Agenda

Monday, July 15

09:00 - Opening

• Petros Kokkalis, Member of the BOD, The Kokkalis Foundation

• The Honorable Stefan Sofianski, Mayor of Sofia

• Welcoming address, H.E. Meglena Kuneva, Minister for European Integration

10:00–13:00  Session A:  Economic reform: from stabilization to growth
Chairs: Dr. Georgi Veltchev, President, Harvard Club of Bulgaria
Dr. Dimitris Keridis, Director, The Kokkalis Foundation, Athens, Greece

Topics:

• The macro-economic profile of Bulgaria: budget, inflation, currency board, employment and prospects for growth

• Bulgaria’s economic policies: structural reforms and institution-building

• Attracting foreign investment: incentives and disincentives

Speakers:

• Dr. Alfred Schipke, Lecturer in Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government

• Kristian Vigenin, International Secretary of the Supreme Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP)

• Dr. Martin Hallet, Directorate-general for Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission

• Dr. Krasen Stanchev, Executive-director of the Institute for Market Economy

• Mr. Laza Kekic, Director for Central and Eastern Europe & for Country Forecasts, The Economist Intelligence Unit, The role of foreign direct investment in Bulgaria's transition: experience and prospects

• Dr. Elisabetta Falcetti, Senior Economist, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Transition Success and Challenges Ahead

• Dr. Ilian Mihov, INSEAD

12:45-13:00-Questions and comments

13:00 - 15:00
Dr. Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr., Professor of International Security Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and President of the Institute of Foreign Policy Analysis, Cambridge, USA

15:00 – 17:00 Session B: Bulgaria in a new Southeastern Europe: priorities and challenges ahead
Chairs: Mrs. Julia Watkins, President of the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG)
Dr. Dimitris Keridis, Director, The Kokkalis Foundation, Athens, Greece

Topics:

• Bulgaria’s new geostrategic environment
• Bulgaria’s foreign policy: interests, opportunities and choices
• Bulgaria and the Euro-Atlantic institutions
• Domestic politics and foreign policy

Speakers:

• H.E. Lyubomir Ivanov, Deputy-minister of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria
• Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade, Harvard University and Director of the Center for International Development, Harvard University (videoconference)
• H.E. Sofia Kassidova, Deputy-minister of the Economy, Ministry of the Economy of Bulgaria
• Mr. Dimitris Kourkoulas, Head of delegation, Delegation of the European Commission in Bulgaria

16:45-17:00-Questions and comments

17:00-17:15 Concluding Remarks
Dr. Dimitris Keridis, Director, The Kokkalis Foundation, Athens, Greece