Bill Clinton to visit Montenegro for Inaugural Conference of Balkan Networking initiative

BUDVA, Montenegro – Distinguished political and business leaders and prominent civil society figures from South-Eastern Europe will meet in Budva, Montenegro on 22 May 2011 for the Inaugural Conference “Balkan Networking for Social Empowerment of South-Eastern Europe.”

The keynote speaker at the Conference will be Bill Clinton, the Founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the 42nd U.S. President.

The main goal of the event is to address the pressing challenges facing South-Eastern Europe through developing new models of cross-border and cross-sector cooperation.

The Conference, which is co-sponsored by the Government of Montenegro and the Atlas Group, in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative, seeks to establish a public-private network that will work on finding a cross-border model of sustainable social empowerment.

Conference participants will discuss current topics through two panels:
i. Two Decades After - Lessons Learnt, New Ideas and Shared Values
ii. Public Private Partnership - Investing Into Common Future

The opening ceremony and speeches by Prime Minister Igor Lukšić, President of the Clinton Foundation Bill Clinton and Atlas Group President Duško Knežević will be open to the media at 13:00 on Sunday 22 May. 

Opening and closing press releases will be issued and made available on the Government of Montenegro website: http://www.gov.me/en/.

Journalists wishing to cover the Conference should complete the attached accreditation form  and send it, along with a photograph, to Vuk Vujnovic, International Press Officer at the Government of Montenegro Public Relations Bureau – email: vuk.vujnovic@gsv.gov.me; tel: +382 20 482 928, +382 20 482 848, no later than Friday 13 May. More details on the Conference are available at: http://www.atlasfoundation.me/en/home