International Business Opportunities

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged Washington’s firm support for Ukraine’s bid to join the NATO military alliance despite strong Russian opposition to the move.
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Kommersant found out that, in spite of the numerous claims to each other, Moscow and Kiev will extend the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Russia and Ukraine for another ten years. The Russian Foreign Ministry, which has blamed the Ukrainian party for violating the “big treaty”, hopes that its prolongation will sober Ukraine’s government. The State Duma hasn’t been particularly glad at that sign of friendliness – it has once suggested that the President and the Government should consider the expediency of extending the treaty. However, it is the pro-Russian forces in the Crimea that appear to be mostly upset. They even called Moscow’s step “defeatist diplomacy”.
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A report released yesterday over the attractiveness to investment of cellular communications markets in different countries, shows a high potential for growth in Asia and in the CIS countries (former Soviet Union).

The ten countries with the highest levels of attractiveness to investment include seven countries in South and Southeast Asia (Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, The Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan) and three from the CIS (Russia in 5th place, Ukraine in 7th, and Uzbekistan in 9th). […]

Central and Eastern Europe have lost much of their investment potential over the last two years as they have become increasingly saturated in terms of cellular network coverage. So European countries are offering increasingly few opportunities for investors, as the U.S. and Canada are still considered good targets for investment.

The report was carried out by a group of experts from the London Business School, Cambridge University, and the Russian School of Economics. (source: kommersant)

EU’s trade authority dropped a threat to impose tariffs on imports from the US, China, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine of a chemical used in paints, the pentaerythritol.

The EU closed a probe into whether the five countries’ pentaerythritol exporters sold in Europe below domestic prices or below the production cost.[…]
EU’s trade authority said U.S. and Turkish exporters didn’t depress prices and dumping by Chinese, Russian and Ukrainian companies doesn’t justify punitive duties sought by EU producers to stem sales and profit declines. (source)