CONFERENCE AGENDA The conference took place on 18 March 2004 in Bratislava. After the opening plenary meeting there were the panel discussions devoted to particular social and economic reforms. Among others, the social system reform, tax reform, quality of business environment and investment opportunities in the new EU member countries were discussed. After the panel discussion, joined meeting of the finance ministers of Austria, the Czech Republic, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia with the participants on panel discussion took place. This meeting summarized the panel discussions and presented the finance ministers' views of the reform process in Europe. 08:15-08:45 Registration PART I 08:45 - 13:00 08:45-09:15 Opening plenary meeting Host/moderator: Eugen JURZYCA, Director, INEKO, Slovakia Speakers: Eric Jacob van der LINDEN, Ambassador, Head of the Delegation, Delegation of the European Commission in the Slovak Republic Ivan MIKLOS, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic Regina OVESNY-STRAKA, Chairman and CEO of Slovenska sporitelna, a.s., Slovakia 09:30-11:00 Parallel panels 1 - 3 Panel 1 - Social system reform (pensions, labour market, social net) Chairman: Miroslav BEBLAVY, State Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and the Family of the Slovak Republic Keynote speech: Ludovit KANIK, Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and the Family of the Slovak Republic Other speakers: Hermann von GERSDORFF, Sector Manager, Human Development Network, Europe & Central Asia, The World Bank Lauri LEPPIK, Expert, PRAXIS Center for Policy Studies, Estonia Igor TOMES, Professor, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic Jason TURNER, Visiting Fellow in Welfare Policy, The Heritage Foundation, USA Rapporteur: Peter GOLIAS, Team Leader, INEKO, Slovakia Panel 2 - Tax reform (introduction of flat tax) Chairman: Jan ORAVEC, President, Association of Entrepreneurs of Slovakia Keynote speech: Ivan MIKLOS, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic Other speakers: Maciej GRABOWSKI, Deputy Chairman, Gdańsk Institute for Market Economics in Poland Daniel J. MITCHELL, Chief Expert on Tax Policy and the Economy, The Heritage Foundation, USA Jeffrey OWENS, Head of OECD's Centre for Tax Policy and Administration Rapporteur: Ludovit ODOR, Director, Institute of Financial Policy, Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic Panel 3 - Regulatory and business environment (convergences and divergences inside enlarged EU) Chairman: Martin BRUNCKO, Chief Economic Advisor to the Minister, Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic Keynote speech: Jacques SANTER, President of the SME Union, former President of the European Commission, Brussels Other speakers: Karel NOHEJL, Partner - McKinsey, Prague Guy HARINGTON, Chairman, Emerging Markets, Citigroup, London Katarina MATHERNOVA, Private Sector Development Specialist, Foreign Investment Advisory Service, The World Bank Ivan STEFANEC, Director for European Integration, Coca-Cola HBC Rapporteur: Juraj KOTIAN, Economist, Slovenska sporitelna, a.s., Slovakia 11:00-11:30 Coffee break 11:30-13:00 Parallel panels 4 - 6 Panel 4 - Corporate restructuring and governance in the era of globalisation Chairman: Anton MARCINCIN, Economist, The World Bank, and Editor of Finance a uver - Czech Journal of Economics and Finance Keynote speech: Michal MEJSTRIK, Professor, Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University and EEIP, Prague, Czech Republic Other speakers: Martin BARTO, Head of Market Analysis and Ombudsman Staff Unit, Slovenska sporitelna, a.s., Slovakia Marek DABROWSKI, Vice Chairman, CASE, Poland Pal GASPAR, Regional Director, International Center for Economic Growth - European Center, Hungary Rapporteur: Juraj KOTIAN, Economist, Slovenska sporitelna, a.s., Slovakia Panel 5 - Institutional and political aspects of reform preparation and implementation Chairman: Roger GRAWE, Country Director, Central and Eastern Europe, The World Bank Keynote speech: Ben SLAY, Director, UNDP Regional Centre Bratislava Other speakers: Heather GRABBE, Deputy Director of the Centre for European Reform, U.K. Val KOROMZAY, Director, ECO/Country Study Branch, OECD Iveta RADICOVA, Director, Foundation S.P.A.C.E., Slovakia Rapporteur: Eugen JURZYCA, Director, INEKO, Slovakia Panel 6 - Investment opportunities in the new EU member countries Chairman: Regina OVESNY-STRAKA, Chairman and CEO of Slovenska sporitelna, a.s., Slovakia Keynote speech: Pavol RUSKO, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of the Slovak Republic Other speakers: Manfred BAUDER, Member of the Board, responsible for Finance, Volkswagen Slovakia, a.s. Robert KENNEDY, Clinical Professor, University of Michigan Business School, USA Alfred STEINHERR, Chief Economist, European Investment Bank Rapporteur: Gabriel SIPOS, Analyst INEKO, Slovakia 13:00-14:30 Lunch 13:45-14:20 OECD Presentation of the Economic Survey of the Slovak Republic, 2004 PART II 14:30 - 18:00 14:30-15:50 Plenary meeting with Finance Ministers' presentations (section 1) "Pursuing structural reforms in the EU: lessons from the acceding countries" Chairman: Lajos BOKROS, Director of the Financial Advisory Services, The World Bank Rapporteurs from the panel discussions Speakers: Ivan MIKLOS, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Slovak Republic Dusan MRAMOR, Minister of Finance, Slovenia 16:00-17:30 Plenary meeting with finance ministers' presentations (section 2) "Global economic competitiveness of the Enlarged EU" Chairman: Karl-Heinz GRASSER, Federal Minister of Finance, Austria Speakers: Bohuslav SOBOTKA, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Czech Republic Andrzej RACZKO, Minister of Finance, Poland John DALLI, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Malta Conclusion speech: Eugen JURZYCA, Director, INEKO, Slovakia 18:00 Reception hosted by Mr. Ivan MIKLOS, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic