Distinguished political and business leaders and prominent civil society figures from South East Europe will meet in Budva, Montenegro on 22 May 2011 for the Inaugural Conference of the Balkan Networking Initiative.

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 cross-border and new models of cross-sector cooperation.

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

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

The conference itself is closed to the media, however there will be opportunities for interviews with distinguished Conference participants. Opening and closing press releases will also be issued and made available on the Government of Montenegro website www.gov.me/en .

Journalists wishing to attend should complete the accreditation form and send it, along with a photograph, to Vuk Vujnovic, International Press Officer at the Government of Montenegro Public Relations Bureau – email: ; tel: +382 20 482 928, +382 20 482 848, no later than Friday 13 May.