Jubilee edition, the 30th Kopaonik Business Forum, will be held from 5th to 8th of March, 2023, at the Congress Hall of Grand Hotel in Kopaonik. The central topic will be "Pursuing Resilient Economy in Uncertain Times: Major Challenges for Serbia and the Western Balkans", and 33 panel discussions, as well as plenary sessions and special events, will take place during the four-day event.
The upcoming Forum will also include nearly 200 speakers from the academia, predominantly specializing in economics, business management and information and communications technology, politics, finance and business. Flagship thematic studies of international financial institutions will be presented again to the Forum, along with new academic and policy papers by leading researchers and scholars in topical fields.
Special guest of the Forum is Gill Indermit, Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics, who boasts an extensive experience in working with governments on macroeconomic imbalances, growth, poverty, institutions, conflicts and climate change.
Kopaonik Business Forum will open with the so-called Day Zero, on March 5th, when macroeconomic analyses of recent developments in Serbia and the 2023 outlook for the Western Balkan region will be presented. This day will close with a panel that is traditionally reserved for the Digital Serbia Initiative.
Day One, March 6th, will open with keynote addresses by the Governor of the National Bank of Serbia and the Minister of Finance devoted to major macroeconomic (monetary and fiscal) policy developments in Serbia, followed by a Special Guest Speaker. Other sessions on this day's roster will be devoted to the future of the EU and the Western Balkans, featuring leading diplomats and geopolitical scholars, and discussions will include topics such as finance for circular economy, advanced digital cooperation, economic agenda for open Balkan, cashless economy, companies' readiness for generation “Z”, resilience of the Serbian economy from the investors' perspective, as well as the automotive industry and the insurance industry. The first day will conclude with a gala reception in honor of the 30th anniversary of KBF which will also include a classical music concert. The concert shall be organized in cooperation with Madlenianum Opera & Theatre.
Day Two, March 7th, is reserved for energy security, connectivity agenda and the digital agenda focused on safe digital future of credit institutions and digitalization of public services. The day will continue with panels on human capital development, bio-tech revolution, women in business, agriculture in the globalized world, education as a base for competence and e-mobility. The penultimate day of the Forum will also offer the participants the opportunity to learn more about the current state in the banking sector, efficiency of tax administration, the role of tourism in improving a country's image and attracting FDI and about circular economy as innovation. Day Two will conclude with a hard-talk interview with Philip Zepter.
The last day of the Forum, March 8th, will start with a plenary session of WHO and UNICEF representatives, and continue with panels on social cohesion issues, child-friendly policies and business practices and healthcare realities and transformation issues. The Forum will traditionally conclude with a special talk with the Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić.
Registration of participants shall begin on January 9th, 2023, on the website www.kopaonikbusinessforum.rs.
Kopaonik Business Forum is organized by the Serbian Association of Economists in cooperation with Mastercard. The Forum's aim is to improve the results of the Serbian economy through analytical contributions and dialogue between the relevant key stakeholders.
