Regional Conference “The Future of Investing”

AmCham Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Montenegro, Romania and Slovakia organized a regional virtual conference on the topic of investments in the Central and Eastern Europe. Participants from the  US Chamber and other CEE countries joined the event.

High profile investors discussed implications a global pandemic has on the future of investing. This event provided insights into how investors are thinking, their outlook, priorities and plans regarding investments in Covid and post-Covid times and how the CEE region can strengthen its position on the global investment map. 

The Conference was divided into three thematic panel discussions: Digital Economy, Tourism Industry and Sustainable Manufacturing. Specific topics included state of play and perspectives for ICT, artificial intelligence, Cyber security, 5G; hospitality, hotels, traveling; logistics, automotive and aviation industries. 

Program:
14:00 - 14:45 – Digital Economy Panel Discussion
Ondrej Vlcek, CEO, Avast
Dorin Pena, Director of Cisco in CIS and Romania 
Dalibor Kacmar, National Technology Officer for Microsoft Czech Republic and Slovakia
Predrag Lešić, CEO, doMEn
Palo Luka, Chief Operating Officer, ESET
Moderator: John Gasparac, Managing Partner, PwC Croatia
14:45 - 15:00 – Digital Economy Q&A

15:00 - 15:45 – Tourism Industry Panel Discussion
Yilmaz Yildilimlar, Area Senior Vice President, Central & Eastern Europe, Russia and Turkey, Radisson Hotel Group
Željko Kukurin, President and CEO, Valamar
Graham Ross, Head of Business Development in EMEA, FCM Travel Solutions 
Kai Dieckmann, General Manager, Regent Hotel, Porto Montenegro  
Moderator: Siniša Topalović, Partner and Global Head of Tourism Advisory at Horwath HTL
15:45 - 16:00 – Tourism industry Q&A

16:00 - 16:45 – Sustainable Manufacturing Panel Discussion
Milan Slapak, Country Head, Czech Republic, GE Aviation
Ruža Tomić Fontana, General Manager Coca-Cola HBC for Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia
Ivan Mihaylov, Chairman of the Automotive Cluster Bulgaria
Moderator: Michel Perret, General Manager of Carrier Refrigeration Europe
16:45 - 17:00 – Sustainable Manufacturing Q&A

The event was attended by 150 distinguished representatives of business community and public sector.