The third Investment Conference, Sarajevo Business Forum, which will be held from 16th to 18th May in Sarajevo, will host 137 projects whose value amounts to €8,5 billion.

Most of the registered projects are in the fields of tourism, construction and agriculture; 35 projects in the field of tourism, 25 in the field of construction and 24 projects in the field of agriculture.

Projects in the energy sector have been registered by 18 companies and individuals, while 16 businessmen will present their ideas in the industry sector.

Ten projects in the field of infrastructure, five in the field of finance and four in the field of education, will also be presented to the foreign investors.

The arrival of 350 foreign investors, including large investment houses, such as Al Baraka, individuals from the Forbes List, Bin Haooudah Group, the CEOs of banks from Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and a very impressive list of representatives of investment funds,
has been announced.

The owner of a large Indian fund, originally from England, numerous Japanese and Chinese delegations, as well as a significant number of Turkish investors, have also confirmed their arrival on the SBF.

The attendance of a number of world leaders on the SBF has been announced. H.E. Ali Babacan, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey and H.E. Mehdi Eker, Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock of the Republic of Turkey, are expected to attend the SBF 2012 opening day.

Ministers from F.Y.R. of Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia, as well as ministers from all structures and parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, have also announced their arrival.

Sarajevo Business Forum aims at reviving the culture of open dialogue among statesmen and international figures from various countries, as well as presenting Bosnia & Herzegovina and its region to international investors.

The Forum will comprise of two parts.

Under its first part, the Forum will present a meeting point for a selected group of statesmen where they will exchange views on the issues related to the civilization dialogue in general, and peace and prosperity in Southeastern Europe in particular.

Under its second compact, Sarajevo Business Forum will be a forum between local businesses, government and international investors aiming at attracting international capital to the country and to the region, which in turn will be instrumental in enhancing economic prosperity and thus peace.

Sarajevo Business Forum thus aims at erasing the remnants of sad recent history of the country and making it once more a center for open interaction between cultures and businesses.

Sarajevo has been a crossroads for European civilizations for centuries, and this year it will be presented on the SBF as the city that will host the first Urbanism World Forum.

Namely, a group of enthusiasts will present a project that will bring the world's architectural elite to Sarajevo in September.

The Urbanism World Forum will organize a biennial encounter with some other capital or city of the world that will present projects and the vision of their future in the 21st century on the Forum. This year it will be the capital of France with the project „Le Grand Paris“.

Global and regional leaders on Sarajevo Business Forum

A number of global and regional leaders have announced their arrival at the thisd International investment conference for Southeast Europe, Sarajevo Business Forum.

The arrival of H.E. Ali Babacan, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, H.E. Mehdi Eker, the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock of the Republic of Turkey, H.E. Mr. Ridha Saidi, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economy of Tunisia, H.E. Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, the President of the Islamic Development Bank and H.E. Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, the Chairman of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has been confirmed along with the arrival of numerour investors and businessman from 25 countries of the world.

Mr. Huseyin Aydin, the Chairman of the Banking Association of Republic of Turkey and the CEO of Turkish Ziraat Bankasi, Mr. Murat Yalçıntaş, Vice President of TOBB and President of Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Kamil Gökhan Bozkurt, the CEO of Turk Telecom, will also participate on the third SBF.

The guests will be addressed by H.H. Sheikh Ahmad bin Jassim al-Thani, The Director General of the Al Jazeera Network, H.E. Mr. Jelko Kacin, Member of European Parliament on behalf of Slovenia, and Dr. Adil Bushnak, the Chairman of the Bushnak Group from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Michael Foley, the Vice President of “Shell Exploration”, Mr.Lars Kare Legernes, the Chairman of the Oslo Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Katsuya Okano, the President of Mitsui & Co. Deutschland GmbH Head Office, will give honorary statements on the panel Energy and Natural Resources and Potential for Investment.

Regional Media Center to be presented at the 3rd Sarajevo Business Forum

Following in the footsteps of the Dubai Media City, Sarajevo is to become a media center, too.

One of the projects to be presented by BHT1 at the upcoming 3rd annual Sarajevo Business Forum is a state of the art building proposed as the South Europe headquarters of a number of the world's media agencies.

Currently the Al Jazeera Balkans headquarters and broadcast center as well as the Turkish press agency „Anadolia“ are located in Sarajevo, whilst it is expected that the Balkans division of the renowned Turkish TV network TRT will also be based in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

By becoming a regional media hub Sarajevo will be the starting point from which the above mentioned international media will broadcast news about the beautiful country of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the wide range of investment opportunities it offers. Ultimately, this will create further opportunities for tourism development in the country.

We are looking forward to welcoming You to Sarajevo in the near future.

Hotel Services and Gastronomy Academy in Sarajevo

Along with a variety of projects that will be presented on the third International investment conference Sarajevo Business Forum, an interesting idea of Hotel Services and Gastronomy Academy led by French experts will also be presented.

This will be the first educational institution of this kind in our area, and Sarajevo will be given an opportunity to become the leading educational centre in the field of gastronomy in Southeast Europe.

Over 130 projects from the fields of infrastructure, energy, agriculture, tourism, science and education, construction, finance and the media will be presented on the upcoming Sarajevo Business Forum