The Syrian crisis, the Middle East Peace Process, the nuclear dossier and security in the digital age. As happens every year, the Munich Security Conference, now in its 50th year, will focus on the “hottest” issues on the international agenda. The Conference, which began today, 31 January 2014, will see the participation of around 90 government delegations, including 50 ministers and experts and 20 or so Heads of State and Government. Italy will be represented by Foreign Minister Emma Bonino and Defence Minister Mario Mauro.
“Syrian Catastrophe” panel will include Minister Bonino
Minister Bonino will be in Munich this evening to take part in the “Night Owl” session on “The Syrian Catastrophe”. The debate will inevitably focus on the humanitarian aspects of the crisis and the state of progress of the negotiations, the first round of which ended today in Switzerland. Also taking part are the UN and Arab League mediator, Lakhdar Brahimi; the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres; the Director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Ross; and the Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati. Tomorrow, Saturday 1 February, Emma Bonino will also be taking part in the panel on “Global Power, Regional Stability”.
US Secretary of State Kerry and Ukrainian opposition leader Klitschko among the participants
The traditionally informal atmosphere of the conference means that, as often happens, participants will to some extent “go with the flow”. This year, the event is attracting keen interest, not least in view of the high number of issues to be addressed. Indeed, as Conference Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger, former Ambassador to Washington, has underscored, attention has never been so high.
Two ministers from the Obama administration will be attending – Secretary of State John Kerry and Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel – along with the President’s Security Adviser, Susan Rice. The foreign ministers of Russia, Serghei Lavrov; Iran, Mohammed Zarif; France, Laurent Fabius; and Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, are also attending.
Other guests include the Secretaries General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, and NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. With the political crisis in Kiev high on the agenda, one of the Ukrainian opposition leaders, Vitali Klitschko, will also be present.
Munich Security Conference founded in 1963, in the depths of the Cold War
A key event to celebrate the conference’s 50th anniversary will be the session on “MSC at Fifty: The Past, Present, and Future of International Security”. Participants include former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, former French President Giscard d’Estaing, and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The Conference was opened by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Joachim Gauck.
The Munich Security Conference was founded in 1963, in the depths of the Cold War, by publisher Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist, who took part in the failed attempt on Hitler’s life in July 1944. Known at that time as the “Wehrkunde Conference”, its aim was to foster debate by American and Western European security experts and to strengthen trans-Atlantic relations.
