Search Results for: Venezuela

BY RACHEL JONES, in Caracas
WHILE Venezuela’s economy relies on its petroleum wealth, oil spills could devastate its environment. In 1997, a tanker spilled thousands of tonnes of oil in the Maracaibo Channel, affecting wildlife along 45 km of beach. Would Venezuelans support environmental restrictions on the petroleum industry if it meant that the country’s oil production fell, denying them millions of petrodollars?…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States Trade Representative (USTR) has released a series of detailed reports outlining the threats posed by counterfeiters worldwide and the inability of many governments to fight the problem.

Its sheaf of intelligence includes comprehensive warnings from cigarette giant Philip Morris, a company that has adopted a high profile in fighting counterfeiters and smugglers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AMERICAN anti-piracy group has warned that the Czech Republic and Costa Rica have joined the well-known major sources of counterfeit clothing such as China and Brazil. And in a report, the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition adds that the “vast majority” of pirated clothing exported from the Czech Republic was actually made in China.…

BY RACHEL JONES, in Caracas
VENEZUELA’S economy, fueled by its vast oil wealth, has grown by about 9% in 2006, making it one of the fastest-growing in Latin America, resulting in increased consumption and production of paints and coatings. However, the boom has not been all good news for the sector, it has also caused problems related to inflation and currency controls, specifically in regards to the importation of primary materials for production.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) has exempted from its standard free trade rules for a further six years countries involved in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme combating ‘blood diamond’ sales.

Its current waiver was to expire December 31 and protects trade restrictions undertaken by participating countries preventing rough diamonds being exported to non-signatory states.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, in New Delhi

"REFINERY Process Outsourcing" or simply RPO is an exciting buzzword in the otherwise hard-pressed Indian petroleum industry, as the term represents newly found and highly profitable venture of operating refineries to fulfil surging international demand.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED States is coming under pressure at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over its refusal of a licence allowing the registration of the contested Havana Club rum trademark to be renewed. Washington has already lost a WTO disputes case over the issue, with a panel declaring illegal clauses in its Omnibus Appropriations Act that prevent the registration of trademarks expropriated in the Cuban revolution after 1959.…

BY LIZ HALL

SIX years ago, government representatives from nine South American countries gathered in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, to sign a document of great importance to those concerned with fighting money-laundering (ML) and terrorism financing (TF).

On December 8, 2000, representatives of the governments of the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, signed the Founding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formally establishing GAFISUD, a regional body modelled on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).…

BY ALAN OSBORN

IN line with the growing recognition in the 1980s of anti-money laundering campaigns as a weapon against terrorism and increased knowledge global drug supply routes, (implicating a number of Latin American countries), governments of the western hemisphere concluded that greater formal co-operation was necessary in fighting dirty money.…

BY WESLEY GIBBINGS, in Port of Spain, Trinidad

WITH its multiple small jurisdictions, offshore tax havens and proximity to both drug producing countries in Latin America and the United States, the Caribbean has always been a focus of global anti-money laundering efforts.…