Presidents, prime ministers and even the pope. The world is coming to Bratislava again

The GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum 2021 will focus on rebuilding the post-pandemic world.

President Zuzana Čaputová speaking to the participants in the 2020 Globsec conference.President Zuzana Čaputová speaking to the participants in the 2020 Globsec conference. (Source: SME)

Three presidents, three prime ministers, 25 ministers or deputy ministers from various countries and Pope Francis will attend the GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum 2021, either in person or virtually.

The leitmotif of the 16th edition of the event, held between June 15 and 17, will be how to rebuild the post-pandemic world, said Róbert Vass, GLOBSEC president and founder.

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This does not concern only health-related topics. The speakers will discuss the renewal and rebuilding of trust in democracy and institutions, economic growth and recovery, tech governance, security for the 21st century and resilience in health, the TASR newswire reported.

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Speakers from nearly 100 countries

This year’s edition will be held in a hybrid format for the second time, allowing guests to participate both in-person and virtually.

Despite some limitations, altogether 145 speakers from nearly 100 countries are expected to attend the forum, including Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová, Slovak PM Eduard Heger, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Croatian President Zoran Milanović. Pope Francis will address the participants virtually.

“After the hard pandemic test, we can say that this year’s GLOBSEC will be one of the strongest in the past few years,” Vass said, as quoted by the SITA newswire.

As part of the ceremony, the organisers will grant the Czech-Slovak Transatlantic Award to recognise a contribution to support democracy and transatlantic alliance. This year, it will be granted to Václav Havel (in memoriam) and John Allen, president of the Brookings Institution.

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The participants will have to adhere to strict pandemic measures. The organisers expect some 800 guests to attend the event, with no more than 500 participants present in person on one day. All will be required to have a negative PCR test no older than 48 hours. Guests from abroad will be required to show two tests. A LAMP test will also be accepted.

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"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


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Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


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