NEWS
AGREEMENT
WORLD
“Russia must now completely fulfil the Minsk agreement on ending the conflict...This is the only way to lift the economic sanctions. On the Minsk agreement, the EU is united, and so is the G7.”— JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER, President of European commission
SCOTLAND
Battery Storage for Wind Power Energy
Offshore Scotland, the Norwegian energy provider Statoil will launch Batwind, a new battery storage solution for offshore wind energy. The new concept will be piloted in the world’s first floating wind farm, the Hywind pilot park off the coast of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Ba-
twind will be developed in co-operation with Scottish universities and suppliers, under a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Edinburgh on 18 March between Statoil, the Scottish Government, the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and Scottish Enterprise. Battery storage has the potential to mitigate intermittency and optimise output. This can improve efficiency and lower costs for offshore wind. The pilot in Scotland will provide a technological and commercial foundation for the implementation of Batwind in full-scale offshore wind farms.
IRAN
JAPAN
Uniqlo Targets Global Market Japanese clothing chain Uniqlo has leveraged its prowess in mass production to build a fashion empire filled with shelves upon shelves of affordable, good quality items like down jackets, underwear and T-shirts.
TADASHI YANAI, Founder and CEO, Uniqlo
Iran Reached a Deal to Buy 100 Boeing Airliners Iran has reached a deal to buy 100 planes from U.S. planemaker Boeing and the two sides are awaiting approval by U.S. Treasury authorities, the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation said in remarks published by state media. So far, Boeing has only been granted permission to present its products to IranAir and a handful of other airlines as it tries to catch up with Europe’s Airbus, which won a provisional deal earlier this year for 118 BOEING PLANT IN SOUTH CAROLINA jets worth $27 billion. Reuters reported on June 6 that Iran was edging toward a historic agreement to buy jetliners from Boeing for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and that a deal for more than 100 aircraft could be reached fairly soon.
Now the 17-nation, 1,734-store retailer is on a quest to beat Western giants like Gap, H&M and Zara to become the world’s biggest apparel maker. Analysts say Uniqlo’s challenge is to carve out a brand identity of its own, going beyond its formula of delivering no-nonsense quality at good prices. The company has strengthened its brand, signing on tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Kei Nishikori. Interbrand ranks Uniqlo as Japan’s most valuable retail brand, and eighth among Japan’s global brands, including Toyota, Sony and Nintendo. The company’s founder and chief, Tadashi Yanai, is Japan’s richest man, according to Forbes magazine.
BRAZIL
Rio State Declares Financial Emergency Rio de Janeiro’s governor declared a state of financial emergency requesting federal funds to help fulfill obligations for public services during the Olympics. Emergency measures are needed to avoid “a total collapse in public security, health, education, transport and environmental management,” a decree in the state’s Official Gazette said. The state’s revenue, largely tied to the petroleum industry, slumped in the last two years as global oil prices collapsed. The announcement followed visit to Rio by Brazil’s Interim President Michel Temer, who said the federal government would ensure all obligations are met for a successful Games. Rio is expecting about 500,000 foreign visitors during the Olympics, which has coincided with Brazil’s worst recession since the 1930s and a political crisis that last month led to the suspension of President Dilma Rousseff.
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RUSSIA
Over $15bln Worth of Deals Signed at SPIEF 2016 Within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2016) 332 formal agreement for around 1 trillion rubles ($15.44 bln) were signed. “The total number of 332 formal agreements have been signed, that we can counts and that are not commercial classified information, for around 1 trillion rubles ($15.44 bln). This includes only officially registered agreements,” said Anton Kobyakov, Adviser to the Russian President.