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BY MARK ROWE AND PAUL COCHRANE

INTRODUCTION

JUST as chocolate sells well in cold countries, so do soft drinks flourish in hot countries, which would suggest that North Africa and the Levant presents an inviting face to the international drinks market.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

TRADE ministers at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Hong Kong summit are struggling today to reach a compromise deal on the vexed question of cotton subsidies that will prevent west African exporters scuppering an overall agreement. The United States has been under pressure to abandon its production payments to American growers, which are highly politically sensitive in the US.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers was expected to give its formal blessing today (Tues 20/12) to the long-negotiated wine trade deal struck in September between the United States and the European Commission. There has been some opposition to the agreement within Europe, notably amongst Champagne houses opposing the agreement’s approval of grandfather rights allowing American wine makers to continue using EU geographical terms, such as their own (and Burgundy, Chablis, Sherry, etc).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A UNITED Nations report has claimed diamond-exporting revenues have soared in peacetime Sierra Leone, rising 60% last year. By October 31, revenues from official 2004 exports had reached US$120 million, compared to US$71 million the same period in 2003.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Trade Organisation’s (WTO) general council has permanently amended the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement to make permanent a 2003 waiver helping poor countries obtain generic medicines during health emergencies. The TRIPS amendment enables any WTO member country to export generic pharmaceuticals made under a compulsory licence to assist countries lacking their own manufacturing capacity and whose nurses and doctors would otherwise be unable to deal with a serious disease problem.…

KEITH NUTHALL
On the basis of existing policies and measures alone, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Sweden and the United Kingdom should reach their individual targets. The Netherlands and Luxembourg will achieve their targets with the help of credits from the project-based mechanisms.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut

MORE than 7,000 construction workers are toiling around the clock on the first phase of the Middle East’s largest integrated medical complex in the oil rich Gulf state of Qatar, with top medical positions, including nursing managers, expected to go to British applicants.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
WAL-MART Canada Corp is consulting its lawyers after the retail chain was told to accept union recognition at a Quebec store, only the second time this has happened in the whole of north America. The Quebec Labour Relations Commission has certified workers at the Saint-Hyacinthe store, 60 km east of Montreal, as belonging to and represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada (UFCW).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN INTERNATIONAL alliance of environmental and conservation organisations, led by the United Nations Environment Programme, is developing maps pinpointing lakes, marshes and other wetlands, where wild birds potentially infected with bird flu are likely to fly, helping health authorities prevent and plan for outbreaks.…

BY TAMARA VANTROYEN, in Hong Kong

IT is not just a rumour anymore: China is officially upgrading its water quality, a move welcome to drinks manufacturers that rely on and control costs through guaranteed clean water supplies. China launched new drinking water standards in June, raising the number of forbidden water pollutants from 35 to 101.…