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Here in India, people are on tenterhooks
as the country gears up for next year's general elections
when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be seeking
a second five-year term.
Predicting the outcome of Indian elections
is notoriously difficult, given the country's diversity.
But Indians are united in the hope
that they will retain their place as the world's fastest
growing large economy and create more of the millions of jobs
so desperately needed.
What is likely to happen in Italy in 2019?
Well, at the moment, all eyes are on the spat between
the Italian government and Brussels over Rome;s spending
plans, which have also alarmed financial markets.
I think these concerns are likely to fade
somewhat going into the start of 2019
and then potentially reemerge in the build up
to the campaign for the European elections.
These elections are being targeted
by Matthias Albany, the Interior Minister and leader
of the league party, as a way of boosting his political momentum
on a national level
Mexico kicks off 2019 with a brand new president--
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
He's promised sweeping change.
The big hope is that he actually delivers, especially
on reducing corruption and impunity.
Turkey is home to a million school-age Syrian refugee
children.
And the country hopes to get a long way next year
towards its aim of getting all of them
into the mainstream Turkish education system.
Here in Moscow, the big hope for 2019
would be some kind of easing of tensions between Russia
and the West that have led to four
and a half years worth of sanctions against Moscow.
In a perfect world, that would involve the conclusion
of investigations in Washington, proving
there was no collusion between President Donald Trump's
campaign and the Russians.
If sanctions were eased.
That could mean foreign investors come back
to Russia and trade increases, helping prop up the ruble
and increasing the Russian stock market.
In a region that's always busy with news,
2019 is expected to be even more so.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
has found himself embroiled in a series of overlapping
investigations.
Now both he and the country are waiting
to see if Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit will
accept police recommendations.
Secondly, both Israelis and Palestinians
are waiting to see whether or not US President Donald
Trump will finally unveil his long promised
deal of the century.
It was a promise by the White House
to bring Israelis and Palestinians back
to the negotiating table.
Here in the Nordic-Baltic region,
2019 will be a year of elections.
There are votes in Estonia, Finland, and Denmark
with the possibility of new elections in Sweden.
The hope will be that forming a viable government is possible.
And for that, it will be crucial to see
how much populist parties gain.
Hong Kong sits on the front line of
a nascent political and economic battle between Xi Jinping's
China and the West.
My greatest hope is that the US and China eventually
learn to live with the profound differences between them
and perhaps the Communist Party learns
that by taking a softer line, it might also give itself
more breathing space.