15th annual Forum 2000 conference launched at Prague Crossroads
The jubilee fifteenth annual Forum 2000 conference on the theme Freedom and Responsibility in Politics was commenced at the Prague Crossroads on 9th October 2011. As tradition goes, the introductory word was presented by the founder of the conference, President Václav Havel together with the Chairman of the Japanese foundation The Nippon Foundation Yohei Sasakawa.
During the course of the evening, guests of the opening ceremony welcomed the notable American economist Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize laureate for economy in 2001, who accepted the honorary doctoral medal Karel Engliš from the hands of the President of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Jiří Drahoš. The Chairman of CERGE-EI and the former presidential candidate Jan Švejnar familiarised the public with the theme of the conference, which will run until Tuesday 11th October 2011.
This year’s Forum 2000 will be attended by more than 130 important politicians, scientists and thinkers, which include for example the Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, founder of Transparency International Peter Eigen, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili or Kosovan President Atifete Jahjaga. Among others, discussed themes will be globalisation, state sovereignty and its restrictions, rights and the environment, religion and trade.
The opening ceremony of the conference took place at the Prague Crossroads for the sixth time already.