THE FIRST investment conference organized in Slovakia since the accession of the Robert Fico government will take place on September 25 in Bratislava's Carlton Hotel, under the auspices of Economy Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek.
The event, entitled the Central European Investment Conference and Slovak Investment Seminar, will bring together "the most influential entrepreneurs from east and west to discuss the potential of research, new technology and human capital in the region of Bratislava, Trnava and Vienna," said Milan Juráška, director of the Slovak Agency for the Development of Investment and Trade (SARIO).
SARIO is organizing the event, as it has done in cities such as New York, London and The Hague since being set up in 2000.
"Compared to Western Europe, it is precisely the markets of Central Europe that offer the greatest prospects of prosperity and a return on investment," Juráška added.
The conference will be chaired by John Baron, the former director of KPMG Slovakia and a past chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce, and will feature speeches by local business leaders such as Siemens Slovensko Director Peter Kollárik, Hewlett-Packard Slovensko head Peter Weber, Microsoft Slovensko CEO Robert Šimončič, as well as minister Jahnátek.
The speakers will be explaining how to use the advantages the region offers to high-tech and knowledge-based companies.
Slovakia expects to see GDP growth of 6.5 percent in 2006, according to Statistics Bureau data released on September 14.
