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WTO Welcomes Montenegro to its Ranks |
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Thursday, 22 December 2011Montenegro joined the ranks of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as its 156th member on Saturday (December 17th). The country applied for membership in 2004. The accession treaty was signed between Montenegrin Prime Minister Igor Luksic and WTO General Director Pascal Lamy at a ministerial conference in Geneva.
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Belgium officially notified the European Commission late on Friday (December 16th) of its decision to keep in place its labour market restrictions for Bulgarian and Romanian workers after December 31st. The news came just hours after Britain and Ireland announced similar moves. EU member states have the right to extend a temporary ban on Bulgarian and Romanian workers for two additional years, until 2014.
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Greece is the riskiest country for investment in the world, according to research published last week by Credit Suisse. Other countries from the region included in the list of 50 are Romania at 10th, Turkey at 15th and Bulgaria at 16th. The results are based on estimated current account balance, government budget balance, government debt, private sector credit, net external assets for 2011, potential GDP growth for 2014-2016, spreads on credit default swaps, and credit rating.
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The Albanian parliament decided late on Thursday (December 15th) to sell 100% of the country's state-controlled oil company, Albpetrol, to a strategic oil and gas investor through an international tender. Alpetrol's assets are valued at 322m euros. The company's annual oil output is estimated at 135,000 tonnes.
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Canadian mining company Eldorado Gold Corp. promised to invest about 1.5 billion euros in debt-stricken Greece, creating around 2,000 jobs. The news came after Eldorado agreed on Sunday (December 18th) to acquire Canada-based European Goldfields in a 2.4 billion-euro deal, thus getting control over mines in Greece, Turkey and Romania.
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Macedonia will register economic growth of 2% next year, the IMF predicted on December 13th. The forecast is much less optimistic than the government's target of 4% to 4.5%. The lower prediction is due to concerns that the eurozone crisis may affect the Macedonian economy.
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Kosovo's exports to Macedonia doubled in 2011, data from the Statistics Office in Skopje revealed last week. Between January and October last year, the value of goods imported to the country from Kosovo amounted to just $17m, while the figure swelled to $30m in the corresponding period this year. The positive trend is largely due to the Kosovo government's decision to block Serbian products.
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Turkish business leaders warned France against adopting a law that would criminalise the denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide". "If the bill passes, it will cause serious damage to economic and trade ties," Rifat Hisarciklioglu, head of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, told AFP on Monday (December 19th), warning that Turks may boycott French products. The vote is due Thursday.
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The IMF announced on Monday (December 19th) it has decided to increase a precautionary credit line available to Romania by 507m euros to 1.6 billion euros. The Fund cited concerns related to the eurozone crisis. The IMF extended Romania a 24-month 3.6 billion-euro stand-by loan in March 2011. So far, Romania has abstained from using the funds and is keeping them in reserve. |
Thursday, 22 December 2011
Setimes
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