site.btaSofia to Host Green Transition Forum 4.0

For the fourth consecutive year, Dir.bg and 3E News are organizing the Green Transition Forum 4.0, which will take place at the Sofia Event Center on June 26-28, the organizers said on Sunday. The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is a media partner of the event.

Following the European Parliament elections, EU Commissioners, six Directors-General and Deputy Directors-General of the European Commission, newly elected Members of the European Parliament, ministers and mayors from Central and Eastern European countries, representatives of international and multinational companies are expected to arrive in Sofia for the event.

At a key moment for the formulation of European policies, the conversation on the future of the Green Deal and the ongoing transformations - green, digital and demographic - will be attended by EC Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal Maroš Šefčovič, EU Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit and European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Iliana Ivanova, the press release said.

Former US secretary of state and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry is also scheduled to participate in the Green Transition Forum 4.0 to present a vision of global climate processes from across the ocean.

The fourth edition of the forum will also serve as a platform for a common position of the countries of the region for the upcoming world forum in Baku in the autumn. Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister and main negotiator for COP29 Yalchin Rafiyev will also attend the event to present the priorities of COP 29's hosts.

Bulgarian Energy Minister Vladimir Malinov is expected to be joined by his counterparts from Romania and Moldova on the energy transformation panel.

Confirmed panellists also include European Investment Bank Vice President Kyriacos Kakouris, European Investment Fund Deputy Chief Executive Roger Havenith, Polish Presidential Ambassador and Special Envoy of the Three Seas Initiative Beata Dashinska-Muzyczka, Croatia's International Institute for Climate Action President Marija Pujo Tadić and European Economic and Social Committee President Oliver Röpke. Addresses will be delivered by His Royal Highness El Hassan bin Talal, Crown Prince of Jordan, and UNFCCC Senior Director Programmes Coordination Daniele Violetti,.

President Rumen Radev is scheduled to open the Green Transition Forum 4.0 at 9 am on June 26. The Bulgarian position will be presented by ministers, employers' organizations and trade unions. Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev will host the Smart Cities panellists. In a dedicated panel on Ukraine's reconstruction, former Bulgarian President (2012-2017) Rosen Plevneliev, former Romanian prime minister (2012-2015) Victor Ponta, Energy Community Secretariat Deputy Director Dirk Buschle and Ukraineinvest Head of Investment Advisory Department Maksym Bondarenko will speak, the organizers said.

On the third day of the forum, special focus will be put on the labour market, new professions, innovation and moral aspects of artificial intelligence (AI). In this year's edition of the forum, the organizers are also focusing on the accompanying Green Deal transformations - digital and demographic. Funding opportunities under European programmes will be discussed by representatives of the Bulgarian start-up ecosystem at a special roundtable with Marc Lemaître, Director-General of EC's DG Research and Innovation.