Britain is on course to lose its status as one of Germany's top ten trading partners this year for the first time since 1950, as Brexit-related trade barriers drive firms in Europe's largest economy to look for business elsewhere. The UK left the European Union's single market at the end of 2020, following more than four years of wrangling over the terms of its divorce during which corporate Germany had already begun to rein in ties with Britain. In the first six months of this year, German imports from Britain sank nearly 11% year-on-year to €16.1 billion ($19.0 billion), Federal Statistics Office data reviewed by Reuters showed. While German exports to Britain rose 2.6% to €32.1 billion, that could not prevent a decline in bilateral trade, by 2.3% to €48.2 billion – pushing Britain down to 11th spot from ninth, and from fifth before it voted to leave the EU in 2016.
XL Retail Group, Hot Press and 25 IBI Radio Stations have joined forces for a major initiative to promote Irish artists and bands, which will see significantly increased radio play across 25 independent radio stations during October – and €100, 000 being paid directly to Irish artists. Twenty-five independent radio stations from all over Ireland have signed up for what is the biggest ever programming event undertaken by local stations, since the foundation of independent radio in Ireland in 1989. The initiative is supported by XL Retail Group and is part-funded by the BAI under its Sound & Vision scheme.
L’Occitane recently took part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This is very important because the IUCN is a membership Union composed of both government and civil society organisations. It harnesses the experience, resources and reach of its more than 1,400 Member organisations and the input of more than 18,000 experts. This diversity and vast expertise makes IUCN the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it. Held every four years, this event is where the world comes together to drive sustainable development actions. L’Occitane Group took part in the 2021 IUCN World Conservation Congress. Convened around the theme ‘One Nature, One Future’, the Congress took place in Marseille, from 3 to 11 September 2021. On Monday, 6 September, the L’Occitane Group has announced the guiding principles of its biodiversity strategy, the high point of its visit to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Congress in Marseille. As the fight against biodiversity loss reaches a turning point, the strategy moves the Group’s actions up a gear and gives it the resources to act in line with its vision for a ‘nature-positive’ world. As part of its contribution to this vision, the L’Occitane Group said it intends to develop a programme of actions that impacts the whole value chain, both within its own commercial ‘ecosystem’ and beyond.
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