On Monday, April 22, 2013, more than 400 investment bankers, businessmen of real sector, representatives of regulators from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria have gathered at the international press center of RIA news, to discuss the investment attractiveness of the countries of the CEE region. This event was organized and held by the CFA Association (Russia).
The conference was attended by the following top managers of major financial institutions: Alan Meder (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the CFA Institute), Joerg Bongartz(Chairman of the Board of "Deutsche Bank"), Ekaterina Trofimova (First Vice-President, Gazprombank), Robert Kwiatkowski (Vice-President, The Warsaw Stock Exchange), Peter Koblik (CEO, Prague Stock Exchange), Konstantin Korischenko, (Chairman of the Executive Board of Investbank) and other representatives of the international business community.
The Conference had a busy agenda and was divided into seven discussion panels. The plenary session of the conference was opened by Alan Meder, Chairman of the Board of Directors, CFA Institute: «Being the initiators of this Conference, we set the task to analyze the trends of development of the region and to determine the development strategy. Russia was not chosen by chance as the host country for organization of the Conference this year. In my opinion, Moscow being the largest city in Europe, has incredible growth potential. Especially so because of the multitude of educational programs, which, in particular, are also offered by CFA Association, and ample opportunities to realize the potential of financial analysts. The analysts that are working in Russia are some of the best in the world."

In the framework of discussion of the investment climate and the attractiveness of the CEE region, Alexander Murychev, Executive Vice President of RSPP shared his view: "In my opinion, the organizers of the conference are following absolutely correct logic of looking for the positive aspects in recessionary manifestations that occur in the economies of Central and Eastern Europe today. There were always pragmatic outcomes of the crises situations, and we have to take advantage of the current situation to develop bilateral and multilateral relationships between Russia and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. For instance, the events in Cyprus have stimulated many investors to relocate their assets to the countries of the CEE region. On the other hand, Russia has a huge investment market and can offer a lot of opportunities and improving conditions. From 2014 there will be implemented a large-scale tax preferential project in the Far East of Russia. This project  implies zero duties and taxes on income."
Chairman of the board of Deutsche Bank Joerg Bongartz, spoke about the company's strategy: "Today we are witnessing the weakest situation in Western Europe, which has forced many companies to review their strategies and shift the focus to the markets of Central and Eastern Europe - said Joerg Bongartz. Deutsche Bank's strategy today is divided into the following areas: First, we want to remain a corporate investment bank in the CEE region and Russia is a priority market for us. Second, stimulate the growth of infrastructure platforms to serve the whole group of Deutsche Bank."

Another important debatable issue of the event was the debt markets and opportunities for diversification for international investors. As part of her speech Ekaterina Trofimova, first vice-president, a member of the Management Board of Gazprombank said: "Traditionally, the interest of foreign investors in the CEE region is focused on the most liquid markets in terms of investment opportunities that they provide. The general perception of the entire region is that the debt burden remains moderate in CEE, the opportunities for the development of the debt market are considerable, therefore, the level of credit default, which we witnessed during the crisis, is small. Currency volatility in recent years is moderate - mentioned Ekaterina Trofimova. From my point of view, the global economic slowdown is happening because of the slowdown of technological development in the world that has been accumulating from the beginning of 2000s.There would be opening in the prospects for growth if this gap can be closed. Gazprombank sees selective investment opportunities in the region. This is due to the questionable situation of the further development being limited from the point of view of regulations. The selective investments are most attractive in terms of efficiency, the returns, management and transparency."
"At the moment, most investors invest globally. In this sense, some local attractions, local "carrots", of course, have the right of existence, but, in principle, almost any good idea to increase the attractiveness of a particular market is immediately being picked up by other countries, and eventually a particular advantage is short-lived," said the Chairman of the Board of Investbank Constantine Korischenko.
"Why is it important for investors to be in the fast-growing market, not in the traditional economy? Based on our analysis of the development of new markets, we concluded that if we consider a portfolio that includes global investments, it reduces the risk to 30%, and this creates an optimal portfolio, with an optimal degree of risk " - commented Remy Briand (Managing Director, MSCI, Global Head of Research - the official sponsor of the Conference).

В Москве прошла вторая международная конференция «Инвестиции в Центральную и Восточную Европу» (CEE Conference)

Photographs of the Conference are available here