Final Report - Central European Initiative

“fostering reforms and innovation for sustainable growth”
The first edition of the CEI Summit Economic Forum (SEF) was organised in 1998 in Zagreb, on the occasion of the
Summit of the Heads of Government. The SEF is the CEI main business event. It traditionally takes place each
November in the country holding the CEI Presidency. The SEF gathers government officials, industry leaders,
businessmen, entrepreneurs, investors, financial institutions, international organisations, investment and trade
promotion agencies, representatives from local authorities, bankers, fund managers, business service providers,
etc. –from within as well as from far beyond the CEI region.
The SEF acts as a platform where feasible business ideas can be discussed, investment opportunities examined,
trade partnerships established, co-operation agreements made. It also offers an opportunity to personally meet
policy makers and discuss common institutional bottlenecks and possible ways to overcome them. The SEF is coorganised by the Secretariat for CEI Projects with the Ministry of Economy of the Member State holding the CEI
Presidency. The Italian Government is the main funding source. The European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) is also actively involved in the preparations for the SEF.
This year’s CEI Summit Economic Forum took place in Tirana on 22-23 November 2006. The main theme for both
the Economic Forum and the Roundtable of the CEI Ministers of Economic Sectors was “Fostering Reforms and
Innovation for Sustainable Growth”.
Around 1000 participants from 36 countries attended the 20 formal sessions. Approximately 55 informal one-to-one
meetings took place in the bilateral meeting room, purposely arranged by the organisers in the Interactive Business
Area (IBA).
Looking ahead at the next SEF in Bulgaria, some ideas have been already been put forward to the organisers: for
example, the winning formula of organising seminars within three thematic streams complemented by the project
room continues to be highly appreciated and will be maintained, while the networking facilities and business
exhibition areas could be expanded in order to guarantee more visibility to a higher number of faithful partners.
The Secretariat for CEI Projects and the counterparts from the forthcoming Bulgarian CEI Presidency are open to
additional proposals and are looking forward to starting preparatory work for the tenth CEI SEF.
The Secretariat for CEI Projects wishes to thank the Prime Minister of Albania for his personal interest and
support granted to the organisation of the event. The CEI-PS would also like to express its greatest
gratitude to all the Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Government Officials who gave their contribution to the
SEF.
A special thank you note goes to the Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy, the Deputy Minister, the
Secretary General, and all the staff of the Ministry for the fruitful cooperation and pro-active support in
organising the 9th edition of the CEI Summit Economic Forum.
SESSIONS SUMMARY REPORT
The official sessions of the CEI Summit Economic Forum were grouped under three main streams or thematic pillars: 1)
Fostering Business Climate; 2) Exploiting the Local Potential; and 3) Investing in Innovation. Overall, conclusions from the different streams converged to the positive assessment of reforms in innovation and for growth in the region.
The region is growing and outperforming ‘western’ economies. Better macroeconomic conditions have had a positive impact
on the business environment, which in its turn has improved investors’ confidence in many sectors of the economy.. However,
there still appears to be much work to be done. Political backing of reforms exists, but enforceability of legislation and self-regulating codes remains a great obstacle. The presence of the CEI has had a positive effect on these matters. Through its Technical
Cooperation projects the CEI provides grants aimed at strengthening the legal, economic and financial environments, thus leading to better protection for both private and public entities. Through its Cooperation Activities and Know-How Exchange programmes, the CEI promotes the dissemination of expertise and technical knowledge. Together with partners such as the EBRD,
the World Bank and the OECD, the CEI has assumed an ever expanding role in regional development, as pointed out in several sessions. Yet, international organisations and international financial institutions cannot substitute private sector involvement
which, once again, has been singled out as the actor having a determining role to play to ensure sustainable development, efficiency and competitiveness in the region.
Stream 1 - Fostering Business Climate
The first stream provided a thorough examination of the economic and business climate in which transition occurs. An quick
glance over all sessions seems to point out to the idea that reforms aimed at improving the business climate in the region are
centred on a core issue: giving the right incentives. The task of governments and private actors is not only policing, but also
‘incentivising’. Overall, the stream concluded that efforts have been made and that the region as a whole has shown improvements, yet that much work still needs to be done.
The first session was dedicated to the Albanian Market. This ‘case-study’ of the Albanian economy was very useful in projecting challenges and opportunities of free markets in the wider context of the south-eastern European region.
This stream highlighted the importance of some less-developed sectors. Tourism in Albania, for instance, has a lot of growth
potential, yet it is hindered by red tape, inefficiencies and other obstacles which must be removed. Governments still must pass
- and most importantly enforce - proper legislation, and promoters must pay attention to the lessons learned from the masstouristy development and ensuing mass-urbanisation of the Spanish and Greek coasts, so as to choose the correct and sustainable development for tourism, property and real estate in the region.
As far as the work of international financial institutions in the region is concerned, the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) made note of the newly Western Balkans fund launched a few days before the Summit Economic Forum.
This fund, together with other EBRD initiatives such as the Trade facilitation Programme, is an important tool to support the
development of the region. Moreover, the existence of such tools gives re-assuring signals that the international community
remains engaged in the region.
Stream 2 - Exploiting the Local Potential
Spread over the 2 days, the sessions were moderated by recognised experts from a number of international institutions [EBRD,
World Bank and OSCE], and involved a wide range of speakers. The core message focused on the necessity to promote sustainable development. This means to find ways for businesses to cooperate with the social sector and other important stakeholders in order to counteract the negative effect of some externalities upon society and working towards a better application of
concepts such as redistributive justice.
This also means to increase investment in renewables and energy efficiency. In that field, the key challenge is to move towards
a global market, with a long-term horizon. For this, the integration of the CEI regional markets can be a first step. Guaranteeing
sustainable development in localities through municipal projects was also raised as an important safeguard in order for countries to fully “exploit local potential”. Sound city management, adequate financial and operational management are imperative
for increased effectiveness of the delivery of municipal services. Such efficiency gains are not only important in order to attract
investment and for the development of city infrastructure but are also essential in order to sustain already existing investments.
“fostering reforms and innovation for sustainable growth”
In other words, it is not all about attraction of capital and investment, but also a matter of sustainability.
As far as public investment is concerned, the use of tools such as Public-Private Partnerships can be very valuable. In bringing
the public and private sector together, governments trust that the management skills of the business community will create better value-for-money for taxpayers and lead to more sustainable state finances. Such initiatives have been tried in the region, with
very high success rates.
Stream 3 - Investing in Innovation
The third stream took place over both days and provided examples of best practices in the field of innovation. In a context of
increasing globalisation, investment in innovation is central to growth and development. This idea was carried in the back of
everyone’s mind, and it is against this background that the discussions took place. Much local potential remains unutilised in
the region. Making use of this potential and gearing it for the furthering of innovation can only happen if practices mentalities
change. For instance, it is essential that the link between academic research and innovation be tied more strongly. For this, creating a bond between universities and enterprises, at the regional level can be a first step. In addition to this institutional aspect
of furthering innovation, the human agency aspect must be taken into account. Gender inequality and traditional barriers can
have a detrimental effect on local economic growth – it is important to involve women as much as possible in all business, and
especially in innovative businesses, through better access to training and SME finance.
As far as the private sector is concerned, once more, speakers and participants alike pointed out the important role that firms
have in ensuring competitiveness and efficiency in the region by investing in innovation. While this role is essential for growth,
institutional and legal support is needed. As such, the roles of both private and public actors have been defined in order to create a virtuous circle starting from investment in innovation, leading to sustainable growth and development.
IBA - Interactive Business Area
Project Room (Project Presentations and Focused Meetings): A large number of projects were presented in the
Project Room on the following sectors: women entrepreneurship, transport and sustainable development as well as SME development. In addition, two focused meetings took place in IBA, namely: “Quality Procurement for Quality Infrastructure” and the
“OECD SME Expert Advisory Council: Public Policy Debate”. The former focused on various elements of public procurement,
in particular on the selection of consultants, need for professional advice, integrity and sustainability issues. The latter was dedicated to a debate among SME experts from the Western Balkans and OECD countries on key issues concerning the development of a vibrant small enterprise sector in the region.
Match-making: The IBA was not only confined to the Project Room. More interestingly, it served as a forum within the
forum and provided a platform for establishing contacts and match-making mostly though the organisation of bilateral meetings.
The CEI staff assisted SEF participants in making
appointments by creating a calendar of business
meetings during the event. That is the so-called
Business Match-Making, on basis of which entrepreneurs, bankers, potential investors and joint
venture partners can get to know each other in
order to discuss their business proposals, availability of funds, projects and programmes.
Desk of Italy: This info point was launched in
2005 and attracted a great deal of interest thanks
to the close cooperation between the Italian
Ministry for Foreign Trade, the Italian Institute for
Foreign Trade (ICE), Simest, Informest and
Unioncamere, which all together organised an
invaluable tool to support small and medium sized
enterprises in support to the internationalisation of
companies looking to develop their business in
Albania.
THE ROUNDTABLE OF THE CEI MINISTERS OF ECONOMIC SECTORS
The Roundtable of the CEI Ministers of Economic Sectors took place within the framework of the CEI economic forum, in the
afternoon of Thursday 23 November 2006, at Tirana International Hotel. Member States discussed opportunities and challenges faced by the countries of the region. They all highlighted their chosen solutions to achieve sustainable economic growth,
especially in relations to the development of policies aimed at supporting further and deeper integration into EU structures and,
overall, European markets. The meeting provided all Ministers and delegations with the opportunity to exchange their positive
experiences in relations to socio-economic growth and on the impact of the structural reforms undertaken by each country. It
confirmed the progress made in developing a common market in CEI Member States, and the role of cooperation as a very
important instrument in the regional economic development. The meeting concluded that each country should continue along
the reform path as one of the preconditions for achieving further sustainable economic growth. Special attention was drawn to
the need of increasing foreign direct investments to the region in key sectors, such as energy . All the Ministers agreed on the
importance of the Central European Initiative and its role in promoting regional cooperation and growth.
CEI MEMBER STATES - Heads of Delegations
ALBANIA
Mr. Genc RULI,
Minister, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy
MACEDONIA
Ms. Vera RAFAJLOVSKA
Minister, Ministry of Economy
AUSTRIA
Mr. Josef MAYER,
Vice-Minister, Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour
MOLDOVA
Mr. Viorel MELNIC
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Economy and Trade
BELARUS
Mr. Andrey TUR
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Economy
MONTENEGRO
Mr. Branimir GVOZDENOVIC
Minister, Ministry of Economy
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Mr. Anton RILL,
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
POLAND
Mr. Pavel PONCYLJUSZ
Secretary of State, Ministry of Economy
BULGARIA
Mr. Marian NINOV
Charge d'Affaires of the Bulgarian Embassy in Tirana
ROMANIA
Mr. Iuliu WINKLER
Minister Delegate for Commerce, Ministry of Economy and
Commerce
CROATIA
Mr. Branko VUKELIC
Minister, Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship
CZECH REPUBLIC
Mr. Milan HOVORKA
Director of Section of EU and CIS countries, Ministry of Trade and
Industry
HUNGARY
Mr. Miklos MERENYI
Deputy State Secretary, Ministry of Economy and Transport
ITALY
Mr. Milos BUDIN
Undersecretary of State, Ministry of International Trade
SERBIA
Mr. Pedrag BUBALO
Minister, Ministry of Economy
SLOVAKIA
Mr. Jozef MIHOK
Director General of Strategy Division, Ministry of Economy
SLOVENIA
Ms. Sabina KOLESA
Director General of Foreign Economic Relations Directorate,
Ministry of the Economy
UKRAINE
Mr. Valeriu PIATNYTSKIY
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Economy
IOs AND IFIs - Heads of Delegations
CENTRAL EUROPEAN INITIATIVE
Mr. Harald Kreid, Director General, Executive Secretariat
EUROPEAN BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Ms. Brigita SCHMOGNEROVA
Vice President - Human Resources and Administration
EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK
Mr. Ivan PILIP
Vice President, Management Committee
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
Ms. Ann Margaret WESTIN
Resident Representative of IMF in Albania
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
Ms. Gulden TURKOZ – COSSLETT
Resident Representative in Albania
UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE
Ms. Ewa RUMINSKA-ZIMNY
Senior Social Affairs Officer, Office of the Executive Secretary
“fostering reforms and innovation for sustainable growth”
SPONSORS
The SEF 2006 was generously supported by a number of local and international companies, with Sanpaolo IMI and the CocaCola Albania acting as main international sponsors.
Leading Italian financial service provider, the Sanpaolo IMI Group is operating in 34 countries around the world through 142
branches and representative offices. It has around 44.000 employees and 5000 financial advisors serving approximately 7 million customers through a domestic franchise of almost 3200 branches . The Group has achieved the leading status both in the
Italian asset management and insurance markets. Within the Group, Banca OPI is responsible for public sector and infrastructure finance both in Italy, where it is market leader, and abroad.
Coca-Cola Bottling Shqiperia Sh.p.k. (CCBS l.t.d.) is the Albanian market leader in soft drinks, reaching a market share of
more than 60% for the sale of beverages. In 2005 more than 30 millions litres of The Coca-Cola Company products were delivered to the local market. These products include: Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light, Fanta Orange, Fanta Lemon, Fanta Exotic,
Sprite, Lift Apple, Lift Peach-Apple, Schweppes Indian Tonic Water and Schweppes Bitter Lemon. CCBS distributes the
Albanian mineral water market leader as “Tepelene” well. The Coca-Cola factory, located 5 km from Tirana, was built in a record
time of 85 days at the beginning of the 1994.
Banka Kombetare Tregtare, the main Albanian sponsor, is the second largest bank in Albania, providing all banking service to
the public sector, private companies and individuals. It operates through a network of 33 branches and agencies in sixteen main
cities in the country.
Enel Spa, SEF 2006 co-sponsor, is Italy’s largest power company, and Europe’s third-largest listed utility by market capitalisation. It has the largest number of shareholders of any European company, at some 2.3 million and a market capitalisation of
about EUR41 billion at current prices.
The organisation of SEF 2006 was also supported by AMC (the leading mobile operator in Albania), Agmin Italy (international
agro-industrial trading group, based in Italy and operating principally in developing countries), Alstom (leading company in the
transport and power generations markets) and D’Appolonia (major independent Italian consulting engineering firm).
MEDIA PARTNERS AND COVERAGE
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own
correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 33 sites throughout the world, including Athens, Bologna,
Frankfurt am Main, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, London, Madrid, Marseille, New York, Paris, Singapore, Tel Aviv-Yafo,
The Hague, Tokyo, and Zürich. It is sold in more than 180 countries. The IHT is part of The New York Times Company. Based
in Paris since its founding in 1887, it has long been the staple source of English language news for American expatriates, tourists, and businesspeople in Europe. It is considered the first “global” newspaper. It has a circulation of 242,200 (2005) and
approximately 335 employees. This year the cooperation included: two CEI SEF advertisements, 1/6 broadsheet-page in the
IHT, published in October; website space on IHT.com Europe section with CEI banner insertion. The IHT also manned a ministand at the Tirana International Hotel.
Shekulli
First published in 1997, Shekulli is the most popular newspaper in the Albanian media market. Shekulli daily is considered the
most credible newspapers which has proud itself of responding constantly to thr readership’s need. In the course of the years
it has improved its contents and graphics, as well as overall coverage of both national and international events. It is, for instance, only newspaper that conducts opinion polls and gathers comments from the Albanian community abroad. The print version
of the newspaper has about 150 000 readers per day, while Shekulli Online is being visited by more than 1 million readers worldwide each month.
EUobserver
The EUobserver is an independent online news service providing the best up-to-date coverage on the European Union. The
EUobserver provides the most accessible and reliable information on EU politics and EU affairs. It is the largest online daily news
site focused on the European Union, with 25,000 readers every day, 78% of which based in Europe. The EUobserver is read by
major EU stakeholders: EU and government officials, lobby groups and business, media and press, academics and students
and perhaps most important of all, EU citizens.
European Voice
European voice is the leading Brussels based newspaper for news, analysis and opinion on European Union affairs. Since its
launch in 1995 by The Economist Group, the European Voice has published news, in-depth analysis and influential opinion on
the most important developments in the European Union. European Voice is an insider’s guide to understanding the complexity of the EU, the policy developments and how business and industry are affected.
Internet Securities
Internet Securities was founded in 1994 and acquired by Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC in 1999. It delivers hard-to-get
information on more than 70 emerging markets through its online Emerging Markets Information Service. This year the cooperation included: CEI banner in their daily news alerts and in website across October and November 2006; Intellinews / ISI
Securities banner in CEI SEF home page; email alerts to database of subscribers.
SeeNews
SeeNews is an independent newswire for news and analyses on South-Eastern European countries. The service is tailored for
professionals in the corporate sector, media, financial services, state institutions and governments, and international organisations. SeeNews offers extensive in-depth news coverage from a mixture of emerging marker economies thus filling the information gap and supporting investors and media professionals in Southeast Europe.
Others
Other international media also covered the two-day event, inter alia: Bloomberg, BBC World Service, Mergermarket, Wiener
Zeitung, Boerse Online. Local broadcaster, online and print media, as well as a small number of freelance journalists also covered the event.
“fostering reforms and innovation for sustainable growth”
SEF IN FIGURES
registered participants
1003
countries represented
36
IOs, IFIs and other int’l associations
21
speakers and project promoters
126
sessions
20
project presentations
20
bilateral business meetings
55
journalists reporting from the event
67
Session Attendance
DAY 1
average
Stream 1
90
Stream 2
50
Stream 3
75
IBA Project Presentations
30
DAY 2
Stream 2
50
Stream 3
50
IBA Focused Meetings
30
QUESTIONNAIRES ON SEF PARTICIPANT’S SATISFACTION
Following last year’s success, the “Questionnaire on SEF Participants’ satisfaction” was distributed to all the participants this
year too. Comments were very positive and praise was given to many aspects of the organisation of the event.
The 3 most numerous participant groups, i.e business, government and speaker participants, were extremely satisfied with the
overall concept of SEF as well as with its organisation, so much so that around 95% of them confirmed their potential attendance at next year’s event. Moreover, the grouping of all event sessions into thematic areas, or "SEF Streams", appears to be
a winning formula appreciated by participants, who in this way can easily identify and attend those sessions that most meet
their interests. In this respect, participants expressed their high level of satisfaction in relations to both the topics chosen as well
as for the level of speakers and quality of presentations.
There were also very positive comments on the benefits provided by the Interactive Business Area (IBA), both in terms of opportunities to present/find project ideas and as a tool to establish contacts through the Networking System (bilateral meetings). As
regards the SEF documentation, logistic facilities, and assistance before and during the event, participants unanimously confirmed to have been very satisfied by the overall SEF Team work and support.
SEF TEAM
Secretariat for CEI Projects
Programme Manager
Mr. Guido Paolucci
e-mail: paoluccg@ebrd.com
Trieste Office at the CEI Headquarters
Via Genova 9 // 34121 Trieste - Italy
tel. +39 040 7786 777 // fax +39 040 7786 766
e-mail: cei.ebrd@cei-es.org
homepage: www.ceinet.org
Executive Officer
Ms. Slavena Radovanovic
e-mail: radovanovic@cei-es.org
Junior Executive Officer
Ms. Elisabetta Dovier
e-mail: dovier@cei-es.org
Junior Executive Officer
Mr. Adrian Keler
e-mail: keler@cei-es.org
SEF Interns
Ms. Gaia Peracca; Mr. Nikola Popovic
London Office at the European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
One Exchange Square // London EC2A 2JN - UK
tel. +44 20 7338 7471 // fax +44 20 7338 6538
e-mail : paoluccg@ebrd.com
homepage : www.ebrd.com
CEI Political Analyst
Ms. Marta Simonetti
e-mail: simonetm@ebrd.com
Programme Assistant
Ms. Stefania Del Monte
e-mail: delmonts@ebrd.com
SEF Intern
Mr. Yannis Arvanitis
“fostering reforms and innovation for sustainable growth”