BUDAPEST BALKANS FORUM 2025

Day(s)

Hour(s)

Minute(s)

Second(s)

Venue

Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest

Erzsébet tér 7-8.
1051 Budapest, Hungary

Agenda

Thursday

13

8:00 – 9:00

Registration

9:20 – 9:30

Opening remarks

Gladden Pappin

President of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs

9:30 – 10:30

Warm–up conversation on the Achievements of the Hungarian EU Presidency

János Bóka

Minister for European Union Affairs of Hungary

Daniel Mitov

Minister of Interior of the Republic of Bulgaria

Megi Fino

Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Albania

Filip Ivanović

Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Montenegro

Moderator: Julianna Ármás

Research Fellow, HIIA

10:30 – 10:45

Technical break

10:45 – 11:45

One Market, One Vision: Advancing Economic Integration of the Western Balkans into the EU – Ministerial Roundtable

Péter Szijjártó

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary

Tanja Miščević

Minister of European Integration of Serbia

Moderator: Márton Ugrósdy

Deputy State Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister’s Political Director

11:45 – 12:00

Technical break

12:00 – 13:00

Lunch break

13:00 – 13:20

Keynote speech

Zsolt Németh

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Hungarian National Assembly

13:20 – 14:30

Normative Europe in the Western Balkans Revisited – High level panel discussion

Ulrike Hartmann

Director of the Department for Southeast Europe and EU Enlargement, Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs

Zsolt Bunford

Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of Hungary for the Western Balkans, Prime Minister’s Office of Hungary

René Troccaz

Special Envoy for the Western Balkans of France

Caroline Ziadeh

Head of UNMIK

Moderator: László Dux

Head of Department for EU CFSP and Enlargement, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary

14:30 – 15:00

Coffee break

15:00 – 16:00

Bridging the Divide: The Western Balkans as the EU and NATO’s Strategic Security Anchor – High level panel discussion

Péter Sztáray

State Secretary for Security Policy and Energy Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary

Frano Matušić

State Secretary for Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia

Ivica Bocevski

former Special Representative of the Government to the Hungarian Presidency with the Council of the European Union of the Republic of North Macedonia

Moderator: István Balogh

Hungary’s Permanent Representative to NATO and Ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary

16:00 – 16:10

Closing remarks

14

Friday

10:15 – 11:00

Registration

10:15 – 11:00

PARALLEL WORKSHOPS (INVITATION ONLY – CHATHAM HOUSE) – I.

Fault Lines and Frontiers: The Western Balkans Amid Europe’s Political and Security Shifts

Keynote speech

András Jenei

Finance Manager at the Centre for Fair Political Analysis

Panellists

Bojana Zorić

Research Analyst, EUISS

Edit Harxhi

Member of Board of Albanian Policy Center

Mehdi Sejdiu

PhD Candidate, Heidelberg University

Sead Turčalo

Dean of the Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo

Damjan Krnjević Mišković

Director for Policy Research, Institute for Development and Diplomacy at ADA University

Moderator: Angelina Nagy

Research Fellow, HIIA

11:00 – 11:45

The panel is followed by a debate.

Discussants

Marta Szpala

Senior Fellow at the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW)

Bence Felde

Director, HypeX Consulting Zrt. Montenegro Office

Momcilo Radulovic

President of the European Movement in Montenegro

Power Plays: Navigating Energy Security Challenges in Southeast Europe

Keynote speech

Csaba Marosvári

Deputy State Secretary for Energy Security at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary

Panellists

András Bácsi-Nagy

Head of International Public and EU Regulatory Affairs, MOL Group

Aleksandar Kovačević

Senior Visiting Research Fellow, The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

Floros Flouros

Assistant Professor in International Political Economy at Neapolis University Pafos

Dávid Biró

Lead Project Coordinator of the Organization of Turkic States

Luis Nasi

Assistant Lecturer, Institute of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, University of Pécs

Moderator: Péter Pál Kránitz

Senior Research Fellow, HIIA

11:00 – 11:45

The panel is followed by a debate.

Discussants

Kristian Leyarski

Senior Subject Matter Expert & Quality Administrator at InteliMasters Ltd.

Gábor Papp

Research Fellow, Hungarian Institute of International Affairs

11:45 – 12:00

Coffee break

12:00 – 12:45

PARALLEL WORKSHOPS (INVITATION ONLY – CHATHAM HOUSE) – II.

Markets and Momentum: Mapping Investment Opportunities in the Western Balkans in cooperation with HEPA – Hungarian Export Promotion Agency

Keynote speech

Gábor Jenei

HEPA Chief Executive Officer

Márton Zsuráfszky

Junior Researcher, Oeconomus Economic Research Foundation

Holger Haibach

Senior Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of Montenegro

Marko Selaković

Chairman of the Serbian Business Council, Dubai Chambers

Attila Galambos

Chairman of the Western Balkan Committee in the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce

Moderator: Péter Goreczky

Senior Research Analyst, HIIA

12:45 – 13:30

The panel is followed by a debate.

Géza Sebestyén

Head of the Center for Economic Policy, MCC

Georgios Mitrakos

Director General of the International Centre for Black Sea Studies

Tamás Bakó

Senior Analyst of HEPA Balkan

Digitally Determined: Developing the Western Balkans’ Competitive Future with 4iG Nyrt.

Keynote speech

Brano Djurović

Chief Executive Officer at One Albania

Ákos Mernyei

Advisor to the President, Hungarian Institute of International Affairs

Bernd Christoph Ströhm

Senior Research Associate and Country Expert at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw)

Duško Tomić

Professor in the College of Security and Global Studies, American University in the Emirates

Tamás Ginter

Senior International Advisor at the Central Bank of Hungary

Moderator: Zalán Klauda

Research Lecturer, MCC

12:45 – 13:30

The panel is followed by a debate.

Szabolcs Szolnoki

Deputy State Secretary for Technology at the Ministry for National Economy in Hungary

Mariann Őry

Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Eurasia Magazine

13:30 – 14:00

Lunch break

14:00 – 14:45

PARALLEL WORKSHOPS (INVITATION ONLY – CHATHAM HOUSE) – III.

Reform or Reach: Balancing EU Institutional Change and Enlargement with the Insitute of International Economics Relations

Keynote speech

László Sinka

Adviser to the Minister at the Ministry of EU Affairs of Hungary

Darko Angelov

former Ambassador of North Macedonia to Hungary and Greece

Jan Kovář

Research Director of the Institute of International Relations of Prague

Nina Sajić

Chair and Professor of the Political Science Department, University of Banja Luka

Péter Dobrowiecki

Head of Research of the German-Hungarian Institute for European Cooperation, MCC

Moderator: Csaba Stefán

Research Fellow, HIIA

14:45 – 15:30

The panel is followed by a debate.

Matija Očuršćak

Head of Director for Southeast Europe, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia

Jovana Marović

former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of European Affairs of the Government of Montenegro

Gradual Integration: Locking in WB6 Achievements and their EU Aspirations in cooperation with the Cooperation and Development Institute Albania

Keynote speech

The panel is followed by a debate.

Arslan Umut Ergezer

Deputy Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council

Ardian Muhaj

Faculty Member of the Academy of Sciences of Albania