UNIS/INF/108
20 October 2005

Bratislava to Host International Security Conference

VIENNA, 20 October (UN Information Service) -- Prominent members of the international security community will meet 27-28 October in Bratislava, Slovakia, at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) flagship conference, organized by the Euro-Atlantic Center, the Slovak Atlantic Commission and NATO, with the support of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Vienna. The conference will take place under the auspices of Eduard Kukan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia.

Terrorist attacks in recent years bear witness to the fact that globalization brings not only increasing interdependence, but also increasing mutual vulnerability. Under the title "GLOBSEC -- The Role of the Transatlantic Partnership in the Global Security Environment," the global security conference seeks to respond to a changing security situation in the Euro-Atlantic area. The conference will focus on an analysis of new approaches to security and the quest for new answers to the security challenges of the 21st century, especially that of global terrorism. A particular emphasis is laid on the role of the transatlantic partnership in this process.

The conference will be attended by members of the international security community and international organizations, including State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, Magdaléna Vášáryová; NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, Martin Erdmann; Director of Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit, General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, Christoph Heusgen; Director of the French Institute for International Relations, Guillaume Parmentier; Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Vienna, Nasra Hassan; Head of the Centre for Military and Defence Studies of the Moscow Institute for International Relations, Yurij Fedorov; Director of the Aspen Institute Berlin, Jeff Gedmin; Director of the Governance Research Centre, University of Bristol, Anthony Forster; and Former Assistant Secretary for Arms Control in the US State Department, Avis Bohlen.

Four round tables will focus in detail on the following topics: Sustaining the Transatlantic Community: Still the Backbone of Global Security?; Shaping the Global Security Environment: Old Institutions for New Missions; Adapting to Asymmetry: NATO's Military Transformation; and Projecting Security: NATO Enlargement and Partnerships.

UNIS Director Nasra Hassan will speak at the round table on Shaping the Global Security Environment, where she will address the role of the United Nations in meeting the security challenges of the 21st century, with a focus on peacekeeping, conflict resolution and terrorism.

The GLOBSEC conference will take place in Bratislava on 27-28 October 2005 in the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia.

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For further information contact:

Jan Gallo
Euro-Atlantic Center (EAC)
Telephone: +421 48 415 1689
Mobile: +421 903 907 155
E-mail: gallo@eac.sk
Or visit the EAC and GLOBSEC homepages:
www.eac.sk and www.globsec.sk