Business

BEIJING, Jan 4 (NNN-XINHUA) – Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, will head to Africa next week, with official visits planned in Egypt, Eritrea and Djibouti, as well as Burundi and Zimbabwe.

The diplomatic schedule was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which noted China’s tradition of beginning each new year on the African continent.

ATHENS, Jan 3 (NNN-Xinhua) — Greece, Cyprus, and Israel signed here an intergovernmental agreement for the construction of the Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) natural gas pipeline which is to be linking the region’s gas reserves to Greece and the rest of Europe.

The energy ministers of the three countries signed the agreement in a ceremony held at Zappeion exhibition hall in the presence of the prime ministers of Greece and Israel, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Benjamin Netanyahu, and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

02 Jan 2019; MEMO: Jordan’s National Electricity Company (NEPCO) announced yesterday that it has started receiving natural gas from Israel’s Leviathan offshore natural gas field in implementation of the agreement signed between the two sides in 2016.

NEPCO said in a statement that the experimental pumping will continue for three months under the technical and contractual terms between the two sides. It gave no further details.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Most of the plantation-linked counters on Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher today as investors hailed India’s move of cutting import duties on crude palm oil and refined palm oil from Southeast Asian countries, effective Jan 1, 2020.

At 12.30 pm, all the three plantation-linked counters on the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI), namely KLK, Sime Darby Plantation and IOI Corporation, ended in the black due to the good news for the industry.

COLOMBO, Jan 2 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Sri Lanka’s Transport Ministry, on Wednesday launched a mega project across the island country to convert railway stations into green projects as part of a beautification programme, Xinhua news agency reported.

Transport Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, quoted in local media reports said that he had instructed all railway department officials to launch the project, starting from the Dematagoda Railway station, in capital Colombo.

MUSCAT, Oman, Jan 2 (NNN-ONA) – Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman, issued on Wednesday, a royal decree that approves the country’s general budget for the fiscal year 2020.

According to a statement by the Omani Ministry of Finance, the revenue of the general budget for 2020 was estimated at about 10.7 billion Omani riyals (about 27.8 billion US dollars).

The public spending was estimated at 13.2 billion Omani riyals.

The statement added that, the budget revenue increased by six percent from the estimated revenue for 2019.

New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) The country's fiscal deficit hit 114.8 per cent of 2019-20 Budget Estimate at Rs 8.07 lakh crore at the end of November, official data showed on Tuesday.

The fiscal deficit or the gap between expenditure and revenue was at Rs 8,07,834 crore as on November 30, 2019, according to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).

The deficit was at 114.8 per cent of 2018-19 Budget Estimate (BE) in the corresponding month a year ago.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today called on Malaysians to pay attention to self-development just as the government was taking efforts to bring progress to the country.

In his New Year 2020 message, the prime minister said that despite Malaysia not being able to fully achieve a developed nation status, there were elements of a developed nation that Malaysians could still practise.

He identified these values as diligence, discipline, maintaining cleanliness, being tolerant, showing mutual respect, and being polite and magnanimous.

TUNIS, Jan 1 (NNN-TAP) – China signed an agreement with Tunisia, to donate materials and equipment to Tunisian establishments, operating for the country’s children.

The agreement was signed at an official ceremony in Tunisia’s capital, Tunis, by Tunisian Minister of Women, Family, Children and the Elderly Affairs, Naziha Laabidi and Chinese Ambassador to Tunisia, Wang Wenbin, in the presence of Lila Peters, representative of UNICEF in Tunisia.

The Chinese donation will strengthen and develop the information system of early childhood centres in Tunisia.

31 Dec 2019; MEMO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday that his country will witness positive economic growth next year, Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported.

Speaking during a visit to an exhibition of petrochemical industries in Tehran, Rouhani said the sector provides Tehran with about 20 per cent of its foreign currency needs.