This week I have spent a few days on Iceland. I had meetings with Iceland Customs that is lead by one of my oldest and best friends in the Customs world, Director General Snorri Olsen. (Yes, he did know about the “rabbit ears”) Iceland Customs is a very effecient and developed administration that is …
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has a one-year contract with an option for another one with Manchester United. It is not enough for United. According to The Sun the club already wants to extend and sign a new two year contract with the Swedish striker. That would give Ibrahimovic a contract with Man U until the summer …
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently released its 2016 Better Life Index of countries with the best quality of life. To do this, the OECD studied 34 countries across 11 parameters of well-being, including work-life balance, financial wealth, safety, education, and environmental quality. It uses data from the United Nations, National …
Continue reading “This OECD country still has the best quality of life”
What is the agenda for 2017 in EU and UK? Take a guess. The UK newspaper The Guardian knows; it will be BREXIT time. Brexit was the defining political issue in the UK in 2016, unseating a prime minister and unsettling MPs, but the shockwaves unleashed by voters’ decision to leave the European Union …
Switzerland has held onto its title as the world’s most innovative economy in the latest Global Innovation Index. The 2016 index, produced by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD, assesses the innovation performance of 128 global economies. This year is notable for China’s breakthrough into the top 25. It marks …
Continue reading “The world’s most innovative economies, Sweden 2nd best”
Goodbye 2016. Welcome 2017.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s last day in office is 31 December 2016. The Secretary-General will leave his post after having served two terms. The UN News media has made an interesting interview with the Secretary-General, the interview is quoted without changes here below. Secretary-General Moon has served with Swedish Deputy General Jan Eliasson …
Globalization. It’s a term we hear thrown around all the time – even more so since Britain voted to leave the EU in a decision that was widely seen as a rejection of globalization. But what does it actually mean? That’s a tough one to answer, simply because it signifies different things to different …
Continue reading “Joseph Stiglitz explain globalization in three minutes”
EARLIER this week Airline Ratings released its annual airline safety ranking. The survey uses a star rating system based on factors such as fatalities over the past 10 years, various safety accreditations or endorsements and, more interestingly, whether the fleet is composed of Russian-built stock (for which airlines are penalised). Operators with the same …
Yesterday and today we are celebrating holidays in Skurup, Sweden. I love the holiday season. Friends and family together talking about the passed year and the future to come.
There is really just one Xmas song that can be called the best ever and that is Fairytale of New York, by The Pogues. I love that song, the voices of Shane Macgowan and Kirsty Maccoll are magic. Watch the song here Fairytale of New York video here below.
I want to wish all readers a Happy Holiday Season. I will now take a break over the holidays and I will be back in January 2017!
United States is not the best country to do business in anymore. In fact it has been several years since the United States was at the top of Forbes’ annual list of the Best Countries for Business. One country headed in the opposite direction is Sweden, which moves up four spots to the top …
Continue reading “Sweden Heads The Best Countries For Business For 2017”
There are only eight more signatures to go until the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) enters into force. My good friend Jan Hoffmann, Chief, Trade Facilitation Section, at UNCTAD wrote this article two months ago why this needs to happen as soon as possible. The article below is worth reading many times. There is …
Continue reading “7 reasons why the Bali trade facilitation agreement needs to happen”
When Dustin Yellin was eight years old, he buried a dollar bill, a pen and a fork inside a box, with the specific idea that aliens might find it in the future. It’s unclear what he hoped might happen then or, indeed, what happened to the box, but it did start Yellin on an …
Danes are the happiest people in the world, according to a study of world happiness levels. Denmark topped the list of 156 countries, ranked by independent experts on a variety of measures. Sweden is still top 10 as all years this study has been done. Factors such as per capita gross domestic product, healthy …
It is Xmas time and in New York it is a time when, in the words of Meyer Berger, the city tries “to match the gems from her endless treasure chest against the winking and sparking brilliants in Heaven’s vault”. Only grinches fail to succumb to the seasonal spirit when the snow is falling …
Continue reading “The best cities for some last-minute Christmas shopping”
The percentage of people living in extreme poverty around the world has fallen by more than half over the past three decades. But polls show that most people are not only ignorant of this fact, but believe that poverty has increased. This column explores progress towards ending global poverty by 2030, the first of …
Continue reading “Most people, whether rich or poor, are totally wrong about poverty”
The International Newtwork of Customs Universities (INCU) writes a request about increased resesrch in some specific areas high-lighted by the World Bank. At the 11th PICARD Conference, Mr Gerard McLinden, Lead Customs and Trade Facilitation Specialist from the World Bank (Singapore) emphasized the importance of research in relation to border management reform activities. With …
Continue reading “World Bank Research Suggestions for Academia”
Copenhagen Airport (Kastrup), my second home, will be expand and re-build in a huge investment of approximately for 2,6 billion Euro in the following years. The airport will be expanded to accommodate 40 million passengers per year. Kastrup which wants to remain Northern Europe’s largest airport, is planning to open 17 new long-haul routes …
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