Everything is ready to meet 150 business leaders of South Eastern Europe Portorož, 29 May – During the two days, 1st and 2nd June, Portorož (Slovenia), will host the most prominent business and political leaders from across South Eastern Europe. The focus of the talks will be the most propulsive sectors – from energy, tourism, transport and infrastructure and the financial sector, with the clear positioning of smart cities in economic development. On behalf of the Summit100 Organizer, The Managers Association of Slovenia – MAS, its president, Aleksander Zalaznik, believes that “the renewal and strengthening of economic relations is an important contribution to the stability of South Eastern Europe and for more successful economies countries, within the area. From this year’s Summit100, we have great expectations for internationalisation and increased competitiveness of the region, particularly in terms of concrete projects that will result from the meeting”, noted Zalaznik.
Summit100 is the first and unique gathering of its kind in the region, designed as a strong cohesive force for future economic co-operation, as well as in the efforts of political leaders in order to improve standards across the region. This event aims to show the determination of business leaders to assume their responsibility in creating a vision and the requirements for strengthening the competitiveness of national economies and the competitive potential of the whole of South East Europe.
Such a commitment is confirmed by the CEO of Atlantic Group, Emil Tedeschi, stressing that Summit 100 shows once again that the business community has always been and remains a step ahead of politics, which is why the meeting is an important incentive for dialogue on economic co-operation in the region, for which there is space and the need in various fields, not only infrastructure, telecommunications and energy projects. “Small and medium enterprises can, through various models of clustering, be the engine of development at a pan-regional level. Summit 100 is an initiative through dialogue on specific business solutions and policies form a new, achievable vision of improving the business environment, co-operation and quality of life in the region”, reports Tedeschi.
“The fourth annual gathering of employers and entrepreneurs of South East Europe continues with the idea of gathering and sharing business representatives in order to be a durable platform and meeting place for the most distinguished entrepreneurs and businessmen from Slovenia, Croatia Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania”, proposes Vice President of the Summit100 Management Board, Damir Kuštrak.
“The initiative of voluntary organisations of employers – the Serbian Association of Managers, the Croatian Employers’ Association and the Managers Association of Slovenia – MAS, and fully supported by the Atlas Foundation and Montenegro – remains unchanged, and concerns opening perspectives for strengthening the competitiveness of national economies of countries, but also competitive potential of the entire southeast of Europe.
The gathering is linked to the process Brdo-Brijuni, which, parallel to the summit, held a meeting of Heads of State of the region, the highest political leaders in the region to jointly open the perspective of strengthening the economy. Overall, the variety of political tension in the region that we are aware of late, economists promote co-operation, the possibilities of expanding markets and joint appearances on third markets”, concludes Kuštrak.
Summit100, as was vividly iterated by Dr. Iztok SELJAK, Chairman of the Management Board, must discuss the future in which there is a project for the development of high-speed rail on the platform of Smart Cities of South Eastern Europe. “We need to be able to sit down in a high-speed train in Ljubljana and a half hour later get to Zagreb and after a further hour and a half to Belgrade, and for the next hour and a half to Skopje. Then the region will actually be much better strongly connected”.
The patron of this year’s event is the Slovenian President, Boris Pahor, who will host his fellow presidents from Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia – Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, Mladen Ivanić, Filip Vujanović, Atifete Jahjaga and Gjorge Ivanov. Summit100 was first organised in 2011 in Serbia, the second year in Montenegro, and the third in Croatia, and all three had Presidential patrons from the host country.

Press Office
Summit100
Portorož 1-2 June 2015
press@summit100.org

Note to reporters and editors:
The programme of the Summit includes events that will be fully open to the public, some partially open, and some directly transmitted via the web; all event will be cctv broadcasted only in the internal areas of the hotel where the summit is being held. In all instances, photos and videos and press releases from the event will be available to all accredited media in Portorož, and to other media upon request, the team at the PRESS office will provide these immediately.
Looking forward to seeing you in Portorož!