The opening of the Third Southeast Europe Economic Forum on Tuesday turned into a place for voicing hopes and promises.

Economy Minister Nikolai Vassilev expressed his wish that, in 2002, the European Commission will recognize Bulgaria as having a functioning market economy. The major promise came from Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg at the opening, when he spoke of the government as destined to sign an agreement with the IMF.

"The forum will contribute to the development of Bulgaria's economy and it is in harmony with the efforts of the government to create a good business climate in the country," Saxe-Coburg said, before officially starting the third edition of the event.

Security and prosperity cannot be achieved by applying ad hoc measures to settle yet another crisis.

The risk of Southeastern Europe's isolation as a region plagued by ethnic and political contradictions and economic backwardness can be averted through the development and implementation of a comprehensive strategy for economic growth of the region and integration of the countries in it to European structures, said Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passi, addressing the participants at the forum.

Passi emphasized that investments in Southeastern Europe's infrastructure would be investments in the security of the whole continent. "Southeastern Europe needs an infrastructure revolution embracing transport, telecommunications, the energy sector and the electronic business. Countries in the region should come to a political agreement on a common strategy for carrying out infrastructure projects," Passi said.

When the economies in Southeastern Europe are strong, the problems of security are controllable, said Danuta Huebner, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. She pointed out that not only real and potential conflicts, but bad economic management and corruption are also factors for insecurity in the region.

Economic growth has a direct bearing on security in the region, said Olivier Descamps, business group director for Southeastern Europe and Caucasus of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). In his words, all countries in the region, except one (Macedonia), are going to record economic growth this year.

Bulgaria's accession to the EU is turning into a key to prosperity, national security and economic growth, especially after the events of September 11, said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Harvard Institute for International Development and economic advisor to Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov. Sachs was unable to attend the event in person and participated by video, and that turned out to be the most interesting event at the forum so far.

Few new figures were revealed at the forum to spice up its somewhat monotonous mood.

A survey by SERGE-EL foundation, with support from the World Bank and presented on the first day of the forum, showed that industry got the most foreign investment, $1.5 billion, from 1992-99. The second biggest investment target in Bulgaria over the same period was trade with $542.96 million, followed by the financial sector with $324 million and tourism with $142.83 million.

The structure of investment shows that only six per cent of foreign capital goes into the capital market and the rest is equally divided between green-field investment and privatization acquisitions. There is a direct link between dropping inflation and raising foreign investment in Bulgaria, the survey found.

The forum comes to a close today.