Not infrequently this has been helped by explicit policies. David Cameron prides himself on a successful campaign to make 40 of all Conservative parliamentary candidates in Britain are women.

Peace within, peace with others and peace amongst others is a tradition on which Gabon prides itself, a tradition that reflects the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

This innovative experiment, on which Tunisia prides itself, has already proved its effectiveness, so tangible and promising are the benefits it has brought to the impoverished sections of the population and the remote regions.

Harbin, for example, prides itself on its history of tolerance and openness to foreigners. Elsewhere, Tel Aviv s official Web site celebrates, among other attractions, the city s progressive role as a world center for the gay community.

One reason is that companies nowadays are much more aware of their own long run fragility than they were in the post World War II decades. Not even America s IBM which prides itself on stability wants to take the risk of offering defined benefit schemes.

An economic loss arises only if a firm produces some specialized good that can be sold only in Russia using labor and capital that are also specialized and cannot be employed to produce something else. This applies especially to Germany The famous German Mittelstand often does produce highly specialized goods but it also prides itself on its flexibility and adaptability.

They carry major implications for the security of Poland and beyond. In his statement in Warsaw following the Madrid meeting, the President of Poland, Mr. Aleksander Kwasniewski, declared inter alia, in the presence of President Bill Clinton, that Poland does not turn its back on anyone and does not look for friends afar nor for enemies next door. Poland prides itself on the friendship and confidence it enjoys among its neighbours.