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In
Search of the Baltic Tiger
This article was triggered by the unsatisfactory rate of Latvian GDP per
capita, the poorest one among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe
moving onto the market line ten years ago. To our mind, the sharp fall
has been caused by a complete collapse of large-scale industry in Latvia.
Our analysis aims to figure out the current role of industry in the context
of economic development of the Baltic States. |
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The
Baltic bid for Kazakhstan
Kazakh Minister
of Foreign Affairs Erlan Idrisov visited all three Baltic States at
the end of May, where he met both state officials and businessmen. Talks
was mostly on politics and economics. The minister's visit provides
a foundation for a new and more active era in the relationship between
Kazakhstan and the Baltics. In conclusion of the visit, Idrisov gave
an interview to BK's editor in chief Janis Domburs and editor
Inese Gaiks.
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The
winner takes it all
Despite the
fact that the Baltic-Russian relationship is a coin with many sides,
oil transit routes through Baltic ports are one of the most profitable
and perspective branches of Baltic economies. More than ten oil terminals
deal with oil transit from Russia, Belarus and other CIS countries to
western markets. Russia's heating oil transported via Ventspils last
year helped stabilize the level of oil products supplied to the USA;
this year oil is even being transported via Butinge to Uruguay.
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The
Gas Vertical
Ventspils,
well-known as a transit Mecca,has decided to build a complex
for chemical processing and gas transshipment, also producing gas products
with annual processing capacity of 100-300 thousand tonnes for export
to European countries.
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The Business of the Future
Information
technology in the Baltics is an industry with incredibly low total turnover
indicators. This is quite an amazing fact taking into account the industry's
future prospects. Turnover for the leading companies increases annually
by 50%, and one can only hope that the forecasts come true for the IT
industry and the telecommunications sector to take over 15% of Baltic
GDP in the next coming years.
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What's
Your Brand Name?
Any serious
businessman does his best to register his/her trademark when entering
a new market. Even so, the use of other's trademarks has become a profitable
business. The turnover for fake brand names is growing from year to
year. As regards to profit, some estimations show that the theft of
trademarks can be compared to organised crime - the weapon trade and
the drug market.
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Charging
Europe
Over the past
decade, the clothing industry has become a crucial part of the Baltic
economy and one of the major three exports for all three of the States.
Most of the textile and garment exports go to European Union member
states. Newly established Estonian clothing company Ilves-Extra,
Lithuanian flax producers and Latvian textile companies running the
old Soviet Rigas Manufaktura as several separate enterprises,
are the main figures of this article.
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Are
Your Pockets Bulging?
We've lived
under capitalism for the past 10 years. If we take a closer look at
the list of top Balts with officially registered property in company
stakes we may not actually find those people we all thought the richest.
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Test-Tube
Babies
The first test-tube baby in Latvia celebrated his fifth birthday this
year. The clinic helping families to continue the human race is situated
in an old building in a green area of the Estonian city Tartu. Director
of the clinic Andrei Syritsa and associate professor of the Chair of Obstetrics
and Gynaecology at Tartu University feels more like a gambler than a trainer
of his well-knit team. |
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