Day two at Balkan Summit 2026: nearshoring, industrial parks and medical tourism
Tuesday turned to private-sector opportunities, starting with manufacturing for European supply chains and care for international patients.
Day two of Balkan Summit 2026, Tuesday 20 October, turned from public infrastructure to private-sector opportunities.
Session 5, “Nearshoring to the Balkans: Eco-Industrial Parks, SEZs & Advanced Manufacturing”, opened the day in the Beethoven Hall. Its scope was wide: eco-industrial parks, special economic zones and tech parks, and the industries that could fill them, from defence, mining, medtech and pharma to electronics and furniture.
On the panel were Besnik Vasolli, Executive Director of KDWV; Stefan Dragutinovic, Economist at IFC; and Edvin Prence, President of PROEKSPORT Albania, the Association of Garment and Footwear Producers. Artan Mehmeti, Head of the Secretariat for the Economy and Investment Council of Kosovo, moderated.
The discussion focused on what a manufacturer needs before moving production: nearshoring and Kosovo–Germany business partnerships, what investors require to manufacture competitively, investment policy, and a working dialogue between government and business.
At the same hour in the Strauss Hall, the medical tourism panel asked how to design the whole patient journey, from clinical care to travel, translation and recovery. On the panel were Dr Merita Osmani, CEO of the Albanian Medical Tourism Association; Lulzim Rafuna, President of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce; and Ragip Hyseni, Director of the Department for Quality, Security, Accreditation and Licensing of Health Institutions at Kosovo's Ministry of Health. Armend Vokshi, CEO of Prishtina Hospital, moderated.
Industry and manufacturing matchmaking ran at 13:30 in the Meeting & Networking Hall, with an extra hour added at 14:45 so that the afternoon's speakers could take meetings too.
Balkan Summit 2026 took place in Prishtina from 18 to 21 October 2026, at the Emerald Hotel.