Matthew Day in Warsaw
Wed, 10th Mar -- Large parts of CEE appear to be sitting on one of the world's largest deposits of shale gas, and this has got the energy world excited. To quote one executive attending the "III CE Gas Summit 2010" in Warsaw in February: "It is a bit like discovering there's life on Mars."

Clare Nuttall in Almaty
Fri, 12th Mar -- There is a window of opportunity to diversify Kazakhstan's economy as the crisis ebbs and before commodity prices shoot up again, the EBRD's country director for Kazakhstan tells bne, and the bank plans to invest up to $1bn to support the government's development plans.

Samantha Shields in Tbilisi
Tue, 9th Mar -- Tbilisi's mayor, Gigi Ugulava, is hoping a scheme to provide loans for property development will help preserve the city's elegant yet crumbling historic centre and breathe life into a local economy whose construction sector was badly hit by the global economic crisis.

Guy Norton in London
Mon, 8th Mar -- Veteran Russian fund management group Pharos Financial and Dubai-based agribusiness specialist Miro Asset Management have teamed up to launch the Pharos Miro Agriculture Fund to tap into the evolving agricultural investment theme.

Clare Nuttall in Almaty
Mon, 8th Mar -- The planned construction of a new power line connecting Kazakhstan to Tajikistan will allow Central Asia's common energy system to be reactivated. But plans to attract investment into new hydroelectric power plants are being held back by their political sensitivity.

Iana Dreyer of the European Centre for International Political Economy
Wed, 3rd Mar -- There is a clear link between most CEE gas markets still being monopolies and Europe's vulnerability to decisions by Gazprom to turn off the gas tap. A few antitrust cases in the new member states would go a long way toward remedying this.

Clare Nuttall in Almaty
Mon, 1st Mar -- Opposition parties were expected to pick up a few extra seats in Tajikistan's parliamentary elections on February 28, but there was no serious challenge to the ruling People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan, leading to the main opposition party on Monday to claim widespread voter fraud.

Clare Nuttall in Almaty
Mon, 22nd Feb -- 2010 is an important year for the Eurasian Development Bank, according to its chairman Igor Finogenov. The EDB plans to grow its investment portfolio by over 50% and take in new members, and is managing the Eurasian Economic Community's $10bn anti-crisis fund.

Clare Nuttall in Almaty
Thu, 18th Feb -- Supporters of Uzbekistan's economic isolation seemed vindicated in 2009 when the country managed to largely escape the international crisis. Over the last year, the country has looked internally for its development.

Clare Nuttall in Almaty
Mon, 15th Feb -- Links between former Soviet states gradually have fallen apart in many areas. However, several large-scale regional initiatives have created an impetus for re-integration, according to a study by the Eurasian Development Bank.

Ben Aris in Moscow
Tue, 9th Feb -- Already amongst the biggest producers of oil and gas, Russia is using its store of petrodollars to make sure it stays in the game when the world's hydrocarbons start to run out.

Samantha Shields in Sukhumi
Wed, 3rd Feb -- The small, but strategic, Black Sea region of Abkhazia, whose economy was devastated by a bitter war in the early 1990s, is hoping Russia's recognition of its declaration of independence after 2008's war between Russia and Georgia will start it on the long road to recovery and pique the interest of investors.