‘Privatization and Liberalization’ June 17, 2011 at SITE –

Conference on:

‘Privatization and Liberalization’

June 17, 2011 at

SITE – Stockholm School of Economics

The Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) and Södertörn University in cooperation with the Centre for Baltic and Eastern European Studies (CBEES) will hold a conference on Privatization and Liberalization on June 17, 2011. The focus will be on network industries and Eastern Europe.

Privatization in Eastern Europe has been a vibrant research field, but less attention has been devoted to the privatization of network industries, such as electricity, natural gas pipelines, telecom and railways in the region. In the old market economies, however, privatization and liberalization of network industries is a well established research field. This conferenced aims to focus attention on privatization and liberalization of network industries in Eastern Europe by bringing together scholars from these two fields of research.

The topic of the conference is highly relevant from a policy perspective, not the least because Western European firms are taking an active role in the development of several network industries in Eastern Europe, notable in telecom and electricity.

Program

08.30 – 09.00 Conference registration.

09.00 – 09.10 Welcome and introduction by Torbjörn Becker, Director of SITE.

09.10 – 10.40 Panel 1: Telecom

Chaired by Erik Berglöf, Chief Economist at the EBRD and former SITE Director

Speakers:

Claes-Göran Sundelius, VP Regulatory Affairs, TeliaSonera Andrei Smelkov, Chairman of the Management Board, Neo Mobile Telecom Service LLP, Kazakhstan

Ian Streule, Senior Manager, Analysys Mason

Kristina Ekengren, Deputy Director, Swedish Ministry of Finance

10.40 – 11.00 Coffee break

11.00 Panel 2: Electricity/energy

Chaired by Antonio Estache, professor of economics at ECARES, Université Libre de Bruxelles

Speakers:

Simon Ollus, Chief Economist, Fortum

Roger Kearsley, Asst. Commercial Manager, Svenska Kraftnät Niclas Damsgaard, Director, Energy Markets, Sweco

Milko Kovachev, Minister of Economy, Bulgaria

12.30 Closing by Mats Bergman, Professor of economics, Södertörn University; Chairman of the organizing committee

12.30 Lunch

Date: Friday, June 17, 2011

Place: Stockholm School of Economics, Room: ‘Märta Sigrid’, Sveavägen 63, 1

RSVP: Monday, June 10, gun.malmquist@hhs.se, Phone: 08-736 96 72

SITE at the Stockholm School of Economics www.hhs.se/site

Since its foundation in 1989, SITE has become a leading research and policy center on transition in Central and Eastern Europe, including Russia. More recently we have broadened our research focus to include issues relevant to emerging markets and developing countries more generally.