The seventh Summit100 Business Leaders of Southeast Europe, with digital transformation as this year’s central topic, was ceremonially opened in Belgrade today. The Summit100 Leaders opening ceremony was attended by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, President of the Serbian Association of Managers and BoD Chairwoman of the Summit100 Stanka Pejanović, Chief Operating Officer of A1 Telekom Austria Group Alejandro Plater and Senior Consultant of the Boston Consulting Group Antonella Mei-Pochtler.
At the opening of the Summit100 Business Leaders of Southeast Europe, PM Ana Brnabić underlined that she believed that the entire region could become the “region of winners” by joining digital transformation processes. “I firmly believe that the fourth industrial revolution represents a huge opportunity for Serbia and the entire region to catch up and keep pace with the developed world,” said the PM. She also added that the whole region could not afford to miss that opportunity. “This is one of the highest priorities of the Serbian government, and I work on it every day. I think that this can be the region of winners and leaders in innovation and implementation of new technologies in economic growth on the wave of the fourth industrial revolution, marked by digitalisation,” noted Brnabić.
President of the Serbian Association of Managers (SAM) and BoD Chairwoman of the Summit100 Stanka Pejanović said at the opening of the Summit100 Leaders in Belgrade that Belgrade was the host of the Summit again, highlighting that options of the best utilisation of the fourth industrial revolution changes through cooperation, aimed at making the region more developed and competitive in the global market, would be discussed: “With joint efforts, we can make the entire region more competitive and utilise advantages of digital transformation.” She added that digitalisation was a great opportunity and that it could contribute to local economy and community development, as well as that synchronised activities of the business and education sectors was necessary to enable children in the region to be part of the global economy and to have experts for new jobs in the IT industry and create prospects for strengthening national economies.
The central topic of the seventh Summit100 Business Leaders is how to use the 4th industrial revolution as a spring board and thus make a “quantum” leap to the developed and globally competitive region. The two-day Summit will gather experts and ministers from the region, who will discuss the most diverse topics, such as labour mobility, energy sustainability, strengthening of national economies and competitive potential of the entire Southeast Europe. Speakers at the Summit also include Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antić, Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić, Macedonian PM Deputy Kocho Angjushev and BiH Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Mirko Šarović.
The initiator and organiser of the Summit100 Business Leaders is the Serbian Association of Managers (SAM), supported by the Managers’ Association of Slovenia (ZM), the Croatian Employers’ Association (HUP) and other business partners from the region – the Atlas Foundation from Montenegro, Alkaloid from Macedonia, BBI Bank and ASA Holding from BiH. The event gathers the most prominent business leaders of Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania, and is the first unique event in the region of its kind, designed as a platform for economic ties and specific contribution of business leaders to political efforts aimed at improving economic collaboration and competitiveness of the region.