Valdai Club

PROGRAMME The Middle East: From Violence to Security

February 25-26, 2016

February 23-24, Tuesday-Wednesday
Throughout the day – Arrival of participants, transfer to the hotel

20:00 – Dinner

February 25, Thursday

09:30-10:00 – Registration. Welcome coffee

10:00-10:30 – OPENING REMARKS

BYSTRITSKIY Andrey, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club

BOGDANOV Mikhail, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

10:30-11:30 – SESSION I. THE MIDDLE EAST IN A WHIRLWIND OF CHANGE
Moderator: NAUMKIN Vitaly, President, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

Panelists:
BOGDANOV Mikhail, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
FAHMY Nabil, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt (2013–2014)
OULD CHEIKH AHMED Ismail, Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary General for Yemen
SHAABAN Bouthaina, Adviser to the President of Syria
YAKIŞ Yaşar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey (2002–2003) 

11:30-12:00 – Coffee break

12:00-13:30 – SESSION II. CONFLICTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE PROSPECTS OF THEIR SETTLEMENT
Moderator: TORKUNOV Anatoly, Rector of MGIMO-University

Panelists:
BAHOUT Joseph, Visiting scholar, Middle East Program Department, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
BARGHOUTHI Mustafa, General Secretary, Palestine National Initiative
IVANOV Igor, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia (1998–2004), President of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC)
KOSACHEV Konstantin, Chairperson of the Council of the Federation Committee on Foreign Affairs
MARANDI Seyed Mohammad, Associate Professor of Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran

13:30-15:00 – Lunch

15:00-16:30 – SESSION III. TERRORISM IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND METHODS OF COMBATING IT
Moderator: ZVYAGELSKAYA Irina, Chief Research Fellow, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

Panelists:
BROM Shlomo, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)
CROOKE  Alastair, Director of Conflicts Forum, former Middle East security adviser to the EU
OULD MOHAMEDOU Mohammad-Mahmoud, Deputy Director and Academic Dean, Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and Professor, Graduate Institute, Geneva
SAUNDERS Paul, Executive Director, Center for the National Interest

16:30-17:00 – Coffee break

17:00-18:30 – SESSION IV. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Moderator: DYNKIN Alexander, Director, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences

Panelists:
AL-DARDARI Abdallah, Deputy Prime Minister of Syria (2005–2011), Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
AL HASSAN Naufel, Deputy Chief of Staff for the Prime Minister’s Office of Iraq
POPOV Vladimir, Professor in the Graduate School of International Business at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in Moscow
REDISSI Hamadi, Professor of political science at the Tunis University

18:30-19:00 – PRESENTATION OF THE VALDAI DISCUSSION CLUB RESEARCH “ISIS  AS PORTRAYED BY FOREIGN MEDIA AND MASS CULTURE”

19:00 – GALA DINNER

February 26, Friday 

09.30-10:00  –  Welcome coffee  

10.00-11:30  –  SESSION V. RUSSIA AND EURASIA: MEETING MIDDLE EAST CHALLENGES 
Moderator: BORDACHEV Timofey, Eurasia Programme Director of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club

Panelists:
KARAGANOV Sergey, Dean, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, Higher School of Economics (HSE), Honorary Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy
GATSALOV Khadjimurat, Mufti of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania
ASALIOGLU Arif, General Director of International Institute of the Development of Science Cooperation
FENG Shaolei, Director, Center for Russian Studies, East China Normal University

11:30-12:00  – Coffee break

12:00-13:30  – SESSION VI. COOPERATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR GLOBAL AND REGIONAL POWERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Moderator: AKSENYONOK Alexander, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Member of Russian International Affairs Council

Panelists:
ALTERMAN Jon, Senior Vice President, Director of the Middle East Program  at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
BARZEGAR Kayhan, Director of the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies (IMESS) in Tehran
KUMARASWAMY P.R., Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
NAUMKIN Vitaly, President, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
WU Bingbing, Senior Research Fellow of Institute for International and Strategic Studies (IISS), Peking University

13:30-15:00 – Lunch

15:00-16:30 – SESSION VII. TOWARDS A NEW REGIONAL SECURITY SYSTEM IN THE  MIDDLE EAST

Moderator: LUKYANOV Fyodor, Research Director of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club

Panelists:
BAKLANOV Andrey, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Association of Russian Diplomats
BURGAT François, Senior Research Fellow at the French National Centre for Scientific Research
KURTZER Daniel, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt (1997-2001), to Israel (2001–2005), Professor of Middle East Policy Studies at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs LEVY Daniel, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme,  European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)

16:30-17:00 – Coffee break

17:00-18:00 – PRESENTATION OF THE VALDAI DISCUSSION CLUB MIDDLE EAST COLLECTION “THREAT FROM THE EAST. HOW THE WORLD WILL RESPOND TO THE ISIS THREAT” 

Dinner