Athens, Greece

The 5th Government Roundtable organized by Economist, took place in April, 2001 at the Athens Hilton Hotel, in Greece, with theme Leadership Strategy At the Dawn of the 21st Century. The panel of the keynote speakers included the fmr. President of the United States of America, George Bush, Prime Ministers from the Balkan region, Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Finance from Europe, Bankers and Economists, as well as, prominent businessmen..

The scope of this meeting was to conduct a stimulating dialog in defining roles of business, government and academia in the new era, in brainstorming with leading personalities of the world on the tasks and challenges.

One of the basic speakers was Mr. Constantinos Antonopoulos, Vice Chairman and CEO of INTRALOT. Mr. Antonopoulos speech was focused on the emerging business sector of the Southeastern Europe at the dawn of the 21st century. He mentioned that in nowadays, the gaming and wagering sector in the developed economies of Europe, USA and Australia is considered an important and promising financial activity. INTRALOT had foreseen that the use of high-end technology in the gaming sector is an imperative perquisite in performing lottery business and has invested in this business sector of the Southestearn Europe since this region has a high educational and culture level, which provides a valuable resource for the New Economy. Therefore, these societies posses both scientific background for technology development and a promising consumer future as technology users.

Mr. Antonopoulos concluded his speech by posing the dilemma that it is a matter of choice for the governments in Southeastern Europe to proceed to the New Economy and attract investments on this direction, rather than become a region of cheap labor, intensive production, high energy and raw materials industrial consumption.