KYIV. Sept 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will officially open the 12th Annual Meeting of the Yalta European Strategy Forum (YES) in Kyiv on September 11.
The 12th Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting entitled “At Risk: How the New Ukraine’s Fate Affects Europe and the World”, organized by YES, in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, will take place in Kyiv on September 10-12, 2015.
Poroshenko will speak about Ukraine’s position on current global issues and present his vision on how to overcome current the challenges and threats faced by the country, the YES press service reported on Monday.
According to the agenda of the forum, Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatseniuk will open the second day of the YES Annual Meeting on September 12, and will lay out his vision for reforms, addressing both the successes and failures of the reforms his government has made.
The 12th YES Forum will concentrate on determining how Ukraine can become a force for global stability and European values in today’s volatile global system, building on the revolution of dignity, and addressing the challenges that arose from the annexation of Crimea, the conflict in Donbas, and the urgent need to reform the country’s financial, economic, legal and security sectors.
On the first day, participants will discuss how to restore security in Europe and achieve peace in Ukraine; threats to the global economy and the role of Ukraine in this context, and which strategies can provide energy security for the world and Ukraine. New global cooperation and alliances, including the relations between Europe, the West, and Russia will be discussed.
The second day of the Forum will focus on assessing Ukraine’s successes and failures in implementing reforms and on the economic, financial, legal and security sectors of the country. The participants will also discuss challenges including decentralization, constitutional changes and the upcoming local elections.
This year, the 12th YES Annual Meeting will bring together more than 350 global leaders representing politics, business, society and media from more than 20 countries to discuss the new Ukraine’s impact on Europe and the world. One hundred Ukrainian student leaders, including those who have received scholarships from the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, will also have a chance to meet YES speakers and participants.
Some of the speakers who will attend the forum include: Jean Asselborn, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission (2004-2014); Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2006-2014); Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, European Commission; Leonid Kuchma, President of Ukraine (1994–2005); Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of Poland (1995-2005) and Chairman of the Board of YES; Gen. Stanley McChrystal, (U.S. Army, Retired), Commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) (2009-2010); Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) (2009-2010); Ivan Miklos, Minister of Finance of Slovakia (2002-2006, 2010-2012); Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State; Carlos Pascual, Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs, U.S. Department of State (2011-2014); Gen. David A. Petraeus, (U.S. Army, Retired), and Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2011-2012); Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General of NATO (2009-2014); Prime Minister of Denmark (2001-2009); Wolfgang Schüssel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Austria (2000-2007); Radoslaw Sikorski, Member of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland; Speaker, Sejm of the Republic of Poland (2014-2015); Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland (2007-2014); Javier Solana, EU High Representative for CFSR (1999-2009), and member of the Board of YES; Strobe Talbott, President, Brookings Institution, and Chair, Foreign Affairs Policy Board, U.S. Department of State; Vaira Viķe-Freiberga, President of Latvia (1999-2007); and Lamberto Zannier, Secretary General, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
For the second time, the YES Annual Meeting is taking place in the Ukrainian capital. From 2004 to 2013, the forum was held at its traditional venue, the Livadia Palace in Yalta in Crimea, which has since been occupied by Russia.
For more than a decade, YES has worked to connect Ukraine with the wider world and find the ways to secure a peaceful and cooperative Europe. The annual forum convenes global leaders, government officials, business executives, social innovators and Ukrainian student leaders to identify, address and find solutions that may help overcome the obstacles preventing Ukraine from becoming a more modern, open and prosperous country.
