Economic Forum in Krynica has become one of the most important economic events in Europe attended by political and business elites

Read the original text at eurointegration.com.ua.

The Economic Forum in Krynica is the largest conference in Central and Eastern Europe. Every year the Forum, organized at the beginning of September brings more than 3000 guests. These are political, economic and social leaders as well as approx. 500 journalists. The guests come from over 60 countries in Europe, Asia and America.

Krynica, a small mountain resort, is known from the 18th century by its mineral springs. Krynica is full of prominent tourist attractions that attracts visitors throughout the year. After launching the Economic Forum, Krynica is often called the "Polish Davos."

For the first time the Economic Forum in Krynica was held 25 years ago, and this would be 27th meeting. From the very beginning, the event was conceived as an international project aimed at stimulating cooperation between the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The conference was intended to facilitate economic contacts, promote European integration create additional opportunities for dialogue and discussion of interesting and topical topics.

Presidents and heads of government, leading politicians of the region, ministers, EU commissioners, parliamentarians, as well as businessmen, representatives of the largest and fastest growing "new Europe" companies, usually took part in the debate. Krynica was also visited by prominent scholars, university rectors, public opinion leaders, and artists.

The high level of guests, a variety of points of view, presented in the course of the discussion, became a magnet for public interest. The organizers of the Economic Forum skillfully use the convenient location of the resort - not far from the border with Slovakia and Ukraine, near Hungary, the Czech Republic and Austria. They also encourage participation of guests from Western Europe, the Baltic States, Russia, and Belarus.

From the beginning Ukraine was one of the most important partners and participants of the Economic Forum in Krynica. Many times the event was attended by Ukrainian presidents and prime ministers, who got here a good opportunity to present Kyiv’s position to their European counterparts. Ukrainian ministers and parliamentarians also regularly participated in the discussions.

Also among the winners of the most important horseracing awards you can find Ukrainian surnames. Thus, Viktor Yushchenko (in 1999, as the head of the National Bank of Ukraine) and Yulia Tymoshenko (2005 after the success of the Orange Revolution) became the Person of the Year.

Razumkov Center (Kyiv) has got an honorary diploma for the best non-governmental organization of Central and Eastern Europe. Last year, the special prize of the forum was given to historian Yaroslav Hrytsak.

The level of Ukraine's presence in 2016 was really special.

At the meeting of the prime ministers of the Visegrad countries (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia), Prime Minister Groysman had a status of a special guest. In his speech, he stressed that Ukraine does not want and cannot refuse efforts in favor of joining the European community.

Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Igor Nasalyk, numerous parliamentarians, representatives of regions and cities took part in the last year's Forum. Krynica also had a well-represented business.

In total, more than fifteen panel discussions were devoted to the Ukrainian issue last year.

The Forum's participants were most interested in talking about Ukrainian decentralization reform, energy policy, the situation with the Crimean Tatars, border cooperation and the possibility of creating a new "Marshall Plan" for Ukraine.

Ukrainian issues will not disappear from the agenda of this year's 27th Economic Forum, which will be held in Krynica on September 5-7. Organizers expect the arrival of First Deputy Prime Minister Stepan Kubiv, ministers and their deputies, a group of Ukrainian parliamentarians and self-governors from the regions.

The program's structure is similar to last year: six plenary sessions with the participation of the most important guests, including presidents and prime ministers of our region, as well as about 200 discussions and other events. The program consists of thematic blocks such as international politics, investment and development, macroeconomics, media and information security, new economy, society, security policy, energy, innovation, healthcare, Carpathian Europe, Polish diaspora forum, regional forum, etc.

3 000 invitees from Europe, Asia, USA and Middle East countries to join the Forum. Foundation Institute for Eastern Studies, Economic Forum Program Council, Partners of the Economic Forum are organizers of the event.