RigaConference

Photo: What Does the World Economic and Financial Crisis Mean for Security in the West?

admin — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:01:26 +0000

The economic crisis has become a turning point not only in European inter-relationships but also in activities and thinking at a Transatlantic level. Europe and U.S. have been the closest partners jointly addressing international challenges. What does the world expect from the EU? Will the expectations and capabilities on the both sides of the Atlantic meet the requirements of diverse international challenges in pressing economic conditions?

Prof. Dr. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, Vice-chair of the Reflection Group on the Future of Europe in 2020-2030 Time Horizon
Mr. Valdis Dombrovskis, Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia
Prof. Michel Foucher, Director of Studies at the Institute for Higher National Defence Studies
Mr. Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, Chairman of Baltic Development Forum
Dr. Simon Serfaty, Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Senior Adviser, Europe Program

Moderator: Mr. Robert Cottrell, Editor of TheBrowser.com

Video: What Does the World Economic and Financial Crisis Mean for Security in the West?

admin — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:35:39 +0000

Prof. Dr. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, Vice-chair of the Reflection Group on the Future of Europe in 2020-2030 Time Horizon
Mr. Valdis Dombrovskis, Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia
Prof. Michel Foucher, Director of Studies, The Institute for Higher National Defence Studies
Mr. Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, Chairman of Baltic Development Forum
Dr. Simon Serfaty, Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Senior Adviser, Europe Program

Moderator: Mr. Robert Cottrell, Editor of TheBrowser.com

Photo: Baltic Sea Region after Crisis: What Next?

admin — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 18:06:21 +0000

Returning stability and economic growth are the aspects that characterize Baltic countries and Poland while parts of the world are struggling to overcome the economic crisis. How to use the potential of growth to endorse further economic development? How to move on with cross-border energy projects and interact with vague Russia?

H.E. Mr. Valdis Zatlers, President of the Republic of Latvia
H.E. Mr. Bronisław Komorowski, President of the Republic of Poland
H.E. Mrs. Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania
H.E. Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of the Republic of Estonia

Moderator: Mr. Toms Baumanis, Chairman of the Board, Latvian Transatlantic Organisation

Coffee Break conversation: NATO and EU enlargement perspectives

admin — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:49:18 +0000

Mr. Bruce Pitcairn Jackson is president of the Project on Transitional Democracies is interviewed by Mr. Robert Cottrell, Editor of the Browser.com

Photo: A Strategy towards Europe’s Contested Neighborhood

admin — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 18:46:00 +0000

The inability of the EU member states to speak with a single voice and react in a coordinated manner towards their Eastern Partners has revealed the lack of consensus in the EU regarding the implementation of the joint strategy towards its contested neighborhood. Diverse interests and arising threats restates question to both sides of the EU and NATO common external border: what do we expect from the neighboring region and what will be the common action towards it?

H.E. Mr. Māris Riekstiņš, Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Latvia
H.E. Mr. Grigol Vashadze, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Georgia
Mr. Henryk Litwin, Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland
Dr. Dimitris Triantaphyllou, Director General of the International Centre for Black Sea Studies
Dr. Alexander Pivovarsky, Senior Economist, Office of the Chief Economist, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Moderator: Mr. Nils Muižnieks, Director of Advanced Social and Political Research Institute, University of Latvia

Video: Baltic Sea Region after Crisis: What Next?

admin — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 17:55:02 +0000

H.E. Mr. Valdis Zatlers, President of the Republic of Latvia
H.E. Mr. Bronisław Komorowski, President of the Republic of Poland
H.E. Mrs. Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania
H.E. Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of the Republic of Estonia

Moderator: Mr. Toms Baumanis, Chairman of the Board, Latvian Transatlantic Organisation

Video: A Strategy towards Europe’s Contested Neighborhood

admin — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 19:43:32 +0000

Moderator: Mr. Nils Muižnieks, Director of Advanced Social and Political Research Institute, University of Latvia

Photo: Russia: Has Reset Succeeded?

admin — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 18:55:10 +0000

New Transatlantic policy trends and President Obama’s administration in the U.S. call for extensive cooperation with Russia to jointly address challenges in Afghanistan, Iran and elsewhere. Do expectations meet the realities? Is Europe a third tango partner?

Mr. Mikhail Margelov, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation
Mr. Mark Leonard, Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations
Mr. Jeremy Shapiro, Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia Affairs at the Department of State
Mr. Konstantin von Eggert, Carnegie Moscow Center, Member of the Advisory Board of ,,Pro et Contra’’ Journal
Dr. Bobo Lo, Independent Scholar and Consultant

Moderator: Mr. Tomas Valasek, Director of Foreign Policy and Defense, Centre for European Reform

What is NATO’s Exit Strategy in Afghanistan?

admin — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 14:07:41 +0000

The Rīga Conference 2010 was concluded by discussion of the Defense Minister of the Republic of Latvia, Mr. Imants Lieģis, NATO and European Cooperation and a member of the Thales Group, Dr. Edgar Buckley, Member of the Board at the Conference of Defence Associations Institute, Paul H. Chapin, The senior correspondent at RFE/RL, Abubakar Siddique and the chief correspondent of the German daily newspaper “Die Welt”, Michael Sturmer as moderator on the topic “What is NATO’s Exit Strategy in Afghanistan?”

Imants Lieģis started by pointing out that the main goal of the mission in Afghanistan is to stabilize the country and to guarantee security in all regions of the country which is critical not only to the NATO countries but also for the rest of the world. The crisis in Afghanistan can`t be solved with just by military means, therefore it is important that Afghans themselves are trained and ready to start to control their own country. Mr. Lieģis stressed that NATO has to stay in Afghanistan as long as it takes. He indicated that despite the budgetary cuts Latvia has not decreased number of troops in Afghanistan.

Edgar Buckley pointed out that NATO troops can`t leave Afghanistan, because they “have to provide at least a reasonable chance that the government of Afghanistan could survive”. Mr. Buckley said: “We will stay till the job is done. But what is the job?” With the words of Mr. Buckley “Afghanistan is an existential challenge for NATO”.

Paul H. Chapin in his speech stressed out that it is hard to define success, but he thinks that there is an exit strategy and NATO is working on it! Mr. Chapin defined a six-step exit strategy: “train Afghan troops, protect the population, get the money to them, do these things well, use imagination to deal with neighbours of the Afghanistan and “quietly go home”.

Abubakar Siddique turned to the speakers with the question: “What kind of Afghanistan is possible?” Mr. Siddique thinks that there are at least three options, but none of them will be successful if Pakistan will be left behind. Unstable Pakistan can destabilize also Afghanistan.

The Rīga Conference 2010 is organized by the Latvian Transatlantic Organisation (LATO) in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and the Ministry of Defence of Latvia as well as supported by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, NATO, Soros Foundation – Latvia, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, European Commission Representation in Latvia and the Embassy of the United States in Riga, Informative support is ensured by LETA, DELFI un Latvijas Avīze.

Photos of the Conference are available at LATO photo album.

Russia: Has Reset Succeeded?

admin — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 13:44:41 +0000

The second discussion on the day two of the Rīga Conference 2010 was “Russia: Has Reset Succeeded?” The chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, Mr. Mikhail Margelov, the director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, Mr. Mark Leonard, the Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia Affairs at the Department of State, Mr. Jeremy Shapiro, the member of the Advisory Board of ,,Pro et Contra’’ Journal, Mr. Konstantin von Eggert, and the Independent Scholar and Consultant Bobo Lo took part in this discussion moderated by the Director of Foreign Policy and Defense at the Centre for European Reform, Mr. Tomas Valasek.

Mikhail Margelov: Russia has always been an empire, but it does not want to be an empire which is compared as a continuation of the Soviet Union. Democratic parliament does not automatically mean that all problems can be solved by being a democratic country. And the environment of the recent crisis, in according to him, proves it. Mr. Margelov sees the reset of the relations with the USA in a positive and optimistic aspect, stressing that the reset first of all is of vital importance for the USA itself, especially taking into account the fact that the USA is resetting its relations also with other countries. A good ground for a successful reset is the fact, that Medvedev and Obama do not have a cold war experience, therefore if the reset will be institutionalized, then probably it will be successful.

Next speaker to take the floor was Mark Leonard. He pointed out that it is positive that the USA is having a dialogue with Russia about Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea. Having said this he remarked that despite good will there are more disagreements in this dialogue than agreements. Russia understands that its relations with the EU do not depend only on the relations with Brussels – all member states of the EU mater. Mark Leonard also sees Turkey as an important actor building up the relations between the EU and Russia.
Jeremy Shapiro followed the conversation with less optimistic view of the future of the Russia-USA relations, noting that they can`t be any better than now.

The thoughts of Konstantin von Eggert and Bobo Lo were similar when evaluating the practical grounds of cooperation. Konstantin von Eggert in particular pointed out that there aren’t many “business activities” going on between Russia and USA, if we compare with the relations between the EU and Russia. Mr. Eggert was wondering if the USA-Russia “good feeling” relations could be institutionalized to be sure that the reset process is on a steady road further on. Bobo Lo was very direct saying that there is no sense for Russia to reset its foreign policy – Russia is different from USA in it’s approaches to a great extent. Russia does not want to join the west – it wants to redefine the west. The real test of the reset lies ahead and, with the words of Bobo Lo, “it will take years to make a trustful relationship between Russia and the USA”.

Photos of the Conference are available at LATO Photo Album.