About For most countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the main building blocks of the economic transition from a command economy to a market economy took around 10 years to accomplish. In terms of political institutions and social norms, change has been much slower and more uneven. Weak political checks and balances, corruption and authoritarianism threaten not only economic and social development within many of these countries, but also peace and cooperation in Europe more generally. Consequently, the Swedish government has identified democracy promotion in Eastern Europe as a priority area for its foreign policy looking forward. This raises some key questions, though. What are the main challenges towards progress in this area in Russia, in the Eastern Partnership countries, and in current EU countries such as Hungary and Poland? What would be the most efficient ways for Sweden to support democratic consolidation, a process that in the end has to have domestic ownership? And what are the implications for the economy and businesses within Sweden and the European Union from operating in a global world with close neighbors in which business and political risk is high? The purpose of Development Day 2019 is to bring together the academic, business, civil society and government communities to discuss these important questions. Through a mix of international and domestic participants from different fields the hope is that the complexity of the questions will be addressed from many different angles and that the event can have a meaningful impact.

1. DEVELOPMENT DAY
2019 PROGRAM
THE LONG SHADOW OF TRANSITION:
THE STATE OF DEMOCRACY
IN EASTERN EUROPE
8:30 - 9:00
11:00 - 11:20
13:30 - 14:30
16:45 - 17:00
9:00 - 9:05
11:20 - 12:00
12:00 - 12:40
14:30 - 15:30
15:50 - 16:45
18:30 - 21:00
9:30 - 11:00
9:05 - 9:30
12:40 - 13:30
15:30 - 15:50
REGISTRATION AND COFFEE
WELCOME:
•ANDERS OLOFSGÅRD, Deputy Director SITE.
PUTIN’S CHILDREN: WHO WILL RULE RUSSIA AFTER 2024?
•ANDREI KOLESNIKOV, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Moscow Center.
INTRODUCTION FROM THE SWEDISH GOVERNMENT:
•PER OLSSON FRIDH, State Secretary to the Minister for International Development
Cooperation, Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
THE STATES OF TRANSITION IN THE REGION:
Economic Development and Governance:
•ALEXANDER PLEKHANOV, Director for Transition Impact and Global Economics
at EBRD.
Political Development:
•TORBJÖRN BECKER, Director, SITE.
Energy Security:
•CHLOÉ LE COQ, Associate Professor, SITE.
•ELENA PALTSEVA, Assistant Professor, SITE.
THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT:
•YLVA BERG, CEO and President, Business Sweden.
•LARS ANELL, Ambassador and formerly Volvo’s Senior Vice President.
•ERIK BERGLÖF, Professor in Practice and Director of the Institute of Global Affairs,
London School of Economics and Political Science.
•KATERYNA BORNUKOVA, Academic Director, BEROC, Minsk.
DEMOCRACY PROMOTION IN PRACTICE:
•ILONA SOLOGUB, Scientific Editor at Voxukraine and Director for Policy Research
at Kyiv School of Economics.
•KETEVAN VASHAKIDZE, President at Europe Foundation, Georgia.
•MARIA BISTER, Senior Policy Specialist, Sida.
•HENRIK NORBERG, Deputy Director, Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK
IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS:
•THOMAS DE WAAL, Senior Fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN UKRAINE:
•NATALIIA SHAPOVAL, Vice President for Policy Research at Kyiv School of
Economics.
COFFEE BREAK
COFFEE BREAK
END OF CONFERENCE
DINNER (by invitation only)
LUNCH