area of focus are booming because of high oil prices. Its annual 2004 Transition Report says Russia and the Ukraine are experiencing “skyrocketing annual growth”, making the former Warsaw Pact the world’s second-fastest-growing region (up 6.1%), next to China and its southern neighbours.…

BY MARK ROWE
CHOCOLATE sells in eastern Europe. One of the curiosities of the old Soviet Empire was that, even in the darkest days of rule by Stalin and Brezhnev, the USSR imported vast amounts of cocoa, simply because the Kremlin thought it was good for the masses.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ARCTIC is experiencing “the most rapid and severe climate change on earth”, twice the rate of other regions, says an Arctic Climate Impact Assessment by the Arctic Council, representing Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is making its largest ever loan to the leasing sector in Russia, lending US$150 million to Austria’s Raiffeisen-Leasing for on-lending to Russian businesses. Transport leasing is one of four sectors prioritised in this loan package, designed to “encourage competition in the sector and spread leasing beyond Moscow and St Petersburg”, said an EBRD note.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRESH approaches to fighting drug abuse amongst young people have been suggested at a Council of Europe seminar, staged in Yekaterinburg, Russia, attended by 62 invited youths from across the continent. The aim of the meeting – organised by the Council’s Pompidou Group on drug abuse – was to feed views from young people into national anti-drug policy units.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission under incoming energy Commissioner Lázló Kovács could look to Russia and the Ukraine as the key guarantors of Europe’s future gas and oil supplies. Kovács, a Hungarian, has told the European Parliament that he intends to establish “real cooperation” with these countries as a first priority.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
RUSSIA’s Duma is expected to ratify the Kyoto Protocol by the end of December, following the Russian cabinet’s decision to implement the treaty. Taking ratifications past the agreed minimum of 55 countries generating at least 55% of 1990 global greenhouse emissions, a vote would ensure Kyoto is in force early next year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has drawn up plans to sink US$90 million into transforming a dilapidated Moscow shopping landmark into a modern retail complex. The Detsky Mir children’s store block dates back to Soviet times and, said the bank, “has not been properly maintained and is currently in a very poor condition”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced Euro 5 million of spending to help France, Denmark, Greece and Italy promote local food products in the USA, Canada, Japan, Russia, China, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Romania.…