Search Results for: World Trade Organisation

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation of the World Bank has announced that it is investing US$100 million in Coumbian insurance and finance company the Suramericana Group; the investment is one of the most comprehensive projects ever undertaken by the IFC in Latin America.…

BY MARK ROWE
ANOTHER leader in the ASU30 and lights segments, the American blended Pall Mall remains BAT’s leading global mid-price brand, sold in 60 countries. Launched in 1900, it today sells particularly well in eastern and central Europe as well as Italy and last year saw volumes up by 21 per cent.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LEGALITY within the European Union of strict alcohol advertising laws such as France’s Loi Evin is in doubt because of an unlikely case at the European Court of Justice involving Newcastle United Football Club. The team is fighting legal action brought by Bacardi-Martini and Cellier des Dauphins, who claim they lost money when Newcastle programmed its revolving touchline hoardings to display their advertisements for swift 1-2 second intervals.…

BY MARK ROWE
DAEWOO Shipbuilding Marine Engineering Co, the world’s second largest shipbuilder, has won a US$426 million order so supply an oil and gas rig to Angola. The South Korean firm said it would build the rig in the west African state for US oil giant ChevronTexaco Corp by the end of 2003.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE WORLD Health Organisation will hold an “expert consultation” after the Swedish National Food Administration claimed accumulations of the toxin acrylamide have been found in baked and fried food, including biscuits and cookies, to “determine the full extent of the public health risk.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has unveiled a report illustrating that rich developed countries continue to subsidise their food producers, helping to lock developing country competitors out of their markets. Its paper Agricultural Policies in OECD Countries: Monitoring and Evaluation 2002 will state that last year, member countries’ public aid to food producers accounted for 31 per cent of farm receipts.…

BTY MARK ROWE
THE TOBACCO industry has not been exempt from the problem of young children working in developing countries. But in the past 12 months BAT has taken significant steps to address the question of child labour. Earlier this year it helped launch the Elimination of Child Labour in Tobacco Growing Foundation, which supports community-based initiatives to address the issue.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE MALAYSIAN government is launching a new and powerful autonomous civil aviation authority, which is being set-up to help kick-start its plans to transform the new Kuala Lumpur International Airport into a regional hub to rival Singapore. The new agency will have a remit to establish a liberal aviation policy and negotiate air service agreements with international airlines.…

Keith Nuthall
THE JAPANESE government has promised to annually increase import quotas for silk from China until 2005, when, under the terms of the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Textiles and clothing, they will be scrapped altogether. Until then, Japan has promised to widen quotas following consultations with the Chinese government.…

BY MARK ROWE
THERE is clearly something wrong with a law that allows a rare snake from Costa Rica to be sold in a church hall or for a reptile to be kept in a garage on a housing estate. But Britain’s animal welfare laws are, by the common agreement of just about every interested party, out-dated, confusing and, crucially, can actually cause more harm than good to animals.…