Invitation to the 3rd Forum: "Challenges and Opportunities of Economic Cooperation in Central Europe" and the Conference of the Center for Asian Studies

Wroclaw June 15-16, 2023.

Dear Sirs,

The Organizing Committee is pleased to invite you to participate in the 3rd Forum "CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF ECONOMIC COOPERATION IN CENTRAL EUROPE" and the Conference of the Center for Asian Studies. The business and scientific event is scheduled for June 15-16, 2023. This will be the third meeting of the of the world of business, science, state and local government, organized by the Central European Chamber of Commerce and the Center for Asian Studies.

A Forum is scheduled for the first day of the meeting, June 15. „WYZWANIA I SZANSE DLA WSPÓŁPRACY GOSPODARCZEJ W EUROPIE ŚRODKOWEJ”, focusing on three thematic blocks:

1. ŚRODKOWA WSPÓŁPRACA W RAMACH IZB GOSPODARCZYCH
2. WSPÓŁPRACA GOSPODARCZA MIĘDZY EUROPĄ ŚRODKOWĄ A STANAMI ZJEDNOCZONYMI
3. WSPÓŁPRACA GOSPODARCZA MIĘDZY EUROPĄ ŚRODKOWĄ I AZJĄ

Plenary lectures and panel discussions will focus on optimal models of economic cooperation at a time when the rules of globalization and free trade have been shaken under pressure:
1) national strategies to combat pandemics, globally uncoordinated lockdowns and restrictions on domestic and international communications and transportation;
2) prolonged and still far from ending full-scale hostilities in Ukraine and related policies of economic sanctions, cutting off supply routes, and creating global blocs of mutually unwilling and even hostile states;
3) global inflation;
4) accelerating the implementation of climate policies, which could lead to a sharp slowdown in consumption in non-adapted countries and the rationing of goods and services that until recently were considered widely available.

During the Forum, we will seek answers to the question of whether and how the crisis of the current model of economic cooperation can become an opportunity for successful economic integration of Central Europe. What will the economy look like in the near and distant future? How to calibrate national economic policies appropriately to be optimal and multisectoral: (a) local, reducing transportation and logistics costs, seeking suppliers in the nearest vicinity; (b) (inter)regional, extending beyond immediate neighbors, utilizing the accumulated potential of neighboring countries but avoiding the risk of multi-stage supply chains and long-distance ventures; (c) continental, organized into blocs of cooperating states belonging to a common market (such as the European Union, ASEAN, MERCOSUR); (d) global, as current difficulties appear to be transitional, there is no turning back from globalization, and no current post-pandemic, war-related, inflationary, and climate restrictions will stop the idea of free trade.

As part of the CENTRAL EUROPEAN COOPERATION WITHIN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE block, we propose three main topics:
1) North-South Cooperation – opportunities (including the size of the common market, openness to intercontinental transport routes) and challenges (including transport and logistics barriers, diversity of internal markets);
2) The Role of Chambers of Commerce in Central European countries in the integration of regional economies – cooperation and information exchange, opportunities for institutionalizing cooperation between Chambers of Commerce, establishing arbitration courts, submitting joint projects to the European Commission;
3) The EGO market place platform as a market facilitating mutual communication and economic cooperation in Central Europe – a place for practical integration of Chambers of Commerce, national and regional Economic Support Institutions, and especially entrepreneurs.

W ramach bloku: WSPÓŁPRACA GOSPODARCZA EUROPY ŚRODKOWEJ I STANÓW ZJEDNOCZONYCH. Tematem przewodnim będzie powrót USA na kontynent europejski jako dominującej siły politycznej i gwaranta bezpieczeństwa w regionie oraz szanse i wyzwania współpracy gospodarczej z USA politycznie już zintegrowanego, ale wciąż dalekiego od zintegrowanego gospodarczo regionu Europy Środkowej region.

Within the block: ECONOMIC COOPERATION BETWEEN CENTRAL EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES. The main theme will be the return of the USA to the European continent as a dominant political force and guarantor of security in the region, as well as the opportunities and challenges of economic cooperation with the USA in a politically integrated but still economically fragmented region of Central Europe.

Representatives of chambers of commerce from Central Europe, practitioners of economic life, and economic theorists are invited to participate in the Forum. Individuals interested in participating are kindly requested to submit their applications to: forum@iges.pl

On the second day of the meeting, June 16th, a scientific Conference on Asian Studies will take place. Its theme will be the cooperation between individual countries of Central Europe with Asian countries or collectively the region of Central Europe with Western, Southern, Southeastern, and Eastern Asia. By Central Europe, we understand here the countries of the former 16+1 format, before its dissolution, expanded to include Greece and Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Moldova, Sweden and Finland. Researchers from humanities, social sciences, engineering and technology, agriculture, and natural sciences, interested in Asian issues, are invited to participate in the conference.