Chairman’s Summary

The opening speech was delivered by Dr. Marjan Senjur, Slovenian Minister of Economic Relations and Development, who warmly welcomed speakers, panellists and delegates to the Colloquium and indeed to Slovenia. Dr. Senjur highlighted development and reform in Slovenia, pointing to five main areas in which Slovenia is “building its future”. These were the establishment of political freedom, economic freedom, economic development, economic stability, and both internal and national security. Slovenia is working towards all simultaneously, a difficult task given the inevitable trade-off decisions that the government must make. Dr. Senjur hoped that both he and his country would be enlightened by discussions at the Colloquium. The welcoming remarks by the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, mbassador Sergio Balanzino, were read out by the Colloquium Chairman. Ambassador Balanzino described the annual NATO Economics Colloquium as “an integral part of our cooperation activities” and went on to define NATO’s new strategic concept which features a broader definition of security encompassing political, economic, social and environmental elements, as well of course as defence. Economic policy and security are two sides of the same coin. Without effective economic policy, security will suffer. Without a sound security environment, investment and growth will suffer.