what potential you are talking about? I am from there and there is absolutely nothing. no human capital, no resources, no political willingness (only huge corruption). the only viable business was to be a sort-of-kind-of-middleman between EU and Russia and thats also gone. most young people left for greener pastures towards EU. go visit all of these places and please wander outside the tourist area, and better yet, rent a car a travel through countries (they are small, a road trip through baltic states will take you less than a week). after that tell me more about this "tremendous potential".