Despite widespread criticism of multinational companies, they have made an unparalleled contribution to the development of Eastern Europe over the last 15 years. They have brought opportunities to the young, improved working conditions, saved communities from destitution, rehabilitated corrupt banking systems and laid a modern telecomunications network. Their exports have driven economic growth; their presence has boosted civil society. The impact has not always been positive, but their power and dynamism, if effectively harnessed, can help defeat poverty elsewhere too.

CHARLES PAUL LEWIS has spent most of the last 15 years travelling and working in Eastern Europe as a journalist, editor and business consultant. He was Bureau Chief for the Economist Intelligence Unit in Vienna, covering political, economic and business developments in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.