Eight South-East European countries will meet to debate “best practice” in national export strategy design and related implementation issues. The overall theme of the debate is “The International Competitiveness of Economies in Transition – The Untapped Potential: A Challenge for Business and Government”.

The ten participating countries are Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and Ukraine. Each country will be represented by a senior public sector decision-maker, a business leader, and a top official from the national trade promotion network.

Transition economies face particular challenges. The debate will identify the issues that currently impede their international competitiveness, as well as endeavour to prioritize where the strategic focus should be for future export development.

Apart from the debate, ITC officials will be at the disposal of the country teams for consultation. A selection of tools, relevant for economies in transition, will also be on display.

The Executive Forum is organized under a partnership between ITC and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (seco) of Switzerland. The Sofia event will be co-hosted by the Bulgarian Trade Promotion Agency (BTPA) and the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA).

Readers and Executive Forum network members are encouraged to e-mail to ITC (wedf@intracen.org) their views on the principal issues, factors and constraints influencing the international competitiveness of South-East European countries.

>>> Programme
>>> Participants list
>>> Country papers