Last week, the Bled Strategic Forum - the largest foreign affairs event in Slovenia - took place at Bled. The two day event was attended by more than 700 attendees from more than 65 countries, among them a number of the most important representatives from politics, diplomacy and commerce from Slovenia, EU and beyond.

The President of the PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD), Mr. Kristjan Verbič, also attended this year's events, for a fifth time now, in what was an opportunity among others, to also take advantage of a number of talks and informal meetings, above all in relation to the international business-investor programs, Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and the International Investors' Network (invest-to.net).

The 10th Strategic Forum, entitled Vision of New Partnerships, discussed the important topics of peace and security, business co-operation, development and human rights, upon which the role and meaning of partnerships were especially highlighted. Alongside the topics of partnership, the forum took place under the symbol of important events: the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations, the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Helsinki and the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica.

The Austrian Constitutional Court announced yesterday that the expropriation of the subordinated bond holders is unconstitutional, as it infringes upon »the fundamental right to the protection of property«,therefore the reference to the precarious situation of the 

Land of Carinthia cannot be used as an argument... In light of this, the disputable Hypo Reorganization Act (Hypo-Sanierungsgesetz – HaaSanG) dating back to August 2014 was entirely abrogated, the Austrian Constitutional Court has also stated in the notice (www.vfgh.gv.at/cms/vfgh-site/attachments/3/0/3/CH0003/CMS1438067838598/hypopresseinfoen.pdf).

The PanSlovenian Investors' and Shareholders' Association - VZMD, which lodged an initiative for the constitutional assessment with the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia as early as in December 2013, also expects from the Slovenian Constitutional Court to finally pass the judgment in the procedure of its "absolutely high priority constitutional judgment" of the contentious amendment of the Banking Act and expropriation of the holders of subordinated bonds and stocks of Slovenian banks in December 2013!

The central commemoration at the Russian Chapel, which was attended alsoby the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev along with two another ministers of the Russian government and more than 100 member delegation during this year's 99th anniversary of the construction of the Chapel took place at Vršič yesterday.

The commemorated event which every year brings together numerous high representatives of the Slovenian and Russian politics, diplomacy, economy, culture and veteran organizations - in commemoration of the Russian prisoners who died tragically following an avalanche when building the Vršič Pass during the first world war in 1916 - was attended by more than a thousand visitors. The attendees were, besides Prime Minister Medvedev and in the presence of the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Chairman of the National Assembly of the RS, the President of the National Council of the RS and numerous ministers in the Slovenian government, also addressed by the honorary sponsor of the event, the Prime Minister of the RS, Mr. Miro Cerar, and the former President of the RS, Mr. Milan Kučan, as the honorary member of the Slovenia - Russia Association.

At the invitation of the organizers, Russian Federation Embassy, Kranjska Gora municipality, »Russkiy mir« foundation, and Slovenia-Russia Association, the commemoration was attended by the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, who dedicated the social event traditionally following the commemoration at the Russian Chapel also to establishment and reinforcement of the bonds of friendship, culture and business, as well as endeavors regarding the international business-investor programs ofVZMD: Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors` Network (invest-to.net), under which the forth year of collaboration is marked also with the sister Russian Investors Association, through active participation at as many as four visits of the members of the Government of the RS and economic delegations to Moscow and Yaroslavl.

At the special invitation from the Turkish Business Angels Association (TBAA), the team of the PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD), joined the international delegation of business angels, which visited Albania, Kosovo and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as a focal part of the sixth tour of the VZMD's international business-investor programs, within five days at the end of May 2015. For this purpose, the team of VZMD.tv / investo.TV produced an exclusive VIDEO REPORT on the intensive events. The business delegation entitled »Access to Finance for Start-ups of South-East Europe« consisted of the President and Vice President of TBAA, a representative of the Istanbul stock exchange, managing director of the Technology Park and the Centre for Entrepreneurship of the Technical University in Istanbul, the President of the Business Incubator LabX, and the President of VZMD and a member of the Executive Board of the European Federation of Investors - Better Finance.

Immediately upon arrival in Tirana, the delegation took part in the business breakfast with the Albanian Chamber of Commerce at the Sheraton Hotel, where the representatives of the local business community discussed about the investment climate in Albania. The reception was followed by the meeting with the Vice President of the Turkish Government and diplomatic corps, which was later followed by the reception at the local university, which was also the venue of the round table where the members of delegation presented methods and viewpoints for persuading a business angel to invest in a company.

As a part of the intensive program of the delegation, the VZMD President in Tirana also paid visit to the Summit of the South-East European Cooperation Process, which was visited by the high representatives of 13 countries, EU and OSCE, who addressed crucial issues of the region, among others, the possibilities to strengthen economic cooperation, mutual and foreign investments. On this occasion, Mr. Verbič talked with numerous participants, namely the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania and Turkey, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia and high representatives of the economy and diplomacy, one of them being the Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia in Tirana, His Excellency Bojan Bertoncelj. Having visited headquarters of several companies, the delegation stopped by at the Innovation Center of Tirana, which was the venue of the central event of the international community - Startup Grid. The day ended with the gala dinner at Sofra e Ariut, the famous restaurant in Tirana.

During the business breakfast, the chancellor of the University Marin Barleti and the managing director of the Technological Park of the Technical University in Istanbul signed a memorandum, while the participants discussed about the possibilities of collaboration among Istanbul, Albanian and other regional security stock exchanges. After the visit to the Turkish Embassy, the delegation was received by the Albanian Minister of Innovation. The business lunch at the restaurant of the Sky Tower hotel was followed by the meeting with the Albanian-Turkish Chamber of Commerce, and the round table at the School of Economics in Tirana. The visit to Albania ended with a gala dinner, which was attended by over 50 prominent guests, representatives of the politics, the economy, institutions and diplomacy.

At the crack of dawn on the third day, the delegation set off for Kosovo to participate in the international conference of the Kosovo Business Angel Network (KOSBAN). The introductory speech was delivered by the local Ambassadors of Norway and Turkey, where one of the keynote speakers was the Kosovo Minister of Trade and Industry. On this occasion, KOSBAN also signed important Memorandum of collaboration. Beside high representatives of diplomacy and the economy, the conference was also attended by the Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia in Kosovo, His Excellency Miljan Majhen, who visited the frequented presentation area of VZMD's business-investor programs Invest to Slovenia – investo.si and International Investors` Network – invest-to.net, together with the organizers. The series of events continued at the local Universum College, where the delegation members talked with students about entrepreneurship, innovations and investments as well as potentials and perspectives of Kosovo. The events ended with the five startup pitch presentations from Kosovo and the address of the managing director of the local Innovation Center. The intensive day ended with the gala dinner at the Emirald hotel which, beside 30 prominent guests, was also attended by the local Slovenian Ambassador.

On the fourth day, the delegation headed for Skopje, where the eminent Bushi resort was the venue of the business conference, and thereafter the Memorandum with the government agency for investments »Invest in Macedonia« and the Chamber of Commerce of Macedonia was signed. The events were attended by numerous prominent representatives of the economy, politics and diplomacy who were considerably interested in visiting the presentation area of the VZMD's international business-investor programs. After the business breakfast on the fifth day, the delegation members set off for Tetovo, where the Memorandum of understanding was signed with the local Mayor and the President of the Chamber of Commerce of North-West Macedonia (OEMVP), following the reception organized by the regional business community. Upon signing, a visit was paid to the Technological, industrial and development park of Tetovo (TIDZ) which was presented by the Mayor and the park management.

Therefore, within five days, the business delegation took part in multiple receptions at universities, ministries, innovation centers, business incubators and business breakfasts, lunches and gala dinners, with high representatives of the economy, politics, enterprises and institutions.

The VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, joined the delegation from the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, immediately after the election to the International Fund for Cooperation and Partnership of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea (BSCSIF), while the journey from Skopje was continued in Paris, where he traditionally participated in the OECD Forum. The extensive, already sixth this year's tour of the international business-investor programs investo.si and invest-to.net was concluded by the VZMD President in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, by actively participating in the European Commission delegation »Mission for Growth«.

After fruitful presentations in the past two years in Abu Dhabi, Astana, Almaty, Baku, Belgrade, Bled, Bratislava, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Buffalo, Bucharest, Cape Town, Celje, Dubai, Vienna, Eindhoven, Grodno, Helsinki, Istanbul, Yaroslavl, Qatar, Kiev, Copenhagen, Ljubljana, Madrid, Minsk, Montevideo, Moscow, New Delhi, New York, Ouagadougou, Paris, Piran, Praia, Pristina, Reykjavik, Skopje, Tehran, Tirana, Tokyo, Toronto, Warsaw, Vitebsk, Wiesbaden in Zagreb, the international business-investor programs of VZMD continue to provide efficient presence and presentation for its partners on five continents this year as well.

The international delegation of the European Commission called »Mission for Growth« visited Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, last week. A member of delegation was also the Slovenian representative – President of the PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD), Mr. Kristjan Verbič. The participants of the delegation were also 59 European companies and institutions who met with over 400 entrepreneurs and business people from Taiwan.

The Taipei World Trade Center, a complex of one of the highest skyscrapers in the world, the Taipei 101, was the venue of the high visibility international conference on Thursday »How to do business in Taiwan and in the EU? Opportunities, challenges and success stories«.

The introductory speech was delivered by the local Minister of the National Development Council, Duh Tyzz-Jiu, which was followed by signing of the Agreement on Cooperation with the Enterprise Europe Network  (Enterprise Europe Network). The Agreement was signed by the leader of the »Mission for Growth« delegation, Director-General of the Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General at the European Commission, Mr. Daniel Calleja, and the President of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), Mr. Francis Liang (in the photo with Mr. Verbič).

The conference was followed by the organized business meetings of representatives of institutions and companies, where the VZMD President talked with the TAITRA President, the lead of the European Economic and Trade Office, Mr. Frederic Laplanche, and the President of the European Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan, Mr. Bernard Barkey. The event was concluded with the gala dinner hosted by the local deputy Minister of the Economy Shih-Chao Cho and the TAITRA President.

On Friday, the members of the delegation visited the Neihu Technology Park and Delta technology corporation, and thereafter they visited the Computex Taipei 2015, which is the largest Asian fair related to the information and communication technologies.

As a part of the sixth this year's tour of the international business-investor programs: Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors` Network (invest-to.net) prior to the trip to Taipei, the President of VZMD visited also Paris, Skopje, Pristina, Tirana, Baku and Madrid.

After fruitful presentations in the past two years in Abu Dhabi, Astana, Almaty, Baku, Belgrade, Bled, Bratislava, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Buffalo, Bucharest, Cape Town, Celje, Dubai, Vienna, Eindhoven, Grodno, Helsinki, Istanbul, Yaroslavl, Qatar, Kiev, Copenhagen, Ljubljana, Madrid, Minsk, Montevideo, Moscow, New Delhi, New York, Ouagadougou, Paris, Piran, Praia, Pristina, Reykjavik, Skopje, Tehran, Tirana, Tokyo, Toronto, Warsaw, Vitebsk, Wiesbaden in Zagreb, the international business-investor programs of VZMD continue to provide efficient presence and presentation for its partners on five continents this year as well.

In Paris, yesterday marked the beginning of the OECD Forum 2015, whose this year's theme is »Investing in the Future: People, Planet, Prosperity«. The forum addressing key issues such as investment, inclusive growth, climate and sustainable development goals has been attended by high representatives of countries, institutions, the economy and diplomacy.

At the focal round table entitled »Unlocking Investment«, which followed the opening, the president of VZMD - PanSlovenian Shareholders` Association and Board member of the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (Better Finance), Mr. Kristjan Verbič, as the first discussant, posed a question for the President of the Supervisory Council of the European Central Bank (ECB), Ms. Danièle Nouy, and underlined the importance of trust, primarily of individual investors, and kindly asked for the clarification of and opinion on the extremely different criteria for performing stress tests which significantly affect investors, and which, in Slovenia, brought about highly contentious expropriations. (you can view the question and answer by clicking on the link starting from 59:29 minute onwards: http://webcastcdn.viewontv.com/client/oecd/forum2015/02062015_blue.html)  

The focal panel was also attended by Mr. Ronald Cohen, President of the G8 Social Impact Investment Taskforce, Arda Ermut, President of the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT), İlhami Koç, Vice President of Isbank, Eric Labaye, President of  McKinsey Global Institute, Richard Trumka, Thierry de Longuemar, Vice President of Finance and Risk Management, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and President of Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC), who also commented on the question posed by Mr. Verbič. The latter has participated in the OECD Forum for the fourth time consecutively where he also posed a weighty question regarding the expropriated bondholders and shareholders of the Slovenian banks for the Forum keynote speaker and the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Ms. Alenka Bratušek last year.

Following the yesterday's opening address by the representative of the United Nations, Ms. Helen Clark, OECD Secretary General, Ms. Angela Gurríe and the French Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development and Energy, Ms. Ségolène Royal, own opinions and views will be delivered by 226 speakers out of which 19 ministers, prime ministers and presidents of countries such as Czech Republic, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkey in two days.

Under the sixth this year's tour of the international business-investor programs: Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors` Network (invest-to.net) Mr. Verbič arrived in Paris from Skopje, where he participated in the international delegation of the business delegation of business angles, who visited Albania, Kosovo and FYR Macedonia, but the road will take him to Taipei where he will participate in the delegation of the European Commission's Mission for Growth.

After fruitful presentations in the past two years in Abu Dhabi, Astana, Almaty, Baku, Belgrade, Bled, Bratislava, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Buffalo, Bucharest, Cape Town, Celje, Dubai, Vienna, Eindhoven, Grodno, Helsinki, Istanbul, Yaroslavl, Qatar, Kiev, Copenhagen, Ljubljana, Madrid, Minsk, Montevideo, Moscow, New Delhi, New York, Ouagadougou, Paris, Piran, Praia, Pristina, Reykjavik, Skopje, Tehran, Tirana, Tokyo, Toronto, Warsaw, Vitebsk, Wiesbaden in Zagreb, the international business-investor programs of VZMD continue to provide efficient presence and presentation for its partners on five continents this year as well.

SEOnet.ljse.si, 22.05.2015

Pursuant to the Rules and Regulations of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange, d.d, and the relevant legislation, the company Poslovni sistem Mercator, d.d., hereby informs the shareholders and the public of the following:

The company Poslovni sistem Mercator, d.d., encourages its shareholders to actively exercise their rights and for this purpose begins with organized collection of proxy authorizations. This allows shareholders to exercise their voting rights without attending the Shareholders Assembly, thus directly contributing to company’s governance.

Following successful visit to Madrid and the international conferences of IFLN and AEMEC, the PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders` Association (VZMD) President, Kristjan Verbič, arrived to the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. There he will, at the invitation of the President and Vice President of the International Fund for Cooperation and Partnership of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea (BSCSIF), Ismail Safi and Chingiz Abdullayev, take part in the 14th session of the General Meeting and the Board of Directors of the influential international organization that brings together 27 countries.

Following the evening reception and gala dinner, the participants of the General Assembly will be, among others, addressed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, thereafter numerous issues related to the Black and Caspian Sea region will be addressed. Among other things, the subject of discussions will be the economic, social and political implications of permanent conflicts in the region and possibilities for their resolving. The participants will touch upon collaboration possibilities with other regions, countries and continents, where the high representatives of individual countries will participate.

This visit of the VZMD President takes place in the context of  the sixth this year's  tour of the international business-investor programs: Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors` Network (invest-to.net) which is thus already the second visit to Baku, following participation in the strong economic delegation, during the visit of Janeza Janša, Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, and Minister of Economic Development and Technology, Radovan Žerjav, at the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, dr. Ilham Aliyev, in 2013 – click on the image and watch the EXCLUSIVE VIDEO.

On Monday, Casa America, the renowned Madrid's palace, was the venue of the official opening of the 4th annual congress of the Spanish Association of Minority Shareholders of Listed Companies (AEMEC) and the 3rd conference of the International Financial Litigation Network (IFLN). At the invitation of organizers, both events were traditionally also attended by the PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD) President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, which marked the beginning of the this year's sixth tour of the VZMD international business-investor programs: Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors' Network (invest-to.net). 

To this end, the AEMEC and IFLN organizations designed a joint program, within which they provided countless interesting panels in two days which were attended by over 200 prominent guests, representatives of European institutions and politics, the economy and heads of influential law firms from all over the world. The introductory speech was delivered by the organizer of the event, Mrs. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the former European Commissioner, and Mr. Javier Cremades, the President of IFLN,  AEMEC Secretary General and co-founder of one of the most influential Spanish law firms Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo, and Mr. Daniel Calleja, Director-General of the Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General at the European Commission.

The speakers from Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom and USA talked about multiple legal proceedings which they had come up against as investors representatives. On this occasion Mr. Verbič, as a part of the discussion led by the former President of the European Parliament. Mr. Jose Maria Gil Robles, stressed the importance of trust of investors and anew brought attention to the cases of expropriated investors in banks, where the former holders of bonds and shares of Slovenian banks belong. 

Exactly the problems of expropriated and double-crossed bank shareholders have recently reinforced, albeit effective, long-standing collaboration between VZMD and AEMEC and IFLN. The VZMD President has, on arguable grounds, pointed out the problems of cancellation of shares and bonds already at the international conferences of the World Federation of Investors (WFI) and IFLN in 2013, when visiting the Spanish Parliament and the Central Bank, at the last year's IFLN conference in New York he exhibited the activities related to investors expropriations and which have already been initiated and are being planned by the VZMD.

The conference attendees also discussed about new raising capital models such as "crowdfunding" as well as new communication models, connections and relationships among individual investors. The VZMD President joined the working lunch at the headquarters of Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo,  where the Executive Board of IFLN mapped out the strategy of future activities. In the evening, the most prominent guests and participants headed for the renown palace El Escorial for informal gathering. The high visibility conference ended last night, with the prize-awarding ceremony for the »Shareholders-friendly Award«, which was received by the Repsol company. Such awards were also received by the two Slovenian companies in 2011 and 2012 (EXCLUSIVE VIDEO from the Ljubljana Skyscraper (Nebotičnik) and EXCLUSIVE VIDEO from the Ljubljana Castle). The award "Best initiative for the Minority, for the politic involvement with the shareholders" was received by Iberdrola company, whereas the special academic award was received by prof. Gaudencio Esteban from the University of Madrid.

Following the visit to Madrid Mr. Verbič is setting off for Baku, where he will, at the invitation of the organizers, attend the 14th session of the General meeting of the Board of Directors of the International Fund for Cooperation and Partnership of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea(BSCSIF). 

Last week, Brussels was the venue of the international conference of the European Federation of Investors and Financial Service users - Better Finance, entitled»A Capital Markets Union for Growth, Jobs and Citizens«. As part of the 5th this year's tour of the international business-investor programs of VZMD: Invest to Slovenia and International Investors` Network, the high visibility conference was also attended by the President of VZMD, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, together with the team of VZMD.tv / investo.TV, which produced the OFFICIAL VIDEO COVERAGE of the conference in English as well as the VIDEO IMPRESSION in Slovenian.