Berlin Economics institutional partner at this year’s Economic Forum in Krynica-Zdrój

Berlin Economics participated as an institutional partner at the 23rd Economic Forum held in Krynica-Zdrój, Poland, which took place between the 3rd and 5th of September.The Economic Forum, which has long established itself as the most important gathering for representatives from politics, business and non-governmental organisations in Central and Eastern Europe, had this year the motto “Towards a new deal”.

As institutional partner, Berlin Economics hosted its own panel under the title “The EU’s recipe for trade policy – will it work for Eastern Partnership countries?”. As the title suggests, participants from politics, think tanks and EU institutions explored how countries of the Eastern Neighbourhood region can formulate a foreign trade policy that ensures a free flow of goods and services with all their main trading partners – especially the European Union and traditional partners from the CIS countries. In this context, the panel discussed the pros and cons of different integration options, most importantly the possibility of a DCFTA with the EU and the option of joining the Russian-led Customs Union. Against the backdrop of the current trade dispute between Russia and countries like Ukraine and Moldova, a major focus of the discussion was on options for the affected countries to resolve the frictions.

The panel was moderated by Dr. Ricardo Giucci, the Managing Director of Berlin Economics and head of the German Advisory Group in Ukraine and the German Economic Team in Moldova. The panelist were Ulrike Hauer from the EU`s External Action Service, Journalist Aidan Manktelow from the Economist newspaper, the Polish Member of Parliament Krzysztof Szczerski, Yaroslav Zhwhalilo from the National Institute for Strategic Studies in Kiev as well Phillip Vlaemminck a Partner with the legal advice firm Altius, who are specialized on trade law.