Middle East Political and Economic Institute (MEPEI), The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and EURISC Foundation request the pleasure of your company to attend the International Conference “Fighting Terrorism for World Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection”, on 2^nd of JUNE 2016, between 08:30 and 17:30 hours, at Ronda Conference HALL (1^st Floor), InterContinental Bucharest Hotel (University Square).

Middle East is the most volatile region in international geopolitics characterized by a unique security complex. In this context, studies on the Middle East show that this region is both a security provider as a result of energy resources, but also a generator of insecurity, being marked by: the spread of terrorism-inspired of Islamic fundamentalism, sectarian conflicts and so on.

Partners:

• Institute for Political and International Studies/IPIS, Tehran, Iran;
• Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies/IMESS, Tehran, Iran.

Sponsors:

• SC TUBMAN Co;
• Lawyer House ANTICO & BĂLĂȘOIU.

 

Working language: English

Hoping to receive the confirmation for your participation,

kindly respond to this invitation before 1^st of June, 2016,

at the e-mail addresses: office@mepei.com

Following the conference it will be published a special issue (brochure) dedicated to this event and you are invited, if you are willing to contribute to its realization by writing articles/papers in conformation to the academic norms and sending them to the organizers.

The full agenda of the conference will be available in few days.

The conference keynote speakers are presented below.

 

.Speakers of the Conference

IRAN:

• Dr. Mostafa ZAHRANI, director general of IPIS, Tehran

Note: Mostafa Zahrani received his P.h.D. in international relations from University of Tehran in 2002. His master in international relations was from University of  Tarbiat Modarres in Tehran in 1993. Long before that, he finished his BA in Texas  University in 1979 in computer science

Dr. Zahrani became a member of Islamic Republic Foreign Ministry in 1981. His was first posted in Vienna from 1982 to 1984. He then moved to work under the political deputy of then prime minister Mousavi from 1985 to 1990. There he became part of negotiating team for UN resolution 598 to end the eight year imposed Iran-Iraq war of. From 1999 to 2004 he was posted in to the Iran mission in New York. He became Director- General of the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS), from 2004-2006 under president Khatami. Dr. Zahrani has been faculty member in School of International Relations in Tehran since 1992. His publications are mainly on Iran-US Relations. He has many articles concerning economic sanction. His latest book is on the subject of critical studies of US foreign policy which is a text book for the students of American studies. He began his tenure as D-G of IPIS as the second time in October 2013.

• Seyed Vahid KARIMI, PhD, director of Center for Europe – IPIS, Tehran

Note: Seyed Vahid KARIMI has Ph. D. in International Relations, Research in Queen Marry College, University of London – theses: “British Defense Policy in NATO and its impact upon French withdrawal from NATO”. From 1990; working in the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran and as diplomat at the embassies in Ireland, Germany, Britain & New York. Teaching at different universities: Strategy, EU, NATO and European affairs, The “Special Relationship” between Britain and the United States of America. Persian Gulf. US foreign policy since 1945. Books (in Persian): Britain and de Gaulle, Iran’s history Publications; Blair’s Doctrine for Bush in Iraq War; Britain and the US Presidents.

• Mr. Hossein GHARIBI, PhD, Senior Expert on Counter-Terrorism, MFA

Note: Mr. Hossein GHARIBI started his carrier with the Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1997. He was posted to Iranian embassy in Rome, Italy for the term 1999 – 2003 followed by two more postings to the Permanent Mission of Iran at the United Nations in New York for 2005-2009, and then 2012-2015. He has been working on terrorism since 2003 and was Non-Aligned Movement coordinator on legal and terrorism matters at the UN for almost four years. He has represented Iran in several negotiations of documents on terrorism including the review resolutions of the UN Counter Terrorism Strategy in 2012 and 2014 respectively. Currently, he works as the senior expert on terrorism in the Multilateral Department of MFA Iran. 

• Prof. Kayhan BARZEGAR, director of Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies (IMESS), Tehran;

Note: Dr. Kayhan BARZEGAR is also a faculty member and Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Science and Research Branch of the Islamic Azad University. Dr. Barzegar was a Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs during 2007-2011 and a Post-doctorate Research Fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE) during 2002-2003. He has participated in numerous international conferences on Iran’s regional policy, the politics of Iran’s nuclear program, Persian Gulf’s energy security issues, and Iran-U.S. relations. Dr. Barzegar is the Editor-in-Chief of Discourse: An Iranian English Quarterly.

• HE Mohammad IRANI, former Ambassador to Jordan, director general of Department for MENA, MFA

• A representative of Ministry of Energy – TBC.

International side:

• General Harlan ULLMAN, Senior Adviser at the Atlantic Council and a member of its Strategic Advisors Group, Washington, USA

Note: He is also a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the National Defense University and Chairman of the Killowen Group, which advises leaders in business and government; the Chairman or Vice Chairman of a number of private companies and advisory boards; and a Director of the Wall Street Fund, one of the nation’s first mutual funds. A former naval person with 150 combat operations and missions in Vietnam in patrol boats and later commands, he is on the advisory boards for the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and serves as an advisor for the Pentagon’s Business Transformation Agency.

Once the youngest military professor on the faculty the National War College, he spent three years directing the course of study for military strategy. Today, Ullman continues to serve the military through seats on the advisory boards of the Department of Defense and the Combatant Commanders. He also serves as Senior Advisor to the Atlantic Council and is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the National Defense University.

ULLMAN was the principal author of the doctrine of “shock and awe”, which was released in 1996, and was a product of the National Defense University of the United States. This concept is technically known as “rapid dominance” and is a military doctrine based on the use of “overwhelming decisive force,” “dominant battlefield awareness,” “dominant maneuvers,” and “spectacular displays of power” to “paralyze” an adversary’s perception of the battlefield and destroy his will to fight.

He has written more than 500 columns for United Press International, Inc..

• Mr. Luigi REBUFFI (France), PhD, Director of the European Organisation for Security (EOS), Brussels, Belgium

Note: Mr REBUFFI leads EOS’ comprehensive advocacy approach and plays a key role promoting public – private cooperation on security in coordination with the activities of ASD and EOS Members. He ensures the effective and efficient implementation of projects directing and managing EOS multi-disciplinary team, and has a decisive impact in influencing EU policy-making in security through communication with the European Institutions at the highest level. In this capacity, he is an advisor on security issues to the Cabinets of several EC Commissioners, is a Member of the Security Advisory Group on EU Security Research of DG ENTR and is President of the Steering Committee for security research of the French ANR (National Research Agency). Having a background in nuclear engineering, before EOS he worked in different positions at ITER, Thomson CSF, and Thales.

• Prof. Svyatoslav A. TIMASHEV (awarded a collective Nobel Prize), PhD, The Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg, Russia;

Note: Doctor of technical sciences, Distinguished Scientist of Russia, Merited Educator of the Russian Federation, Scientific Director and Principal Scientist, Science and Engineering Center «Reliability and Safety of Large Systems and Machines» Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg. Head of the International Master’s program ”Safety of Critical infrastructures and Territories” in Ural Federal University, and Research Lab ‘Safety of Critical infrastructures and Territories” Director, and Professor of the Civil Engineering Institute, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg.

Institutional Co-recipient (as a member of the IPCC WMO UN international team of researchers) of the Nobel Peace Prize, 2007, for developing methods and means of C02 sequestration from the Earth’s atmosphere and depositing it in deep rock formations and on the sea bed.

Principal Scientist of the Arkhangelsk Arctic Research Center, Russian academy of sciences, Arkhangelsk. Author and co-author of 28 books and over 420 papers; holds 16 patents in the field of diagnostics and monitoring systems, and is licensed at the Federal level as highest category expert in safety of oil and gas infrastructures.

Specialist in stochastic stability and dynamics, diagnostics, monitoring, residual life time assessment, maintenance, reliability and safety of critical infrastructures. Washington Academy of Sciences Fellow; charter member of the IASSAR (USA) and the professional institute for pipeline engineers (PIPE) institute (UK). Member of ASME, SRA, SARMA, ACS, MAA, ACS

Provides consulting services and intensive short courses on Risk Based Management and In-Line Inspection Data Analysis for pipeline specialists and engineers from over 30 countries (up to date) of Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and both Americas.

• Major General (retired) Carlos BRANCO, PhD, strategic analyst, former Deputy Director of the Portuguese War College, Lisbon, Portugal;

Note: He is the author of numerous articles, studies and books in the fields of military, management, conflict resolution, security and defense, peacekeeping. He is a member of several think-tanks, national and international. His main topics of research and interest are: peacekeeping, conflict resolution, strategic communication, NATO, UN and CSDP (Common Security and Defense Policy).

• Mr. Hosam MATAR, senior researcher, the Consultative Center for Studies and Documentation, Beirut, Lebanon

Note: Hosam MATAR a prominent Lebanese researcher specialized in International Relations. He obtained his Bachelor Degree in Law and higher Diploma in International Relations from the Lebanese University, and Master Degree in International Relations and European Studies from the Metropolitan University of Prague on his thesis “Religion and Pragmatism in Iran’s foreign Policy”. Now he is a PhD candidate at Metropolitan University Prague, his thesis is about US soft power in the Middle East, the case Lebanon.

He has published many articles and research papers (Arabic and English) related to Middle East (Iran, Türkiye and Syria), China and United States’ foreign policy in Assafirand Alakhbar newspapers. He is hosted regularly on local and TV talk show.

The Center is mainly active, in a Lebanese setting where it tries to achieve its set goals and to meet its information and research needs, especially what is in conformity with the concerns of the weakest classes and the least developed regions. However, the vital scope of the Center goes beyond the local deals with the regional and international framework as it particularly, major aspirations and concerns, that are the backbone of conflicts in the region, and confronts the challenges of development and modernization.

ROMANIA:

• Prof. Radu MUȘETESCU, PhD, professor, director of Department for International Economic Relations, University of Economic Studies (ASE), Bucharest;
• Prof. Adrian POP, PhD, professor in middle east studies, The National School of Political Science and Public Administration (SNSPA), Bucharest;
• Prof. Silviu NATE, PhD, director of Security Center, University of “Lucian Blaga”, Sibiu;
• Prof. Ecaterina MAȚOI, PhD, Lecturer at Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Department, Basel University, Switzerland;
• Mr. Vasile IUGA, PhD, partner PricewaterhouseCoopers Romania;
• Mr. Corneliu PIVARIU, President INGEPO Consulting, Brașov
• Mrs. Leonela LENEȘ, PhD, expert on Energy Security, associate fellow of MEPEI, Bucharest;
• Mr. Alexandru GEORGESCU, Drd, strategic analyst, EURISC Foundation, Bucharest;
• Mr. Flavius CABA-MARIA, Drd, president of MEPEI, Bucharest;
• Mr. Liviu MUREȘAN, PhD, President Executive of EURISC Foundation, Bucharest;
• Other speakers from governmental and academic level.