South Caucasus: investment risks

British company Maplecroft published a rating – Political Risks Atlas 2011, listing 196 countries. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Central Asian countries and Iran appeared in the high risk section of the list; Georgia is in the moderate risk category, while Russia appears in the highest risk category. Low risk countries include USA, Australia, Japan and the Scandinavian states. The rating shows investment risk based on criteria such as: conflict, terrorism, rule of law, regulations, business environment, human rights, climate change, infrastructure, education, poverty and so on. The Maplecroft risk index is invariably taken into consideration by major companies which are considering making investments in different countries.