Over 50 young leaders from more than 20 countries gathered
in Minsk, Belarus on Sept 2-6 2017 for the 7th Plenary Session of the Younger Generation Leadership Network on Euro-Atlantic Security (YGLN). The network
brings together young professionals from across the Euro-Atlantic region,
including the United States, Russia, and Europe, to discuss contemporary policy
issues facing the region. Its sponsors are the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the
European Leadership Network, the Russian International Affairs Council, the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Latvian Institute for
International Affairs, and the George Kennan Institute.
The Minsk meeting focused on topics including the crisis in
Ukraine, prospective relations between the Eurasian Economic Union and the
European Union, relations between Russia and the West, as well as the
political, economic, rule of law, and civil society landscape in Belarus.
Prominent speakers included the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus
Oleg Kravchenko, Belarusian Parliamentary leaders, and representatives of
Belarusian civil society and academic institutions.
The plenary meeting also focused on the long-term
sustainability of the network. The network adopted a sustainability plan to
transition the network to a self-governing organization in 2018.
The
next YGLN plenary session will be held in the spring of 2018.
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