Details

08:30Registration of the participants

09:00Opening remarks by

Ms Sabina Woelkner, Program Director, Multinational Development Policy Dialogue, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Brussels

Dr Fraser Cameron, Director, EU-Asia Centre, Brussels

09:30Discussion

10:00Panel 1: Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova: Springboard for Russian and Chinese influence at the EU’s backdoor?

Mr Dirk Schuebel, Head of Division, Russia, European External Action Service, Brussels

Prof Joseph Cheng, Retired Professor of Political Science, City University of Hong Kong

Dr Sergej Utkin, Head of Strategic Assessment Section, Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

Dr Siarhei Bohdan, Associate Analyst, Ostrogorski Centre, Minsk

Dr Anaïs Marin, Assistant Professor and Marie Curie Fellow, Collegium Civitas, Warsaw

Moderation: Mr Stephan Malerius, Deputy Head Finance and Project Management, former KAS Director Belarus, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Berlin

11:30Coffee break

12:00Panel 2: The Caucasus: Can China make inroads in Russia’s backyard? Georgia as new East-West hub?

Ms Irina Guruli, Deputy Director, Economic Policy Research Center, Tbilisi

Ms Tinatin Tsertsvadze, International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), Brussels

Dr Alexandra Yatsik, Visiting researcher, Polish Institute of Advanced Studies, Warsaw

Ms Amanda Paul, Senior Policy Analyst, European Policy Center, Brussels

Moderation: Ms Sabina Woelkner, Program Director, Multinational Development Policy Dialogue, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Brussels

13:30Lunch break

14:30Panel 3: The Western Balkan: Trojan horses in the EU?

Mr Clive Rumbold (tbc), Deputy Head, Division: Western Balkans, European External Action Service, Brussels

Mr Momčilo Radulović, President, European Movement in Montenegro

Dr Fotini Bellou, Assistant Professor for International Relations, Department of International and European Studies, University of Macedonia

Dr Igor Rogelja, Max Weber Fellow, European University Institute, Florence

Mr Matej Šimalčík, Research Fellow, Institute for Asian Studies, Bratislava

Moderation: Dr Fraser Cameron, Director, EU-Asia Centre

16:00Conclusions by Dr Fraser Cameron

16:30End of conference