09:00-09:45    Registration and Welcome Coffee

09:45 – 10:30  Welcoming Remarks

Ekaterine Metreveli, President, Rondeli Foundation

Marcel Röthig, Director, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) South Caucasus

Kenneth Wollack, Chairman, National Endowment for Democracy (NED)

Opening Remarks

H.E. Robin L. Dunnigan, Ambassador of the United States to Georgia

10:30 -11:30   SESSION 1. DEMOCRACY VS AUTOCRACY: WHO IS WINNING THE GLOBAL CONTEST?

What are the enduring challenges to supporting democracy across the globe? Which countries and regions are democratizing and which are autocratizing? What can the U.S. and its democratic allies do to better support fragile democracies and confront authoritarian states trying to destroy the rules-based international order through military interventions, election interference, disinformation, and propaganda?

Moderator: Christian Caryl, Independent Foreign Policy Commentator

Speakers: 

  • Kenneth Wollack, Chairman, National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
  • The Rt Hon. Kim Campbell, 19th Prime Minister of Canada
  • Ana Palacio, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, Visiting Professor, Georgetown University
  • Max Bergmann, Director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

11:30 – 11:45 Coffee Break

11:45-13:00 SESSION 2. RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE RULES-BASED INTERNATIONAL ORDER: HOW TO ROLL BACK RUSSIAN AGGRESSION?

Where does Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine stand two years later? What conclusions should be drawn from the outcome of the Ukrainian counteroffensive? What is needed to make Ukraine’s victory over Russia possible? Are the U.S., NATO, and the EU doing enough to contain Russia’s imperial ambitions?

Moderator: Rikard Jozwiak, Europe Editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Speakers:

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 15:00 SESSION 3. GEORGIA ON MY MIND

What does the Georgian political landscape look like before the 2024 parliamentary elections? After being granted the EU candidate status with conditions, what are the main challenges to Georgia’s EU (and NATO) integration? What is Georgia’s role in the EU’s neighborhood as well as Georgia’s prospects of Euro-Atlantic integration?

Moderator: Regis Gente, Journalist, Expert on the Post-Soviet Region, ECFR

Speakers:

15:00 – 16:15 SESSION 4. REPUTATIONAL SECURITY IN AN ERA OF GEOPOLITICAL RIVALRY: WHY IS A GOOD GLOBAL REPUTATION ESSENTIAL TO THE DEFENSE OF NATIONAL INTERESTS?

What are the challenges to the projection of national power and legitimacy in an era of intensifying great power competition? What can nations do to build or reclaim credibility in the global information space?  What can nations do to mitigate adversarial attempts to undermine national reputations and alliances?

Moderator: Vivian Walker, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University

Speakers: 

  • Nicholas Cull, Professor of Public Diplomacy and Founding Director of the Master’s Program in Public Diplomacy at USC, CPD Faculty Fellow (Online)
  • Volodymir Sheiko, General Director, The Ukrainian Institute
  • Olena Snigyr, Jean Monnet Fellow, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, and Senior Fellow, Eurasia Program, Foreign Policy Research Institute
  • Maia Mikashavidze, Professor of Media and Communication, Georgian Institute of Public Affairs, Project Director, Internews
  • James Pamment, Associate Professor of Strategic Communication, Director of the Lund University Psychological Defense Research Institute

16:15 – 16:30 Coffee Break

16:30 – 17:45 SESSION 5. THE MIDDLE EAST: WHAT ARE THE REGIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR?

What are the implications of Hamas’ attack on Israel and the Israel-Hamas War for Israel’s national security and foreign policy? Has the U.S. support for Israel and its diplomatic and military efforts in the region prevented a wider war? What is Iran’s endgame? How have U.S.-Turkey relations been affected? What is Russia’s policy toward the Middle East? Are the Israel-Hamas war and the Russia-Ukraine war interconnected and if yes, how?

Moderator: Ashley Velie, Producer, 60 Minutes, CBS News

Speakers:

  • Meliha Altunışık, Department of International Relations, Middle East Technical University
  • Eitan Shamir, Director, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA Center)
  • Kayhan Barzegar, Director of the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies (CMESS)
  • Mohammad Ajlouni, President of the Board of Trustees, Middle East Media and Policy Studies Institute (MEMPSI)
  • Anna Borshchevskaya, Senior Fellow, The Washington Institute, Contributor to Oxford Analytica
  • John Roberts, Energy Security Specialist, Methinks

21:00 – NIGHT OWL SESSION. U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2024: HOW WILL ITS RESULTS AFFECT THE UNITED STATES AND THE WORLD?

What domestic and foreign policy issues will dominate campaign agendas in the next U.S. presidential election and most likely decide its outcome? How can the U.S. policy toward its NATO and other allies, Russia, China, Europe, Ukraine, Israel, Iran as well as other countries and regions be modified or upended in the aftermath of the election?

Moderator: Ashley Velie, Producer, 60 Minutes, CBS News

Speakers:

  • Jessica Berlin, Independent Political Analyst, Transatlantic Defense and Security Fellow, CEPA
  • Max Bergmann, Director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
  • Christian Caryl, Independent Foreign Policy Commentator

9:30 – 10:00 Keynote Address

Small States and Big Impact: Iceland on the International Scene.

H.E. Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, President of Iceland

10:00 – 11:15 SESSION 6. GLOBAL GREAT POWER COMPETITION: TOWARD A US-CHINA COLD WAR?

What can the U.S. do to stop China’s global hegemonic ambition and growing influence in the Indo-Pacific? With wars going on in Europe and the Middle East, is another war in Asia over Taiwan imminent? What is Japan’s role in the changing regional security architecture?

Moderator:  Giorgi Badridze, Senior Fellow, Rondeli Foundation

Speakers:

  • The Rt Hon. Kim Campbell, 19th Prime Minister of Canada
  • Hiroyuki Akita, Commentator on Foreign Affairs and International Security issues, Nikkei
  • Jiayi Zhou, Researcher, SIPRI Conflict, Peace and Security Programme
  • Klaus Larres, Richard M. Krasno Distinguished Professor of History and International Affairs, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Global Europe and Kissinger China Institute Fellow, Wilson Center
  • Nicolas Tenzer, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Center for European Policy Analysis, Guest Professor, Paris School of International Affairs.

11:15 – 11:30 Coffee Break

11:30 – 12:45 SESSION 7. RUSSIA: HOW RESILIENT IS PUTIN’S REGIME?

Has the Russian government and political elite remained strong after military failures in Ukraine, Western economic sanctions, and Prigozhin’s mutiny? Has the Russian economy found a lifeline in the Global South? What domestic and international factors are helping the survival of the Russian authoritarian regime? 

Moderator:  Alex Petriashvili, Senior Fellow, Rondeli Foundation

Speakers:

  • Jill Dougherty, Expert on Russia, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University’s Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies, Global Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and Member of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute Advisory Council
  • Arkady Moshes, Program Director of Russia, EU’s Eastern Neighborhood and Eurasia Research Program, Finnish Institute of International Affairs
  • Ian Bond, Director of Foreign Policy, Centre for European Reform

12:45– 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 15:00 SESSION 8. THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: CAN THE NEW CONNECTIVITY OPPORTUNITIES TRANSFORM THE REGION?

Are the South Caucasian countries taking advantage of the shifting global supply chains following the West’s economic detachment from Russia? Can participation in the Middle Corridor decrease the region’s economic dependence on Russia? What will Georgia gain or lose from the possible reopening of economic and transport communications between Armenia and Azerbaijan after the two countries sign a peace agreement?

Moderator: Stephanie Fenkart, Director, International Institute for Peace

Speakers:

  • Areg Kochinyan, President of the Research Center on Security Policy, Host of Boon TV’s Dilemma TV series
  • Farid Shafiyev, Chairman, Center of Analysis of International Relations (AIR Center)
  • Shota Utiashvili, Senior Fellow, Rondeli Foundation

15:00 – 16:00 SESSION 9. NOT EUROPE, NOT ATLANTIC: CENTRAL ASIA IN SEARCH OF SECURITY AND AGENCY

How is Central Asia preparing for the postwar world in which it is still Russia’s backyard (and potential target), a new chessboard for rivalries between regional powers, and the object of Chinese economic and possibly security expansion?  What is Central Asia’s role in a post-carbon world economy and what does the “middle corridor” mean without oil and gas?  Are the “C5” able to work together to manage the middle and great power games on their own terms?

Moderator:  Gavin Helf, Senior Expert on Central Asia, US Institute of Peace

Speakers:

16:00 – 16:30 COFFEE BREAK

16:30 – 17:45 SESSION 10. THE ENLARGEMENT OF NATO AND THE EU: HOW LONG WILL THE CURRENT MOMENTUM LAST?

What are the main drivers of and obstacles to the eastern expansion of NATO and the EU during and after the Russia-Ukraine war? Will geopolitical considerations be more important for the next enlargement waves than shared values? Do the existing ideological differences in American and European political elites pose a real risk to the future of Europe and transatlantic relations? Is NATO’s further enlargement (after Finland and Sweden) a risk or opportunity for the alliance?

Moderator: Reinhard Veser, Political Editor, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Speakers: