Agenda

7 October (Monday)

9.30-10.30

Morning media briefing by the organisers of the Forum

(presentation of the Forum report on the state of East European security in 2019)

Yauheni Preiherman

Founder and Director, Minsk Dialogue Council on International Relations

Jakob Wöllenstein

Director Country Office Belarus, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Germany

Elena Korosteleva

Professor of International Politics, Director of the Global Europe Centre, University of Kent, UK

Dzianis Melyantsou

Programme Coordinator, Minsk Dialogue Council on International Relations

10.30-12.00

Partner session Young leaders on the present and future of European security

In partnership with the Younger Generation Network on Euro-Atlantic Security (YGLN) and the GCRF COMPASS Project

Moderator

Zachary Paikin

Researcher, University of Kent; senior editor, Global Brief, Canada

Comments by:

Jacqueline Perkins

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Republic of Belarus

Dmitry Mezentsev 

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Belarus

Dirk Schuebel

Head of Delegation, Ambassador, Delegation of the European Union to Belarus

Valery Varanetsky

Chairman, Standing Committee on International Affairs, House of Representatives of the National Assembly, Belarus

12.30-13.00

Welcome remarks

Yauheni Preiherman

Founder and Director, Minsk Dialogue Council on International Relations

Jakob Wöllenstein

Director Country Office Belarus, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Germany

Vladimir Makei

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus

13.00-14.30

Plenary session European security: can we stop further confrontation?

Viacheslav Nikonov

Chairman, Committee on Education and Science, State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation

Dirk Wiese

Member of the Bundestag, Federal GovernmentCoordinator for Intersocietal Cooperation with Russia, Central Asia and the Eastern Partnership Countries, Germany

István Balogh

State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary

Alexis Lamek

Deputy Director General for Political Affairs and Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France

Brad Freden

Eastern Europe Office Director, Department of State, USA

Huseyn Huseynov

Director, Analysis and Strategic Studies Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan

Moderator

Elena Korosteleva

Professor of International Politics, Director of the Global Europe Centre, University of Kent, UK

14.30-15.15

Light lunch

15.15-15.30

Institutional perspective Can we revive cooperative security?

James Mackey

Head of Euro-Atlantic and Global Partnership, IS PASP, NATO

15.30-17.00

Plenary session Propaganda and counterpropaganda: Can we agree on a basic code of conduct for journalists?

Judy Dempsey

Nonresident Senior Associate, Carnegie Europe and Editor in Chief, Strategic Europe, Germany

Alexei Venediktov

Editor-in-chief, Ekho Moskvy, Russia

Volodymir Fesenko

Chairman of Board, Penta Centre, Ukraine

Luzia Ruth Tschirky

Correspondent, Swiss Broadcasting Agency (SRF), Switzerland

Moderator

Aleh Makarau

Director, Belarusian Institute for Strategic Research, Belarus

17.00-17.30

Coffee break

17.30-17.45

Institutional perspective Can we revive cooperative security?

Viktor Zagrekov

Deputy head of the Political Cooperation Department, CSTO

17.45-19.15

Plenary session Arms control and the future of strategic stability

Ben Hodges

Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies, Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA); former Commanding General of US Army Europe

Feodor Voitolovsky

Director, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Roderich Kiesewetter

Member of the Bundestag, Germany

Anna Maria Dyner

Head of the Eastern Europe Programme, Polish Institute for International Affairs (PISM), Poland

Mustafa Kibaroğlu

Professor, Dean, Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences, MEF University; Director, MEF Strategy, Center for International Security Studies and Strategic Research, Turkey

Branimir Filipović

Acting Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Security Policy, Serbia

Moderator

Ulrike Franke

Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations, Germany

19.15-20.30

Dinner

20.30 – 22.00

Night owl sessions (under the Chatham House Rule)

Session 1. Donbas: New light at the end of the tunnel?

Hennadiy Maksak

Head, Foreign Policy Council Ukrainian Prism, Ukraine

Sergey Markedonov

Leading Researcher, Institute of International Studies at MGIMO University; Expert, Russian International Affairs Council, Russia

Alexander Vershbow 

Distinguished Fellow, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Atlantic Council; former NATO Deputy Secretary General, USA

Rein Oidekivi

Research Fellow, International Centre for Defense and Security, Estonia

Moderator

Jakob Wöllenstein

Director Country Office Belarus, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Germany

 

Session 2. Central Asia: Security and power transition challenges and implications for Wider Eurasia

In partnership with GCRF Compass Project

Fariz Ismailzade

Vice-Rector, ADA University, Azerbaijan

Aliaksandr Baichorau

Professor, Belarusian State University, Belarus

Nilufar Rakhmatullaeva

Researcher, University of World Economy and Diplomacy, Uzbekistan

Kholahmad Samiev

Professor, Tajik National University, Tajikistan

Benno Zogg

Senior Researcher, Centre for Security Studies, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Moderator

Roza Turarbekova

Associate professor, Belarusian State University, Belarus

 

Session 3. The EU between internal reforms and external challenges: The (un)making of a strategic actor?

In partnership with the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe

Judy Dempsey

Nonresident Senior Associate, Carnegie Europe and Editor in Chief, Strategic Europe, Germany

Vygaudas Ušackas

Member of the Board, Avia Solutions Group; former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania

Lazar Comanescu

Senior advisor (foreign relations) to the President of the Romanian Chamber of Commerce; Board member; New Strategy Centre; former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania

Paul Révay

Member of the Board of Trustees, “Friends of Europe” (Belgium), France

Moderator

Florent Marciacq

Deputy Secretary General, Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe, Austria-France

October (Tuesday)

9.00-9.30

Conversation US policy towards Eastern Europe

Glen Howard

President, Jamestown Foundation, USA

Thomas Graham

Managing Director, Kissinger Associates; Distinguished Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, USA

Moderator

Artsiom Shraibman

Political analyst, Belarus

10.00-12.00

High-level plenary session In search of an agenda for peace and cooperation in Europe 

Alexander Lukashenko

President of the Republic of Belarus

Giorgi Margvelashvili

President of Georgia (2013-2018), Georgia

Stjepan Mesic

President of Croatia (2000-2010), Croatia

Baroness Catherine Ashton

Chair of Global Europe, Woodrow Wilson Center; former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and First Vice President of the European Commission, UK

Alexei Pushkov

Chairman, Interim Commission on Information Policy and Cooperation with the Media, Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation

Alexander Vershbow

Distinguished Fellow, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Atlantic Council; former NATO Deputy Secretary General, USA

Moderator

Yauheni Preiherman

Founder and Director, Minsk Dialogue Council on International Relations

12.45-13.30

Lunch

13.30-15.00

Breakout sessions

Session 1. Reducing military risk in Eastern Europe

In partnership with the European Leadership Network

Ben Hodges

Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies, Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA); former Commanding General of US Army Europe

Feodor Voitolovsky

Director, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Anna Maria Dyner

Head of the Eastern Europe Programme, Polish Institute for International Affairs (PISM), Poland

Ian Anthony

Director, European Security Programme, SIPRI, Sweden

Moderator

Sir Adam Thomson

Director, European Leadership Network; former UK Permanent Representative to NATO, UK

 

Session 2. How helpful is the Cold War experience of rapprochement for European security today?

In partnership with the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Gromyko Association of Foreign Policy Studies

Ivan Antonovich

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus

Vladimir Baranovsky

Academician, Russian Academy of Sciences; member of the Directorate, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), Russia

Pyotr Bryhadzin

Director, Business Institute, Belarusian State University; former Minister of Education of the Republic of Belarus

Thomas Graham

Managing Director, Kissinger Associates; Distinguished Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, USA

Heinz Gärtner

International Institute for Peace (IIP) and University of Vienna,
 Chair of the Advisory Committee for Strategy and Security Policy of the Scientific Commission at the Austrian Armed Forces (BMLV), Austria

Vladimir Senko

Former 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

Sergey Rogov

Academic Director, Institute for the US and Canadian Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Vladimir Senko

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus

Viacheslav Sutyrin

Executive Director, Gromyko Association of Foreign Policy Studies, Russia

Gabriele Woidelko

Head of Department of History and Politics, Körber-Stiftung, Germany

Co-Moderators

Alexey Gromyko

Director, Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Viktar Shadurski

Professor, Dean, Faculty of International Relations, Belarusian State University, Belarus

 

Session 3. In search of an inclusive regional order in post-Soviet Europe and Eurasia

In partnership with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and RAND Corporation

Introductory remarks

Reinhard Krumm

Head of Office, FES Regional Office for Cooperation and Peace in Europe, Germany

Samuel Charap

Senior Political Scientist, RAND Corporation, USA

Olesya Vartanyan

Analyst, International Crisis Group, Georgia

Sergey Afontsev

Deputy Director, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), Russian Academy of Sciences; Professor, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Russia

Jeremy Shapiro

Research Director, European Council on Foreign Relations, USA

Moderator

Alexandra Dienes

Research Associate, FES Regional Office for Cooperation and Peace in Europe, Germany

15.00-15.30

Coffee break

15.30-17.00

Plenary session EU – Eurasian Economic Union – Belt and Road initiative: Any real areas of mutual interest?

Lord Teverson

Member of the House of Lords, UK

Sun Li

Deputy Director, Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China

Alexey Gromyko

Director, Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Tony van der Togt

Senior Research Fellow, Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Netherlands

Suren Sargsyan

President and Founder, Armenian Center for American Studies, Armenia

Eugene Chausovsky

Senior Eurasia Analyst, Stratfor, USA

Moderator

Ulf Schneider

CEO & President, SCHNEIDER GROUP & OWC Foreign Trade Publishing House, Germany

17.05-17.10

South Asian perspective Can we revive cooperative security?

Sujan R. Chinoy

Director General, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, India

17.10-17.35

Coffee break

17.35-17.50

Institutional perspective Can we revive cooperative security?

Marcel Pesko

Director, OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre

17.50-19.20

Closing plenary sessionEuropean security: New ideas for an uncertain future

Raynell Andreychuk

Former Chair, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, The Senate of Canada

Alexander Iskandaryan

Director, Caucasus Institute, Armenia

Oleksandr Chalyi

President, Grant Thornton Ukraine; member, OSCE Panel of Eminent Persons, Ukraine

Maciej Pisarski

Director, Department of Foreign Policy Strategy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poland

Andrey Sushentsov

Director, Institute of International Studies at MGIMO University; Programme Director, Valdai Discussion Club, Russia

Samuel Charap

Senior Political Scientist, RAND Corporation, USA

Moderator

Dzianis Melyantsou

Programme Coordinator, Minsk Dialogue Council on International Relations

19.20-19.30

Closing remarks

20.00-22.00

GCRF COMPASS reception

Welcome address

Lord Teverson

Member of the House of Lords, UK

Elena Korosteleva

Professor of International Politics, Director of the Global Europe Centre, University of Kent, UK

 

October (Wednesday)

 

8.30-10.00

Working breakfasts

WB 1. Moldova: What’s next?

Vladislav Kulminski

Political Adviser to the Prime Minister of Moldova

Vladimir Socor

Senior Fellow, Jamestown Foundation, USA

Moderator

Timur Onica

Senior Programme Manager, European Endowment for Democracy

WB 2. Meeting Russia

In partnership with the Centre for Support and Development of Public Initiatives “Creative Diplomacy”

Ulrike Reisner

Political Analyst, Lecturer, Journalist, Austria

Ivan Kiseev

Executive Director, Center for Support and Development of Public Initiatives “Creative Diplomacy”, Russia

Moderator

Natalia Burlinova

President, Center for Support and Development of Public Initiatives “Creative Diplomacy”, Russia

10.00-12.00

Partner session In search of a stable regional order for Eastern Europe and South Caucasus

In partnership with Protestant Academy Loccum