Press-releases
05.09.2017
68th United States Secretary of State John Kerry to Give Public Lecture “Can Diplomacy Overcome the Challenges of a New World” at the Invitation of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation
On September 15, 2017, John Kerry, the 68th Secretary of State of the United States, at the invitation of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, will give a public lecture “Can Diplomacy Overcome the Challenges of a New World”. The event is organized at the occasion of the 14th YES Annual Meeting which will be held in Kyiv on September 14-16, 2017. Ukrainian students, scholars and opinion-makers will take part at the lecture.
One of the most respected voices in the world, John Kerry shares incomparable insight into global affairs, the future of American diplomacy, and America’s interests in an interconnected world.
A decorated combat veteran, activist, five-term United States Senator, and most recently Secretary of State, John Kerry remains one of the world’s most influential voices. His unstoppable drive helped guide the State Department through a time of historic global transformation. His personal approach to diplomacy (which prompted The New York Times to describe him as “America’s Mr. Diplomacy”), including his belief in the resilience of American values, offered steady stewardship in an era of potent unpredictability. Drawing from more than three decades of public service, Kerry provides comprehensive analysis of complex issues, from nuclear nonproliferation and the ongoing discord in the Middle East, to the rising threat of climate change and challenges to the global order.
A best-selling author of A Call to Service: My Vision for a Better America and This Moment on Earth, in 2017, Secretary Kerry announced plans for a memoir, expected in 2018. A Distinguished Fellow for Global Affairs at Yale University as well as the inaugural Visiting Distinguished Statesman for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, he shares his perspective on global affairs, national security, and the critical role the United States must continue to play on the world stage.
As a part of its Public Lectures project launched in 2006, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation regularly invites leading thinkers, politicians and public figures to Ukraine to discuss challenges facing the world and Ukraine. By organizing opportunities for dialogue between world leaders and Ukrainian students, the Foundation has for a decade contributed to fostering a new generation of responsible leaders.
In previous years, lectures were given, among others, by Tony Blair, Prime Minister of Great Britain (1997-2007); David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2010-2016); Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States; Joschka Fischer, Vice Chancellor of Germany (1998-2005); Thomas Friedman, The New York Times columnist and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner; Francis Fukuyama, Professor of International Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University; Newt Gingrich, the 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; Rudy Giuliani, the 107th Mayor of New York City; Dr. Michio Kaku, Henry Semat Professor of Physics; Shimon Peres, the 9th President of Israel; Colin Powell, the 65th US Secretary of State; Dr. Condoleezza Rice, the 66th United States Secretary of State (2005-2009); Javier Solana, High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union (1999-2009) and Secretary General of NATO (1995-1999); Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (1998-2005); Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia and Wikimedia Foundation; James Wolfensohn, the 9th President of the World Bank Group; Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and others.
The Victor Pinchuk Foundation, an international, private and non-partisan philanthropic foundation based in Ukraine, was established in 2006 by businessman and philanthropist Victor Pinchuk. It empowers the young generation to change their country and the world. To this end it implements projects and builds partnerships in Ukraine and worldwide. Since 2006, the Foundation has invested over 125 million USD to transform Ukraine.
The Victor Pinchuk Foundation’s projects include, among others: an all-Ukrainian network of neonatal center Cradles of Hope; the largest private scholarship program in Ukraine, Zavtra.UA; the WorldWideStudies scholarship programme for Ukrainian students studying abroad and the PinchukArtCentre, the most dynamic art centre in Ukraine and the region, which gives free-of-charge access to contemporary art to inspire new thinking. The Foundation supports the international network Yalta European Strategy (YES), a leading forum for discussing Ukraine’s European future and global context.
The foundation supports a crowdfunding platform to foster giving in Ukrainian society, the Philanthropic Marketplace. The Foundation is a member of the European Foundation Centre and the Ukrainian Grantmakers Forum. It cooperates with the Atlantic Council, the Brookings Institution, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, the Clinton Global Initiative, Amicus Europae Foundation and other nongovernmental organizations.
Official website: pinchukfund.org
Yalta European Strategy (YES) is a leading forum for discussing Ukraine’s European future and global context. YES fosters new ideas. It connects Ukraine to international partners, supports forces for change in the country, and builds networks of supporters for a new Ukraine worldwide.
For over a decade, YES has initiated dialog between leaders from Ukraine, the EU, the US, the Russian Federation, and beyond. Within Ukraine, it provides a platform for the government and opposition. It brings together leaders from politics, business, media, civil society and the expert community.
YES began in 2004, when Victor Pinchuk invited some 30 European leaders to debate the future of Ukraine and the EU at the first Annual Meeting.
YES Annual Meeting took place at the symbolic Livadia Palace in Yalta from 2004 to 2013. The location where Europe was divided in 1945 thus became the venue for uniting a wider Europe. After the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, the YES Annual Meeting moved to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
YES meetings have brought together heads of state and government such as Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Bill Clinton, Dalia Grybauskaitė, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Bronisław Komorowski, Mario Monti, Shimon Peres and Donald Trump. Among the speakers were also heads of international organizations like Kofi Annan, José Manuel Barroso, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Ronald Noble, James Wolfensohn, Lamberto Zannier and Robert Zoellick. Senior officials, such as Hillary Clinton, Valdis Dombrovskis, Robert Gates, Johannes Hahn, Chrystia Freeland, Victoria Nuland, Condoleezza Rice and Martin Schulz, have spoken at the meetings. In addition, thinkers and social leaders like Richard Branson, German Gref, Richard Haass, Niall Ferguson, Alexei Kudrin, Arthur Laffer, Yurii Milner, Larry Summers, Nouriel Roubini and Strobe Talbott have been among the panelists. Presidents and Prime Ministers of Ukraine, as well as Ukraine’s political, business and social leaders, regularly speak at the meetings.
The YES board includes Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland (1995-2005), Chairman of the YES Board; Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2006-2014), Prime Minister of Sweden (1991-1994); Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament (2002-2004), Member of the European Parliament (1989-2004); Stephane Fouks, Vice President of Havas Group, Executive Co-Chairman of Havas Worldwide; Wolfgang Ischinger, Ambassador, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Senior Professor, Hertie School of Governance; Victor Pinchuk, Founder and Member of the Board, YES and Founder of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and EastOne group; and Javier Solana, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1995-1999), High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union (1999-2009), distinguished fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings.
Official site: www.yes-ukraine.org
For media inquiries please contact the press-office of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation:
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: +380 44 494 11 48
