Brussels Forum is an annual high-level meeting of the most influential North American and European political, corporate, and intellectual leaders to address pressing challenges currently facing both sides of the Atlantic. Participants include heads of state, senior officials from the European Union institutions and the member states, U.S. Cabinet officials, Congressional representatives, Parliamentarians, academics, and media.

With new leadership in the United States and an upcoming change in the European Commission, leaders on both sides of the Atlantic continue to deepen transatlantic cooperation on a vast array of distinctly new and global challenges from the international financial crisis to climate change and energy security to the retention of high-skilled workers, yet there is no single transatlantic forum focused on this broad and increasingly complex global agenda. Brussels Forum provides a venue for the transatlantic community to address these pressing issues. By bringing together leading politicians, thinkers, journalists, and business representatives, Brussels Forum helps shape a new transatlantic agenda that can adapt to changing global realities and new threats.

The Agenda and Format

The Brussels Forum agenda reflects the growing diversity of issues at the core of the transatlantic relationship, as well as the increasing geographic reach of transatlantic cooperation. It includes discussion sessions on broad themes, such as the global financial crisis, Russia, Afghanistan, and NATO at 60. Breakout sessions held under the Chatham House Rule explore challenges like Asia, the Middle East, and climate change. Keynote addresses by senior officials punctuate a gathering heavily tilted toward intimate exchange of dialogue among panelists and participants.

The Partners

The German Marshall Fund of the United States is delighted to be joined in this important initiative by the Federal Authorities of Belgium and the Egmont Institute, the Government of the Czech Republic, and Daimler. We are also grateful to the Ministry of Defence Republic of Latvia, the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the Tipping Point Foundation, and Fortis Bank for their sponsorship. Finally, we would like to recognize the support of the European Commission, the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, the Centre for European Studies, and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.