Event time: 10/26/2023 9:00 am - 09/26/2023 6:30 pm
Timezone: Bucharest Time
| 08:30 – 09:30 | Registration and Welcome Coffee |
| 09:30 – 09:40 | Official Opening |
| 09:40 – 10:30 | Keynote Speeches/Speakers |
| 10:30 – 12:00 | Plenary Session I: The New Middle East Security Architecture |
| This session addresses the manner in which external powers shape the future of the region, while the regional actors seek a more sustainable equilibrium, including revisiting former policies and strategies.
Subtopics: The Middle East security architecture after the Ukrainian war; the Effects of Increased Iran-Saudi cooperation on regional security, notably Persian Gulf security; the role of China in the Middle East; forging new alliances; the future of the JCPOA. |
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| 12:00 – 12:30 | Coffee Break |
| 12:30 – 14:00 | Plenary Session II: EU and MENA: the Opportunities for Economic Cooperation in the Context of the Current Social Trends |
| The panel proposes new avenues of cooperation in the current regional climate, focusing on the energy components and interest for mutual investments.
Subtopics: Corridor diplomacy; the energy, oil and gas diplomacy; mutual investments and funds. |
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| 14:00 – 15:00 | Lunch offered by the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Romania |
| 15:00 – 16:30 | Parallel Session III (Bucharest Conference Hall): Asia’s Century Project: the Asianization in the Changing New World Order |
| The discussions bring about the increasing role of Asia in the global arena, with the focus on its imprint in the Middle East, trying to grasp local specificities.
Subtopics: The prospects of Asian cooperation in the Middle East, BRICS Summit; Iran and possible other members to SCO; transactions in Asian currencies. |
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| 15:00 – 16:30 | Parallel Session IV (Tyre Conference Hall): The Impact of Era of Great-Power Competition on EU-MENA Relationship |
| The debates focus on how much the Middle East has increasingly become an arena for great power competition. As such, Europe has arguably been little engaged with the diplomatic shifts in the Middle East and risks becoming marginalized in the region by other international powers.
Subtopics: United States presence in the region and its complicated relation with Russia and China; a rising China in the Middle East- under what conditions? Global powers embracing the local reality. |
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| 16:30 – 17:00 | Coffee Break |
| 17:00 – 18:15 | Parallel Session V (Bucharest Conference Hall): Rethinking the Perspective of EU and MENA Cooperation. Challenges and Opportunities |
| The panel deals with exploring new ways of engagement between the EU and MENA, in order for the EU to avoid reducing its cemented role as mediator.
Subtopics: The prospects of creating energy hubs; countering illegal migration and trafficking. |
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| 17:00 – 18:15 | Parallel Session VI (Tyre Conference Hall): The Voice of the Young Generation on EU-MENA Cooperation |
| As the MENA region abounds in the young human resource, it is vital to encompass its voice in the EU-MENA dialogue in order to open more avenues for collaboration.
Subtopics: The think-tank cooperation; social networks role; youth entrepreneurship. |
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| 18:15 – 18:30 | Plenary Session (Bucharest Conference Hall): Conclusions and Final Remarks |
Partners:
- IPIS (Institute for Political and International Studies IPIS/MoFA, Iran);
- Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Romania;
- IFIMES (International Institute for the Middle East and Balkan Studies);
- Belt and Road Initiative Research Lab.
Media Partners:
- Modern Diplomacy (https://moderndiplomacy.eu/);
- Financial Intelligence (https://financialintelligence.ro/);
- Novus Ordo Media (https://novusordomedia.ro/).
Phoenicia Grand Hotel, Bucharest Conference Hall, 87 Căpitan Alexandru Șerbănescu Street, Sector 1, Bucharest, Romania
