Asia-Pacific Security Challenges: Implications for Europe and Atlantic Alliance
September 7-9, 2008, Prague
On September 7 – 9, 2008, PSSI organized, along with PSSI Washington, a highly successful conference entitled “Asia-Pacific Security Challenges: Implications for Europe and the Atlantic Alliance”. The two-day gathering involved over 175 distinguished participants from 25 countries, including the Foreign Ministers of India, the Philippines and the Czech Republic. Attendees were also honored by the presence of former Czech President Vaclav Havel who led the final panel, “Regional Democracy and Human Rights: A Report Card”.
This gathering was arguably the first of its kind in the Czech Republic and the region. It was based on the premise that the security challenges confronting East and South Asia in particular, have global implications especially for Europe and the Atlantic Alliance. Most attendees concurred that gone are the days when Europe could afford to pursue a more narrow agenda toward the region centered on commercial and financial relations. Asia’s security stakes have risen steadily and, in some cases such as the Korea peninsula, alarmingly. Europe increasingly recognizes that it would be ill-advised to remain on the sidelines as these prominent and volatile security-related challenges unfold. There was also a broad consensus that globalization has enveloped the international security portfolio from energy to terrorism and multiple critical issues in between.
An overview of the conference proceedings prepared by two Charles University lecturers in the field of Asian Studies can be found here .
Keynote Speeches
Remarks
Presentations
