President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko to open the 14th Yalta European Strategy Annual Meeting plenary sessions with his speech

13 September 2017

The plenary sessions of the 14th Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting will start with a speech by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. He will speak about Ukraine’s role in a changing world. The discussion between the forum audience and the President will be moderated by Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The 14th Annual Meeting of Yalta European Strategy (YES) - “Is This a New World? And What Does It Mean for Ukraine?” – will be held on September 14-16, 2017. More than 350 leading politicians, diplomats, businessmen, civil activists and experts from 34 countries will take part in the conference organized by the international forum YES, in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

The first day of the conference will focus on key global developments and challenges, including the global economy, geopolitical constellations, security risks, populism, and energy security.

The speakers will include: Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Energy Union Maros Sefcovic, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences Paul Krugman, U.S. Secretary of State (2013-2017) John Kerry, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2010-2016) David Cameron, U.S. Secretary of State (2005-2009) Condoleezza Rice, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Suma Chakrabarti, US Secretary of Defense (2006-2011) Robert Gates, Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Levy, President and CEO at Vitol Ian Taylor, Chairman of the Board at the Institute for the Study of War Jack Keane, former Director of the US National Security Agency Keith Alexander.

Renowned artist Marina Abramovic will present her view on global developments in a special plenary session.

The discussions will be moderated by Richard Haass; President of the Council on Foreign Relations, Stephen Sackur, host of BBC HARDtalk; Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2006-2014) and member of the board of YES; Fareed Zakaria and host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS.

In the evening, several nightcap discussions organised by the forum’s partner organisations will be held simultaneously throughout Kyiv, including a meeting with young Ukrainian reformers who will discuss their achievements and future plans, a book talk by Newt Gingrich, a debate on reestablishment of justice in Crimea and in the Donbas, and a discussion on the past and the future of the US-Ukraine relations including a book presentation by Steven Pifer

The online stream of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) 14th Annual Meeting will be available on the site yes-ukraine.org as well as on the web sites of media partners in English and Ukrainian.

The official Twitter of the 14th YES Annual Meeting is @yes_ukraine, and participants and followers can include the hash tag: #YESUkraine2017

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Kersti Kaljulaid
Kersti Kaljulaid
President of the Republic of Estonia, 16th YES Annual Meeting, 2019
«The liberal democratic world is a turbulent place right now.»