Skopje, 16.10.2017 – In attendance of more than 100 eminent business leaders from Macedonia and the region and special guests from international financial institutions, today Mr. Zivko Mukaetov, CEOof “Alkaloid”, who is also the President of SUMMIT100’s Board, has opened the largest business gathering in this region – the 6th annual SUMMIT100 for Business leaders from Southeast Europe.

The theme of this year’s SUMMIT100 is “Connectivity”, in several key areas such as infrastructure, transport, energy, digitization, brandingof the region, enabling the free movement of goods and services, but also a greater degree of labor mobility.

In his opening speech Mr. Zivko Mukaetov in front of the attendees stressed how SUMMIT100 has turned into a leading regional busines splatform and what comes next, and referred to the previous editions of SUMMIT100, as well as the results and key projects that resulted from them.

“The focus of SUMMIT100 in Skopje, as every year, will remain to be regional cooperation. For easier access to new markets, companies need synergies and SUMMIT100 is an excellent initiative to achieve these goals. Simultaneously, SUMMIT100 is a strong platform for structuring of developing programs that would move the regiona step forward in fulfilling the mission of building a powerful business community that will be a generator of greater economic growth. We in the SUMMIT100 are convinced that only by intensifying of the regional cooperation and building synergies between the companies, we will raise the competitiveness of the economies and will enable easier accessto new markets for our companies, while for foreign investors we will be more attractive as a unified market.” said Mr. ZivkoMukaetov at the opening of SUMMIT100.

SUMMIT100 continued with thes pecially announced addressing of VioletaBulc, European Commissioner forTransport, followed by a discussion moderated by Iztok Seljak, coordinator of “Edison” and Vice president of the Board of SUMMIT100.

The European Commissioner forTransport stressed the long-term tradition she has with SUMMIT100 starting from the first day of this business initiative and pointed out that from year to year she is more convinced that SUMMI100 is turning into an exceptionally important platform for regional integration.

„All EU member countries are marking economic growth, the European Union has stepped out from the crisis and today is the strongest economy in the world. Very good message to the youth is that the unemployment in the European Union is dropping and we want to share this good news with our partners from the Western Balkans countries, where positive trends are happening“, said Ms. Bulc.

She called out the countries from the region to use this positive momentum and make the necessary reforms as soon as possible in order to come closer to full membership in the European Union.

According her words, the mutual cooperation and support among the coutries of the region is the key for this path.

After the addressing of Ms. Bulc, addressing from Dr. Aleksandar Kotuc, Head of Project Managemen tfor BMW is expected, who will speak on “Electrifying Motivation or What lies ahead”, after which the plenary panel session titled “E-Mindset for Electrifying Growth Based on Connectivity” is announced . Next on the program is the special inaugural speach from Davor Tremac, “Uber”, about how Sharing is a New Word for Caring i.e. Inspiration of Global Dimension

In the next session panelists will discuss on how SUMMIT100’s dream will turn into a reality, alluding on free cargo in the region, while the topic for the last session, scheduled for 17 pm is “From Berlin via Vienna, Paris and Trieste to Prosperous Reality or How to Make Ideas and Projects Work for the Region Thru Berlin Process” when the Memorandum of Understanding on Mutual Cooperation between Summit100 and WB6 CIF is expected to be signed.

For the second day five creative workshops are scheduled, dedicated onEnergy Agenda, Knowledge-basedEconomy, Food & Beverages / Branding the Origin, as well as Digital Agenda and Tourism, followed with a plenary panel of ideas for regional cooperation in front of the political leaders from the region.