(CNN) - The Moscow Stock Exchange is the latest company to trade on its own platform.

It comes after the company sold its shares at an Initial Public Offering last week - at the low end of the IPO range.

The stock began trading Friday , providing a valuation of more than $4 billion.

John Defterios sat down with Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and asked him why, despite the lukeman response, he sees potential in the exchange.

(CNN) - Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown tells CNN’s John Defterios that protectionism has “taken over” in global trade, while advocating an agreement between developed economies in the West and emerging markets in the East.

Brown, who was UK premier from 2007 to 2010, said the problem that Europe and the U.S. face is that both do not have a big enough share of each other’s markets.

His comments come after the U.S. and European Union announced talks will begin later this year on a multi-trillion dollar free-trade pact to boost economic growth.

On the UK’s membership in Europe, Brown said British jobs depend on the EU and the idea that Britain could leave “offends” the country’s history, economics and culture.

(CNN) - The IMF says global growth in 2013 will be an uphill climb but projects growth to reach 3.5% with emerging markets providing much of that boost. We’re already seeing signs of this through the scope of corporate earnings. In January, corporate earnings drove stock markets up, thanks in large part to emerging markets. GE’s fourth quarter revenues rose 4% beating expectations. GE cited China and other emerging economies as the driver for them. Apple reported record quarterly profits. CEO Tim Cook said in an earlier interview with Xinhua News Agency, “China is currently our second largest market. I believe it will become our first.”

While it’s not new that emerging markets are giving much-needed horsepower against the headwinds of the US and the Eurozone, it is interesting to note that countries like China, Indonesia and India still hold a wealth of untapped potential for investors. Younghao Pu, UBS chief investment officer for Asia Pacific, points out that emerging markets account for 50% of global GDP, but only 20% of stock market capitalization. That means there’s a lot of potential to grow. He believes Tier 1 Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai are saturated, mature markets where growth is decelerating.

“In China, multinationals need to penetrate into Tier 2 or Tier 3 cities like Chengdu and Xian where the growth rate is stronger,” Pu says. “Different companies are using agencies and I don’t think that model is building up the potential there in those cities.”

One reason for under-investing appears to be multi-layered. The business advisory group, Economist Corporate Network, recently surveyed 500 corporate clients about the current business climate in Asia. The majority of responses were from Western multinationals. According to the survey results, the companies found “murky” investment climates in certain regions, regulations that swung from unpredictable to protectionist and difficulty in finding reliable local employees.

Hans Paul Burkner, chairman of Boston Consulting Group, takes a much more optimistic approach and looks at emerging markets from the inside looking out. He recently spoke with CNN about what he calls “global challengers,” companies from emerging markets that are growing quickly. These are companies like Malaysia’s Air Asia, China’s Alibaba Group and Brazil’s building products company Tigre.

"They are fast growth, high ambition…and acquiring business models in North America, Europe and Japan. You should not be afraid because it’s not that they are coming in, sucking out all the technology and walking home. They want to really build a position (globally.)”

(CNN) – Not even six months ago, eurozone watchers had been prognosticating a breakup of the 17-member bloc of nations as the euro plunged to a 25-month low against the U.S. dollar last July.

But since then, the euro has appreciated nearly 11% as its member countries battled to contain sovereign debt crises, rising unemployment and social unrest. The euro now stands at a 13-month high against the greenback.

And flying in the face of last year’s critics, Jean-Claude Trichet, the former chief of the European Central Bank told CNN’s Nina dos Santos that the euro “was never about to collapse” and that its viability as a currency is solid.

“The euro as a currency has never been put in question,” asserted Trichet while at the same time admitting the euro area’s financial stability and credit worthiness had been tested.

But as G20 finance ministers head to Moscow this week for another summit, fears of a currency war continue to loom large. Read more here to find out the details of what Trichet calls a euro "recipe for catastrophe".

London (CNN) - Nyati tells CNN that mobile devices are unaffordable for most Africans and that connectivity is very expensive on the continent.

(CNN) – If you’re not South Korean, it may surprise you to know that Samsung is not just about smartphones. The hugely successful multinational has business investments in everything from military hardware to shipbuilding and hospitals. If you’re in the market for a new house you can buy a Samsung apartment. If you want to go to an amusement park there’s one made by Samsung outside the capital Seoul.

Daniel Tudor, author of Korea: The Impossible Country, tells CNN’s Matthew Chance that South Koreans view Samsung’s success with mixed emotions. On one hand, they are proud of a home-grown brand rising in prominence at home and abroad. On the other hand, Samsung has enormous economic, and thus, political clout which can lead to problems. Based on revenue, Samsung and all its interests account for a full one-fifth of South Korea’s entire economy.

(CNN) - This week the European Union Chamber of Commerce released this survey on Chinese investor perceptions of Europe.

The study, which drew responses from 74 Chinese enterprises that have already invested in the EU, found that a full 97% would make future investments in the region; however 78% of those surveyed said they faced operational difficulties, mostly related to bureaucracy and high costs.

Pauline Chiou, CNN’s World Business Today anchor, spoke with Davide Cucino for his own reflections on the survey. The President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce said a transparent regulatory framework, good opportunities for merger and acquisition operations and a large market of 500 million potential consumers makes Europe an “ideal place to do business”.

While China demands more than a 50% stake in any Western company that sets up operations in Asia’s largest economy, the EU’s Cucino says the business environment of Europe will be “resiliently open”.

Editor's note:  CNN is at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Follow CNN's coverage here.

(CNN) Here in Davos Richard Quest frequently uses the term "DV."  I am a DV, apparently, and so are a few of my CNN colleagues working here at the WEF.  A DV is a "Davos Virgin" - someone experiencing their first taste of this often crazy place. Richard is definitely not a DV.  Incredibly, John Defterios has been to Davos 22 times.

Reporting from here is a challenge. To begin with, there are the security checks. Entering or exiting the halls means going through airport-style security, and there are watchful eyes all over the building ensuring that no one transgresses the strict rules. Then there are the VIPs' own entourages. Out of nowhere a flock of suited people will glide past, usually with a president or prime minister safely cocooned at its center. Woe betides those who don't quickly jump out of the way.

The second challenge is eating. At Davos the color of your badge denotes whether or not you can partake in the spreads of food that suddenly appear in the main hall and elsewhere. I have a purple badge. Among other things, this means I may not taste these morsels. As there is nowhere to buy food in the conference, we must instead go off-site to buy the very expensive food on offer. As one of my colleagues put it: "They call it 'resilient dynamism,' I call it a 20 dollar pizza."

But actually a purple badge isn't so bad. An anchor from another network showed me her yellow badge. "It means we're basically cockroaches," she said. Like many journalists covering the event, she must travel back and forth from the media center to the conference hall in the snow.

At CNN we don't have to brave the cold quite so much, but there's a different kind of resilience needed to work in what we affectionately call "The Bunker." The Bunker is quite literally a bunker. It's a bomb shelter underneath the hall, with concrete walls and giant steel doors. There is no natural light, and it's very warm. Not only that, but there are up to 20 people working here at any time, touching elbows as they tap away on their laptops.

Meanwhile, up on the roof, camera crew and engineers toil away at our live position, as guests and their entourages are brought up and down the icy stairs by our producers.

But in spite of the conditions, there is fun to be had. You never know who you might bump into wandering along, and walking from an interview with Ehud Barak, bumping into Jacob Zuma and then the head of the WTO is perfectly possible in the space of a few minutes.

Richard calls these encounters "DMs" - Davos Moments.  Davos may be grueling, but these DMs make working here a fascinating experience.

(CNN) – The role of women in economic decision-making, religious tolerance in the 21st Century and the future of the eurozone stand out as a few of the must-watch panels Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

While thousands of global economic, political and civil leaders have paid tens of thousands of dollars to personally attend this year’s summit, you can watch many sessions online and on-demand – without breaking the bank.

Friday’s highlights include the following:

1. “The Economic Malaise and Its Perils”

As the global economy continues its slow crawl back to health, this session looks at the impacts it has left in its wake including high unemployment, loss of wealth and political instability.
Featured speakers include Director-General of the International Labor Organization Guy Ryder, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Li Daokui, director of the Center for China in the World Economy.

2. “Women in Economic Decision-making”

With women still greatly under-represented at the highest levels of global economic decision-making, this panel looks at ways to encourage more females to pursue degrees in business and economic-related fields and how to overcome mid-career development hurdles.

Featured speakers include Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde.

3. “Open Forum: Is Religion Outdated in the 21st Century?”

While religions are the oldest institutions in the world, they are the slowest to respond to modern issues such as drugs, homosexuality and family relationships. This session questions whether the world is becoming more or less religious, asks if religion teaches tolerance and delves into the balance of freedoms of speech and religion.

Speakers include Chief Rabbi of the Conference of European Rabbis (Russia) Pinchas Goldschmidt, U.K. National Office for Vocation Director Christopher Jamison, U.S. Catholic Health Association President Carol Keehan and Jakarta Globe Group Chief Editor Shoeb Kagda.

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London (CNN) – “Let’s stop all this talk of two-speed Europe, of fast lanes and slow lanes, of countries missing trains and buses, and consign the whole weary caravan of transport metaphors to a permanent siding.”

The irony is unmistakeable, but this was a serious call to plain speaking. David Cameron’s words, delivered early on in his seminal speech on Britain’s in the European Union, came as a cruel blow to those of us spending our days attempting to illustrate each tiny increment of this crisis with a language that often falls short.

Read more: Cameron promises referendum on Britain's place in Europe

The consequences are difficult to contemplate. We must wave goodbye to the train of European federalism, end all talk of capital flight, and as for the good ship QE…well, she will be consigned to the scrapyard of mere acronyms. And once you do that, there’s no going back. It’s a one-way ticket.

Much like the prospect of Britain leaving the EU, the potential mortality of our metaphors leaves us with a nagging doubt. Can we survive without this linguistic safety net? No sooner had Cameron finished speaking, the cries of protest against a “Europe a la carte” started up, and the French foreign minister Laurent Fabius hit back with a sporting salvo: “Imagine Europe is a football club and you join, but once you're in it you can't say, 'Let's play rugby.'” Had he simply said, “you can’t pick and choose your European experience,” we probably wouldn’t have remembered.
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