INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WESTERN BALKANS:
REGIONAL AND EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES

On behalf of the Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA) and Representation Office of the European Commission, Bratislava it is our great pleasure to invite you to the forthcoming international conference Economic Opportunities in the Western Balkans:
Regional and European Perspectives, which will take place in Bratislava on June 12 – 13, 2008.

Though Slovakia and other Central European countries consider the Western Balkans to be one of the top foreign policy priorities, their economic presence in the region is far from being satisfactory.
In order to enhance economic cooperation with the Western Balkans, appropriate strategies and policies are to be pursued.
The conference will therefore bring together foreign policy and economic analysts, diplomats, as well as the representatives of the business sector from Central Europe and the Western Balkans.

The main goal of the conference is to present current, and identify future trade and investment opportunities in the Western Balkan region.
This goal fully corresponds with the policies pursued by the European Commission.
 
Other goals include a more detailed focus on political and economic trends in the Western Balkan countries and obstacles preventing the improvement of economic cooperation between the EU and the region, such as corruption, organized crime and political instability.
The role of diplomacy, and especially the EU, in the process of the development of economic relations will be evaluated as well, while specific attention will be paid to the introduction of the projects of companies that have been already active in the Western Balkans.

Apart from establishing new ties among various regional and European actors, including the representatives of the business sector, investment agencies, diplomacies and non-governmental organizations, the organizers aim to publish a policy brief, which will contain the main points from the panel debates.
The recommendations to the governments of the Western Balkan countries, the Commission of the European Union, as well as to the Slovak and other Central European governments will be put forward in order to minimize the problem areas and increase the attractiveness of the investment environment in the Western Balkans.
http://www.sfpa.sk/en/podujatia/odborne-podujatia/842.