3rd international conference on economic diplomacy and internationalization, 2 - 3 June 2014, Sarajevo - Bosnia and Herzegovina

Registration for the 3rd International CEDI Conference is available here.

There is no participation fee for this event.

The conference program is available here.

Economic diplomacy is an essential part of modern diplomacy. Together with business people, diplomats aspire to seek new business and investment opportunities in foreign markets, protect the interests of their domestic economies abroad and attract inward foreign direct investments.

The economic crisis which has been going on since 2008 puts on the additional need of domestic economies to diversify and go international, in particular to the fast growing economies.

The new models of economic diplomacy have therefore been implemented with the enhanced role of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and active cooperation between MFAs, Ministries of Economy, Chambers of Commerce and Industry, other business associations and government institutions and agencies. Internationalization is very important to all companies, but in particular to the small and medium-sized ones (SMEs) which, in general, do not have their own networks abroad.

ICPE has been aware of the importance of economic diplomacy and internationalization and organized its first international two-day seminar on the new commercial diplomacy in November 2009 where ministries and other governmental institutions and agencies, international experts, business people and others from 18 countries shared their knowledge and experience.

The conditions of the global economy, with the on-going impact of the economic crisis, have significantly changed since then.  These trends were confirmed by the 2^nd International Conference on Economic Diplomacy and Internationalization, held in June 2013 in Ljubljana, organized by ICPE together with Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia as co-organizer and in partnership with the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology of Slovenia and Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The conference brought together speakers from 32 countries as well as a much higher number of foreign representatives in the audience.

The 3^rd International conference on Economic Diplomacy and Internationalization will be organized as an upgrade to the 1^st and the 2^nd conferences.

The themes under discussion will prioritize the successful models of the economic diplomacy and internationalization of national economies. The Conference is co-organized by ICPE, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia and some international organizations.

PROGRAM

Day 1: Monday, 2 June 2014

17:00 – 19:00 Opening ceremony and keynote speeches
Chair & Moderator: Mitar Kujundžić, Ambassador, Assistant Minister for Multilateral Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Welcome Address: Janez Podobnik, Acting Director General, International Center for Promotion of Enterprises (ICPE)
Keynote speaker: Zlatko Lagumdžija, PhD, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Address 1: Ermina Salkičević – Dizdarević, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Address 2: Ahmet Egrlić, President, Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Address 3: Peter Sørensen, European Union Special Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina
Address 4: Goran Svilanović, Ph.D., Secretary General, Regional Cooperation Council, Sarajevo
Address 5: Janez Šumrada, Ph.D., Ambassador, Head of the Department for Economic Promotion, Directorate for Economic Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia

Forum discussion and conclusions formulated by the moderator

19:00 Welcome reception

Day 2: Tuesday, 3 June 2014

8:30 - 9:00 Registration

9:00 – 11:00 Effective Economic Diplomacy

Chair & Moderator: Amer Kapetanović, Assistant Minister for Bilateral Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Speakers:
- Neven Kulenović, Minister-Counselor, Head of the Department for Economic Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Zvone Dragan, Ambassador, Special Adviser to the Acting Director General, International Center for Promotion of Enterprises (ICPE)
- H.E. Željko Jerkić, Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Republic of Slovenia
- H.E. Iztok Grmek, Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to Bosnia and Herzegovina
- H.E. Ivan Del Vechio, M. Sc., Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Radoslav Janković, Ambassador, Coordinator of the Group for bilateral economic cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia
- Boštjan Udovič, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
- David Dašić, Ph.D., Professor, European Center for Peace and Development, Belgrade

10:30 – 11:00 Forum discussion and conclusions formulated by the moderator

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break

11:30 – 13:30 Internationalization of National Economies

Moderator: Igor Gavran, Senior Adviser, Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Speakers:
- Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CEFTA Agreement)
- Elma Kovačević-Bajtal, M.Sc., Adviser, Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Institute for Education
- Alexander Märdian, Delegation of German Economic Affairs in Bosnia and Herzegovina (AHK BH)
- Sigmund Nemeti, Commercial Counselor, Embassy of Austria in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Representatives of Bosnian enterprises successful in foreign markets:

- Senada Spahić, Assistant General Manager for Finance and Director of Finance Department, Energoinvest d.d.
- Lordan Iličić, Brand manager, Economic Vitez
- Sanja Praštalo, Director of Marketing Department, Mikroelektronika
- Adis Hasaković and Adel Hodžić, As Group Jelah
- Miroslav Ćorić, Owner, Andrija – wine production
- Snježana Koepruner, One - Association of Women Entrepreneurs and CO GS-TMT dd
- Amer Bukvić, CEO, Bosna Bank International (BBI)
- Rešid Muratović, Director, Altermedia

13:30 – 14:00 Forum discussion

14:00 – 14:30 Conclusions formulated by the moderator
Closing speech: Janez Podobnik, ICPE Acting Director General