Press-releases
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko to open the 14th Yalta European Strategy Annual Meeting plenary sessions with his speech
The plenary sessions of the 14th Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting will start with a speech by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. He will speak about Ukraine’s role in a changing world. The discussion between the forum audience and the President will be moderated by Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations.
The 14th Annual Meeting of Yalta European Strategy (YES) - “Is This a New World? And What Does It Mean for Ukraine?” – will be held on September 14-16, 2017. More than 350 leading politicians, diplomats, businessmen, civil activists and experts from 34 countries will take part in the conference organized by the international forum YES, in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.
The first day of the conference will focus on key global developments and challenges, including the global economy, geopolitical constellations, security risks, populism, and energy security.
The speakers will include: Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Energy Union Maros Sefcovic, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences Paul Krugman, U.S. Secretary of State (2013-2017) John Kerry, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2010-2016) David Cameron, U.S. Secretary of State (2005-2009) Condoleezza Rice, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Suma Chakrabarti, US Secretary of Defense (2006-2011) Robert Gates, Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Levy, President and CEO at Vitol Ian Taylor, Chairman of the Board at the Institute for the Study of War Jack Keane, former Director of the US National Security Agency Keith Alexander.
Renowned artist Marina Abramovic will present her view on global developments in a special plenary session.
The discussions will be moderated by Richard Haass; President of the Council on Foreign Relations, Stephen Sackur, host of BBC HARDtalk; Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2006-2014) and member of the board of YES; Fareed Zakaria and host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS.
In the evening, several nightcap discussions organised by the forum’s partner organisations will be held simultaneously throughout Kyiv, including a meeting with young Ukrainian reformers who will discuss their achievements and future plans, a book talk by Newt Gingrich, a debate on reestablishment of justice in Crimea and in the Donbas, and a discussion on the past and the future of the US-Ukraine relations including a book presentation by Steven Pifer.
The online stream of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) 14th Annual Meeting will be available on the site yes-ukraine.org as well as on the web sites of media partners in English and Ukrainian.
The official Twitter of the 14th YES Annual Meeting is @yes_ukraine, and participants and followers can include the hash tag: #YESUkraine2017
Partners of 14th YES Annual Meeting:
- Arawak Energy
- Hillmont Partners
- International Renaissance Foundation
Media partners of 14th YES Annual Meeting:
- Euronews
- Dzerkalo Tyzhnya (DT.UA)
- ICTV
- LIGAbusinessinform
- Novoye Vremya Strany (NV)
- The Kyiv Post
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; Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Founder of Rasmussen Global, Secretary General of NATO (2009-2014), Prime Minister of Denmark (2001-2009); 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 Institution.
Official site: yes-ukraine.org
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 partnership 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
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