Key stakeholders gathered at the 15th GLOBSEC Forum

BRATISLAVA, October 23, 2020 – This year’s GLOBSEC Forum brought some of the most influential leaders from international politics, business, media and think tanks to Bratislava again, despite the pandemic. Between the 7th and 8th of October, Bratislava hosted many distinguished speakers from the European and international stage, discussing global issues. The conference's tagline was “Let’s Heal the World Together”, with discussions focused on healing the world and resolving crises during a time of upheaval.

This year’s GLOBSEC Forum was held in a hybrid format, with limited physical participation and some speakers online, with negative COVID-19 testing an absolute requirement for attendance. “We are living in an intensely difficult time, with the pandemic being just one of the many crises we will have to face. We decided that there could not be a more appropriate time to deal with the pressing challenges by cooperating with key international stakeholders to ensure we set the foundations for a secure and prosperous, resilient world. The global situation requires careful handling, and we needed to balance the requirements of this year’s pandemic situation with the need to engineer solutions to this crisis and other challenges like it. This necessitates international cooperation between leaders from various fields of the public and private sectors.” explained Róbert Vass, President of GLOBSEC.

GLOBSEC took additional precautionary measures to avoid the spread of the coronavirus by dividing their own team, applying strict quarantines and enforcing multiple COVID-19 tests for the organizers and guests pre-event.

This year’s Forum was a final step in three-stage concept which included a global brainstorming on the key issues and challenges triggered by the COVID-19, solely digital conference in August and as the final stage, the hybrid conference in Bratislava in October. Forum’s sessions addressed the traditional GLOBSEC key themes of Future of Transatlantic Partnership, challenges faced by the European Union, Digital Future, Democracy and Disconnect, Sustainability and the Global Economy and Defence and Security, but under the new theme of resilience to situations such as the Coronavirus pandemic. “Our society has been facing further new and difficult challenges. Our Forum, therefore, covered health care, climate change, European security, digital transformation, the Post-COVID economy and transatlantic relations, issues which are becoming more critical in the light of pandemic,” revealed Mr Vass.

On October 7-8, Bratislava welcomed personalities such H.E. Zuzana Čaputová, President of the Slovak Republic; H.E. Stevo Pendarovski, President of the Republic of North Macedonia; Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of NATO; H.E. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey; H.E. Heiko Maas, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany; H.E. Ivan Korčok, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic; Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization; and Laura Codruţa Kövesi, European Public Prosecutor, alongside many distinguished guests.

A special ceremony took place at the GLOBSEC Gala Dinner, with the GLOBSEC Freedom Award presented to Karel Schwarzenberg and to Sviatlana Tsichanouskaya, the main opposition candidate in the Belarussian presidential election for outstanding contributions to freedom and democracy. “During this time it is important to maintain our democratic values and ensure we do not become complacent. We must allow the values of a free society to prevail even during the situation of lockdown,” added Mr Vass.

The 15th GLOBSEC Forum was supported by a number of partners: the strategic partner the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic and others. COVID-19 testing was realised thanks to our healthcare partners Biomedicine Research Centre of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Alpha Medical, Lambda Life and MultiplexDX. In addition to the regular security precautions, the safety of our guests was protected by systems deployed by Aliter Technologies, to eliminate threats of terrorism from aircraft, drones and chemical weapon systems. The Forum’s car transfers were provided thanks to GLOBSEC Exclusive Automotive Partner BMW. A complete list of the Forum’s partners could be found here: https://www.globsec-week.globsec.org/bratislava-forum/partners.

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About GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum:

GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum was originally established as a student project focusing on international security policy issues. Today, it covers a wider range of topics, including the global economy or environmental sustainability. Today, GLOBSEC is one of the five largest conferences on global issues in the world.

More detailed information is available on the official site:
https://www.globsec-week.globsec.org/bratislava-forum

About GLOBSEC:

GLOBSEC is an international organisation whose goal is to increase safety, prosperity and sustainability in Europe and around the world. Its mission is to influence the future by coming up with new ideas and solutions for a better and safer world.

For more information, visit www.globsec.org.