Eastern Europe is a long way from the Middle East, but there is a lesson to be learnt from its post-communist transition. One of the strongest incentives has been economic growth and prosperity: good business has led to democratic governance and good relations.

Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union were in ruins as communism collapsed. How were reconstruction and development encouraged? With a lot of political and financial capital. That is what the European Union did in 1989 in the week that the Berlin Wall came down. Experts immediately began planning the creation of a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which opened a year later in London. It was the right move, at the right time, for the right purpose.