- Reset +

President Ilves begins working visit to Prague and Rome

09.06.2014

The President, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, will participate at the annual conference of the Aspen Institute Prague, "The Big Bang: 25 Years Since Annus Mirabilis", and at the annual think-in in Rome of the European Council on Foreign Relations, which brings together top-level politicians.

At the conference, organised by Aspen Institute Prague, President Ilves will participate in a panel that will analyse global policies post-1989 and the influence of the communist past on the position of Central Europe today. Alongside the Estonian Head of State, Polish economist and politician Danuta Hübner, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary Péter Balázs, former Minister of Finance of Slovakia Ivan Mikloš, Ukrainian journalist and political analyst Mykola Riabchuk and the President of Aspen Institute Prague, Michael Žantovský, will take part in exchange of ideas.

The Aspen Institute Prague is a Central European non-ideological platform for policy innovation and inclusive dialogue that facilitates the exchange of ideas, fosters open society and promotes value-based leadership by organising international conferences and publishing various publications.

The Head of State will also pay a visit to the office of Radio Free Europe in Prague.

From Prague, President Ilves will take a plane to Rome to participate in a panel, focusing on challenges faced by Europe, within the framework of the annual meeting of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Carl Bildt; former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Emma Bonino; the Head of the Policy Unit at the Prime Minister's Office of Great Britain, Jo Johnson; Chairman of the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee, Norbert Röttgen; and editorial director and journalist at Le Monde, Sylvie Kauffmann.

The goal of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), established by several former heads of state, is to pursue coherent and effective European values-based foreign policy to support common European interests and values. The 50 founding members of the Council include former presidents, prime ministers, European Union commissioners, members of parliament and ministers from the European Union Member States, including Martti Ahtisaari, Joschka Fischer, Bronisław Geremek, Mart Laar, Chris Patteni, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The list of founding members also includes intellectuals and cultural figures, for example, writer Timothy Garton Ash and large-scale investor and philanthropist, George Soros.

In Rome, President Ilves will meet with the former Prime Minister of Italy, Giuliano Amato, and Prof. Kalypso Nicolaïdis of Oxford University.

The Head of State will return to Estonia on 13 June.

Office of the President
Public Relations Department
Phone +372 631 6229