A speech by High Representative Catherine Ashton in the European Parliament yesterday (1 February) provided a rare insight on talks with Europe's largest neighbour ahead of the Russian presidential elections in March.

• February 2, 2012

Pakistan Textile Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin on Tuesday confirmed that the textile industry in Pakistan is gradually shifting to Bangladesh to seek more profit, while the industry leaders argue that there relocation was because of electricity and gas outages prevailing in Pakistan.

• January 31, 2012

Ukraine exported just over 2 million metric tons of grain in December, of which about 1.6 million metric tons (63 million bushels) was corn, according to U.S. Grains Council sources. The leading corn importers were Egypt, 252,000 tons; Spain, 350,000 tons; and Iran, 160,000 tons. Egypt, Tunisia and Spain took most of Ukraine's wheat shipments.

• January 27, 2012

Belarus, Kazakhstan and Mongolia all added to their gold reserves in the final month of 2011, with purchases by the trio totaling more than 320,000 troy ounces of bullion, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund.

• January 25, 2012

U.S. stock futures pointed to a sharply higher open on Tuesday, as market sentiment strengthened after better-than-expected Chinese growth data and upbeat economic reports in the euro zone.

• January 17, 2012

India is not seeking a waiver from the United States that would protect buyers of Iranian oil from a fresh round of sanctions and New Delhi continues to import from Tehran, Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said on Tuesday.

• January 17, 2012

Ukrainian tycoon Konstantin Zhevago, an MP with imprisoned former PM Yulia Tymoshenko’s party, reportedly needs the ČKD foundry and engineering works in Kutná Hora to save his rolling stock business and is offering Kč 485 million for the bankrupt firm. However, the Russian rolling stock manufacturer Rail Group has put forward an offer of Kč 691 million and a promise to invest Kč 1.8 billion in it.

• January 16, 2012

Ukraine plans to start compensating for reductions in the import of increasingly expensive Russian natural gas by buying the commodity this summer on the spot market, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Boiko told reporters in Kyiv

• January 14, 2012