To those living in developed countries, slavery seems a thing of the past, even if it was still around in the century before last. But the fact is that about 30 million people worldwide live in modern slavery, with nearly half of them (14 million) in India. Putting emotions aside, one could say this is a very profitable business. The Walk Free Foundation estimates that slave labor generates $32 billion in profits annually for people and organizations.

Created in 2011, today the Eurasian Customs Union (ECU) is the largest economic platform in the former Soviet Union. Made up of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, the ECU is a common customs territory with total annual external trade of $939.3 billion and internal trade of $68.6 billion. The ECU’s main objective is to intensify economic relations and strengthen the overall position of Customs Union members on the world stage. The ECU faces some major challenges in the near future, including prospects for expansion, which is directly dependent on its economic attractiveness and ability to offer favorable terms to all participants.

During the fall of 2013, the People’s Republic of China announced a massive economic project called “The New Silk Road.” Beijing has given formal recognition to a trend dating back to the 1990s to include Central Asian countries in the orbit of the Chinese economy. Now this trend has gained a clear and concrete form through this ambitious project, which brings together China, the countries of Central Asia, and possibly Central Europe.

The term “Silk Road,” which is borrowed from ancient and medieval history, was already used by then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2011. The Washington project proposed the creation of trade and transport links extending from the steppes of Central Asia to the southernmost tip of India. The main objective of this American project was to bring Afghanistan into a sustainable regional economic network, which the concept’s authors believed would have a positive impact on the stability of the whole region. The American project encountered several problems associated with the ongoing political instability in Afghanistan, as well as the project’s high price tag and the inability to compete with Chinese proposals.

Analysts at World Economic Journal have taken the advice of Goldman Sachs’s Jim O’Neill in replacing Korea with Nigeria in the new grouping of developing economies. They have also evaluated the most important macroeconomic performance indicators of these countries.
The current statistics are relentless: According to 2012 results, the economic growth of the four BRIC countries stalled, and in 2013 the situation did not improve. To judge from forecasts, the opportunities are very limited. This means that investors are beginning to withdraw their assets, from both funds and the countries themselves.

Professor Julian Cooper, expert of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, in an interview to WEJ, spoke about the prospects of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, the potential for its expansion and the risks to Eurasian Customs Union stable development.

Professor Cooper, the Eurasian Customs Union has been functioning now for over two years, how would you assess its effectiveness?
It is too early to draw any firm conclusions. However, its central administrative structure, the Eurasian Economic Commission, has undertaken a very considerable volume of work in a relatively brief period to establish the basic institutions of the Union and the closely related Single Economic Space (SES). Much progress has been made in developing improved administration of customs, technical regulation, sanitary, veterinary and phytosanitary regulation and non-tariff measures. The SES is developing, especially in relation to the free movements of goods and services, but much work remains to be done to secure the other two freedoms, of labour and capital. Under the leadership of Viktor Khristenko the Commission has formed an impressively professional team of officials and a businesslike working culture. Its international standing has been steadily rising.

Though some may find it strange, the word “innovation” evokes skepticism in many Russians. It is assumed that innovative technology requires huge financial investments, with unpredictable outcomes and questionable utility and efficiency.
The Ideal Products Factory is the joint brainchild of businessman Mikhail Dashkiev and scientist Aleksey Noniashvili, and offers rather simple and original technological development for various things ranging from the ideal iPhone case to the ideal air conditioner and transportation systems for lime production, setting them apart from other global Russian projects. WEJ invited the partners to define what innovation means in emerging markets.