The Global Financial Crisis: What does it mean for Croatia?

 

T

he Forum represents an international gathering devoted to the current financial crisis and possible consequences for Croatia.

This event features guest speakers from the United States, Europe and Asia, including Senator Marcello Pera (former President of the Italian Senate, Rome), Muhammad Lutfi (Chairman of the Indonesian Investment Board, Jakarta) and Dr. Robin Harris (former advisor to Margaret Thatcher, London).

The Forum aims to explain the causes of the global financial crisis and to offer practical policy options to Croatia’s political and business leaders. The main focus will be on Croatia’s macro-economic situation as well as the current fiscal restraints imposed by the government.

Experts will discuss the future of the finance industry as well as the issue of State intervention in the economy. The final panel will be devoted to fundamental questions regarding the principles of the free-market and liberal democracy.

 

 

Lecturers

Carl-Johan Westholm,

received his degree in economics and political science from the Uppsala University. After graduating from university he started working as an editor for the daily paper Dagens Nyheter in Stockholm and as an associate professor at the Uppsala University. Until 1991, he was the CEO of the Business and Industry Information Group (Näringslivets Ekonomifakta) in Stockholm, and from 1992 to 1997 the CEO of the Federation of Private Enterprises (Företagarnas Riksorganisation). From 1997 to 2001 Westholm acted as the CEO of the Swedish Federation of Trade (Svensk Handel), and between 2004 and 2005 he worked as a representative for the American Investment Bank Northstar Global Partners in Scandinavia.

 

Manfred Kastner,

graduated in business administration at the Vienna Universty of Economics. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of the oil company CAT Oil AG, and has been the CEO of the same company since 2005. Before joining CAT Oil AG, Kastner was the founding and managing partner of several asset management companies, such as Vienna Portfolio Management AG, Absolute Plus.com Ltd., Vision Microfinance, etc.  He specializes in international capital markets in Europe, USA and Asia.

 

Daniel J. Mitchell,

holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Georgia and a doctoral degree in economics from George Mason University in Virginia. Mitchell is a top expert on tax reform and supply-side tax policy and he is also a strong advocate of a flat tax. He currently works as a senior fellow in the Cato Institute, headquartered in Washington. Mitchell also served on the Bush/Quayle transition team and was Director of Tax and Budget Policy for Citizens for a Sound Economy. His articles are featured in newspapers such as Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Investor's Business Daily and Washington Times.

 

Marcello Pera,

is an Italian philosopher and politician. He was the President of the Italian Senate from 2001 to 2006.

Marcello Pera graduated in philosophy at the University of Pisa in 1972. He started his political career during the 1990’s as a coordinator of the «Convention for Liberal Reform» in 1995. He was a member of the Italian Senate from 1996 through 2001. In the same period he acted as the deputy leader of the Forza Italia parliamentary party where he was also a member of the Steering Committee and the Standing Committee on the Judiciary. He was elected president of the Senate on 30 May 2001. He was re-elected to the Senate in 2006 and again in 2008.

Pera has written for the L'Espresso (1980-1984); Il Corriere della Sera (1984-1988); La Stampa (1988-1993); Panorama (1994-1995); Il Messaggero (1994-).
In 2005, Pera published Senza radici / Without Roots which he co-authored with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (presently Pope Benedict XVI). He is the author of the foreword to The Europe of Benedict written by Pope Benedict XVI.

 

Prince Michael Von Liechtenstein,

studied in Canada and Europe. After graduating he worked for one of the world’s biggest multi-national companies – Nestlé in the field of Controlling, General Management and Marketing both in Europe and Africa. Since 1987 Prince Michael has been the CEO of Industrie - und Finanzkontor in Vaduz, one of Lichtenstein’s leading financial services companies. Today he is at the head of the mondoBIOTECH company, a research institute for rare diseases, as the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

 

Robin Harris

Dr. Harris obtained a First Class Honours degree in Modern History and then a D. Phil. (on French History), both at Exeter College, Oxford; he also won the Oxford University Gibbs Prize in History. Dr. Harris is Senior Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and is a member of the Executive Board of the Croatian Center for Renewal of Culture.

His principal areas of interest and expertise are in U.S.-UK relations (historic and current), the European Union and associated security issues, the affairs of South-East Europe, and the philosophical underpinning of conservatism and capitalism.

He has a wide knowledge of both domestic policy and international relations gained over years in senior positions in British public affairs. Between 1978 and 1990 Harris worked continuously for either the British Conservative Party or the Conservative Government – notably as special adviser at the Treasury (1981-1983), special adviser at the Home Office (1983-1985), director of the Conservative Research Department (1985-1989) and as a member of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Downing Street Policy Unit (1989-1990). In these capacities he became a regular speech writer for the then Prime Minister. Later he acted as her main policy adviser and draftsman, editing a book of her speeches and assisting in the writing of both volumes of her memoirs and of her final book on foreign policy, Statecraft : Strategies for a Changing World (HarperCollins, 2002).

Harris is the author of books, policy pamphlets and numerous articles in leading British and U.S. newspapers and journals – including The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Daily Mail, The Spectator, Prospect, Standpoint, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The National Interest, The American Spectator, Policy Review and The Washington Times.

Harris's books include studies of late medieval France, of the city state of Dubrovnik, and of the French diplomat-statesman Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand. He has completed a biography of Lady Thatcher, which will appear at a future date, and is currently working on a book about Edmund Burke.

He obtained a First Class Honours degree in Modern History and then a D. Phil. (on French History), both at Exeter College, Oxford; he also won the Oxford University Gibbs Prize in History.

 

Program

International Forum:

The Global Financial Crisis: What does it mean for Croatia?

Partners:

Catholic University of Croatia, American Chamber of Commerce – Zagreb, Austrian Trade Office


Tuesday, May 12th.

Hotel Westin -Zagreb

9:00 – Opening and welcome, Stephen Bartulica, Croatian Center for
the Renewal of Culture
9:15 – Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, (invited)
9:30 – Special Presentation by Muhammad Lutfi, Chairman of the Investment             Board of Indonesia, Jakarta


Panel 1 - The future of the finance industry

10:00 – 11:15

Moderator:
Barbara Kolm, (Hayek Institute, Vienna)

Panelists:
Manfred Kastner, CEO CATOIL AG (Vienna,Moscow)
Carl Johan Westholm, (Stockholm)
Tomasz Taraba, Volksbank - Croatia
H.H. Prince Michael von Liechtenstein (Vaduz)
Peter Jungen, Cologne

11:15 – coffee break


Panel 2 - How to Proceed? More or less government?

11:45 – 13:00

Moderator:
Don Markušić, American Chamber of Commerce, Zagreb

Panelists:
Dan Mitchell, Cato Institute (introduction)
Ivan Šuker, minister of Finance (invited)
Michael Jäger, European Taxpayers Association
Anton Starčević, chief economist, Raiffeisen bank

13:00 – launch


Panel 3 - Foundations of political order

14:30- 16:00

Moderator:
Joseph Wood, senior fellow, U.S.-German Marshall Fund, Washington DC

Panelists:
Senator Marcello Pera, former President of the Italian Senate (introduction)
Dr. Robin Harris, London
Božo Biškupić, minister of culture (invited)
Rev. Marcel Guarnizo, EICEE, Washington DC


Closing remarks