All Countries and All Sectors

Earlier this month, Qatar witnessed an historic milestone in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry when Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (II) and ExxonMobil signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) to provide the US with 15.6m tonnes of LNG per year. The deal is expected to bring some USD12bn to the country, the largest single investment in Qatar's growing energy industry. Furthermore, the project will see the country become the single largest supplier of LNG to the US market.

A row over the appointment of a top prime ministerial intelligence advisor this week has highlighted once again the weakness of Prime Minister Saxe-Coburg's government. Meanwhile, it has also raised concerns over the premier's judgement, as the country prepares for important mayoral elections - and future NATO membership.

When Turkey’s parliament reconvened October 1 after its protracted summer break, a brace of controversial issues lay in wait. With the possibility that last year’s elections might be cancelled and Turkish-US relations might once again go into a nose-dive over Iraq, many Turks were bracing themselves for a bumpy start to the new legislative year. Yet within a few days, the government had successfully negotiated the policy rapids and was in an upbeat mood for the mid-October IMF review.

With October 2 marking the end of the "800 days" former King Simeon II had promised a government under his charge would take to dramatically improve Bulgarians' standard of living, the jury is still out on whether he can now claim any real success. Two years down the track, and in the face of a challenging nationwide mayoral election set for the end of the month, Bulgarians are now looking long and hard at those pre-election promises.

Brushing off concerns over the accelerated pace of energy reform, the Bulgarian energy minister told OBG last week that the changes the government was making were vital if the country was to maintain its international competitiveness. He also said that the new Energy Act would be a major step forward in energy market liberalisation.

While a recent global report on press freedom in 139 countries ranked Bulgaria 38th, many of the country's journalists complain that the lack of a coherent judicial framework has been seriously hampering their work. Meanwhile, feeling about the press amongst the public at large still shows a basic lack of trust in the nation's print media, which is dominated by the capital, Sofia, and a couple of major tabloids.