

- Eurasia Security Program
Dates: 23 March: Arrival & informal icebreaker
24-25 March Conference
26 March Cultural Program
Venue: Gagarin Hotel http://gagarinn.com/en/
Rationale: As global tensions rise with terrorist threats and hybrid warfare afflicting Eurasia, The Middle East and Europe and with the Russian occupation of Crimea, the Black Sea Region is once again at the epicenter of centrifugal geopolitical forces. Particularly, the stability and development of the Ukrainian region of Odesa is determinant for the proliferation of international cooperation and peace in the future.
Cross-border and existential threats resulting from transnational organized crime, corruption and strategic separatism stand to hinder constructive cooperation aimed at international development and cooperation. In order to identify the best way forward it is necessary to identify the key threats facing the region – those emanating from it as well as external situations and forces affecting its stability. Simultaneously, it is equally important to address the positive developments taking place in the region, the investments being made as well as the opportunities for economic, socio-political improvements and growth which are ready for development and will promote international cooperation, stability and peace.
For this reason, a 2-day top-level international conference in Odesa is being organized for 24&25 March with a cultural component on the 26th.
Speakers: top-level international experts
Participants: members of the diplomatic community, politicians, business council representatives and scholars
23 March – Arrival – Informal icebreaker hotel lobby 1930
24 March: Hard and Soft Power Security
0700 – 08300700 – 0830 Breakfast & Registration
0845-09100845-0910 press conference for opening speakers –moderator Tetyana Pushnova General Producer of Ukraine Today
0910-1000 – opening words
moderator- Dr. Lada Roslycky Director of Strategic Communications, Ukraine Today
0910-0915 Dr. Sergei Konoplyov – Director Harvard Black Sea Security Program
0915 –0920 Anatoly Urbansky – Chairman of the Odesa Regional Council
0920- 0940 H.E. Geoffrey Pyatt Ambassador of the United States of America
0940-1000 H. E. Yönet C. Tezel - Ambassador Turkey
after official opening (journalists exit & Chatham house rules apply)
Panel One – Geopolitical Situation in the Black Sea Region – A centrifugal security crisis? Chair: Ambassador of Turkey H.E. Yönet Can Yezel - Ambassador Turkey
1000 – 1030
An international vision for Odesa in light of Crimean annexation – Gov. Mikhail Saakashvilli
Analysis of Russian Geostrategic Policy: The Black Sea to Venezuela – Hanna Shelest, Editor-in-Chief, UA: Ukraine Analytica, Marshall Memorial Fellow'16
European Common Foreign and Security Policy & Ukraine –Lt. Col. Johan Huovinen – EU Delegation to Ukraine
Leadership in Middle East, Turkey, Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan – Amb. Frederic C Hof Resident Senior Fellow Atlantic Council Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East
1030-1100 – Q&A Moderator Dr. Olin Oedekoven, President & CEO Peregrine Leadership Institute
1100-1130 coffee break
1130-1230 Panel Two – Security Cooperation in the Black Sea Region – successes & failures
Chair: Col. (ret) Colin Martin, Deputy Head of Ops. OSCE-SMM, SSR Consultant
Lithuanian Experience of NATO membership – Vice-Minister of Defence Marijus Velička
Security Sector Reform in time of Conflict – lessons learned Philipp Fluri Deputy Director DCAF and Executive Director of DCAF Brussels
New Europe – Mediterranean to Baltic – Ihor Smeshko Ambassador-at-Large Advisor to the President of Ukraine
NATO: cooperation or disintegration? - James Sherr Chatham House
1230-1330 – Q&A Moderator Dr. Gerlinde Niehus, Head, Engagements Section, NATO HQ Public Diplomacy Division
Lunch
1330 – 1430 Panel Three - Communication Messaging, Media & Reality
Chair – Dr. Lada Roslycky Director Strategic Communications Ukraine Today
1430 – 1530
An alternate view on cinema and propaganda - H.E. Gerardo Bugallo Ottone Ambassador of Spain
(Social) Media an instrument of hybrid war Peter Pomerantsev senior fellow at the Legatum Institute in London and the author of Nothing is True and Everything is Possible
Effects of Russian soft power operations in Europe – Francisco de Borja Lasheras – European Council of Foreign Relations
Alliance StratCom – on target? Dr. Gerlinde Niehus, Head, Engagements Section, NATO HQ Public Diplomacy Division
Head, Engagements Section, PD
1530-1600 Q&A Moderator David Kramer Senior Director for Human Rights and Democracy at the McCain Institute for International Leadership
1600-1630 coffee break
Panel Four - Separatism & War
1630-1730 Chair: General Tad Oelstrom
Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine the way forward for the OSCE – Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Mr. Alexander Hug
The new type of "frozen" (conserved) conflict, aspects observed in Ukraine, comparative with other conflicts in the Black Sea area. Vladimir Socor Jamestown Foundation
Transdniestria – Alexander Stoianoglu, ex Head of National Security Committee of Moldovan Parliament
A view from Georgia –Gela Bezhuashvili, Former Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs Georgia
1730-1800 Q&A Moderator Dr. Gerlinde Niehus, Head, Engagements Section, NATO HQ Public Diplomacy Division
2000 Dinner (hotel ) Key Note Speaker – David Kramer Senior Director for Human Rights and Democracy at the McCain Institute for International Leadership
25 March International Economic Development & Cooperation
Panel One –International Economic Development & Cooperation
0900– 1000 Chair: George Woloshyn Inspector General, FHFB (ret.) Former Director of National Preparedness USA
Deputy Minister of Finance Deputy Minister Artem Shevalyev Keynote speaker
European Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement an instrument of hope and development from Odesa’s perspective - Dr. Péter P. BALÁS Conseiller Hors Classe Special Adviser to the Director General DG TRADE
Agriculture Ukraine’s #1 export? – the world’s needs and Ukraine’s capacity to deliver- Pavlo Zhovnirenko Chairman of the Center for Strategic Studies, Kyiv
1000-1030 – Q&A Moderator - James Lindley Sr. Commercial officer USA
1030-1100 coffee break
Panel Two – Infrastructure
1100 – 1200 Chair: James Sherr Chatham House
Port systems and water ways – Alexandr Urbansky Member of Ukrainian Parliament
Paving the way for a more secure common future in the Danube Region: EU Danube Strategy and Ukraine Igor Studennikov Executive Dir. Center for Regional Studies, Odessa
Roads and Railways – development routes that cannot be failed – Head of Odesa Regional Railways Hryhoriy Boiko
Public-Private Partnership Development – Tetiana Iefymenko President of Academy of Financial Management
1200-1230 – Q&A Moderator Ambassador of Lithuania H.E. Marius Janukonis
Lunch
1230 – 1330
Panel Three – Energy, Security and Cooperation
1330 – 1430 Chair: Dr. Sergei Konoplyov, Director Harvard Black Sea Security Program
Energy – electricity, gas, oil and new ways forward Anatoliy Urbansky Chairman of Odesa Regional Council
Pre-Danube (Bessarabia) case study – Izmail Electricity dependence through Transdniestria Andrei Abramchenko Mayor of Izmail
Investments in energy security - a strategic imperative Dr. Cornelius Granig, Partner, K-Advisors
New energy solutions to old energy problems –TBD
1400-1430 Q&A Moderator: TBD
1430-1500 coffee break
Transnational Organized Crime and Cyberspace
1530-1630 Chair: Ihor Smeshko Ambassador at Large, Advisor to the President
The power of corruption – regional perspective local problems – George Woloshyn, Inspector General, FHFB (ret.) Former Director of National Preparedness USA
The effects of the post-Soviet Political-Criminal nexus in the United Kingdom – Ben Judah, Journalist, Author of Fragile Empire: How Russia fell in and out of love with Vladimir Putin
Cyber Espionage – Operation Armageddon and others – Lucas Kello Harvard Belfer Center Associate, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program/Project on Technology, Security, and Conflict in the Cyber Age
E-governance as a problem solver – successes and challenges Jordanka Tomkova, PhD Swiss E-governance Advisor E-governance for Accountability & Participation Program
1600-1630 Q&A Moderator Ambassador of Switzerland H.E. Guillaume Scheurer
2000 Dinner with Key note speaker – Ben Judah & documentary film screening
26 March – Cultural Program Organized by Odesa City Council