Budapest Eurasia Forum 2020 E-Conference

After the Pre-Forum Session of the Budapest Eurasia Forum held in Budapest in October 2019, this year the event – considering the pandemic – will be realised digitally. The concept of the annual event was created in 2019, in line with the West-East balance-focused international strategy of the Central Bank of Hungary.

The live broadcast will be available on the website of the event and on the YouTube channel of MNB as well.

Europe and Asia coming closer, the strengthening of China’s international role and the resulting economical and geopolitical shift, as well as the expansion of cooperation opportunities among Eurasian countries are some of the most exciting issues of our time. The purpose of the Eurasia Forum series of events is to examine these questions every year and to generate widespread professional dialogue in order to support partner relations.

Owing to its excellent geographical location and active international role, Hungary is an ideal venue for a discourse about the Eurasian region, therefore the Forum contributes to Hungary having a leading role in strengthening the transcontinental cooperation. By now the concept of international cooperation goes beyond economic and financial issues, therefore Eurasia Forum intends to involve other areas of science related to the objective of long-term sustainable economic growth in the topics of the dialogue. For this very reason the agenda of the event includes crucial topics such as geopolitics, multilateral cooperation, infrastructure, technology and innovation, as well as education.

In 2020 the COVID-19 global pandemic highlighted the importance of cooperation and solidarity even more, and thereby it strengthened the necessity of maintaining the international dialogue even further. Considering the significance of the comprehensive changes generated by the pandemic, the Budapest Eurasia Forum 2020 will be organised with the title “Eurasian cooperation in the post-pandemic era”, in electronic form, in line with the pandemic restrictions. Ceremonial lectures will be held as the opening of the event, and then the speakers invited will review the most current issues of the Eurasian cooperation in course of three professional panels. In course of the professional panels several issues will be mentioned, such as how COVID-19 transforms the geopolitical scene and the multilateral international cooperations, how the pandemic presents challenges for ensuring long-term sustainable economic growth, as well as the effects it has on urban life and the development process of smart cities.

Speakers at the 2020 event:

· György Matolcsy, President, Central Bank of Hungary

· Xiaochuan Zhou, Vice Chairman, Boao Forum for Asia; Former Governor of PBOC

· Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs

· Hongbo Wu, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on European Affairs

· Kyuil Chung, Deputy Governor, Bank of Korea

· Eng Chye Tan, President, National University of Singapore 2/2

· Li Jin, Executive Vice President, Fudan University

· Zhimin Chen, Vice President, Fudan University

· Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer, Monetary Authority of Singapore

· Pierre Heilbronn, Vice President of Policy and Partnerships, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

· Jianduan Jiang, Director General, China Construction Fifth Engineering Division Corp. Ltd., China State Construction and Engineering Corporation

· Vladimir M. Morozov, Vice-President for HR and Associate Professor of Diplomacy, MGIMO University

· Jung Hoon Lee, Chair of Smart City Committee, Seoul Metropolitan Government

· Bruno Lanvin, President, Smart City Observatory

· Danae Kyriakopoulou, Chief Economist and Director of Research, OMFIF

· Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin, Vice President, Eurasia Business and Economics Society

· Leena Ilmola-Sheppard, Senior Scientist, International Institute For Applied Systems Analysis

Information: eurasiaforum@mnb.hu