Search Results for: United Nations

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States and the European Union (EU) will prioritise harmonising their regulations for the cosmetics sector over 2007 and 2008, a US-EU summit in Washington DC has agreed. During an annual meeting between the two economic giants, ministers and officials have agreed to focus on “reducing the need for animal tests by cooperating on alternative testing methods.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HOPES that the departure of former French president Jacques Chirac from the Élysée Palace would help create an opening for the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round have been dashed. New president Nicolas Sarkozy told northern France producers that he would insist on guaranteed subsidies protecting French meat and other specialities.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
SALES of cosmetics, perfumes and toiletries are surging in the Middle East, with sales reaching US$2.1 billion last year according to official statistics.

German cosmetics and toiletries manufacturing giant Beiersdorf estimated regional growth at 10% percent last year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) harmonised type-approval system for vehicle design has been extended to cover lorries, vans, semi-trailers and trailers, with the European Parliament approving a directive negotiated in advance with the EU Council of Ministers. Mandatory design standards will be based on United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) models, creating one set of guidelines, whereas before national rules governed which commercial goods vehicles could be operate in the 27 EU member states.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Dubai
THE UNITED Arab Emirates’ (UAE) US$310 million tobacco market is set to grow by 8% this year on the back of population growth, tourism and a strong economy, but the sector faces sizeable problems with illicit trade that accounts for as much as 33% of the market.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Dubai and Manama, Bahrain
THE CAR market in the Arab Gulf, particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is experiencing stellar growth across the board, fuelled by a surge in population and strong economic growth.

In the last five years, the UAE market has grown by over 300% to reach 2.5 million cars on the road, said Guy Edmunds, General Manager of Honda.…

BY GAVIN BLAIR, in Tokyo
As the world’s third biggest energy consumer after the United States and China, Japan has long been concerned with its lack of self-sufficiency in power generation. The low level of food self-sufficiency (40%), which has always been something of a national obsession, looks positively healthy when compared to the 16% level for energy.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
WITH Sainsbury removing all plastic carrier bags from its checkouts for last Friday (April 27), handing out reusable paper bags made from 100% recyclable material, another nail is being hammered into the global reputation of this ubiquitous packaging.…

BY ANDREW CAVE
THE UNITED Kingdom and Irish Republic governments had anti-terror finance frameworks long before this issue climbed global agendas in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the USA. The fight against terrorism in Northern Ireland over the past 40 years saw to that.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, ALAN OSBORN and PAUL COCHRANE
WITH the European Union (EU) securing around 25% of its gas from Russia and natural gas being an ever more important fuel for thermal power plants, the failure thus far of the European Union and Russia to agree a new long-term energy agreement has to be of concern to the electricity industry.…