Section: Emerging Europe (UK)
Pro-Russian party largest following Latvian election
An openly pro-Russia party allied to Vladimir Putin’s United Russia has won the most votes in Latvia’s general election, held on October 6. The Harmony party, which takes almost all of its support from Latvia’s numerous Russian-speaking minority, took 19.9 per cent of the vote, and will have the first opportunity to try and form...
In a globalised world, emerging Europe’s handmade crafts fight for survival
“Craftsmanship may suggest a way of life that waned with the advent of industrial society – but this is misleading. Craftsmanship names an enduring, basic human impulse, the desire to do a job well for its own sake. Craftsmanship cuts a far wider swathe than unskilled manual labor: parenting improves when it is practiced as a skilled craft, as...
GUAM states agree to renewed cooperation at Chișinău summit
Prime minister from the four GUAM member states – Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova – met in the Moldovan capital Chișinău on October 5 to discuss how cooperation between the four countries could be improved. The summit ended with the heads of government of all four states signing a joint statement attaching importance to the unresolved...
Poland’s Lubelskie Region: Always Looking to the Future
Poland’s Lubelskie region, located in the eastern part of the country, is perceived as traditionally agricultural with farmland accounting for 70 per cent of the region’s territory, compared to an average of 60 per cent across the country. That has not, however, been an obstacle for another sector — IT and business services — to grow...
New Rail Tunnel Brings Ukraine Closer to EU
Ukraine opened a new rail tunnel through the Carpathian Mountains on May 24, a move which will facilitate the faster movement of goods and people between the country and the European Union. The 1822m long tunnel, which crosses the mountains between the towns of Beskyd and Skotarske has been built to alleviate a single-track bottleneck on the Lviv...
Hideez: Ukraine’s Pivoting Start-Up
The Ukrainian tech startup Hideez Group is not entirely a newcomer in the market for cybersecurity and authentication devices and services. It was founded in Kyiv in August 2015 by Oleg Naumenko, Andriy Konkov and Denis Zaliznyak and received 325,000 US dollars in seed funding from angel investor Volodymyr Shchupak, business incubator UUI...
IKEA Opens New Polish Store, Announces Entry to Ukrainian Market
In recent years, Ikea has developed new strategies to increase sales and market share, opening collection points in city centres, building greener shops which do not sell large bulk furniture as well as opening a pop-up restaurant serving Scandinavian food in London. On top of that they have also opened a hotel in Sweden and plan on opening a...
IFC Makes Two New Major Agricultural Investments in Ukraine
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has announced two new major investments in the Ukrainian agricultural sector, worth a total of 42.5 million US dollars. The IFC is providing a 30 million US dollar loan to Astarta, a leading agricultural producer, to help improve its environmental efficiency and...
EU Offers Ukraine New Micro-Finance Assistance
The European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs has approved a draft resolution granting Ukraine a new programme of macro-financial assistance up to 1 billion euros. The European Commission has been an active supporter of Ukraine for some time, disbursing a total of 2.8 billion euros in macro-financial assistance (MFA), the highest amount...
Avoiding the Middle-Income Trap
The EBRD’s 2017-18 Transition Report confirms what a many of us who cover the emerging European region have thought for some time: that the time has come to focus less on low cost and more on creating unique, high-value propositions and innovation. The report focuses on the challenge of sustaining growth, with particular reference to the...
