Azernews.Az

The London-based Business Year magazine has announced its media partnership with The Economist Group for the holding of the Silk Road Summit, which will occur on November 30 and December 1 in Almaty, Kazakhstan and is expected to draw over 150 industry leaders, officials, policymakers and senior business executives.

Organized by Economist Conferences, part of The Economist Group, the Silk Road Summit will explore the real economic potential of the economies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, analyzing the challenges of doing business in the region in a frank dialogue between government and investors.

In its heyday, the Silk Road was the world’s greatest supply chain. Now the economies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus are rising again, as the region’s strategic location and rich natural resources have international investors beating a path from Europe, China, the Middle East and Asia. The raw potential of the Silk Road economies is offset by a complex risk environment, leaving many opportunities untapped, organizers said.

Chaired by Dominic Ziegler, The Economist’s Asia correspondent, the summit will feature cutting-edge economic analysis and new industry case studies, with expert contributions from CEOs of international corporations as well as leading investors.

The summit will explore these undeveloped business opportunities by bringing government ministers from Central Asia and the South Caucasus together with CEOs of local and international corporations, as well as leading investors, to debate how the Silk Road countries can best develop their economies in order to exploit their strategic trading position.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to give a welcome address via video at the event. Other notable summit speakers include Madina Abylkassymova, Kazakhstan’s Vice-Minister of Economic Development and Trade; Indermit Gill, World Bank’s Chief Economist of the Europe and Central Asia Region; and Kuandyk Bishimbayev, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board at Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s state-run joint-stock company.

Also in attendance are Changyong Rhee, Chief Economist at the Asian Development Bank; Johannes Sittard, Chairman of Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation; and Tahir Mansurov, Secretary General of the Eurasian Economic Community.

Topics to be addressed at the summit include the way global economic trends will impact the growth of the Central Asian and South Caucasus economies over the next five years. Participants will debate what lies in store for the world economy, talking through GDP, inflation, currency rates and commodities, and explaining the short- and long-term implications for the economies of the Silk Road region.