Ben Aris in Ulaanbaatar
Fri, 18th Jul -- Mongolia is a dramatic example of the band of countries that sit on the rim of Europe's emerging markets, the "New Frontier" markets. Long ignored by the buccaneering investors that flocked to the obvious destinations like Russia in the 1990s, the New Frontier markets have suddenly popped up on international investors' radar screens.

Graham Stack in Minsk
Thu, 17th Jul -- Velcom's new Austrian CEO Helmut Duhs does not hesitate to call the privatization of Belarus' second-largest mobile operator by Telecom Austria, "the biggest step in privatisation for Belarus."

Graham Stack in Minsk
Thu, 17th Jul -- Now that Belarus has suddenly opened its doors and is quickly becoming the hottest bank market in the region, international banks will arrive to find Raiffeisen has already been there for five years.

Graham Stack in Minsk
Thu, 17th Jul -- After a decade of anti-Western rhetoric, the Belarusian government announced a whole raft of measures to open up the economy to foreign investment and liberalise the economy.

Clare Nutall in Almaty
Thu, 17th Jul -- What made the latest elections different from the previous ones of the last 18 years is that far more was at stake: in the run-up to the polls, both the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and the opposition Democratic Party knew that the winner would preside over the parceling out of Mongolia's immense mineral wealth.

Ben Aris in Kyiv
Thu, 17th Jul -- The US sub-prime crisis has been a boon for Kyrgyz bankers. They were preparing to see their businesses eaten into by Kazakhstan's five biggest banks until the credit crunch struck and the Kazakh banks put their development plans in on ice.

Ben Aris in Moscow
Thu, 17th Jul -- The gleaming stone and glass stock exchange building in central Tashkent has stood largely idle for the past decade or so € until recently that is. Foreign investors are looking now at Uzbek stocks simply because any incoming capital can send valuations skyrocketing.

Clare Nuttall in Almaty
Thu, 17th Jul -- Investors are eagerly awaiting a report from Gaffney, Cline & Associates, which is working on the first official audit of Turkmenistan's oil and gas reserves since the Soviet era. Hard data on Turkmenistan's reserves could, analysts say, "electrify the story" of the country's commodity market.

Matthew Collin in Tbilisi
Thu, 17th Jul -- Under Gurgenidze's leadership, Bank of Georgia was transformed from what current chairman Nicholas Enukidze describes as an "average former Soviet bank with average former-Soviet approach to business," into a dynamic force in the Georgian market with a distinctly Western style of working.

Clare Nuttall in Almaty
Thu, 17th Jul -- The stock markets of Bosnia-Herzegovina were making spectacular progress until 2007, when Kosovo's inexorable march toward independence triggered worries about regional instability. Experts are now predicting that regulatory changes and a fresh wave of privatisations will put the Sarajevo and Banja Luka exchanges back on track.

Clare Nutall in Almaty
Thu, 17th Jul -- Twelve months after the credit crisis hit Kazakhstan, Alliance Bank's management team believe the worst is over. The bank has already met two-thirds of its repayment obligations for 2008, and is now looking for a strategic investor to give it a competitive edge going forward.

Ben Aris in Kyiv
Thu, 17th Jul -- Microfinance is supposed to be small, but Mongolia's microfinance specialist Xacbank has grown so fast it's now taking on the big banks at their own game.

Ben Aris in Kyiv
Thu, 17th Jul -- "Mongolia has successfully passed through the transition period and today is developing quickly," Batlsereg Namdag, vice minister for finance, told delegates to May's EBRD annual meeting in Kyiv who attended the Mongolia session.