Events

The conference will provide a unique opportunity to interact with leading experts, policy makers, politicians and democracy activists from all over the Europe, the Western Balkans and North Africa.
The conference will also offer a deep insight into key issues for Polish foreign policy such as development of the Eastern Partnership, visa liberalization for the EaP states, prospects of democratic transition in North Africa and the role of digital media in defeating the authoritarian regimes and supporting political reform movement.
It will be an outstanding meeting point for representatives of most  influential foreign-policy think tanks and a chance to exchange views on the future of Europe and its neighbours. It will be the first overview of the results of the Polish Presidency.

Honorary Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland Bronisław Komorowski

Speakers at the conference include: 

• Andrzej Cieszkowski, Plenipotentiary for the Eastern Partnership, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poland
• Borys Tarasyuk, Member of Ukrainian Parliament, Our Ukraine - People Self Defence Block, Ukraine
• Nadya Dimitrova, Migration and visa policy expert, European Institute, Bulgaria
• Olga Stuzhinskaya, Director, Office for a Democratic Belarus, Belgium
• Basem Fathy, Programme Director, Egyptian Democratic Academy, Egypt
• Rodger Potocki, Director, Europe and Eurasia, National Endowment for Democracy (NED), USA
• Mozn Hassan, Executive Director, NAZRA Center for Feminist Studies, Egypt
• Mohsen Marzouk, Secretary-General, Arab Foundation for Democracy, Tunisia
• Krzysztof Stanowski, Undersecretary of State for Development and Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poland   

Programme of the Conference

• Welcome and introduction

• Keynote speeches

• Presentation of PASOS Think - Tank Awards 2011

• Mornin Plenary: Eastern Partnership and Enlargement during the Hungarian and Polish Presidencies

• Panel 1: Visa liberalisation in the Western Balkans and EaP countries - similarities and lessons to be learnt

• Panel 2: New Media: Catalyst for Democra or a Tool of Dictators?

• Closing Plenary: European Neighbourhood Policy and Democratisation: Southern and Eastern dimension

For more informations please contact Łukasz Wenerski: e-mail: lukasz.wenerski@isp.org.pl, tel.: 22 556 42 68

 
PASOS, launched in 2005, is a growing network that now comprises 50 independent think-tanks spanning more than 27 countries in Europe and Central Asia, and the conference audience will include a strong group of policy analysts with expertise from the PASOS region. The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) in Warsaw is a founding member of PASOS. This year, IPA has teamed up with leading Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza to produce Prezydencja2011.pl, an online portal dedicated to the 2011 Polish EU-Council presidency.
 

Support for the conference is provided by the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI) of Open Society Foundations, Think Tank Fund of Open Society Foundations, the Robert Bosch Foundation, the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Warsaw, the US National Endowment for Democracy, Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. and the European Union: Support for organisations active at European level in the field of active European citizenship.

The policy briefs presented on the conference  are undertaken by PASOS, the Institute of Public Affairs, and also the Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association and the Center for Policy Studies at Central European University, Budapest. The policy briefs are made possible with the financial support of the International Visegrad Fund.