PANEL CONTENT

SUMMARY OF PANEL 1
In our first panel “Creating a Growth Economy: Good Governance, Transparency and the Rule of Law”, chaired by Prof. Dr. Harvey Goldstein – Dean of the Public Governance and Management Program at MODUL University Vienna, with the panel members H.E. Samuel Zbogar – Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, Prof. Dr. Miomir Zuzul – Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia 2003 -2005 and President of the Dubrovnik International University, Croatia, Prof. Dr. Mica Jovanovic – President of Megatrend University Belgrade, and Mike Zafirovski – American-Macedonian executive formerly in CEO and COO posts at GE, Motorola and Nortel, brought insights how good governance relates to a steady economic development.
Prof. Dr. Goldstein expressed his gratitude to the Founders of the CGDC for hosting 13 scholarships at MODUL University for the next 5 academic years to students from the Western Balkans who as a result will advocate good governance and development in their native countries.
Further, Prof. Dr. Goldstein spoke about the relationship between good governance and sustainable economic development and pointed out that the institutional capacity of a region and a nation is at least as important, and arguably, a more important factor than the traditional economic and cause factors. Included in the institutional capacity are social capital, leadership vision and quality of governance. Further, Prof. Dr. Goldstein said out that universities play a major role in establishing good governance: “Universities have unique assets. They have a large concentration of very skilled experts in a number of different areas.
They also have a potentially very large role to play in providing leadership participating with members of government officials, with business leaders in being affective problem solvers being on teams that help in a collaborative way, help to solve problems, help to build a vision of where we want to go as societies in the future.”
H.E. Minister Zbogar spoke about three pillars that represent the future of the Balkans: the EU enlargement, membership to the European Union, good governance and growth. He mentioned that the EU enlargement is the driving force and the key to the development of the Western Balkans: “the enlargement is the engine of the reforms that are needed.” But he also warned, “We have to overcome on one side enlargement fatigue that exists within the European Union. On the other side we have to overcome the commitment fatigue that exists in the countries that want to join the European Union.” Further, H.E. Minister Zbogar appealed that even with no enlargement in sight a first step towards better governance is to adjust the countries legislation to EU standards.
Prof. Dr. Zuzul reminded us how the fall of the communism challenged the values in the Balkan countries. He stated: “I am coming from the former communist world as well as many of us here. We got democracy and with democracy several important things came. With democracy you got both freedom and sudden opportunity. Not only did you get the chance to make a decision, but also responsibility. Suddenly we got that privilege to make a determination, but I don’t know how quickly we do it, or how much we learned the responsibility. Yes, there is an opportunity to make money over a night, but at which rate and how.”
Starting with the thought “the bigger the knowledge, the faster the economy develops,” Prof. Dr. Jovanovic drew up topics, which need to be addressed globally in order to guarantee sustainable economic development. He explained the four corners of the square of “the successful sustainable economic development”, containing international relations, intercultural relationship, knowledge or education and successful government. Prof. Dr. Jovanovic then argued that with the unification of Europe international relations must become intercultural relations. Hence, since the first corner of the square is already being eliminated while there are no international relations any longer in the European Union as he mentioned, instead of the square “we have a triangle of the successful sustainable economic development with intercultural relations, knowledge or education and the third corner successful governance.”
Mike Zafirovski, “as the only businessman on the panel”, outlined what countries and regions need to provide to attract investment: creation of an attractive environment, eager in the productive force, real commitment to competitiveness, entrepreneurship and education as well as the Diaspora engage in a productive way. He strongly emphasized: “…investment in the business training, I would argue, is the best investment you can make, if you are brave enough to make investments.”
The panel members provided the audience with versatile frameworks to foster economic development and agreed that education together with the know-how transfer is the first and the most important path to take on the road to good governance and economic development.

SUMMARY OF PANEL 2
H.E. Bakir Izetbegovic – Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, H.E. Edmond Haxhinasto – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania, Jovan Kovacic – Chief Executive Officer of Global Communications Associates, and Dr. Walter Schwimmer – Vice President of the Center for Global Dialogue and Cooperation – CGDC and Secretary General of the Council of Europe 1999-2004, participated in the second panel “Importance of Regional Stability in the Balkans” which was moderated by General Wesley K. Clark – Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO 1997 to 2000. The panel dealt with the status quo of the Western Balkans at the moment and the issues which need to be addressed to develop further stability in the region.
General Wesley K. Clark opened the panel by expressing his gratitude to President Stoyanov and the founding members of the Center for Global Dialogue and Cooperation – CGDC, for creating “a wonderful, groundbreaking opportunity” that allowed “people, who can address the problems … to get together and collectively find ways through them.” Drawing on the frameworks provided in the first panel he continued: “There are four elements facing stability: stable, democratic governance that can do popular elections and transition power; a reduction of the influence of money covertly on decision making; a vision for the future, and popular attitudes. I approached this with a lot of humility because as Americans we have problems with all of this. There is no magic solution to all of that, but I am here as a fellow traveler who is pursuing a more perfect democracy and helping others to achieve it.”
H.E. President Izetbegovic said that economic stability can be achieved through enhancing mutual dialogue and cooperation, and then he illustrated the current landscape of Bosnia and Herzegovina: “Bosnia is the meeting point of events, it is where the relations of Western Balkan entangle and untangle. Our society is a mixture of three religions and three identities which must be treasured. We often face fear of others and extremism, which still exists today and leads to fragmentation and disintegration.” He emphasized: “the establishment of democratic accountable and effective governmental institutions can meet the needs of the citizens. With that we will be achieving NATO and EU membership and a stable environment for creating jobs.”
H.E. Haxhinasto acknowledged the progress made in the region with the help of many international organizations. He further pointed out: “the reality today is that countries are engaged in many initiatives, but we still need time to create more synergy. There is no country that does not have dialogue with the rest of the countries. However, we have to be more specific and look for action.” To do so he also pleaded, “we need to eliminate problems and not to recycle them.” Issues to focus on are “building Europe in each and every country of Europe” and improving the implementation of laws.
Jovan Kovacic agreed with H.E. President Izetbegovic and H.E. Haxhinasto not to live in the past, instead he said: “we should all stick to a common vision to join and change the mindsets that exist among the Balkans for millenniums. We are still in the process of adjusting legislation and improving the economy. The regulations of those aspects are as important as achieving the goal.” He underlined that there is still a lack of investment capital in the region and urged institutions like CGDC to become efficient, and to be encouraged. After that he added: “it is very important that we, the people in the Balkans, become authors and movers of these dialogues, because we alone can find those indigenous solutions that will suit us best and will take ownership over our futures.”
Dr. Schwimmer started his speech by convincing the audience that there is no stability in Europe without stability and security in South-Eastern Europe. However, he further warned about the threats like populism, extremism, organized crime and corruption. “We should strive for transparency and not only because of wikileaks: we lack a transparent decision-making process. People have lost their confidence.” The acknowledgement of Croatia becoming an EU member by all other countries of the Western Balkans was very welcomed by him. Further, he added: “The dynamism and enthusiasm of European spirit of the region will wake up Europe, so we need each other. Today, there is maybe not enough cooperation among countries for membership, but we should strive to create a joint taskforce and lobby for admission and I hope that this region will contribute to a new development in Europe.” The preparation for the EU membership is a starting point for improving regional stability and peace, however, “the EU can assist in finding a solution, but the solution itself can only be found by the two parties [in conflict].”
The European Union is seen as the most important engine to create stability and economic opportunities by the panel. They further urged to change the current mindset through dialogue and stop living in the past.