Dear Reader,
Greetings. For those of us who watched with dismay the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, the economic success of Kazakhstan, one of its republics, comes as a great relief and redeeming feature. Today, Kazakhstan, a constituent of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which had risen from the ruins of the USSR, is a success story. Endowed with enormous reserves of oil, natural gas and mineral resources, Kazakhstan embraced economic reforms in mid-1990s after overcoming initial hiccups to emerge as a power by itself. Booming oil prices and good grain harvests ensured a nine percent GDP growth in the last five years, which in turn attracted huge amounts of foreign direct investment. The current issue of Indo-CIS Business features Kazakhstan as its cover story. The economy of Russia, the biggest CIS constituent, is also doing well in 2006 with strong domestic demand driving its growth. The flow of foreign direct investment into Russia is further helping modernization of the country's industrial infrastructure. In addition, Russia's surplus oil funds are opening up investment avenues. All these topics form the focus of the current issue. One point that is being stressed time and again at Indo-CIS joint seminars is the need for better B2B (business-to-business) collaboration, especially in tapping the mineral-rich CIS region. Further, there is also the need for frequent buyer-seller interaction between the business communities of India and CIS. We carry two separate reports. We also present a World Bank report that says economic reforms by CIS member countries have helped create more jobs in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The magazine's Perspective is an in-depth write-up on the Indian economy presented by Exim Bank's Chairman and Managing Director T.C. Venkat Subramanian. The article, India on the Move, gives details of the strides that the country has made in every aspect of industry, trade, commerce and services in the last 15 years and the opportunities it offers to foreign investors. Exim Bank's Commencement Day Annual Lecture, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2006, has been presenting year after year men of great intellectual caliber to talk about contemporary economic issues, with a particular reference to India. This year, Sir Suma Chakrabarti, Permanent Secretary in the Department for International Development, UK, talks about the role of State in Trade and Development. Exim Bank undertakes analytical studies that provide insight into different industries highlighting the opportunities that exist for their growth. Two such industry studies, one on petroleum products and the other on leather have been carried in the current issue, which also presents the excellent annual progress report of the Exim Bank for the year 2005-06.

Wish you happy reading

Satya Swaroop
Managing Editor
satya@newmediacomm.biz