Thanks to relative political stability and strong oil and gas prices, Russia's retail turnover more than quintupled from 2001 to 2011 and now exceeds US$600 billion annually. Data suggest that this sector is entering the steepest part of its growth curve. How will Russia's retailers face the challenges of this critical period of expansion? Will foreign retailers manage to get a slice of this growing pie?

• January 3, 2013

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and the government will be more oriented towards integration into the European Union. Euro-Atlantic course of Georgia will be unchanged in the next year, Minister of Foreign Affairs Maya Panjikidze in an interview to "Rustavi-2".

• January 2, 2013

Russian leaders come to India for a few hours and go back with defence deals worth billions. Much like last year, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was in India on Monday for less than 24 hours and the two nations ended up signing deals worth $4 billion.

• January 2, 2013

A major Iranian partner of Huawei Technologies offered to sell at least 1.3 million euros worth of embargoed Hewlett-Packard (HP) computer equipment to Iran’s largest mobile phone operator in late 2010, documents show.

• January 2, 2013

Pakistani hardline party Jamaat-e-Islami's (JI) chief Azad Kashmir Abdur Rasheed Turrabi has said the discussions between Pakistan and India would not be proved fruitful until the latter took serious steps towards resolution of Kashmir issue.

• December 31, 2012

India's pet project to link south with central Asia got support from Russian president Vladimir Putin. During their talks in New Delhi last week, Singh and Putin agreed to unfreeze the north-south corridor through Iran within the next year. India has taken the lead role in pushing for the completion of this project.

• December 31, 2012

Russia has concluded a challenging 2012 in India with three deals involving additional fighter aircraft and helicopters.

• December 31, 2012

Insights into Turkish Domestic and International Politics during December 1-31th 2012
By John VanPool, EGF Turkey and Black Sea Regional Analyst

• Turkey receives permission to post NATO’s Patriot missile batteries in the country’s south to combat potential attacks from Syrian Scuds
• The potential of Kurdish-Arab splits in the Syrian civil war continue to drag Ankara further into the deteriorating situation in the country.
• The Central Bank begins implementing a plan to protect the country’s banks from risky investment, while the government’s monetary policy seeks to ease inflation caused by expanding domestic credit availability.
• Prime Minister Erdogan’s presence sparks protests at an Istanbul university, with the ensuing violence
• employed as a “stick” with which to beat the ruling AKP by opposition parties.
• Erdogan’s office reportedly tapped; prime minister claims by the Deep State. However a lack of definitive perpetrators leaves many questions as to the validity to the claims.
• KRG Prime Minister Barzani assures U.S. on proposed Turk-Kurd pipeline, claims disputes with Baghdad should remain in the economic, not political realm.
• Shah Deniz II considers buying into Nabucco West, while Ukraine responds to South Stream by exploring a potential membership in TANAP.

• December 31, 2012