Dateline: AMMAN, JordanThe Jordanian Duty Free Shops Company recorded 2.6 million Jordanian dinars (dlrs 3.7 million) in net profit after taxes in 2001, compared to 2.7 million dinars (dlrs 3.8 million) the previous year, the company said in a report obtained Sunday.
The total sales in 16 duty-free shops in the country's airports and border crossings inched up 1.8 percent to 9.98 million dinars (dlrs 14.05 million) last year, compared to 9.80 million dinars (dlrs 13.80 million) the year before, the report said.
The report said that the slight decline in profit is due to the extra expenses spent on expanding, maintenance, development and modernizing the shops.
The company was established 1996 with a paid-in capital of 4.5 million dinars (dlrs 6.3 million). It is owned by government institutions, local businessmen and commercial banks. The shareholder equity rose last year 9.6 percent to 8 million dinars (dlrs 11.2 million).
----
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) _ The Syrian telecommunications company will cancel the monthly Internet subscription fee of 1,000 Syrian pounds (dlrs 20) as of May 1, hoping to boost the number of Internet users in the country, Minister of Communications Bashir al-Munajed said Sunday.
Also scrapped is the Internet "contribution fee" of 5,000 pounds (dlrs 100), while the cost of a phone call per minute is reduced from 90 piasters (dlrs 0.02) to 60 piasters (dlrs 0.01), al-Munajed was quoted as saying by the official news agency SANA.
The Internet became available in Syria in 2000, with less then 40,000 subscribers as of last year.
----
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) _ Banning business with companies that do business with Israel is a "noble, peaceful" way to pressure the Jewish state, delegates were told Sunday as they gathered in Damascus to consider reviving the Arab boycott.
Ahmed Khazaa, the commissioner general of the Damascus-based Central Boycott Office of the Arab League, said at the opening session that Arabs must support the Palestinians' struggle with a boycott.
"Economic boycott is a form of noble, peaceful resistance to confront the aggression and to build a future full of security, justice, peace and tranquility," Khazaa said.
The office was set up to track down foreigners who do business with or support Israel and then ban them from operating in the Arab world. It has not been active for almost a decade.
Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania, who are bound by peace accords with Israel, were the only members of the 22-member Arab League to skip the three-day meeting that began Sunday.
Despite the high turnout for the meeting, Arabs were divided over reviving the boycott. If a boycott were declared, its force would be weakened if key states like Egypt and Jordan did not participate.
Syria has been the chief advocate of a renewed boycott. Syria's efforts led in October to the first meeting of the boycott office since 1993. The issue was raised again at last month's Arab summit, but a Saudi peace overture to Israel dominated the meeting _ even with Arab anger high over the latest Israeli-Palestinian clashes.
Since the summit, Israeli incursions into Palestinian areas have increased tensions, with some ordinary Arabs saying they will boycott U.S. goods to pressure Israel. But moderate Arab governments resist calls to take extreme action.
The boycott office once listed more than 8,500 companies and people, including Coca-Cola, the Ford Motor Co. and Elizabeth Taylor's movies _ the actress had converted to Judaism and was seen as pro-Israel.
Arabs were asked to boycott all Israeli goods as well as companies that did business with Israel. The United States banned companies from complying with the boycott.
The boycott's influence waned as Egypt and Jordan made peace with Israel, the Palestinians embarked on a now faltering peace process and several Gulf states started ignoring the blacklist.
buros/hhr
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий