CUSUR Logo

Program – UBI Symposium VI/UEAF Forum V

UBI Symposium VI/UEAF Forum V:
Ukraine and the EU on the Brink of a New Association Agreement:
Free Trade, Energy Security and Democracy

January 25-26, 2012
Kyiv, Ukraine

Programme

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

19:00 Opening

High Level Expert Opening Session, at the same time Session of the Club of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

Moderator:

  • Nico Lange, Head of the Kyiv Office of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Ukraine

Panelists:

  • Pavlo Klimkin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
  • F. Stephen Larrabee, RAND, Distinguished Chair in European Security, Washington
  • Friedbert Pflüger, Executive Director, European Centre for Energy and Resource Security, King‚Äôs College London
  • Petro Poroshenko, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

Suggested Topics:

  • What are the strategic implications of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement for the European Union and for Ukraine?
  • How do domestic developments in Ukraine influence the integration into the EU?
  • How should the EU approach the question of Energy security with regards to Ukraine?
  • What do Association and DCFTA of Ukraine mean for Russia-Ukraine and EU-Russia relations?
  • What is the strategic outlook for developments in the European Union and the Eastern Neighborhood for 2012?

20:30 Reception

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

09:00 Registration and Coffee

09:30 Opening

Chair:

  • Nico Lange, Head of the Kyiv Office of Konrad-Adenauer- Stiftung in Ukraine

Key Note Speech:

  • José Manuel Pinto Teixeira, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine

10:00-11:30 Panel 1: EU-Ukraine Relations

Moderator:

  • Inna Pidluska, Deputy Executive Director of the International Renaissance Foundation

Panelists:

  • Michael Borg-Hansen, Ambassador of the Royal Danish Embassy to Ukraine
  • Yevgen Perelygin, Head of Department of European Integration of the Administration of the President of Ukraine
  • Borys Tarasyuk, Chair of the Committee for European Integration, Ukrainian Parliament
  • Kataryna Wolczuk, Deputy Director of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham

Suggested Topics:

  • What is the state of affairs between the EU and Ukraine after the summit in December 2011 and the delay of the Association Agreement?
  • How can the process of initialing, signing and ratification be continued?
  • How can the EU influence the development of rule of law and democracy within Ukraine?
  • What will be the influence by the parliamentary elections and Euro 2012?
  • How can civil society participate and have influence on the process?

11:30-12:00 Coffee Break

12:00-13:30 Panel 2: EU-Ukraine Association Agreement: Prospects of Implementation

Moderator:

  • Janusz Bugajski, Director of the New European Democracies Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, USA

Panelists:

  • Vsevolod Chentsov, Director of the Department for the European Union, Foreign Ministry of Ukraine
  • Hannes Schreiber, Head of Political Section, Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine
  • Igor Popov, First Deputy Head of the Agency for Civil Service, Ukraine
  • Oleksandr Sushko, Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, Ukraine
  • Viktoria Humenyuk, Civil Expert Council at the Ukrainian Part of the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Committee

Suggested Topics:

  • What are the legally binding commitments for Ukraine within the new agreement?
  • What kind of legislation needs to be passed and are there stable majorities in favor?
  • Is the Ukrainian administration ready to implement the commitments?
  • What timeframes and roadmaps for implementation of the agreement’s chapters are desirable and realistic?
  • Who are the major stakeholders from economy, society and administration and how will the influence the implementation process?
  • How can the implementation of the agreement be monitored and measured?

13:30-15:00 Lunch

15:00-16:30 Panel 3: Energy Community, Energy Dialogue and Energy Security

Moderator:

  • Mykhailo Honchar, Centre ‚”NOMOS” Slavtcho Neykov, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat, Vienna

Panelists:

  • Oleksandr Chalyi, President of Grant Thornton Ukraine
  • Oleksiy Leshchenko, Vice-President, Gorshenin Institute
  • Jonas Grätz, researcher at the Center for Security Studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

Suggested Topics:

  • What are the main factors of EU-Ukraine Energy cooperation within the new agreement and inside of the European Energy Community?
  • Should the EU be part of a consortium concerning the Ukrainian Gas Transit System?
  • What are the perspectives for Russia-Ukraine relations in the gas sector and what kind of impact do they have on EU-Ukraine relations?
  • How can Ukraine improve European Energy Security?

16:30-17:00 Coffee Break

17:00-18:30 Panel 4: Economic Development, Business Relations and Business Environment

Moderator:

  • Neil Buckley, Eastern Europe Editor, Financial Times

Panelists:

  • Valeryj Piatnytskyj, Government Commissioner for European Integration, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine
  • Marius Vismantas, Regional Coordinator for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, Financial and Private Sector Development, World Bank
  • Ihor Burakovsky, Director of the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting, Kyiv

Suggested Topics:

  • What are the economic gains and losses for Ukraine and the EU over short-, mid- and long term perspective through the DCFTA?
  • What major changes for Ukrainian business will the DCFTA bring?
  • Is Ukrainian business ready to be competitive within the DCFTA?
  • What are the expectations of foreign investors? Which priorities for implementation of the DCFTA should be set from the perspective of Ukrainian economy?

18:30-19:00 Conference Closing

19:00 Reception