The annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, EBRD, that took place in Sarajevo ended on Thursday evening with a gathering of the institution’s Alumni Association which has more than 3,000 members all over the world.
“I can express huge satisfaction and pride that Bosnia and Herzegovina was hosting this event, as for a number of years already we are working on making this conference possible,” said Bosnia’s Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic, adding that EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti and his team said it was “the best organised” meeting of EBRD governors outside of London.
“That shows that we have the knowledge and the ability when we want to,” he said.
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The organisers of the EBRD event also said they were happy with how everything went by and according to the head of the EBRD’s Annual Meetings, Protocol and Event Management Unit, Stefania Galbiati Ball, statistical data confirms the success of the event.
“This year’s gathering was very well visited, more than any other we have organised in recent years. That shows that investors are interested in this country and the region,” she said.
The theme of the event was ‘Connecting Economies for Stronger Growth’ and participants touched upon some of the key topics among all the regional countries.
A panel of regional leaders included the speeches by the President of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, and the Chairman of Bosnia’s Council of Ministers (prime minister) Denis Zvizdic.
They spoke about numerous political and economic topics and agreed that the key to development in the region is cooperation.
“We truly wanted to send out a different picture of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to help with the creation of a new perception of our country in the eyes of those people who will come and invest here in the future,” said Bosnia’s Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Minister Mirko Sarovic.
Chakrabarti also spoke about the importance of cooperation in the Western Balkans.
“I consider integration extremely important for the expansion of the market, the increase of cross-border investments as well as boosting the exchange of new ideas and innovations, which may be the most important thing,” he said.
Bosnia presented its strategic industries and investment opportunities to potential investors at a session under the name ‘Invest in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Invest in profitable projects’.
“We are a very small market, but very good when it comes to the IT sector, where we have many potentials. Apart from that, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a very good geographic position, as it is exactly on the border between the East and the West, which enables us to provide services regardless of the time zone,” said Edin Deljkic, the Chairman of the board of the BIT Alliance, which presented the potential of the IT industry in the country at the event.
“Today we have set up some very important contacts and we expect that numerous cooperation opportunities will be realised with our companies,” he said.
The EBRD event included a number of meetings, panels, forums and other events which covered numerous topics regarding small and medium businesses, ways to overcome the challenges they are facing, as well as strategies for implementing new technologies with the aim to increase the profitability of companies.
The event also included interactive panel discussions with some high-profile persons, such as Oxford University Economy professor Beata Javorcik and Baroness Catherine Ashton.
