Business

JAKARTA, Dec 28 (NNN-ANTARA) – Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, attended, yesterday, the ceremony to mark a ferronickel smelter plant, invested by a Chinese company, starting production in Morowali Utara county, Central Sulawesi province.

The smelter, PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry, located at the PT Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry park, can produce an annual output of 1.8 million tonnes of ferronickel.

The project is invested by China’s Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry Co. Ltd.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia’s total trade surpassed the RM2 trillion (US$478 billion) mark for the first time in history, expanding 24.6 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM2.01 trillion (US$480 billion) from January to November 2021.

Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) said during the period, exports increased by 25.7 per cent y-o-y to RM1.11 trillion (RM1=US$4.184), imports rose by 23.3 per cent y-o-y to RM894.42 billion and trade surplus edged up by 36.2 per cent y-o-y to RM221.53 billion.

27 Dec 2021; MEMO: Iran's main focus in nuclear talks that resume in Austria on Monday will be the lifting of all US sanctions in a verifiable process that guarantees Tehran's unhindered ability to export its oil, the foreign minister said, reports Reuters.

Negotiations with world powers to salvage Iran's 2015 nuclear accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), are to resume in Vienna at 1800 (1700 GMT), state media reported.

27 Dec 2021; MEMO: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday he will soon visit Iran to finalize new agreements on cooperation with the Middle Eastern country, which has become Venezuela's top ally in boosting oil output amid US sanctions, reports Reuters.

Venezuela and Iran have strengthened their ties since last year.

New Delhi, Dec 27 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the first half of next month which would be his first trip abroad in 2022, people familiar with the development said on Monday.

Both sides are looking at firming up the visit around January 6 but there is no finality on the dates yet, they said.

26 Dec 2021; MEMO: In a first-of-its-kind barter deal, Iran has agreed to accept payment from Sri Lanka in the form of Ceylon tea to clear a debt for part oil exports worth $251 million.

On Wednesday, Sri Lanka's Plantations Minister Ramesh Pathirana told Reuters he aimed to start sending tea to Iran from January. "We hope to send $5 million worth of tea each month to repay Iran for oil purchases pending since the last four years," he said.

26 Dec 2021; MEMO: The Emirati government plans to end its monopoly on the sale of imported goods, in an effort to attract foreign investments, according to The Financial Times on Sunday.

The British newspaper said that the Gulf state's government has informed its key business families of the new policy, as part of its efforts to promote competition and openness.

MOSCOW, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI), the Pentagon's program to counter China, is doomed to fail before it even gets started, Scott Ritter, a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer, has said.

U.S. Congress has authorized 7 billion U.S. dollars for the PDI, which continues Washington's "flawed practice of throwing money at the military to solve problems created by bad policy," Ritter said in an article recently published by the Russian broadcaster RT.

24 Dec 2021; MEMO: China on Friday lashed out at the US over a new law related to Uyghurs, saying it "should save the labels of 'forced labour' and 'genocide' for itself", Anadolu Agency reported.

23 Dec 2021; MEMO: Egypt is ready to let the private sector participate in all projects to build the country, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said on Wednesday, in what many believe is a response to billionaire businessman Naguib Sawiris' criticism that the state should be a "regulator, not an owner" in such endeavours.