Three Seas Summit and Business Forum

The 6th Summit and Business Forum of the Three Seas Initiative was held in Sofia on 8th and 9th of July, 2021. The event was a hybrid and was broadcast online.

The meeting was opened by the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Bulgaria Mr. Kiril Petkov and  began with a discussion at Head of State level on the topic of “Road to smart development and comprehensive economic growth” with the following participants:

• H.E. Mr. Rumen Radev, President of the Republic of Bulgaria;
• H.E. Joseph Biden, Jr., President of the United States of America (video message); 
• H.E. Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund;
• H.E. Ms. Kersti Kaljulaid, President of the Republic of Estonia;
• H.E. Mr. Egils Levits, President of the Republic of Latvia;
• H.E. Mr. Gitanas Nausėda, President of the Republic Lithuania (video message);
• H.E. Mr. Andrzej Duda, President of Poland;
• H.E. Mr. Borut Pahor, President of the Republic of Slovenia;
• Mr. Karel Havlicek, Deputy Prime Minister, Czech Republic;
• Ms. Veronika Remišová, Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Informatization of the Slovak Republic; 
• Mr. Peter Launsky-Tiefenthal, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Austria;
• H.E. Mr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of Germany;
• H.E. Ms. Katerina Sakellaropoulou, President of the Hellenic Republic.

Moderator: Mr. Iliya Lingorski, Chief Economist of the Bulgarian Development Bank.

More panels focusing on the energy and innovation sectors were planned for the first day of the event.

The Bulgarian Development Bank  joined the program on 9th of July  with a panel on "Investments in infrastructure for economic development and growth", in which  they discussed the possibilities for financing of priority projects via Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund. The keynote speaker was Jan Brzezinski, Senior Expert at the Atlantic Council, Washington.

The panel was also featured Mr. Atanas Pekanov - Deputy Prime Minister for EuU Funds Management, Mr. Joe Philipsz - Head of 3 SIIF Investments and Director of Investments at Amber Infrastructure Group, Ms. Beata Dashinska - Chairperson of the Supervisory Board of 3SIIF and President of the Management Board of the Polish Development Bank (BGK), Richard König, CEO, Enery Development, as well as Ms. Sopfia Kassidova, Head of Strategic Analysis and Development at Bulgarian Development Bank.

An invitation to participate it was also extended to Michelle Czarniak - Deputy Chief of Staff of the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Washington.The moderator was the chief economist of BDB Iliya Lingorski.

More discussions on the transport and digitalisation sectors were took place for the same day. Furthermore, meetings were also planned with representatives of the chambers of commerce, as well as the institutions supporting SMEs, investments and innovation from the participants countries.