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BEROC participated in the Development Day Conference 2019
This year's edition of the annual Development Day conference was centred around the current political and business climate in the Eastern European region, throwing light on new developments in the past few years, strides towards and away from democracy, and the challenges as well as possible policy solutions emanating from those.
Highlights from the annual SITE conference
On November 12th, SITE with support from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs organized the annual Development Day conference. Which brought together distinguished academics, experts, development economists, and guests interested in the State of Democracy in Eastern Europe.
The conference began with Per Olsson Fridh, State Sectretary to the Minisitry for International Cooperation, explaining their work in the region and the importance of progress and democracy for the future generations. The main focus of this section was the Swedish government’s new inspiring foreign policy initiative, “Drive for Democracy”. The “Drive for Democracy” specifically identifies Eastern Europe as one of the main frontiers between democracy and autocracy, and the Swedish government promotes human rights and stability through various bilateral programmes through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida, and multilateral initiatives within the EU, such as the Eastern Partnership.
Kateryna Bornukova, Academic Director at BEROC, took part in the panel about the Business Environment in the region.
The panel started with Ylva Berg, President at Business Sweden, illustration of the bigger picture of the business environment's role in the eastern region. Ylva pointed out one of the main key trade figures in the eastern region and Central Asia. While Erik Berglöf, Director of the Institute of Global Affairs at London School of Economics, shared his insight on how to improve the business environment/investment climate in Eastern Europe. Adding to the discussion, Kateryna Bornukova shared the Belarusians mindset have shifted in the business environment and that some business sectors are gaining more influence, according to Kateryna. At the end of this conference session, Lars Anell, Ambassador and former Senior Vice President at Volvo Group, shared his personal reflections during his years working in the business environment in Eastern Europe.