The Balkan Trust for Democracy was a partner of the second Belgrade Security Forum: “Coping With the Crisis: Challenges to Democracy and Security,” held September 20-22, 2012.

This year’s Forum brought leading strategic thinkers and policy-makers together to discuss new and longstanding security issues including human security; new energy partnerships; the crisis of economy and democracy in Europe; the new role of China; frozen conflicts; models of regional cooperation on foreign and security policy; cyber war and cyber crime as governance challenges; migration; and women’s approaches to crisis response. Recurring discussions focused on the prospects for regional cooperation, economic crisis management, and European integration in the Balkans.

The Forum was opened by Serbian Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dačić‚ who reiterated Serbia’s commitment to promoting peace, stability, and reconciliation in the region. In her closing remarks, Sonja Licht, Director of the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, noted, “There is no security without partnership,” continuing that in a context of a potential ‘Balkanization’ of Europe, efforts should continue for the existing Union and its neighbors to continue on the path of integration. Ivan Vejvoda, GMF Vice President, Programs, moderated the panel, “Consequences of the Crisis for Human Security at Home and Abroad,” which addressed widespread popular frustration with a perceived lack of domestic political accountability in Europe’s south, the rise of populism, and the slowness of the international community to respond to the crisis in Syria.

Speakers included: Miroslav Lajčak‚ Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs (Slovakia) Aleksandar Vučić‚ First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense (Serbia); Jiří Schneider‚ First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and State Secretary for European Affairs (Czech Republic); Ana Trišić-Babić‚ Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Avgustina Tzvetkova‚ Deputy Minister‚ Ministry of Defense (Bulgaria); Ambassador Ismat Jahan, Expert, UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (Bangladesh); Ambassador Theodor H. Winkler‚ Director‚ DCAF; Sinan Ulgen‚ Chairman, Ekonomi ve Dış politika Araştırma Merkezi EDAM; Bruce Jackson‚ President, Project on Transitional Democracies; Suzana Grubješić‚ Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration‚ Republic of Serbia; Oliver Ivanović‚ Former State Secretary, Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija {Serbia); Osnat Lubrani‚ Resident Representative‚ UNDP Kosovo; Kerry Brown‚ Head of Asia Programme‚ Chatham House; Markus Jaeger‚ Head of Legislative Support and National Human Rights Structures Division, DG of Human Rights and Legal Affairs‚ Council of Europe; Radwan Ziadeh‚ Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies; Mary Kaldor‚ Professor, London School of Economics and Political Sciences; and Alaa Murabit‚ Founder and President, The Voice of Libyan Women.

Jointly organized by the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, and the European Movement in Serbia, in partnership with UNWomen, the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the Slovak Atlantic Commission, and UNDP SEESAC, the Belgrade Security Forum is designed as a regional hub for policy dialogue contributing to the development of the security community in the Western Balkans and to ongoing European and global security and foreign policy debates. For more information, check out the website: www.belgradeforum.org