All Countries and All Sectors

As Europe's only monarch-turned-prime minister, Simeon Saxe-Coburg's political career has been anything but conventional. It should therefore have come as little surprise to find him stepping outside common practice once again last week, when he took up several pages in a leading daily newspaper to explain his vision of Bulgaria. In his "Open Letter to the People", he set out his government's successes and failures, concluding that "an improved reality is no longer a dream". The letter caused much debate among politicians and public, while also serving as a useful trigger for a wider assessment of the ruling New Movement Simeon II (NMSII)'s three-year record. Whether this assessment turns out as Simeon intended, however, seems a little doubtful.

Turkish economists can afford a smile or two these days, particularly after last week's meeting of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave the country a qualified thumbs up. Turkey is making good progress under its IMF stand-by arrangement, triggering the release of another $661m loan package. However, while a positive development, this move still highlights the need to address a number of domestic problem areas.

Turkish rail authorities have endured a barrage of criticism over the past few days, after a high-speed train hurtled off its tracks last week, leaving 37 dead. Two further railway disasters then followed, with collisions between trains, a minibus and a car. Now, with the condition of the rail system under great public scrutiny, many onlookers are wondering to what extent the accident reflects the more general state of Turkey's transport infrastructure.

Qatar's expanding energy sector received a series of major boosts this month, with the signing of major deals to develop the country's enormous gas potential. With two major international energy giants inking agreements with Qatar Petroleum (QP) inside 10 days, July looks likely to go down as a milestone in the country's energy producing history.

Despite the mixed fortunes of Bulgaria's privatisation programme in recent years, this week has seen some much more encouraging news with the most lucrative deal to date now well onstream. With the announcement on July 15 that three companies had been chosen as preferred buyers for majority stakes in a clutch of power distribution outfits, the higher-than-expected amounts being offered caused some contentment in Sofia. Meanwhile, as if to underscore the country's key role in electricity import-export, neighbour Greece also announced its interest in buying more volts from Bulgaria.

The visit of the Israeli deputy prime minister to Ankara last week came as a respite for the tension that has been simmering over the last couple of months between Israel and Turkey. Whilst officials have long tried to talk down the gravity of friction over Palestine, the visit was nonetheless intended to patch up and reconfirm old ties. However, the question is whether recent tensions mark a broader trend in otherwise close bilateral political relations.