Forums and Conferences

The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program organize periodic forums in their respective locations as well as occasional joint conferences. In Washington, the CACI Forum has developed into the country's premier locus for rigorous discussion of issues pertaining to Central Asia and the Caucasus. In Stockholm, the Silk Road Forum fosters discussions on the region in a similar manner. Please find below current and past forums, most of which have event summaries and audi links.

Upcoming Forums

March 5
CACI Forum "Kazakhstan's Emerging Middle Class", with John C.K. Daly.

Forums and Conferences in Past Chronological Order:

2008

February 13
CACI Forum "Gwadar Sea Port, A New Transportation Hub for Central Asia", with H.E. Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan's Ambassador to the U.S. Audio of event online.

February 7
CACI Forum "White Collar Islamists" with Martha Brill Olcott, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Audio of event and summary now online.

CACI Forum "Pakistan's and Central Asia: Post-Bhutto Implications", with Senator Dr. Javaid Laghari, Pakistan. Audio of event now online.

January 22
CACI Forum "Directions in Language Policy and Practice in Central Asia and South Caucasus", with William Fierman and Dan E. Davidson. Forum summary and audio now online

January 8
CACI Forum "CAREC: A Coming Force in Regional Affairs?" with Johannes Linn, Brookings Institution Wolfensohn Center. Forum summary and audio now online.

2007

December 12
CACI Forum "Kyrgyzstan's South: Zone of Problem or Potential?", with Anthony Bowyer, Eric McGlinchey, and Scott Radnitz. Listen to audio of event here.

December 10
Conference The Azerbaijan-Turkey-US Relationship and Its Importance for Eurasia, Washington DC.

December 6
CACI Forum"Georgia’s Crisis: what’s behind it and where to go from here?", with Vladimir Socor and Svante Cornell. Listen to Audio of event here.

November 19
CACI Forum "Does Turkey Have a Future in Central Asia and the Caucasus?" with Zeyno Baran and Svante Cornell. Summary now online.

November 14
Conference ” The Baltic States Joining Schengen: Opportunities and Challenges” in cooperation with the Swedish National Drug Policy Coordinator, Stockholm.

November 12
Silk Road Forum on "Regionalism and Regional Cooperation in Central Asia", with Roy Allison, Stockholm.

October 31
CACI Forum "Armenian Resolutions: Symbols or Substance? Implications for the Caucasus Neighborhood and for European and American Relations There", Washington. Summary now online.

October 19
Roundtable on "Russia in 2008: Domestic and International Challenges", in cooperation with the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Sftockholm.

October 17
CACI Forum on "A Decade of Peace in Tajikistan: Who Should Get the Credit?", with Vladimir Sotirov. Summary of the event is online.

October 9
CACI Forum on "Enhancing Investment & Competitiveness in Central Asia and Caucasus", with Dr. Rainer Geiger and Torek Farhadi. Summary of the event is online.

October 8
Workshop on "Europe's energy security: Gazprom's dominance and the role of the Caspian region", with Pavel Baev, Robert Larsson, Vladimir Socor, Elin Suleymanov, and Mamuka Tsereteli.

October 3
CACI Forum on "State of the Uzbek Economy Today", with Prof. Martin Spechler, Indiana University. Summary of event is online.

September 26
CACI Forum on "Central Asian Women: Full Participants Yet?" with six experts on and from the region. Summary of event is online

September 22
Workshop on "Japan's Silk Road Diplomacy: Paving The Road Ahead", Tokyo.

September 12
CACI Forum on "A New Kazakhstan" with H.E. Erlan Idrissov, Kazakhstan's Ambassador to the United States. Event summary now online.

July 18
CACI Forum on "The New Silk Roads: Transport and Trade in Greater Central Asia", 5-7 PM, featuring representatives of Central Asian Trade Ministries and co-authors of recently released book with same title.

22 February 2007
Turkey Forum "The Role of Religion in Turkish Politics", with Prof. Dogu Ergil, organized jointly with Swedish Defense College, Stockholm.

14 February 2007
CACI Forum "New ideas Versus Old Thinking on the Conflicts in Georgia", with Vladimir Socor, Jamestown Foundation. [Click for audio]

8 February 2007
CACI Forum on "Europe and Central Asia", with Pierre Morel, EU Special Representative for Central Asia". (off the record)

8 February 2007
Turkey Forum on "New Trends in Turkish Foreign Policy", with Prof. Mensur Akgun, Director of TESEV's foreign policy program, organized jointly with Swedish Defense College, Stockholm.

6 February 2007
CACI Forum on "Central Asian Economic Integration: An American Perspective", with Evan Feigenbaum, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia. [Click for audio] [Click for PDF version of policy speech]

1 February 2007
CACI Forum on "Kyrgyzstan's New Constitution: A Way Out of the Political Crisis?", with Marat Sultanov, Speaker of Kyrgyzstan's Parliament.[Click for audio]

31 January 2007
CACI Forum "An Afghan Civil Society Movement - Sacrificers for Peace", with Hamed Wardak, the movement's Founder.

22 - 25 January 2007
Workshop on ”Negotiation, Conflict Management and Coalition Building” in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

2006

13 December 2006
CACI Forum H.E. Mr. Zurab Noghaideli, Prime Minister of Georgia, spoke on "Three Years After the Rose Revolution: Democratic Reform and Regional Challenges", Washington DC, 5.00-7.00 PM.

13 December 2006
CACI Forum "The Emerging Political Life in Azerbaijan", with Asim Mollazade, Chairman, Democratic Reforms Party of Azerbaijan.

6 December 2006
CACI Forum "The Program for the North Caucasus of Dmitri Kozak, Putin's Special Representative There", with John B. Dunlop, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution.

5 December 2006
Silk Road Forum on “The Energy Security and Geopolitics in Central Eurasia: A Chinese Perspective” with Associate Prof. Guo Xuetang of the Department of Political Science and Deputy Director of Institute of International Politics at Tongji University in Shanghai, China.

27 November 2006
Silk Road Forum on “China's Changing Policy on UN Peacekeeping Operations”, with Associate Prof. He Yin of China Peacekeeping CIVPOL Training Center, Armed Police Forces Academy, China.

7 November 2006
Silk Road Forum on “Current trends of contemporary Chinese Studies in Japan” with Professor Kokubun, Director of the Institute of East Asian Studies, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. The seminar was held back to back with Dr. Michael Schoenhals, Centre for Languages and Literature, Chinese, Lund University who talked on the Cultural Revolution and his latest book Mao’s Last Revolution.

7 November 2006
Silk Road Forum on “The Politics of History in Sino-Japanese Relations”, with Prof. Kokubun, Director of the Institute of East Asian Studies, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.

2 November 2006
Silk Road Forum on "China's defense policy and PLA modernization", with Ms. Liu Lin, Academy of Military Science, Beijing, China.

25 October 2006
CACI Forum on "Diplomacy and War in Karabakh: an Unofficial American Perspective", with E. Wayne Merry, American Foreign Policy Council.

20 October 2006
CACI Forum on "Russia-Georgia Relations: Latest Developments", with Mr. Giga Bokeria, Parliament of Georgia, and H.E. Vasil Sikharulidze, Georgian Ambassador to the U.S.

28 September 2006
Silk Road Forum on “Managing the North Korea nuclear problem” with Mark Fitzpatrick, IISS.

27 September 2006
CACI Forum on "Tajikistan in 2006: An Ambassadorial Perspective", with Ambassador Richard Hoagland, former U.S. Ambassador to Tajikistan.

20 September 2006
CACI Forum on "Caspian Energy: over-hyped and under-risked?", with Dr. Maureen Crandall, in cooperation with SAIS' International Energy and Environment Program.

11 September 2006
Silk Road Forum on “Central Asia and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization” with Dr. Pan Guang.

6 July 2006
W.P. Carey Forum Address by Hon. Kassymzhomart Tokayev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Washington DC.

29 June 2006
Conference on Minorities and the Georgian State, in cooperation with Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, Tbilisi, Georgia. Click for program

28 June 2006
W.P. Carey Forum Farewell address by H.E. Hafiz Pashayev, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the United States, 1992-2006.

18-19 May 2006
Workshop on ethnic relations and conflict management in Georgia, in Uppsala.

11 May 2006
Silk Road Forum on "Is Putin's the new De Gaulle? The Chechen and Algerian Wars", with Matthew Evangelista, Uppsala.

May 5, 2006
Conference on "Turkey in Europe: Changes and Challenges", in Stockholm, Sweden.

2005

June 1-2, 2005, Conference on Countering Narcotics and Organized Crime in the Baltic Sea Region, Stockholm, Sweden

May 24, 2005, W. P. Carey Forum: "The U.S.-Afghan Partnership", with H.E. President Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan. Listen to President Karzai's Speech

May 19-20, 2005, Conference on New Security Threats in Eurasia: Implications for the Euro-Atlantic Space, Stockholm, Sweden

May 11, 2005, W. P. Carey Forum: "The Rise of the Turkic World", with Hugh Pope, Istanbul Bureau Chief, Wall Street Journal

May 4, 2005, W. P. Carey Forum: "Kyrgyzstan's Path Toward Democracy", with Ambassador Stephen Young, U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan

April 20, 2005, W. P. Carey Forum: A "Greater Central Asia Partnership" for Afghanistan and Its Neighbors", with S. Frederick Starr, the Center's Chairman

April 14, 2005, W. P. Carey Forum co-sponsored with Georgia Forum: " Georgia's National Security Reform and the Road to NATO and the EU: The 2005 Report of the International Security Advisory Board ", with Ambassador David Smith , Chairman, Georgia Forum and U.S. representative to the International Security Advisory Board for Georgia; Ambassador Jüri Luik, Estonian Ambassador to the United States and former Estonian representative to the International Security Advisory Board for Georgia; and Ambassador Revaz Adamia, Permanent Representative of Georgia to the United Nations

April 11, 2005, Silk Road Forum: "The North Korean Problem: the Post 9/11 Phase" with Prof. Daojiong Zha, Renmin Univeristy, Beijing.

April 8-9, Workshop on Conflict Management and Conflict Prevention in Northeast Asia, Uppsala, Sweden

April 7, 2005 Silk Road Forum: "China's Energy Policies in an Era of Increasing Interdependence" by Daojiong Zha, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director at the Center for International Energy Security, Renmin University, China.

April 6-7, Workshop on Narcotics and Organized Crime in the Baltic region, Riga, Latvia

March 28, W.P. Carey Forum co-sponsored with China-Eurasia Forum: "The Water Crisis in Xinjiang", with Dr. Stanley Toops, Associate Professor of Geography and International Studies, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

March 23, 2005, W.P. Carey Forum: "The Chechen Insurgency after Aslan Maskhadov", with Ilyas Akhmadov, Visiting Fellow International Forum, National Endowment for Democracy, and Timothy Thomas, Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth.

March 17, 2005, Silk Road Forum: "China's Security Strategy on its Periphery" with Dr. Hua Han, Visiting Fellow, Silk Road Studies Program, and School of International Studies, Peking University, Beijing

March 16, 2005, Silk Road Forum: "Efforts to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Finance in the Post 9/11 Era" with Dr. Trifin Roule, Research Fellow, CACI & SRSP and Senior Intelligence Analyst, Northrop Grumman Corp.

March 16, 2005, W.P. Carey Forum: "Parliamentary Elections in Kyrgyzstan", with Dr. Bakyt Abdrisaev, Ambassador of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan in Washington

March 2, 2005, W.P. Carey Forum: "Coexistence with Religious Parties and the Tajik Parliamentary Elections", with Dr. Pulat Shozimov, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Tajik Academy of Sciences

February 23, 2005, Silk Road Forum: The Silk Road Studies Program and the Swedish Defence College held a joint lecture on "China's Peaceful Rise - understanding the debate" with Dr. Hua Han, Peking University.

February 15, 2005, W.P. Carey Forum, "Post-Soviet Fatal Accidents, Assassinations, and the Death of Zurab Zhvania", with Charles H. Fairbanks, Jr, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, Peter Reddaway, George Washington University Emeritus, and Emil Sanamyan, Armenian Assembly of America

January 26, 2005, W.P. Carey Forum, "Kyrgyz Parliamentary Elections: Beginning of Post-Akaev Politics?", with Anisa Borubaeva and Anara Tabyshalieva, Visiting Fellows, CACI

January 26, 2005, Silk Road Forum co-sponsored with the Swedish Institute of International Affairs,: "Azerbaijan and Europe: An Evolving Partnership" with Ali Kerimli, Chairman, Popular Front of Azerbaijan Party

January 12, 2005, W.P. Carey Forum: "After Ukraine and Georgia: More Velvet Revolutions?", with Thomas Carothers, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Stephen Nix, International Republican Institute

August 24, 2004, Silk Road Forum: "China’s Foreign Policy Choices and Security Strategies in East Asia" by Prof. QIN Yaqing, Vice President and Professor of International Studies, China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing, China.

March 19, 2004, Silk Road Forum: “Creating New Horizons: Chinas Foreign Policy in the Early 21st Century" with Dr. Zhang Tiejun, Department of American Studies,
Shanghai Institute of International Studies.

February 4, 2004, Silk Road Forum: "It's not about the "Heartland": Approaching Geopolitics through the Study of Geo-Gravitational Centers and Pillars of World Politics" by Visiting Senior Research Fellow Dr. Su Hao.