BUDAPEST BALKANS FORUM 2024
Day(s)
:
Hour(s)
:
Minute(s)
:
Second(s)
Venue
Corinthia Hotel Budapest
Erzsébet krt. 43-49.
Budapest, Hungary
Agenda
Tuesday
12
8:30 – 9:30
Registration
9:40 – 9:50
Opening remarks
Márton Schőberl
CEO of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs
9:50 – 10:30
Warm–up conversation
János Bóka
Minister for European Union Affairs of Hungary
Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky
Minister of Defence of Hungary
Moderator: Julianna Ármás
Research Fellow of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs
10:30 – 10:50
Technical break
11:00 – 12:00
Securing energy, Energizing security: Ministerial roundtable
Péter Szijjártó
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary
Ahmet Berat Çonkar
Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Türkiye
Dubravka Đedović
Minister of Mining and Energy of Serbia
Igli Hasani
Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania
Moderator: Márton Schőberl
CEO of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs
12:00 – 13:30
Lunch break
13:30 – 14:40
CLOSED PANEL DISCUSSIONS
– PANEL 1
The World Elects: Diving into the Unknown in the Context of the Western Balkans
Keynote speech
Steven Everts
EU Institute for Security Studies
Panellists
Vesko Garčević
Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University
Edward P. Joseph
John Hopkins University
Berta López Domènech
European Policy Centre
Vessela Tcherneva
European Council on Foreign Relations
Moderator: Ágnes Vass
Hungarian Institute of International Affairs
New Kids on the Block: New Foreign Players in the Western Balkans
Keynote speech
András Jenei
Centre for Fair Political Analysis
Panellists
Andreas Banoutsos
Center for International Strategic Analyses
Leon Malazogu
Balkan Policy Research Group
Vuk Vuksanović
Belgrade Centre for Security Policy
Duško Tomić
American University in the Emirates
Moderator: Cintia Viola
Hungarian Institute of International Affairs
14:40 – 14:55
Coffee break
14:55 – 16:05
CLOSED PANEL DISCUSSIONS – PANEL 2
Workforce Wanted: Tackling Labour Shortage in Central and Southeast Europe
Keynote speech
Jovan Despotovski
Technological Industrial Development Zones
of North Macedonia
Mihail Arandarenko
Faculty of Economics of the University of Belgrade
Szabolcs Pásztor
Oeconomus Economic Research Foundation
Mario Holzner
Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies
Anja Quiring
German Eastern Business Association
Moderator: Péter Goreczky
Hungarian Institute of International Affairs
Keeping the Lights Up:
Responding to Demographic Challenges
Keynote speech
Tim Judah
The Economist
Holger Haibach
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung office in Croatia and Slovenia
Albert Hani
Regional Youth Cooperation Office
Péter Reményi
University of Pécs
Bujar Luma
Center for Balkan Cooperation LOJA
Moderator: Julianna Ármás
Hungarian Institute of International Affairs
16:05 – 16:20
Coffee break
16:20 – 17:30
CLOSED PANEL DISCUSSIONS – PANEL 3
Future of EU Enlargement Policy: Can we keep up the dynamism?
Keynote speech
Kimmo Kiljunen
Foreign Affairs Committee at the Parliament of Finland
Norbert Beckmann-Dierkes
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung office in Bulgaria
François Lafond
Blue Networks and Opportunities
Sava Mitrović
European Policy Centre (CEP – Belgrade)
Ferenc Németh
Hungarian Institute of International Affairs
Moderator: Bálint László Tóth
Mathias Corvinus Collegium
No pain, No gain:
Regional cooperation
Keynote speech
Attila Galambos
Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Zsolt Darvas
Bruegel & Corvinus University of Budapest
Ardian Hackaj
Cooperation and Development Institute, Albania
Zdravko Ilić
CEFTA Secretariat
Anna Orosz
Hungarian Institute of International Affairs
Moderator: András Braun
International Republican Institute
Wednesday
13
9:00 – 10:00
Registration
10:00 – 10:20
Keynote Speech
Zsolt Németh
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee
of the Hungarian National Assembly
10:20 – 11:15
‘Hot Spots’ of the Western Balkans
Haakon Blankenborg
Special Representative of Norway for the Western Balkans
Anžej Frangeš
Director-general, Special Envoy for the Western Balkans
René Troccaz
Special Envoy for the Western Balkans of France
Márton Ugrósdy
Deputy State Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister’s Political Director
Moderator: László Dux
Head of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy and Enlargement Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary
11:15 – 11:45
Coffee break
11:45 – 12:05
Keynote Speech
Brigadier General Balázs Szloszjár
Commander, Hungarian Defence Forces General Staff Joint Operations Command and Control Centre
12:05 – 13:00
Security Maintained: International Actors and Missions on the Ground
Brigadier General Federico Bernacca
Deputy Commander of the Kosovo Force
Zsolt Bunford
Deputy State Secretary for Security Policy of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary
Major General László Sticz
Commander of the European Union Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR Althea)
Brigadier General Pamela McGaha
Commander and Senior Military Representative of the NATO Headquarters Sarajevo
Moderator: Csaba Rada
Head of the Western Balkans Department at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary
13:00 – 13:10
Closing remarks
Márton Schőberl
CEO of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs
13:10