Press-releases
18.12.2008
The International Conference Frontiers of Europe in Kyiv has ended
The Frontiers of Europe conference jointly organised by Brookings Institution, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and Yalta European Strategy (YES) ended in Kyiv on 17 December 2008.
The main purpose of the Frontiers of Europe programme, developed by the Brookings Institution in 2006, is conducting research on the feasible policies for building a “whole and free” Europe (as well as the ways to obtain membership in the key institutions) and the prospects for gaining advantages from Europe’s expansion. This conference is a follow-up to a series of seminars taken place in Belgrade, Istanbul and Tbilisi, where these issues were discussed in the context of the Balkans, Turkey and the Caucasus region.
In the two-day plenary discussions took part, in total, over 200 representatives of the international organisations, state bodies and research centres and institutes from the United States, European countries, Ukraine, Georgia and Russia. Among the key speakers at the conference were the leading experts on foreign policies, international relations and energy, and also prominent politicians and community activists: Steven Larrabee, Daniel Benjamin, Ed Chow, Alexander Kwasniewski, Nino Burdzhanadze, Arseniy Yatseniuk, Volodymyr Gorbulin, Pierre Noël, Vladimir Milov and others.
The conference attendees discussed the West’s policies, aimed at solving urgent issues and continuing the processes on stabilisation and integration of the regions adjacent to the European Union. Additionally, in the course of the forum, there were considered feasible options for implementation of the EU, NATO and USA policies.
The conference included six working sessions on the following topics: “Frontiers’ view on Europe”, “Europe’s view on Frontiers”, «Ukraine’s integration into Europe», “Russia’s view on expanding Europe”, ”Democracy, supremacy of law and European integration” and “Energy relations”. Furthermore, the conference participants had a chance to hear special addresses by Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Nino Burdzhanadze, Alexander Kwasniewski and Carlos Pasqual.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Brookings Institution and the Center on the U.S. and Europe (CUSE)
Brookings Institution is one of the leading organisations in the USA that works in the field of public policies and has unique opportunities in achieving its goals. For almost 100 years the Institution has been studying the most urgent challenges of the modern world and searching for the realistic and constructive ways of solving them. The Brookings Institution, a private non-profit organisation, whose mission is to conduct independent research and provide innovative recommendations, celebrated its 90th Anniversary in 2006.
The Brookings conducts its research in order to inform society debates and advance public policy implementation. The fellows of the Institution have experience working in the governmental and scientific structures. They provide expert analysis and recommendations regarding the whole range of the challenges faced by the increasingly interrelated world. The scholars of the Brookings Institution write books, papers, articles and opinion pieces; participate in scientific conferences and press-briefings with the purpose of reaching the Congress, executive authorities, journalists, society and International audience.
Established in 2004, The Centre on the U. S. and Europe (CUSE) is dedicated to the study of Europe and US-Europe relations. The Center offers a platform for a high-level dialogue regarding the issues of mutual concern, and advances society’s interest to the US and Europe affairs.
Public opinion leaders and newsmakers on both sides of the Atlantic appeal to the CUSE requesting timely, substantial and useful information and wide-ranging analysis of different political spheres. The Brookings Institution is known as a leading non-partisan forum for exchanging ideas, discussions, and bringing new topics into the agenda. Moreover, CUSE offers unique personal contacts with the scholars, authorities and other representatives of the foreign policy elite.
Offical website: www.brookings.edu
«Frontiers of Europe» programme
The Centre on the United States and Europe (CUSE) operating under the Brookings Institution Programme for Foreign Policy started the project «Frontiers of Europe» in 2006, with a goal of exploring the policy options for creating a Europe «whole and free» at a time of a deep transformation. This project proved CUSE to be a leading high level forum in Washington focused on the future of Europe and a catalyst for a better understanding of issues of common interest for Europe and America. The project «Frontiers of Europe» is fully integrated into the Foreign Policy Programme under which researches are conducted, networks are developed and projects are implemented to spread information, to help decision makers in the USA and abroad better understand the challenges the US and their allies facing the changing international security landscape of the 21st century.
Today, CUSE is at the final stage of a two-year project. This phase is focused mainly on studying the regions bordering with Europe — Ukraine, Turkey, Western Balkans and Caucasus — in the context of their aspirations for full integration into the European space, expansion fatigue in the EU, and the US efforts to deepen the relations linking these regions with the trans-Atlantic community.
The goals of the «Frontiers of Europe» and other related projects are:
- to favour a constructive dialogue and create the best applied policy studies for complex issues of integration of the key countries -Ukraine and Turkey — and the West-Balkan and Caucasian countries into the European space;
- to develop a deep vision that will highlight the way towards a larger integration that would include Russia and emphasise that the future choices for the border countries should not lead to a «either-or» competition between the West and Russia;
- to conduct this work in the context of a rapidly changing and globalising environment, where economical, political and cultural changes may have a fast and sometimes destabilising impact;
- to spread the key results and conclusions in Europe, the USA and in the states that seek a greater integration, in order to have a positive impact on the shaping of the debate in a wider society;
- to advise political leaders, politicians and influential voices in the civil society so that they can help in the cause of shaping and promoting wise strategies and reacting to the existing challenges amongst which are the rapidly changing international security landscape and new security threats.
The Victor Pinchuk Foundation has been actively supporting the activity of the program «Frontiers of Europe» and taking part in it since 2006.
YES
Yalta European Strategy (YES) is an independent organisation that brings together high-level Ukrainian and international policy-makers, business leaders, thinkers, scholars and journalists in order to facilitate reforms in Ukraine and advance Ukraine’s integration into the EU. YES was created at the initiative of a Ukrainian businessman and public figure Victor Pinchuk in spring of 2004. Annual Yalta Meetings are a communication platform for discussing and developing political and economical strategies for Europe and Ukraine. Since 2004 the Yalta Meeting was attended by William J. Clinton, the 42nd president of the USA, , Gerhard Schroeder, Chancellor of Germany in 1998-2005, Alexander Kwasniewski, the President of Poland in 1995-2005, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF Managing Director, Toni Blair, British Prime Minister(1997-2007), Victor Yuschenko, President of Ukraine and others.
Besides annual summits, YES initiates forums and discussions on the pressing issues of the Ukraine — EU relations and systematically conducts public opinion polls in the EU countries on the integration prospects for Ukraine. In 2006 at the 3rd YES summit there was presented «Agenda 2020»- a step-by-step strategy of Ukraine’s integration to the European Union. Monitoring of the reforms implementation process has been conducted on a regular basis and, as a result, special reports are produced.
Offical website: www.yes-ukraine.org
Victor Pinchuk Foundation is one of the largest private philanthropic foundations of Ukraine established by Mr. Victor Pinchuk, founder and chairman of the board, in 2006. The Foundation develops and implements social projects aimed at Ukraine’s development and production of the new generation of Ukrainian leaders. The priorities of the Foundation comprise health care, education, culture, human rights, global integration of Ukraine and local community development.
The largest projects of the Foundation include: Ukraine-wide network of centres for newborn care Cradles of Hope, scholarship program Zavtra.ua, centre of contemporary art PinchukArtCenter.
Victor Pinchuk Foundation is a member of the European Foundation Centre and of the Ukrainian Grantmakers Forum; it is a partner of Yalta European Strategy (YES) and cooperates with Global Clinton Initiative and other NGOs.
Offical website: www.pinchukfund.org
