Eight hundred guests, including high level politicians, senior diplomats, academics and business leaders will be arriving in Bratislava for the GLOBSEC 2021 Bratislava Forum, which takes place between 15-17 June.

One of the world’s biggest security conferences, the focus of this this year’s GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum will be post-pandemic recovery.

The three-day forum will explore issues such as: democratic renewal, economic growth after Covid-19, the role of Global Europe in the post-pandemic world and the challenges of technological governance. Health will also be a key topic, with health ministers from across Europe offering their insights.

In addition to the presidents of Slovakia, Croatia and Poland, the Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger, the Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, Sebastian Kurz and the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Andrej Babiš will also be joining us in Bratislava. One of the key messages will be delivered by Pope Francis who will join the Forum virtually from the Vatican. Ten foreign ministers and several defence ministers will also be present.

The business sector will be this year represented by several renowned entrepreneurs such as Richard Marko (ESET), Radoslav Danilák (Tachyum), Michael Froman (Mastercard), Marko Reinisch (Facebook), Microsoft President Brad Smith and Hendrik Bourgeois of Apple.

"I am very glad that after a difficult pandemic time, this year’s GLOBSEC Forum will be one of the strongest in recent years and that once again Slovakia has been able to put on a world class event. We will host important figures and even Pope Francis will virtually join us," said the president and founder of GLOBSEC, Róbert Vass. He also added that the main priority of the organizers this year is to ensure all the necessary hygiene measures to prevent the Covid-19 infection are in place. Everyone taking part in the conference will be asked to follow strict hygienic measures as well as mandatory testing before entering the venue.

Wilhelm Molterer, GLOBSEC Chairman of the Board said: “It has been a difficult few years for believers in liberal and democratic values. As well as a rise in nationalism and the remergence of borders, the worldwide pandemic, with its winners and losers, has divided more than it has united. But there is an opportunity for Year Two of the pandemic to be when we define the new normal and reboot the decade, and the prizes are significant“.