Russia could run out of money in 2024 and need funds from "friendly" nations to continue to weather the sanctions storm, billionaire Oleg Deripaska said March 2 at the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum in Serbia, Bloomberg reported. "There will be no money already next year," Deripaska, founder of aluminum giant Rusal International, said. "We will need foreign investors." Russian authorities are already planning to hike budget revenue with changes to how it taxes oil companies, and is considering a one-time levy on commodity producers, the report said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet with President Joe Biden March 10, and will discuss "U.S.-EU coordination to combat the climate crisis through investing in clean technology based on secure supply chains," the White House said March 2.

The U.K. updated six open general export licenses, the Export Control Joint Unit announced in a March 1 notice. Three OGELs -- export after exhibition or demonstration military goods, export after repair replacement under warranty military goods, and exports under the U.S.-U.K. defense trade cooperation treaty -- were updated to take into account changes to the military list, the ECJU said. Two OGELs -- military goods and technology to India and technology for military goods -- also were updated to show changes in the military list and to fix typographical errors. Another OGEL, military goods A400M collaborative program, was updated to allow two additional export customer destinations.

The U.K. extended by five years its antidumping duty on high fatigue performance steel concrete reinforcement bar from China, the Department for International Trade announced March 1. The duties will be extended until July 30, 2026, and the U.K. will maintain the duty rates previously imposed on the steel concrete rebar, which range 18.4% to 22.5%. Non-examined companies receive the 22.5% rate.

The U.K. and Welsh governments are hosting a delegation of economic development leaders from Indiana until March 2 as part of the U.K-Indiana Memorandum of Understanding on economic cooperation and trade relations, the Department for International Trade announced. Meetings are focusing on clean energy, women's economic employment and "levelling-up," it said.

The U.K. corrected one entry under its Russia sanctions regime, in a Feb. 28 notice. The listing for Matthias Artur Warnig was amended to reflect his ties to President Vladimir Putin and his role as the Rosneft board's independent vice chairman, and remove identifying information of a different person.

The EU extended until Feb. 28, 2024, its restrictions on Belarus in response to its support for the war in Ukraine, the European Council announced. The council said it reached this decision after conducting its annual review of the restrictions and "considering the persistent gravity of the domestic situation in the country and Belarus' ongoing involvement" in the war. The sanctions apply to 195 individuals and 34 entities and include targeted trade sanctions.

The U.K. removed Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi from its Libya sanctions regime, in a Feb. 24 notice. Al-Mahmoudi is the former prime minister of Libya in Col. Moammar Gadhafi's government. The Tunisian government extradited him to Libyan authorities in 2012, and he was released in 2019 for health reasons.

The EU adopted its 10th sanctions package on Russia, the European Council announced. The restrictions include imposing a travel ban and asset freeze on another 87 individuals and 34 entities, as well as various trade sanctions, including additional export bans on critical technology and industrial goods.

The EU and the U.K. reached an agreement this week on post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland, potentially ending a dispute that has hung over both sides since the U.K. left the bloc in 2020 (see 2211090023). The Windsor Framework deal, which covers new “arrangements” on customs rules and trade, will allow for the “free-flowing movement of goods” between Northern Ireland and Britain and “removes any sense of a border in the Irish Sea within the U.K.,” the U.K. said in a Feb 27 news release. The deal avoids a hard border between the U.K. and Ireland, an EU member, which could have complicated a range of trade issues.