Summit 100 Concluded: Political Cooperation in the Region a Prerequisite for Business Development

A joint panel of business and political leaders from Southeast Europe concluded the two-day program of the fifth Summit 100, the region's leading business initiative, which was organized in Sarajevo for the first time, the Patria News Agency reports, according to a statement from the Summit 100 organization.  

Political leaders of the region: Borut Pahor, Bujar Nishani, Filip Vujanović, Gjorge Ivanov, Hashim Thaci, Tomislav Nikolić, and members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bakir Izetbegović, Dragan Čović, and Mladen Ivanić, emphasized that the countries of the region, home to more than 25 million people, can offer each other support in various spheres: energy, infrastructure, economy, education, as well as in other areas aimed at overall development and improvement of standards.

The prerequisites for this are certainly quality political cooperation and mutual trust, which are also guarantees of regional stability for future growth, it was stated from Sarajevo.

It was concluded that the Nordic cooperation model, presented on the first day, should be a long-term ambition for the countries of the region, on which future generations will also work. A joint approach to European integration offers a greater chance of development and should be one of the guidelines for regional cooperation and policy, the leaders agreed. The moderators of the final panel were Amer Bukvić, director of BBI Bank, and Duško Knežević, president of Atlas Group.

More than 150 participants attended the two-day Summit 100 in Sarajevo, held under the motto "Agreement for a New Era," and more than 300 media outlets were accredited. Businessmen from the region discussed various topics in which they recognize common interest and potential, such as: transport infrastructure, renewable energy sources, labor market, education, agriculture, tourism, information technologies…

Previous annual gatherings of regional leaders were held in Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia, and the next one is planned to be held in Macedonia.

The organizers of Summit 100 2016 were BBI Bank and ASA Prevent Group from Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the support of the Manager Association from Slovenia, the Serbian Association of Managers, the Croatian Employers' Association, Atlas Group from Montenegro, and Alkaloid from Macedonia.