Chemical Executives Air Concerns Over Investing in Eastern Europe

Vienna conference examines economic and environmental problems plaguing former East bloc countries plus impact of Soviet economy's collapse The question of investment in eastern Germany has been high on the agendas of chemical industry executives for the past two years. However, what were formerly hazy uncertainties over investment possibilities and opportunities have become clear enough, unfortunately, to dissuade many chemical companies from investing in what had been the East bloc. This, in brief, was the major message coming out of the meeting earlier this month in Vienna of the European section of the Society of Chemical Industry. The title of the conference was "Central and Eastern Europe in the 1990s." Environmental problems have been joined by economic woes. Even more serious has been the explosive resurgence of nationalist sentiment, culminating in the bloody conflicts in Yugoslavia, Thierry de Montbrial, president of the Institut Francais des Relations Internationales, told the meeting. There ha...