Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation of the World Bank is lending US$10 million to Ruscam, a Russia-based glass bottle supplier. The seven-year loan will finance the installation of a second furnace for the company, providing Ruscam with an additional 315 tons of glass making capacity per day at its Vladimir region base, 335 miles east of Moscow.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE PROPOSED acquisition of Bayer’s high-performance pigment business by Sun Chemical, the US subsidiary of Japan’s Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, has a hit a snag. The US Federal Trade Commission says that before any sale goes through, Dainippon must sell off its US-based perylene business.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) has agreed to admit officials from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and representatives from secretariats for other multilateral environmental agreements as observers to its ongoing Doha Development Round negotiations. The move has been welcomed by the European Commission, which wants these representatives to point out when the free trade talks are in danger of creating an agreement that may undermine or conflict with existing international environmental agreements.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A SIGNIFICANT reduction of the number of cases for which an export refund can be granted for the trade in live animals has been announced by the European Commission. Brussels says it is acting to take account of animal welfare concerns.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission will stage a conference in May to discuss the consequences of the abolition of quotas under the WTO’s agreement on textile and clothing. This symposium – The Future of Textiles and Clothing Trade after 2005 – will be held in Brussels on May 5-6.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE UNITED States is offering to eliminate tariffs on imported mining equipment and unspecified "energy products" as part of their initial offer to create the proposed 34-country Free Trade Area of the Americas. Those sectors join a number of other goods, including steel, and environmental and wood products, for which Washington wants to offer duty free access to its markets under a reciprocal agreement, as well as improving market access for a range of services, including "energy services."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT is a rule of thumb that when trade grows, so does crime. So it is no surprise that counterfeiters have taken advantage of the growth in commerce within the European Union to sell an increasing number of fake goods.…

BY PHILIP FINE

The United States has offered several trading partners an immediate

elimination of the tariffs it currently places on steel, provided the other

country does the same. U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick

announced the reciprocal agreement in several key sectors as part of its

first offer for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, a trading

bloc of 34 countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission and Vietnam have struck a new textile and clothing trade deal. Until 2005, the EU will increase the size of Vietnam textile and clothing export quotas by between 50 and 75 per cent, generating Euro 200 million of trade opportunities and boosting Vietnamese exports to the EU by 25 per cent.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HEADS of veterinary services from all African countries have agreed that better monitoring of livestock movements, including the identification of animals, is required to stem the flow of disease amongst the continent’s farms. The Conference of the Regional Commission for Africa of the Organisation International des Épizooties agreed the steps would promote trade and local meat supplies.…