Pact Between Japan and Three Former Soviet Republics

Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe said on Saturday that he has entered into an agreement with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This agreement is intended to boost the economic and political ties with the three former Soviet republics. Japan sees the most trade potential with information technology, transportation and medicine. Abe has been on a six-nation…

Blacklist of 17 Countries Serving as Tax Havens

The EU has recently released a blacklist of 17 countries that they say are tax havens. This comes after a ten month investigation where they identified places that are not doing enough, the EU says, to crack down on offshore avoidance plans. The 17 places include: American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, South Korea, Macau,…

Elgin Energy Plans Solar Farm

Elgin Energy is making plans for a 100-acre solar photvoltaic (PV) farm in Kilkenny. This is the latest in a list of proposals by solar farm developers which follows the fall in the cost of solar PV technology. They have applied to build this on a 39.6 hectare site that is close to the village…

Eastern European News

Lithuania Propels into Fintech

Lithuania is fast gaining a reputation for being the most accelerated Fintech hub in all of Europe. It features year-on-year 40% growth in the area as well as a burgeoning talent base and quite unique regulatory route.  This has rendered it Europe’s largest e-money license issuer. As such, large names are flocking to the area…

Business in Europe: Best Countries Report

Yesterday the European Chamber (EUCHAM) put out a report of “rank[ing] and analyz[ing] all 46 European countries according to their economic environment.” In brief, it was found that the list toppers were those from the Nordic regions (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden).  Next on the list was the UK.  While in general the FSU countries…