EBRD

From inside the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, potted roses give way to anti-terror barriers and barbed wire beyond the large, transparent windows.

Our host for this trip, a senior economist, outlined the EBRD's role as a risk-taking investment vehicle for post-soviet economies, to kickstart their transition into market economies. She was tight-lipped about political pressures acting on the organisation, insisting that relations were friendly and the biggest obstacle to reform often comes from popular (not political) preference for the status quo.

On the way out we stopped at the Starbucks forming one corner of the building, which apparently had particularly delicious chocolate cake.