Search Results for: United Nations

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

CONTRARY to Islamic stereotyping, lingerie sales are extremely healthy in the Middle East, although the brand is not as important as the style.

Indeed, there is lingerie openly on display that in Europe would usually be confined to sex shops.…

BY MARK ROWE

WHILE personal care product sales for the 15 countries that made up the European Union (EU) before 2003, plus Switzerland and Norway, increased by just 1% in 2005/2006 on the previous year – eastern Europe is a more enticing prospect for the industry, and has been singled out by major organisations and companies as a shining light for sales, investment and production.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE USA government is threatening to play hardball with Romania over the eastern European country’s refusal to accept imports of American poultry, unless production plants meet European Union (EU) rules, especially on welfare. No US plants are EU-approved, and faced with a halt to poultry exports to Romania, the US government is threatening to scrap a wide range of trade benefits, under its ‘generalised system of preferences’ regime.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

CONTRARY to Islamic stereotyping, lingerie sales are extremely healthy in the Middle East, although the brand is not as important as the style.

Indeed, there is lingerie openly on display that in Europe would usually be confined to sex shops.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD’S trade ministers will this August and September be considering whether they want to make further compromises that could restart the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round, which have been suspended amidst disagreement over its final goals.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UKRAINE government should stop building a shipping canal linking the Danube estuary with the Black Sea, until it has consulted its neighbour Romania on the likely environmental damage, the United Nations has advised. Its inquiry commission into the Bystroe Canal has concluded under the UN Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (ESPOO), the Ukraine should allow Romania to comment and stage public consultation on the project.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has approved a plan for 2006-2009, which will promote energy efficiency in eastern Europe and the Caucasus through the creation of a public private partnership investment fund. It will be structured by the UN Environment Programme, the Global Environment Facility and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and be led by an unnamed private investor.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Amman

JORDAN is undertaking a root and branch reform of its higher education sector to better match the needs of its economy and regulate the burgeoning private sector.

With no statistics on the number of students enrolled in specific subjects, the country’s ministry of higher education is working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on a study to better coordinate the needs of the market and graduating students.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD’S trade ministers will this August and September be considering whether they want to make further compromises that could restart the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round, which have been suspended amidst disagreement over its final goals.…

BY MARK ROWE, in Munich

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s independent research body has been told its funding is likely to be frozen in the next round of funding, but the head of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) has insisted this will have little impact on its projects or future status.…