The Balkans Silk Road - New Perspectives for the Western Balkans as China and the European Union Connect in South Eastern Europe
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A seminar of the Reflection Forum "The Western Balkans in the European Union" - Participation upon invitation only
Programme
8h30 Registration, Coffee and Kipferl
9h00 Opening
• Alexander KMENTT, Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the Political and Security Committee, Permanent Representation of Austria to the European Union, Brussels
• Dominique DAVID, President, Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe and advisor to the President of the French Institute of International Relations (ifri), Paris
9h10 Setting the scene – South Eastern Europe, China and the EU
• Jens BASTIAN, Independent Financial Sector Analyst & Economic Consultant, Athens
• Gudrun WACKER, Senior Fellow, Research Division Asia, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Berlin
• Nicolas CENDROWICZ, Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), Deputy Head of Balkans Regional Cooperation, European Commission, Brussels
Moderation: Dominique DAVID, President, Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe and advisor to the President of the French Institute of International Relations (ifri), Paris
10h10 Coffee and networking break
10h30 Views from South-Eastern Europe: China’s engagement in the region
• Dragana MITROVIĆ, Professor of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade, Executive Director of the Centre of Asian and Far Eastern Studies, Belgrade
• Ardian HACKAJ, ShtetiWeb Director, Cooperation & Development Institute (CDI), Tirana
• Zoran NECHEV, European Union Insitute for Security Studies (EUISS), Paris and Center for EU Integration at the Institute for Democracy ‘Societas Civilis’, Skopje
Moderation: Tobias FLESSENKEMPER, Senior Fellow and Project Balkans project Director, Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE), Nice
11h30 Coffee and networking break
11h45 EU’s connectivity agenda and the Berlin process: the impact of China’s engagement in South-Eastern Europe
• MEN Jing, Professor of European Union-China Relations; Director of the EU-China Research Centre, College of Europe, Bruges
• George TZOGOPOULOS, Senior Research Fellow, Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE); Researcher, Begin-Sadar Center for Strategic Studies (BESA) and Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Athens and Nice
• Agatha KRATZ, Associate Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations, London
Moderation: Dušan RELJIĆ, Head of Brussels Office, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Brussels
12h45 Conclusion of the seminar
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