Speakers and Panelists SBF 2016 - Sarajevo Business · PDF fileSpeakers and Panelists SBF 2016 ... The Conference gathered businessmen and project owners from Bosnia and ... Bank

Speakers and Panelists

SpeakersandPanelistsSBF 2016

SARAJEVO BUSINESS FORUM 20167 th INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT CONFERENCE


Foreword Bosna Bank International Sarajevo, in cooperation with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) KSA, has organized and hosted the 7th International Investment Conference – Sarajevo Business Forum 2016 (SBF 2016) - under the theme “One Region One Economy.” The conference was held on May 4th and 5th, 2016. The Conference gathered businessmen and project owners from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia on, as well as their counterparts from more than 50 countries worldwide. SBF 2016 represents a platform for business networking and exploration of investment op-portunities in the Southeast Europe region with the sole objective of fostering its economic development.

This year the Forum was significantly elevated by hosting the China 16+1 Summit (Central and South-East Europe plus China) in cooperation with the Council of Ministers of B&H and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China. The 16+1 Summit served as a platform for perspective projects which promoted connectivity in Europe, focusing on investments which will contribute to economic

SARAJEVO BUSINESS FORUM 2016: Speakers and Panelists


development. This integration of agendas presented an ideal opportunity to deepen cooperation between China and the countries of CEE by offering businesses and professionals from China a unique chance to meet the region’s most perspective officials and investors in one place.

In addition, experts and representatives of the Dubai Export Agency presented the potentials of Dubai as the heart of the regional trade corridor, as well as discussing ways to develop the collaboration between the United Arab Emirates and SEE region.

SBF 2016 concluded with the signing of several Memorandums of Understanding (MOU), with particular emphasis on the MOU be-tween BBI’s VIP Business Club and Al Ghurair Commodities from Dubai (AGLC). The MOU has conceded a joint venture between BBI and Al Ghurair Commodities, which will result in the opening of a BBI office in Dubai focused on bringing Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United Arab Emirates closer in terms of economics, trade, commerce and investment cooperation.


Abdullah Almojel

Dr. Abdullah Almojel is chairman of Global Dimension for Education and Training and former Deputy Minister of high education, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dr. Abdul-lah Almojel is an engineer and university educator as well as a senior leader in high education for more than 18 years. After extensive experiences in academic and government sectors, Dr. Almojel established in 2012 a social enterprise Global Dimension for Education and Training, a member of Almojel Group of Companies. Global Dimension goals is to implement sustainable programs, to improve the productivity and efficien-cy of industries’ manpower, and to build institutional capacities for educational and training organizations. Dr. Almojel has been appointed by the Saudi Cabinet as a Deputy Minister of Higher Education, where he served for eight years. In addition, he was the Founder and General Supervisor of the King Abdullah Scholar-ship Program, which grants scholarships to more than 180,000 Saudi students who wish to study at top uni-versities abroad. Dr. Almojel was a Founding member and Vice President of King Abdullah University of Sci-ence and Technology (KAUST). Dr. Almojel earned his doctorate in computer engineering and science at The George Washington University (1997), in Washington, D.C., US.

Adin Fakic

Mr. Adin Fakic is a CEO of Milkos Sarajevo, the oldest domestic owned dairy plant in Bosnia and Herzegovi-na. Mr. Fakic has worked as a head of the Milkos team responsible for dairy reconstruction, investment and building, after Milkos privatization in 2004. Mr. Fakic also worked as a Head of the Team responsible for ob-taining export licenses for EU and Turkey. Mr. Fakic has been working in agricultural sector after Milkos pur-chased firm “Farma Spreca” in 2008. He is a head of Milkos development team since 2013. Mr. Fakic was a member of Council for agriculture in Ministry of ag-riculture of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in period 2010-2015.

Adnan Catic

Mr. Adnan Catic, known as Felix Sturm, is a German professional boxer. He is the World Boxing Association super-middleweight champion and a former Interna-tional Boxing Federation, World Boxing Organization, World Boxing Association middleweight champion. After 26 years of successful boxing career Mr. Catic re-turned to his homeland and established a factory of mineral water and non-alcoholic energy drinks.

Adnan Chilwan

Dr. Adnan Chilwan is the Group CEO of Dubai Islamic Bank. Dr. Chilwan holds a PhD and a MBA in Market-ing. He is a certified Islamic banker (CeIB), holding a post graduate in Islamic banking & insurance and is an associate fellow member on the Islamic Finance Pro-fessionals Board. His career has spanned nearly two decades in the fields of both conventional and Islam-ic banking. He began work for Dubai Islamic Bank in 2008, first serving as the chief of retail banking and later as the deputy chief executive officer. In 2010, Dr. Chilwan became a founding member of the board of directors for the Sharia-compliant Emirates Real Es-tate Investment Trust, a joint venture between Dubai Islamic Bank and Eiffel Management. In July 2013, Dr. Chilwan was appointed to the chief executive position at Dubai Islamic Bank. Dr. Chilwan was ranked 4th at the top CEO 2015 awards ceremony, which was based on the financial statements of publicly listed compa-nies and presented by Trends Magazine and INSEAD Business School. In 2014, Arabian Business added him to its list of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s 100 Most Powerful Indians, while the Global Islamic Finance Awards awarded him the title of Islamic Banker of the Year.

Ahmad bin Jassim Al Thani

Mr. Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani is a member of the rul-ing family of Qatar. He is a graduate of Imperial College and the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business. Al Thani worked in different petroleum engineering projects in Qatar and abroad. He was a board mem-ber at Qatargas. After resignation of Wadah Khanfar from Al Jazeera, Al Thani became the director gener-


al of the channel in September 2011. He left channel in 2013 when he was appointed Minister of economy and trade. In the same year, he was made member to the administrative council of the Qatar Investment Au-thority (QIA). Arabian Business named Al Thani as the most powerful Qatari businessman in 2012. He was chosen as the 38th most powerful Arab by Gulf Busi-ness in 2013.

Ahmad Mohamed Ali

Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Ali Al-Madani is President of the Islamic Development Bank. Mr. Ali Al-Madani was born in 1934 in Medina, Saudi Arabia, where he com-pleted his early education. He holds a B.A. degree in Commerce and a degree in Law from Cairo University, Egypt. He earned his M.A. and PhD degrees, both in Public Administration, from the University of Mich-igan, Ann Arbor, and, State University of New York (SUNY), Albany, USA, respectively in 1962 and 1967. Mr. Ali Al-Madani began his career in education and manpower development in 1958-59 as Director of the Scientific and Islamic Institute, Aden, Yemen. Later, he returned to Saudi Arabia to assume the position of Acting Rector at King Abdulaziz University during 1967 to 1972. His contribution to the development of the people was recognized by the government of Saudi Arabia and in 1972 he was selected to serve as Deputy Minister of Education and served his country for three years. In 1975, upon the initiative of the late King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz, when the member countries of the Or-ganization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) decided to establish the Islamic Development Bank, he was cho-sen as its first President.. In addition to the bank activ-ities, in 1993 to 1995 he was the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League. His education, background and past experience helped him to establish a strong base for the mission of the Bank as well as taking up the challenges of managing the IDB and widening the spectrum of development by addressing various is-sues.

Ahmet Albayrak

Mr. Ahmet Albayrak has been executive vice president of Corporate & International Banking at Kuveyt Turk Katilim Bankasi A.S. (formerly Kuveyt Turk A.S). Mr. Al-

bayrak served as Executive Vice President of Opera-tions & Technology at Kuveyt Turk A.S. Mr. Albayrak began his banking career as an expert at Albaraka Türk Katilim Bankas A.S. in 1988, he joined Kuveyt Türk Katil-im Bankas A.S. From 1994 till 1996 he served as the financial analyst attached to marketing departments. Mr. Albayrak served as project leader in the Perfor-mans Yönetimi Danismanlik Sirketi (Performance man-agement Consultancy Company) from 1996 to 1997. Later in 2002 he rejoined Kuveyt Türk as acting Execu-tive Vice President responsible for Branch Operations. He was appointed executive vice president responsi-ble for operations, technology, and administrative ser-vices in 2005. He graduated from Istanbul University, department of industrial engineering in 1988. He re-ceived a master’s degree in organizational leadership and business from State University of North Carolina in 1993 and earned his PhD in business administration from Istanbul Technical University in 2007.

Aldin Dugonjic

Mr. Aldin Dugonjic graduated on the Health Polytech-nic University in Zagreb, Department of Sanitary En-gineering, elaborating halal standards and links with other standards. In 2013 he completed his master on implementation of halal standards. From the begin-ning Mr. Dugonjic was involved in the process of es-tablishing of a systematic way of halal certification in the Republic of Croatia. In 2007 he became certified auditor for halal quality, and in 2009 the consultant for halal quality. Since 2009 he is CEO of Center for Halal Quality Certification, as well as trainer and the auditor of the Center. Mr. Dugonjic is author of more than twelve papers in the area of halal and halal certi-fication, which he had presented at national and inter-national conferences. He is a member of the Croatian Standards Institute as well as Technical Committee Ag-ricultural and food products.

Ali Ibrahim Ismail

Mr. Ali Ibrahim Ismail serves as the Deputy Director General for executive affairs in the Fepartment of Eco-nomic development, Dubai. Mr. Ismail also serves as a Director of Emaar Industries & Investments (Pvt) JSC, and Amlak Finance PJSC. In addition, he serves as a di-


rector of the Dubai Financial Market and Dubai Trans-portation Corporation.

Almira Hadzovic-Dzuvo

Prof. Almira Hadzovic-Dzuvo is a Dean of Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sarajevo. She is Head of the Department of Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine, and Professor at Faculty of Dentistry, Fac-ulty of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Science and Fac-ulty for Sport & Physical Education. In 2010 Prof. Hadzovic-Dzuvo became an expert at the Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assur-ance. In addition, she actively participated in accred-itation process of universities and undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral study programs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. During 20 years of her scientific career she published as author or coauthor 10 books and more than 60 scientific articles. Interna-tionalization of the educational process was the main point in the program she proposed. As results of her efforts, Faculty of Medicine University of Sarajevo will successfully enroll the second generation of foreign students who study medicine in English language at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sarajevo.

Alwi Shihaba

Mr. Alwi Shihab is the Indonesian President’s special envoy to the Middle East for the Organization of Is-lamic Cooperation countries. He was the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare in 2004-2005 and the Foreign Minister of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001. His political career started when he was elect-ed as member of Indonesian parliament and then min-ister of foreign affairs. In 1975 to 1979 he was CEO of Glass Priangan Factory in Cianjur, Indonesia. Dur-ing 1979 -1982 he was the President of Director for Alfa Contracting Company in Jeddah. In 1982 to 1986 he was the President of Director of PT. Prima Adve-ra Company in Jakarta. In 1982 he founded in Jakar-ta the NGO Yayasan Darul Qur’an. During 1986 -1990 he became a member of board of directors at Eagle Tripelti in Jakarta, and since 1986 he has been a mem-ber of the board of Dhafco Manunggal Sejati, Jakarta. In 2007 he founded his own party, Partai Kebangkitan Nasional Ulama (PKNU) or “Party of National Scholar Awakening” in which he still serves as the chairman.

Amer Bukvic

Amer Bukvic, received his Bachelor’s degree from the International Islamic University (IIUM) in Kuala Lumpur and his Master’s degree from the International Univer-sity of Japan. He began his banking career working for the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia. Since 2006 he has been serving as CEO of BBI bank, Sara-jevo. Additionally, Mr. Bukvic serves as Vice Chairman and a board member of several companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania. He is a board member of the International University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Mediterranean University, Monte-negro and an advisory board member at IEDC – Bled School of Business, Slovenia and the Center for Islamic Finance at the University of Bolton, United Kingdom. He is a member of steering committees atf several re-gional and international business summits, including holding a chairman position on the Steering commit-tee of the SUMMIT100 Business Leaders of Southeast Europe. Mr.Bukvic taught and gave lectures at various universities in the region, Saudi Arabia and South Af-rica. He participated, as a keynote speaker, at many international business conferences and forums. He co-founded the Sarajevo Business Forum (SBF), the largest investment conference in Southeast Europe. Mr. Bukvic received numerous prestigious awards in-cluding : “Jewels of Muslim World Award 2015” – OIC TODAY Magazine, Malaysia, „Best Banking CEO B&H 2014” - Global Banking & Finance Review, U.K., “The Best Entrepreneur and Leader in 2014” - Prince Ab-dulaziz bin Abdullah International Prize for Entrepre-neurs, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, “Best manager in Banking sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2013” – Perdana Leadership Foundation Malaysia, Charter of International League of Humanists “Aurelio Peccei” - International League of Humanists, ‘Medallion of the City of Sarajevo’.

Amer Kapetanovic

Mr. Amer Kapetanovic has been a career diplomat for the last 17 years and is currently serving as the As-sistant Minister for Bilateral Relations and Economic Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bos-nia and Herzegovina. During his diplomatic career he was serving as the Spokesman of the MFA BiH, Head


of Policy Planning Department, Head of the EU De-partment and the Deputy Ambassador and chargé d’affaires of BiH in the Federal Republic of Germany. Prior to his diplomatic career, Mr. Kapetanovic had ac-quired ten years of experience working as journalist and editor for leading domestic printed and electronic media. He had also served as the as the President of Trustees of the BH Film Fund, helping BH Film industry getting closer to the EU funds, thus paving the way for Europeanization of financing cinematography in BiH. Mr. Kapetanovic, who graduated political science at the University of Sarajevo, is founding member of the Foreign Policy Initiative of BiH a leading domestic FP think tank and member of its assembly. He is author and co-author of dozens of publications, books and researches.

Ante Todoric

Mr. Ante Todoric serves as a member of Management Board of public company “Agrokor” Croatia and has been its executive vice president of retailing business group since May 2008. Prior to this, Mr. Todoric served as executive vice president of technology, research & development of “Agrokor” and chairman of Supervi-sory Board at “Agrokor”. He also serves as vice presi-dent of the Supervisory Board and Supervisory Board Member at “Agrokor Trgovina” Croatia. Mr. Todoric holds Bachelor of Sciences in Economics.Ashraf Ali MahateDr. Ashraf Mahate has been actively involved over 25 years in research and consultancy in the areas of entrepreneurship, trade, economics, banking, and fi-nance in the UAE and the UK. Currently, Dr. Mahate is the head of export market intelligence at the Du-bai Exports which is an agency of the Dubai Economic Department. Dr. Mahate is also the Vice Chair of the Economic Policy Committee in the Dubai Economic Department.

Bakir Izetbegovic

Mr. Bakir Izetbegovic is a Member of Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Sarajevo in 1981. From 1991 to 2003 he was Director of Con-struction Bureau of the Sarajevo Canton. From 2000 to 2002 he was member of Assembly and Chair of SDA

MPs Club in the Sarajevo Canton Assembly. From 2002 to 2006 he was Member of Parliament and Chair of SDA MPs Club in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. During 2006 – 2010 he was Member of Parliament and Chair of SDA MPs Club in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bos-nia and Herzegovina, and Chairman of the Delegation of BiH Parliamentary Assembly to the Council of Eu-rope. He has contributed to numerous social activities. He was a member of F.C. Sarajevo Managing Board, member of Basketball Club ‘’Bosna’’ Managing Board, member of the Managing Board of “Merhamet”, a Muslim Humanitarian Association, and Member of the Islamic Community Assembly.

Blazenka Miskovic

Ms. Blazenka Miskovic, is the Deputy Director of For-eign Investment Promotion Agency of Bosnia and Her-zegovina (FIPA). Ms. Miskovic graduated from Univer-sity in Mostar – Pedagogical Faculty. In the period of 1999-2009 she worked as a History, Geography and Marketing professor in High School Travnik, Nova Bila.

Bruno Bojic

Dr. Bruno Bojic is the President of the Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In his illustri-ous career, starting from 1991, he held managerial positions as the director and deputy director in sev-eral companies in the insurance, production and sale of goods. He has received numerous awards among which is the award of International League of Human-ists.

Cengiz Gunay

Mr. Cengiz Gunay started his business life in retail food industry in 1987. He established Günaylar Food trade limited company in 1998 as well as food wholesale which is still currently operational. He was elected as a board member of Tekirdağspor. He founded Young Businessmen Association of Tekirdağ. In 2005 he was elected as treasurer Member of Board in the member elections of Tekirdağ Chamber of Commerce and In-dustry. During the elections in 2009 he was selected as vice president of executive board. While he was car-


rying on his assignment, he was elected as the presi-dent of Tekirdağ Chamber of Commerce and Industry executive board.

Damir Novinic

Mr. Damir Novinic, Managing Director of the Agency for Investments and Competitiveness, has more than 15 years of combined experience in the field of attract-ing foreign investments and development of competi-tiveness at company and regional levels. His specialties and areas of practice include investment and export promotion, competitiveness enhancement, manage-ment of medium and large sized companies as well as expertise in marketing and corporate communications incorporated with business processes development and restructuring. In 2012, Mr. Novinic was appoint-ed Managing Director of the Agency for Investments and Competitiveness. Prior to this function, the last four years he had spent with the Croatian Radio Tele-vision (HRT), where he had held a few executive posi-tions including the function of the General Manager of Croatian Television. During his 12 years of working at the U.S. Embassy Croatia, out of which for almost six years he had worked for the USAID, he had contrib-uted to the development of a series of projects. As a project leader of the USAID economic projects, he had designed and managed a portfolio of projects worth more than $ 50 million. He also served as a foreign commercial service employee in Zagreb (US Depart-ment of Commerce). He graduated from the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb.

Danilo Türk

Dr. Danilo Türk is a diplomat, professor of internation-al law, human rights expert, and political figure who served as the President of Slovenia from 2007 to 2012. Dr. Türk was the first Slovene ambassador to the Unit-ed Nations, from 1992 to 2000, and was the UN Assis-tant Secretary General for Political Affairs from 2000 to 2005. He is a visiting professor of international law at Columbia University in New York City, a professor emeritus at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lju-bljana, and non-resident senior fellow of Chongyang Institute for Financial studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing. Dr. Türk is the founder of the Danilo Türk Foundation, devoted mostly to the rehabilitation

of child victims of armed conflict. He is also the chair-man of the Global High Level Panel on Water and Peace and the chairman of the board of the Global Fairness Initiative, a Washington-based NGO dedicated to eco-nomic and social development in developing nations. As of February 2016, Mr. Türk is a candidate for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Darko Horvat

Mr. Darko Horvat was appointed as Minister of En-trepreneurship and Crafts of Croatia in 2016. He was elected as member of Croatian Parliament in 2015. He studied power electronics engineering at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computing and Informatics in Maribor, Slovenia. Currently he is taking his master’s degree at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electri-cal Engineering and Computing. Mr. Horvat is Croatian Democratic Union Party (HDZ) member from 1999. He was elected as member of the Party Presidency in 2012 and was appointed Chairman of the Committee for Energy, Mining and Environment Protection. In the same year he was elected President of the Medjimur-je County Organization of Croatian Democratic Union Party. Apart from his political carrier, Mr. Horvat spent his 16 years in business. He worked as independent engineer of processing informatics technology and remote power station control system and as director for distribution system for HEP Company from 1996 to 2008. During his career in the Ministry of Econo-my, Labour and Entrepreneurship he served as Assis-tant Minister for crafts and then for energy. In 2012 he moved to corporation “Energyplus” where he served on the management board.

Denis Prcic

Mr. Denis Prcic is president of American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has over two decades of working experience. Mr. Prcic was engaged in various performing units including managing departments, companies, research centers, institutes, and university. Mr. Prcic’s area of expertise and skills include strategic planning, operations, financial and investment man-agement.


David Petraeus

General (Ret) David H. Petraeus joined KKR in June 2013 and is Chairman of the KKR Global Institute. Gen. Pe-traeus is involved in the KKR investment process and oversees the Institute’s thought leadership platform fo-cused on geopolitical and macro-economic trends, as well as environmental, social, and governance issues. Prior to joining KKR, Gen. Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S. military, including command of coalition forces in Iraq, command of U.S. Central Command, and command of coalition forces in Afghanistan. Follow-ing his service in the military, Gen. Petraeus served as the Director of the CIA. Gen. Petraeus graduated with distinction from the U.S. Military Academy and subse-quently earned M.P.A. and Ph.D. degrees in international relations from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Gen. Petraeus has received numerous U.S. military, State Department, NATO and United Nations medals and awards, and he has been decorated by 13 foreign countries. He is also a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at CUNY’s Macaulay Honors College, Judge Widney Professor at the Univer-sity of Southern California, a non-resident Senior Fellow at Harvard University, and Senior Vice-President of the Royal United Services Institute.

Denis Zvizdic

Mr. Denis Zvizdic received his PhD in 2007 at the Fac-ulty of Architecture, where he worked as an associate professor. Several times he was elected to the cantonal and federal legislatures, and was a prime minister of the Sarajevo Canton (KS). He also worked at the Min-istry of Physical Planning and Construction of the Re-public of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federal Minis-try of Physical Planning and Environmental Protection and the public company “Unioninvest”. He is a mem-ber of the SDA party since 1991, and vice president from 2015. He was the Prime Minister of the Sarajevo Canton from 2003 to 2006, when he won a place in the Cantonal Assembly and delegated to the House of Peoples of the Federation. In the 2010 elections he was elected to the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament in which until 2012 held the position of Chairman. Currently, he is Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dusko Knezevic

Dr. Dusko Knezevic is the founder and president of the board of directors of Atlas Group Corporation (AGC). AGC is the largest financial group in Montene-gro consisting of dozens of international companies with far-ranging business interest in Serbia, Cyprus, Russia and Great Britain. The AGC has grown into an internationally acknowledged company, consisting of 30 companies including banks, finance, real estate, construction, tourism, education, health and media. Strong business relationships and partnerships with, among others, Abu Dhabi Capital Group owned by Royal family from UAE, Bursa Istanbul, Mace London, Piraeus Bank, EBRD, Century 21 Real Estate and Turn-er Real Estate USA, have been developed. In addition, Dr. Knezevic founded and is president of the board of Mediterranean University (the first private university in Montenegro) and the Belgrade Banking Academy. Dr. Knezevic is a member of the Managing Board of the SUMMIT100 Business Leaders of Southeast Europe and also the only representative from Montenegro.

Elmedin Konakovic

Mr. Elmedin Konakovic is a Prime Minister of the Sara-jevo Canton since 2015. Before graduating at the Uni-versity of Sarajevo’s Faculty of Sport, he was a player of basketball club Bosna and captain of this club. He was a member of the Committee of the Council of Europe from 2004 to 2006, and was elected as a counselor in the City Hall Sarajevo municipality Center. From 2010 to 2014 he was a representative in the Assembly of Sarajevo Canton and the head of the club of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA).

Emir Aganovic

Mr. Emir Aganovic graduated at the Faculty of Electri-cal Engineering in 1980. He has more than 35 years of experience in managing of electric power companies, planning of the EPS operation, long term and strategic planning and development and reconstruction pro-jects, In addition, Mr. Aganovic is an expert in process of restructuring, privatization and reforms of electric energy sector. His special experience refers to the field of power system control and electricity supply and


trade. On several occasions, as member of the Board of Elektroprivreda BiH, Mr. Aganovic performed the duties of Executive Director in regards to supply and trade, operation and maintenance, as well as jobs re-lated to restructuring and development. Currently, as the Advisor to the CEO he carries out activities related to the strategic development, investment and restruc-turing of Elektroprivreda BiH.

Eva Stravs-Podlogar

Ms. Eva Stravs-Podlogar was born in Slovenia. In 1987 she graduated and earned the title BSc. In 2006 Ms. Stravs-Podlogar completed General Management Program at IEDC, Bled Business School, with the pres-entation of the project work “Implementation of PPP (public private partnership) in the destination Bled as a basis for the further development of tourism. Her previous employment included Bled hotel tourist company ELAN Commerce; Tourism Bled, Institute for Tourism Promotion; Tourism and Internationalisation Directorate.

Fadil Novalic

Mr. Fadil Novalic is a Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mr. Novalic graduated at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sarajevo, in 1983. From 1983 to 1990 he was head of development in the public company “TMD Gradacac Sloboda”. From 1990 to 1996 he was Chairman of the Board, and subsequently Director, and from 2001 to 2013 the main manager of the company “Cimos TMD”. In addition Mr. Novalic was a member of the Super-visory Board of the company “Wagner Automotive” Gradacac. He was involved in several projects. Among them in the TMD - Automotive, which became the fourth exporter in B&H and one of the best factories in organizational and technological terms. Mr. Noval-ic also took a part in the implementation of the Law on Privatization of Mr. Ante Markovic in 1990. He par-ticipated in the construction of a network of compa-nies cooperating with company “Cimos TMD” and the automobile industry. He is an active member of the Council of the Faculty of Economics in Sarajevo, lec-turer at the graduate groups in the field of marketing management in practice.

Franc But

Mr. Ambassador Franc But is Head of Department for Bilateral Economic Cooperation at the Ministry of For-eign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia.

Francisco Parodi

Dr. Francisko Parodi is International Monetary Fund Resident Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Before joining IMF, Dr. Parodi has worked as Director for United States Treasury Department for Middle East and North Africa Office and as Senior International Economic Analyst for Federal Reserve Bank of Atlan-ta. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics at Emory University in fields of International Economics and Econometrics and B.S. in Finance, University of Tennessee, Summa Cum Laude.

Gazmend Haxhia

Mr. Gazmend Haxhia is President of companies Albania Experience, Avis Rent-A-Car Albania and Budget Rent-A-Car Albania; co-owner and principal shareholder of OPEL dealerships and co-founder and co-owner of POLIS University in Tirana. An ardent promoter of en-trepreneurship, he is currently lecturing at several uni-versities in the world amongst which IEDC Bled, Slove-nia, POLIS University Albania and has lectured at Yale Business School and Tuck School of Business in the US. He serves on numerous boards, such as the UBA Bank Albania, POLIS University Board, the Central Eastern European Management Association (CEEMAN), Euro-pean Foundation for Entrepreneurial Research (EFER) and has formerly served on the Advisory Board of BKT, the Albania-based bank, American University in Koso-vo and Business Advisory Council (BAC). A graduate of Tirana University, Mr. Haxhia has earned a Master’s de-gree in Business and International Relations from Co-lumbia University (USA) with additional business ed-ucation coursework completed at Harvard University (USA), London Business School (UK), INSEAD (France). Mr. Haxhia has been an active member of Young Presi-dents Organization (YPO) since 2008 and was selected as a Young Global Leader to the Davos World Econom-ic Summit the same year.


Goran Svilanovic

Dr. Goran Svilanovic is Secretary General of the Re-gional Cooperation Council (RCC). Dr. Svilanovic holds a Ph.D. from the Union University in Belgrade, Masters and undergraduate law degrees from the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law. He has also studied at the Institute for Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, the University of Saarland, Germany, and the European University Center for Peace Studies in Staadtschlain-ing, Austria. Since 2008, Dr. Svilanovic has been As-sistant Professor of Law at the Union University in Belgrade. He has also been engaged and worked with a number of organizations and committees, such as the Centre for Antiwar Action (1995–1999), the Inter-national Commission on the Balkans (2004–2006) and the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights (2007–2008). He also served as coordinator of the OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities from 2008 till 2012.

Guenther Neubert

Mr. Gunther Neubert studied languages, econom-ics and cultural studies at the University of Passau and gained work experience as an assistant of brand management at today’s Thomas Cook AG in Ober-ursel in Germany. He founded an agency for tourism promotion with offices in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia and moved 1999 to Ecuador, where he took over the management of the German-Ecuadorian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK Ecuador). In 2013, he returned to Europe and has since been the head of the German-Croatian Chamber of Industry and Com-merce and the Delegation of German Economic Affairs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are both part of the AHK network.

Haris Silajdzic

Dr. Haris Silajdzic graduated from the Faculty of Arabic language and Islamic studies in Benghazi (Libya). He gained master’s degree at the University of Pristina in 1977 and his PhD in 1979. Since 1996 Dr. Silajdzic is a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo, and since 1998 and at Cornell University Ithaca, New York. He was a visiting professor at universities: Harvard, Maryland, Chatham House (Royal Institute of Inter-

national Affairs in London), the Carnegie Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson Center. Dr. Silajdzic was a member and Vice President of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) since its inception until 1996, when he founded the new Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH) and became its president, which position he held till 2010.

Ian Brown

Mr. Ian Brown has been appointed head of the Europe-an Bank for Reconstruction and Development Bank’s office in Bosnia and Herzegovina since October 2014. Mr. Brown has been a senior member of the Power, Energy & Utilities team since 2008. Between May and October 2012, he was acting head of office in Bel-grade. Mr. Brown has a degree in Economics and Busi-ness Administration from Sheffield University and an MBA from the University of Greenwich.

Igor Crnadak

Mr. Igor Crnadak is a Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bos-nia and Herzegovina. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics in Banja Luka, and continued postgraduate studies at the Department of Global Markets and the European Union at the Faculty of Economics in Ban-ja Luka. From 2007 to 2009 he held a position of the Deputy Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovi-na. On behalf of the Ministry of Defense of B&H, Mr. Crnadak was responsible for international cooperation of the B&H NATO Coordination Team.

Ismail Ahmad

Mr. Ismail Ahmad is the President and the CEO of Buroj International Group, United Arab Emirates.

Ismet Gavrankapetanovic

Prof. Ismet Gavrankapetanovic is a full time professor of Orthopedic and War Surgery at the Medical Faculty, University of Sarajevo. In 1998 he completed doctoral dissertation on Estimation of therapy effects in chronic long lower limb bones infection caused by high ener-gy projectiles treatment, at the Medical School of Uni-versity of Sarajevo. In the same year he became Head of orthopedic and traumatology clinic, Clinical Center


University of Sarajevo. Since 2007 he has been a Head of department of surgery, Medical Faculty University of Sarajevo. From 2004 to 2008 he was director of In-stitute for Medical Investigation, Education and Devel-opment, Clinical Center University of Sarajevo.

Jamal Dawood Salman

Mr. Jamal Dawood Salman is a Member of the Council of Parliament in Bahrain. He is former member of the National Committee for the development of innova-tions at Bahrain Center for Studies and Researches. His previous posts included member of Rehearsal and Re-formulate of the national legislation related to Media, Regulation of Journalism and Printing Publication Law, Copyright protection and related rights law, Audiovis-ual media law, and member in drafting of International Media Legislation. Currently Mr. Salman is also a man-datory expert in the Grand Court of Appeal in Justice and Islamic affairs Ministry as well as lecturer in Media Awareness and Social Aspects and lecturer in the Legal Aspects in the intellectual property inside and outside of Bahrain.

Jasmin Buco

Dr. Jasmin Buco graduated Civil Engineering at National Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon, France, and got the Master of Science Degree in Geotechnical Engineer-ing at Herriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. Mr. Buco obtained his PhD in the field of Civil Engineer-ing. He worked for a short period of time for the group Bouygues Construction. As Expert for Infrastructure he was employed at the company RTE EDF in France. Over years spent in France and UK he took part in a number of important infrastructure projects. After returning to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2008, he was appointed as advisor in the Government of Federation of BIH where he participated in the development of the legal frame-work and technical regulations for large scale infra-structure. After joining the Public Company Motorways of Federation of BiH in 2011 as Executive director, he was in charge of the large investments on the Corridor VC. He was an assistant Professor at the University of Lyon and Associate Professor at the Faculties of Civil En-gineering, Universities of Sarajevo and Mostar. He is au-thor of publications in the international scientific jour-nals and conferences in Europe, U.S.A, Japan and India.

Kurt Tong

Mr. Kurt Tong was born in Ohio and raised in Mas-sachusetts. Mr. Tong holds a B.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and studied graduate-level eco-nomics at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. He has also studied at the Beijing Institute of Education, Inter-Uni-versity Program for Chinese Language Studies in Tai-pei, Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Tokyo, and International Christian University in Tokyo. Mr. Tong has been an economic affairs dip-lomat for the State Department since 1990, including service as Director for Asian Economic Affairs at the National Security Council from 2006 to 2008 and as Economic Minister-Counselor in Seoul from 2003 to 2006. Mr. Tong has served as Principal Deputy Assis-tant Secretary for the Bureau of Economic and Busi-ness Affairs at the Department of State since July 2014. Before joining the Bureau, Mr. Tong served for three years as the Deputy Chief of Mission in Tokyo, Japan. Prior to his time in Tokyo, he was the U.S. Ambassador for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), man-aging all aspects of U.S. participation in APEC, while concurrently serving as the Economic Coordinator for the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacif-ic Affairs, organizing bureau-wide efforts on economic policy.

Lv Zexiang

Mr. Lv Zexiang studied at Shenyang University of Technology, Electronic & Mechanical Engineering. He finished EMBA at Beijing Institute of Technology. Mr. Zexiang was clerk in the General Electric Department. He has held several positions which include market-ing manager of No. One Department of Whole Set Equipment, General Manager of No. One Department of China Machinery Industry Fifth Construction Corpo-ration, General Manager and party general secretary of China national Electronic International Engineering Corporation, etc. Mr. Zexiang was also deputy manag-er of China Gezhouba Group International Engineer-ing Corporation. From 2015. Mr. Zexiang is engaged as general manager, member of party committee, and member of board of directors of China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Corporation.


Malik Mulabegovic

Mr. Malik Mulabegovic graduated with honors in In-formation Technology from Malaysia’s Multimedia Uni¬versity (MMU). Since then, he has worked with some of the most prestigious firms in Germany, Brazil and China, in¬cluding Nokia GmbH, Siemens AG, and TATA Group. After being almost two decades abroad engaged in telecommunications industry during which he established himself as project manager and a senior consultant he was ready for a new challenge. Driven by a passion to rebuild his home country, Mr. Mulabegovic returned to Bosnia and took a position to head a Project Management Office at BBI Bank. During his term he was approached with a task to establish an Agricultural Investment Fund as one of the pioneer-ing initiatives of Bosna Bank International. Success-ful implementation of this endeavor resulted in him being appointed as a Director of ZERAA Agriculture Investment and Management a Private Equity compa-ny in Bosnia and Herzegovina. With his international experience and fluency in several world languages he continues to learn and share the knowledge and at the same time benefit others.

Mao Chaofeng

Mr. Mao Chaofeng is currently member of the Stand-ing Committee of Hainan Provincial Committee of the C.P.C, and Executive Vice Governor of Hainan Provin-cial People’s Government. Mr. Chaofeng graduated from the Department of Meteorology of Beijing Me-teorology College in 1985, majoring in Meteorological Forecast. He later worked in Henan Provincial Office of the Civil Aviation Administration, where he succes-sively served as Director of the Division of Planning and Management, Deputy Director-General and then Director-General. In 2001, Mr. Chaofeng took the of-fice of Mayor of Jiaozuo City of Henan Province; in 2006, he assumed the position of Party Secretary of Zhoukou Municipal Committee of the C.P.C of Henan Province; in 2011, Mr. Chaofeng became the Member of the Standing Committee and Secretary for Political and Legal Affairs of Henan Provincial Committee of the C.P.C. In 2012, Mr. Chaofeng was transferred to work in Hainan Province and took the position of Member of the Standing Committee and Secretary for Political and Legal Affairs of Hainan Provincial Committee of

the C.P.C., and assumed his current leadership posi-tions since May 2015.

Mehmet Simsek

Mr. Mehmet Simsek serves as a Deputy Prime Min-ister of Turkey. He previously served as the Minister of Finance in the cabinets of Prime Ministers Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ahmet Davutoğlu. As a member of the Justice and Development Party, he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Gaziantep in the 2007 general election and for Batman in the 2011 general election. In Prime Minister Erdoğan’s second cabinet, Şimşek became a Minister of State responsible for the economy upon his election as an MP. In 2009, he became the Minister of Finance. He retained his po-sition in Erdoğan’s third cabinet and the first cabinet of Ahmet Davutoğlu, who took over as Prime Minister in 2014. As Finance Minister, Şimşek has formulated fiscal policy which has helped Turkey recover strongly from the global financial crisis of 2008. He has also un-dertaken far reaching reforms founding the Tax Audit Board, simplifying tax regulations, enhancing taxpay-ers’ rights, and reducing the shadow economy.

Mirko Sarovic

Mr. Mirko Sarovic is a Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is former President of the Republic of Srpska (RS) and a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mr. Sarovic graduated from the Law School in Sarajevo in 1979. Šarović is a member of the Serbian Demo-cratic Party (SDS) since 1990, and he is currently vice president. From 1996 to 1998 he was mayor of East Sarajevo, then he was elected as Vice President of RS. In 2000 he became President of the Republic of Srpska, and two years later he was elected as Serbian member of BH Presidency. On 2011 he was appointed as State Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, but retired in 2013. Two years later he was re-appointed to the same position.

Mirsad Jasarspahic

Mr. Mirsad Jasarspahic graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Zenica, with a diplo-ma degree in Mechanical Engineering. He began his


career in public company Rudstroj Kakanj, where he eventually advanced to the post of executive direc-tor of commercial and technical affairs. In 2008, Mr. Jasarspahic became the chief executive officer of the Brown Coal Mine Kakanj, remaining with the company until 2014. For his exceptional achievements in invest-ment, implementation of quality standards, and use of modern technology in this company, he was awarded the Manager of the Year award in 2011. Currently, Mr. Jasarspahic is the president of the Chamber of Econ-omy of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a business association which actively promotes the in-terest of companies and fosters economic activity. He received a special award in manifestation of Manager of the Year 2015 for exceptional engagement and Im-provement in Chamber of Economy in FBIH.

Muhamed Pilav

Mr. Muhamed Pilav graduated from the Faculty of Eco-nomics (University of Sarajevo) in 1982 and complet-ed Master’s degree in 2005. From 1983-1990 worked at public company UNIS - Pumps and Filters Factory “Pobjeda”, Tesanj. In 1990 Mr. Pilav founded his own holding focusing on wholesale and retail. Paper bags factory was founded in 1991, followed by Flour and Bread Factory in 1997 and Furniture Factory in 2005. Mr. Pilav has taken part in various volunteer duties at the Association of Employers and currently serves as President of the Association of Employers at the Sara-jevo Canton.

Tan Sri Dato’ Haji Muhyiddinbin Yassin

YAB Tan Sri Muhyiddin bin Yassin has served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia for 6 years (2009 – 2015). YAB Tan Sri Muhyiddin grew up in the state of Johor and joined the state public service after graduating from university. He later took up manage-ment positions at various state-owned companies. He joined politics in the 1970s and was elected as Mem-ber of Parliament for Pagoh in 1978. Since then, he has been holding several posts in the Government, which include, Minister of Education (2009-2015), Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry (2004 –2008), Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (1999

–2004), Minister of Youth and Sports (1995 –1999) as well as the Chief Minister of Johor (1986 –1995).

Nihad Fejzic

Dr. Nihad Fejzic is specialist for an epidemiology with particular experience in disease control, sanitary & phytosanitary measures and agriculture trade in Bos-nia and Herzegovina and regional countries. His area of expertise includes data analysis, system analysis, WTO and EU sanitary and phytosanitary measures and legislative framework, agriculture support systems, risk analysis and international trade of animal products. Dr. Fejzic studied veterinary medicine at University of Sarajevo (1986 – 1991) and gained PhD from same University. He had worked as deputy director of State veterinary office of B&H and director of Agency for development of higher education (FBiH) and quality assurance of B&H under Council of Minister’s of B&H (2008-2011). While working for B&H government he was a team leader for a number of task forces, groups or commissions related with SPS, agriculture and ed-ucation fields. He was a member of national team for WTO negotiation in charge for SPS and agriculture agreement (2003 – 2008). Dr. Fejzic is international ex-pert of FAO in region, Asia and Africa and currently a professor at Veterinary faculty Sarajevo. From 2012 he holds position of Dean of Veterinary Faculty Sarajevo, University of Sarajevo.

Nina Pobric

Ms. Nina Porbric has completed Bachelor of Econom-ics at the School of Economics and Business Sarajevo in 2003. First work engagement was with Nova Ban-ka Banja Luka as Bank Branch Manager and Director of Bank Regional Center Sarajevo. In 2008, Ms. Pobric has joined Sparkasse Bank Sarajevo as Financial Ad-visor at the Strategic Clients Sector (Corporate Divi-sion), where she stayed for one year. While complet-ing her Master of Science in Economics at School of Economics and Business Sarajevo, she has embraced work opportunity and became head of the investment promotion department in Foreign Investment Promo-tion Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FIPA). She is mainly responsible for promoting a positive image of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a country that is attractive to foreign investors.


Ning Jizhe

Mr. Ning Jizhe entered the work force in 1974, and graduated from Hefei University of Technology in 1982. From 2006 to 2007, he was Assistant Director of Research Office of the State Council. From 2007 to 2013 he was Deputy Director of the Research Office of the State Council. From 2013 to 2015 he was Director of the Research Office of the State Council. In 2015 he was named Deputy Director, National Development and Reform Commission. Mr. Jizhe, who is also vice chairman of China’s top planning body the National Development and Reform Commission, concurrently hold the post of head and party chief at the National Bureau of Statistics.

Saed Al Awadi

Mr. Saed Mohamed Al Awadi is the Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Exports (DE), the regulatory arm of Dubai World. Mr. Al Awadi has over 20 years of expe-rience in the government and private sector. He holds a degree in Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, with a Masters in Environmental Engineering, supplement-ed by Executive MBA from Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania. His leadership skills have also resulted in several individual Excellence awards. His experience in establishing new companies/ gov-ernment entities (DEDC, Export Credit Insurance Com-pany… etc.) has been derived from his vast experience in the Manufacturing, Recycling, Oil & Gas, Commerce, QHSE and Management. Mr. Al Awadi’s leadership / technical skills and management aptitude were evi-dent during his earlier employment, where he quickly rose up in the ranks to manage more than 200 en-gineering / technical and administrative personnel at Dubai World. Mr. Al Awadi is also a vice chairman of Masharie Investments and member of the Board of Di-rectors of several institutions, like Emirates Standardi-zation & Metrology Authority, Export Credit Insurance Co. of Emirates and other Venture Capital & Manufac-turing Companies.

Selmo Cikotic

Prof. Selmo Cikotic graduated from Military High school in Belgrade in 1982 and from Yugoslav Mili-tary Academy in 1986. He began his officer’s career

as a commander and teacher at Air Defense School Center at Zadar. In 1991 he completed English lan-guage school at JNA Foreign Languages Center in Belgrade. During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina he performed different military assignments, includ-ing the position of the Operational group ”West” com-mander during 1993 and 1994 in Central Bosnia. From 1994 until 1997, he served as the Defense Attaché of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the USA, in Washington DC, where he participated at Dayton peace talks, as a military representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Afterwards, from 1997 till 1999, he worked as the Chief of Doctrine, Education and Training Division of B&H Federation Military. From 2000 until 2004 he acted as the Federation Military 1st corps Commander. From 2007 up to 2012 he was assigned to the position of the Defense Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He defended his PhD theses in 2008 at the Sarajevo Uni-versity Faculty of Political Sciences where he currently works as visiting professor. He published a number of articles and books.

Senad Salkic

Dr. Senad Salkic graduated from the Faculty for Eco-nomics - University of Tuzla where he earned degree of Master of Science and academic degree Doctor of Economic science. In period 2005 – 2015 worked at Thermal Power Plant „Tuzla” in Sector for economic af-fairs. He attended and completed many seminars and courses and published several scientific and profes-sional papers. Currently he is an advisor to the Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry, Federation of B&H and the Executive Director of Capital Investments at Public Enterprise Electric Utility of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Seval Suljkanovic

Mr. Seval Suljkanovic works as assistant for econom-ic policy in Bimal Brcko, one of the leading edible oil companies in the region. During 1999-2001 and 2003-2007 he was the Minister of agriculture in Tuzla Canton. He was also director of the INMER dairy in Gradacac.

Shezad Abedi

Mr. Shezad Abedi is currently head of Turkish Com-modities for BGC Partners, one of the world’s largest


brokers and advisors. Previously Mr. Abedi was Chair-man of PDF Corporate Finance, Board Member of TAIB YatirimBank AS, and Managing Director of Commodi-ties, Power and Energy at TAIB Bank, Bahrain. Prior to joining TAIB Mr. Abedi founded and become president of Group Commercial Director of Welsh Power Group and CEO of its subsidiary Carron Energy, one of the UK’s first private equity backed power companies. Mr. Abedi was also head of UK and Scandinavian Struc-tured Products at EdF Trading. Mr. Abedi has worked as Managing Director of European Electricity at Prebon Yamane. Mr. Abedi has acquired, managed and turned around businesses for himself and for his employers and now has interests in education software, media production and training. Mr. Abedi holds a master de-gree in management and a bachelor degree in physics from Imperial College, London University.

Stephen Vineburg

Mr. Stephen Vineburg is currently Chief Executive Of-ficer of ASMA Capital Partners, the manager of the IDB Infrastructure Fund II. The Fund is sponsored by the IDB, and other leading institutional and sovereign in-vestors from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Brunei. In this role, Mr. Vineburg is responsible for the deployment of $750m of initial commitments from the Fund, into infrastructure investments in the member states of the IDB. Prior to joining ASMA, Mr. Vineburg was Partner, and CEO Infrastructure for CVC Capital Partners, and prior to that he was Global Head of Infrastructure In-vestment for First State Investments. He has extensive experience in managing investments including those in power stations, water companies, airports and gas pipelines. Mr. Vineburg has worked with major pen-sion funds and sovereign wealth funds in the develop-ment of their private equity and infrastructure invest-ment programs.

Stjepan Mesic

Mr. Stjepan Mesic served as the second President of Croatia from 2000 to 2010. Before serving two five-year terms as president, he was the first Prime Minister of Croatia (1990) after multi-party elections, the last President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1991) and consequently Secretary General of the Non-Aligned

Movement (1991), as well as Speaker of the Croatian Parliament (1992–1994), a judge in Nasice and mayor of his home town of Orahovica. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia and Croatia’s independence, Mr. Mesic served as Speaker of the Croatian Parliament from 1992-94, when he left HDZ. With several other mem-bers of parliament, he formed a new party called Cro-atian Independent Democrats (HND). In 1997 the ma-jority of HND members, including Mr. Mesic, merged into the Croatian People’s Party (HNS).

Veljko Ostojic

Mr. Veljko Ostojic graduated in 1981 at the Zagreb School of Economics, and began his career in 1985 in company Istra Jadran Pula where he worked on the af-fairs of hotel consulting and in 1989 he became Depu-ty General Manager. He was Croatian Minister of Tour-ism from 2011 to 2013, and at that position he came from the position of Chairman of the Board of Porec Riviera Adria. He currently serves as a CEO of Karisma Hotels Adriatic.

Vladimir Kavaric

Dr. Vladimir Kavaric received his PhD in 2010 at the Faculty of Economics, University of Montenegro. Im-mediately after graduation he worked as a business consultant and manager of the investment sector in the Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Devel-opment. After that, he was Program Director, Center for applied research and analysis. In April 2004, the Government of the Republic of Montenegro elected him to the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Montenegro. Dr. Kavaric hold this po-sition till 2007, when Montenegrin Parliament elect-ed him as a President of the Council for the Insurance Supervision Agency. In addition, Dr. Kavaric worked as an associate at the Institute for Strategic Studies and forecasts (1999-2004). He was also a member of the management body in companies “Agrotransport” and “Marina”. After this, Dr. Kavaric held the office of Pres-ident of the Board of the CDA (2006-2007), as well as membership of the Statistical Council of Montenegro and of the Board of PMI. He led or participated in the development of over 100 different projects and par-ticipated in numerous professional conferences and study tours at home and abroad related to the insti-


tutional framework (laws, regulations, etc.), Macro-eco-nomic policy, entrepreneurship and economic develop-ment.

Vuk Hamovic

Mr. Vuk Hamovic studied economics at the University of Belgrade, subsequently specialising in probability mod-els. Following his studies, Mr. Hamovic joined company “Energoprojekt”, state owned construction and technol-ogy giant, and over the next 10 years moved up to be-come President of “Energodata”, the company’s IT arm. With state sector opening up to private enterprise in 1987 he established a small financial engineering com-pany “Milnah” solving external debt problems for both companies and governments. In 1989 Mr. Hamovic left” Milnah” to co-found “East Point Holdings”, company which did trade in international secondary debts and clearing account markets, before selling his stake in 1992 to move to the UK. In London, Mr. Hamovic worked for GML International, an investment-banking firm, advising Central and Eastern European governments on debt. As both a shareholder and Director, he worked under the GML umbrella throughout the 1990s on numerous debt transactions, particularly those related to the energy sector. From this work, Mr. Hamovic came to an idea to form corporation EFT in collaboration with his associates in the finance and energy worlds. The corporation EFT was formed in 2000. Under Mr. Hamovic’s leadership EFT grew to be the dominant power trading house in South East Europe and is currently completing a 300 MW ther-mal power plant in Stanari, B&H.

Xiong Tao

Mr. Xiong Tao is currently member of Yiwu Municipal CPC standing committee, and deputy mayor of Yiwu. Xiong Tao graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. He started working in August 2002. Previously Xiong Tao served as an officer in the European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China; Third Secretary and Chief of the Political Section of the Chinese Embassy in Denmark; Third Secretary of European Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Deputy Director of the Press Department; Second and First Secretary of the General Office. He was appointed to his current position in Sep-tember 2014.

Yucel Ogurlu

Prof. Yucel Ogurlu is Rector of International University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Prof. Yucel Ogurlu is a Turkish jurist, lawyer and professor of Administrative Law. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at the Istan-bul University in 1992. He completed Fiscal Law Master Program on 1995 and Public Law Doctorate Program on 1999 at Marmara University. Meanwhile, he started his academic career at the Atatürk University and Istanbul Commerce University. He has been a visiting professor for postgraduate studies at Tilburg University in Neth-erlands and Ahmed Yesevi University in Kazakhstan. Prof. Ogurlu worked twenty two years as a professor and manager in several positions. In addition, he also worked as project manager in domestic and internation-al projects on Administrative Law. He is “sitting” on Edi-torial Board of some prestigious academic journals. Prof. Ogurlu wrote several books, book chapters and articles on administrative law and topics on other fields of Public Law. He has written also many newspaper articles on law, international law and international relations.

Zhang Jiehui

Dr. Zhang Jiehui comes from Liaoning Province, People Republic of China. He entered the work force in 1975 and joined the CPC in 1976. Dr. Jiehui graduated from Shenyang Chemical Engineering College with a Bache-lor Degree in 1978, and completed his master degree at Northeast University in 1997 as well as a PhD degree in 2000. From 2006 to 2010 Dr. Jiehui was Secretary of CPC Anshan City Committee of Liaoning Province. In 2010 he was appointed as Vice-Governor of Hebei Province.

Zhang Xiaoyuan

Mr. Zhang Xiaoyuan is General Director of Serbian Branch of China Road & Bridge Corporation (CRBC) since 2013. Mr. Xiaoyuan is a senior Highway engineer with a lot of international experience. From 2011 to 2013 he was Head of Institute of Design & Research, CRBC. From 2005 to 2011 he was Managing Director of CRBC Indonesia. From 2001 to 2003 he was Deputy General Manager of CRBC Ethiopia, and before that he worked as a Highway engineer in CRBC Kenya.


Zhou Ping

Mr. Zhou Ping is currently the Deputy Director General of Hainan Provincial Tourism Development Commis-sion. From 1979-1983 he studied foreign language at Sichuan Foreign Languages University. In 1985 he be-came teaching Assistant, Chongqing University, while in 1987 he graduated in American Studies from Bei-jing Foreign Studies University. From 1988 to 1991 he resumed position at Hainan Provincial Foreign Affairs Office. From 2004 to 2007 he went to diplomacy by becoming first secretary and consul at Chinese Em-bassy in Prague. In 2016 Mr. Ping became a director for International Promotion and Deputy Director General, Hainan Provincial Tourism Development Commission.

Zlatko Lagumdzija

Mr. Zlatko Lagumdzija did his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in field of computer science and electronic engineering at the University of Sarajevo in 1977, 1981 and 1988 respectively. Mr. Lagumdzija has been a professor at the Sarajevo School of Economics and School of Elec-trical Engineering since 1989. He has been a director of the Center for Management and Information Tech-nology in Sarajevo since 1995, and since 1994 has been the head of the Business IT Department at the Sarajevo School of Economics. He has been member of the World Academy of Art and Science since 2006. In politics, he has been a president of the Social Dem-ocratic Party (SDP) from 1997 to 2014, a member of the B&H Parliament’s House of Representatives since 1996 and a vice-president of the Senate of Bosniak In-stitute since 2005. He was a chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina between 2001 and 2002, a B&H minister of foreign affairs between 2001 and 2003, Vice-President and then President of Gov-ernment of than Republic of B&H between 1992 and 1993.

Zeljko Sertic

Mr. Zeljko Sertic is a Minister of Economy in govern-ment of Serbia. He completed early education in Novi Sad. He received his university degree at the Union University in Belgrade. He is owner of company “Kom-rad” and an expert on small and medium enterprises. Mr. Sertic is a member of the Serbian Progressive Par-ty. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Ev-rokomora, and was proclaimed as the best manager in Southeast and Central Europe.

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Speakers and Panelists SBF 2016 - Sarajevo Business · PDF fileSpeakers and Panelists SBF 2016 ... The Conference gathered businessmen and project owners from Bosnia and ... Bank