At this international conference Bosnia and Herzegovina was represented by Tihomir Anđelić and Mirjana Šućur from the Institute for Standardization of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Open forum and workshop was attended by representatives of different stakeholders (industries, governments, national standards bodies, NGOs, banks, consulting firms, etc..) from 15 countries (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Georgia, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan).

International conference was opened by Mr. Juris Pūce, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics of Latvia, and Mr. Ingars Pilmanis, Executive director of the Latvian National standardization body (LVS).

ISO lecturers were Mr. Martin Neureiter from Austria, an expert and convenor of the ISO/WG SR TG 6 - Working Group on implementation of ISO 26000, and Ms. Mirjana Mateškić, Director of the Croatian Business Council for Sustainable Development (HR PSOR) and President of HZN/TC 552, Social responsibility.

The main task of the Open Forum that was held on 31 May was to raise awareness and understanding of social responsibility, consideration of the development process and content of ISO 26000, as well as consideration of the benefits of implementing this standard in all attending countries. Plenary discussion on ISO 26000 was held as part of the Open Forum, and it was pointed out that this standard provides guidance for the introduction of corporate social responsibility in all organizations, regardless of their size and activity or the fact that they belong to the private or public sector, developed economies or developing and transition countries. It was also noted that standard ISO 26000:2010 is not intended for certification, because it does not specify the requirements an organization must meet in order to obtain certificate.

The objectives of the regional workshop held on 1 and 2 June were: introduction with the content of certain chapters of ISO 26000, the exchange of ideas about the processes and challenges faced by the national committees and consideration of the benefit for organizations in the region with the aim of incorporating this standard into organization of any type.

At the workshop expectations and possible obstacles in integrating social responsibility were discussed, also, content of standards regarding implementation in countries participating in the workshop, implementation of standards in different types of organizations, tools for standards implementation, preparation of reports on social responsibility and development of an action plan for future action.

The benefits that any organization can have of implementation and integration of ISO 26000 are: reputation management, image and risk management, competitiveness and market positioning, recruitment of new manpower, motivation and retention of existing employees, the effectiveness of actions, availability of capital and investment, better relationship with companies, government, media, suppliers, colleagues, customers and community where organization operates.

The message from this three-day conference is that social responsibility represent a concept where any type of organization knowingly and voluntarily seeks to positively affect their work, social and business environment.