steeped in history that can trace its statehood to at least 860 BC when the Iron Age Kingdom of Urartu which was centered around Van Lake in the highlands. Armenia became the first country to adopt Christianity as the official religion in the year 301. Just three years later work was finished on the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, now the oldest in the world.

Landlocked and mountainous, Armenia holds great natural beauty, still largely undiscovered by tourism. Blessed by a benign climate with hot and sunny summers and cold snowy winters, Armenia is quickly gaining popularity as a winter sports hotspot.

Armenia is home to one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and in 2022 recorded a 12.6% jump in its GDP. Foreign trade is booming as well with cross border turnover growing a staggering 68.6% between 2021 and 2022. The country has been steadily rising on both the Global Competitive Index and the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index. Armenia is particularly welcoming to startups. Between 2000 and 2017, the per capita income rose by 316% – the sixth highest growth worldwide.

is the core successor state of the Holy Roman Empire and was the seat of the Habsburg Monarchy. Its capital Vienna exudes the unmistakable grandeur of one of Europe’s greatest empires. A republic since 1919, Austria ranks among the most prosperous and peaceful countries in the world. The country acceded to the European Union in 1995 and adopted the euro four years later.

Straddling the Eastern Alps and the western reaches of the Carpathians, Austria is a popular destination for winter sports enthusiasts from around Europe. The mighty Danube River, the second-longest in Europe after the Volga and leading from the Black Forest to the Black Sea, crosses the country’s north-eastern corner.

Austria’s well-developed social market economy is highly industrialized and attracts a significant volume of foreign direct investment. The country’s privileged geographical location allows it to provide a valuable link between the East and the West.

Germany is often considered the Anchor of Europe. It has the largest population of any European Union member state and possesses the bloc’s biggest and most resilient economy.

Modern Germany emerged, Phoenix-like, out of the ashes of WWII to become the instigator, engine, and defender of European integration. The country’s ‘Mittelstand’ – its exceptionally vibrant and sizable community small- and medium-sized business (aka ‘hidden champions’) – is known as a fount of continuous innovation and produces some of the world’s most advanced machinery and equipment.

With a temperate climate and five distinct ecoregions, Germany is dotted with national parks and biosphere reserves. Its outstanding natural beauty and rich culture draw in millions of tourists annually. Whilst Berlin is the capital and the country’s most populous city, Frankfurt has become its leading business and financial center. Germany is home to many of the world’s most iconic and upscale brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Adidas, and BMW among many others.

Germany also leads the world in research and development and ranks fourth globally in the number of science and engineering research papers published.

Japan arguably stands at the apex of all that is chic, advanced, and even avantgarde. Japan’s culture is one of exquisitely refined understatement. While long a hermit empire shunning contact with the outside world, Japan opened its millennial society steeped in tradition to foreign trade and interchanges only in 1854. However, since then, Japan has adapted to, and embraced, modernity with lightning speed, taking the lead in many areas.

Japan’s exceptionally rich arts scene includes calligraphy, lacquerware, ikebana, and woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) as exemplified by the word renowned The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai (1831).

Today, Japan is an economic, scientific, and financial powerhouse. The country is home to the third largest economy in the world with an emphasis on high-end manufacturing. Japan also ranks near the top on the world’s logistics index thanks to its highly developed and ultra-modern infrastructure. The Tokyo Stock Exchange is the third largest in the world by market capitalization.

Lebanon is credited with inventing both the modern alphabet and cross border trade. The country was, in fact, home to the earliest settled civilization dating back some seven thousand years. Phoenician traders opened and plied the earliest trade routes across the Mediterranean and established a flourishing and sophisticated society in what later became known as the Levant. Herodotus, the Greek historian and geographer, mentions that the Phoenicians introduced writing and “a great variety of other arts” to Greece upon their arrival.

Since time immemorial, Lebanese success in trade and culture caught the envious eyes of its much larger neighbors. The country’s history is riddled with invasions beginning with Achaemenid Persia ruled by Cyrus the Great and ending many centuries and tribulations later with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and its replacement by French rule.

Throughout the millennia, Lebanon has managed to bide its time and cling to its unique culture and identity. Following the departure of the French in 1946, Lebanon quickly became an oasis of relative tranquility and peace in a region torn by strife. Beirut underwent a remarkable metamorphosis to a financial hub of note and an irresistible magnet to well-heeled tourists from far and wide.

Though history has not been kind to Lebanon, the country has time and again shown great resilience in the face of adversity. Its potential remains unparalleled in the region.

a sizable chunk of the world map was painted red. The British empire reached all corners of the world from colonial backwaters to proud and prosperous dominions – all ruled over by a queen for whom defeat did not exist.

Though the empire was lost, the great and enterprising nation that sat at its core and afforded the world its lingua franca, prospered mightily. One of the world’s great powers, the United Kingdom is today a dynamic, open, and advanced nation that has lost none of its pluck.

Stubborn yet eminently fair minded, the UK recently caused an uproar by exiting the European Union to once again “go at it alone.” Their spirit eternally indomitable, the British are great innovators, bestowing an untold number of inventions on the world from steam engines to computers and nuclear fusion.

The United Kingdom possesses a cultural heritage second to none. Its music scene, a bit quieter of late, gave the world some of its most memorable and enduring acts while in literature the nation leads the Anglophone world with aplomb. Home to some of the world’s best universities, the United Kingdom remains at the cutting edge of scientific research.