Background: this year Belarus is celebrating a series of 25-year anniversaries of the establishment of diplomatic relations with its key foreign policy partners.
Languages: English, Russian, and German (with simultaneous interpretation).
Organisers: Minsk Dialogue Track-II Initiative.
Aims:
- To offer a historical perspective on the emergence and development of Belarus’s sovereign foreign policy and to contextualise its challenges and accomplishments.
- To analyse achievements and lost opportunities in the process of establishing and developing diplomatic relations with main foreign policy partners.
- To explore alternative approaches to conceptualising Belarus’s foreign policy.
Programme
Thursday, 18 May
|
18.30-19.30 |
Reception |
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19.30-21.30 |
Night-owl session (off-the-record). Belarusian Factor in the Foreign Policies of Russia and the EU. Andrea Wiktorin Head of Delegation, Ambassador, Delegation of the European Union to Belarus Kamil Kłysiński Senior Fellow, Department for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, Centre for Eastern Studies, Poland Wolfgang Sender Country Director Belarus, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Germany Andrei Skryba Researcher, Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies, Higher School of Economics, Russia Moderator Yauheni Preiherman Head, Minsk Dialogue Track-II Initiative
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Friday, 19 May
|
9.30-10.30 |
Opening ceremony, welcoming remarks. Uladzimir Makey Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Sergey Rakhmanov Chairman, Standing Committee on International Affairs and National Security, Council of the Republic of the National Assembly, Belarus Yauheni Preiherman Head, Minsk Dialogue Track-II Initiative |
|
10.30-12.30 |
Session 1. The First Steps of Sovereign Foreign Policy: Context, Challenges, and Achievements. Key-note addresses Vladimir Senko Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus (1994-1997) Discussion Olga Abramova Member of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus (13th convocation), member of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly (2000-2008) Vladimir Senko Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus (1994-1997) Aliaksandr Sharapo Professor and Founding Dean, Department of International Relations, Belarusian State University Aliaksandr Baichorov Professor, Department of International Relations, Belarusian State University Sergey Kizima Professor, Chair of International Relations, Academy of Public Administration under the aegis of the President of the Republic of Belarus Moderator Andrei Rusakovich Professor, Department of International Relations, Belarusian State University; Chairman of the Board, Foreign Policy and Security Research Centre |
|
12.30-13.30 |
Lunch |
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13.30-15.30 |
Session 2. The Development of Key Foreign Policy Relationships: What Went Right and What Went Wrong. Key-note address Mikhail Khvostov Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus (2000-2003) Discussion Ivan Antonovich Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus (1997-1998) Mikhail Khvostov Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus (2000-2003) Kirill Koktysh Associate Professor, MGIMO-University, Russia Henryk Litwin Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in the Republic of Belarus (2006-2010), Poland Hans-Jochen Schmidt Ambassador (Rtd), OSCE Ambassador in Minsk (2008-2009), Germany Moderator Viachaslau Menkouski Professor, Department of History, Belarusian State University |
|
15.30-16.00 |
Coffee break |
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16.00-16.15 |
Presentation of the results of the expert survey Belarusian Foreign Policy at 25 Dzianis Melyantsou Programme Coordinator, Minsk Dialogue Track-II Initiative |
|
16.15-18.15 |
Session 3. Conceptualising Belarus’s Foreign Policy: from the Diplomatic Breakthrough into the World to Current Challenges in International Affairs. Key-note address Piotr Krauchanka Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus (1990-1994) Discussion Alon Shoham Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the State of Israel in the Republic of Belarus Piotr Krauchanka Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus (1990-1994) Uladzimir Snapkouski Professor, Department of International Relations, Belarusian State University, Belarus Yuri Shevtsov Director, Centre for European Integration Issues Andrei Kazakevich Director, Institute of Political Studies “Political Sphere” Moderator Dzianis Melyantsou Programme Coordinator, Minsk Dialogue Track-II Initiative |
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18.15-18.30 |
Concluding remarks. |
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19.00-21.30 |
Gala-dinner Key-note address Ivan Antonovich Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus (1997-1998) Sergey Rakhmanov Chairman, Standing Committee on International Affairs and National Security, Council of the Republic of the National Assembly, Belarus |
