MUNICH – From 14 to 16 February 2020, Munich will be hosting the world political and business leaders, members of the academic community, civil society and the media at the Munich Security Conference 2020.
Out of the Western Balkan leaders, President of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi has confirmed his participation, while the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić also announced that he will participate and meet with the US Ambassador for Germany and Special Envoy for Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Richard Grenell.
Last year, Vučić and Thaçi participated in a panel discussion with the then European Neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Han at the same conference. At the same day, “Ewald von Kleist” Award was presented to the then Prime Ministers of North Macedonia and Greece, Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras, for settling a dispute between the two countries.
According to the announcement, the main questions that the participants of this year’s conference in the capital of Bavaria will try to answer are is the world becoming less Western, is the West itself becoming less Western, too, what does it mean for the world if the West leaves the stage to others and what could a joint Western strategy for an era of great power competition look like.
Conversation starter will be the Munich Security Report 2020 which bears the name „Westlessness“ meaning a widespread feeling of uneasiness and restlessness in the face of increasing uncertainty about the enduring purpose of the West.
Until now, the participation was confirmed, among others, by United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, Emmanuel Macron, President of France, Heiko Maas, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, as well as ministers of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China and Russian Federation, Wang Yi and Sergey Lavrov.
The Munich Security Conference has been held since 1963.