Date: Tuesday 22nd May, 6pm-7.30pm

Venue: Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Room (off Westminster Hall), Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA

The FPC, with the kind support of the Open Society Foundations, is delighted to announce a major Westminster seminar to discuss some of the key issues addressed in our new Spotlight on Azerbaijan publication. The event will explore the major challenges Azerbaijan faces regarding democratic development, rule of law, media freedom, corruption and other human rights issues, while examining the impact of its international relationships and the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on its domestic politics.

Our panel will comprise:

• Emma Reynolds MP, Shadow Europe Minister
• Vugar Gojayev, Country Coordinator, Human Rights House-Azerbaijan
• Dr Leila Alieva, Director, the Center for National and International Studies (CNIS)
• Dennis Sammut, Director, LINKS

Chair: Adam Hug, Policy Director, Foreign Policy Centre

The event is free and open to all. Copies of Spotlight on Azerbaijan will be available free of charge.

To RSVP please email: events@fpc.org.uk

Download London launch invite (130 kilobyte PDF)

Date: Thursday 10th May, 3pm-4.30pm

Venue: Room Luxembourg, 1st floor, Eurocities Square de Meeûs 1, Brussels 1000

The FPC, kindly supported by the Open Society Institute-Brussels, is delighted to announce a major Brussels seminar to launch our new Spotlight on Azerbaijan publication and discuss some of the key issues that it addresses. The event will explore the major challenges Azerbaijan faces regarding democratic development, rule of law, media freedom, corruption and other human rights issues, while examining the impact of its international relationships and the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on its domestic politics.

Our panel will comprise:

• Richard Howitt MEP, Vice Chair of the European Parliament Human Rights Sub Committee and member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
• Dr Leila Alieva, Director, the Center for National and International Studies (CNIS)
• Vugar Gojayev, Country Coordinator, Human Rights House-Azerbaijan
• Jacqui Hale, Senior Policy Analyst - EU External Relations, OSI-Brussels

Chair: Adam Hug, Policy Director, Foreign Policy Centre

The event is free and open to all. Copies of Spotlight on Azerbaijan will be available free of charge.

To RSVP please email: events@fpc.org.uk

Download Spotlight on Azerbaijan: Brussels event (130 kilobyte PDF)

Please find below the combined event information for the Spotlight on Azerbaijan event series comprising events in Brussels on May 10th and London May 22nd featuring Emma Reynolds MP, Richard Howitt MEP, Dr Leila Alieva, Vugar Gojayev, Jacqui Hale, Dennis Sammut and Adam Hug.

Download Invitation to Spotlight on Azerbaijan launch event series (180 kilobyte PDF)

Date: Thursday 23 June, 3pm-5pm,

Venue: European Policy Centre, Résidence Palace, 155 rue de la Loi, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium

As part of the FPC's global series of events following the launch of the recent Spotlight on Armenia publication, we are delighted to be able to partner with the European Policy Centre, to hold a seminar in the Brussels. The EPC and OSI Spotlight on Armenia event will debate the major challenges Armenia faces regarding democratic development, rule of law, media freedom, corruption and other human rights issues, while examining the impact of its international relationships on domestic politics.

Speakers:

• Peter Semneby, Former EU Special Representative to the South Caucasus(tbc)
• Adam Hug, Policy Director, Foreign Policy Centre
• Jacqui Hale, Senior Policy Analyst - EU External Relations, Open Society Institute-Brussels
• Paruyr Hovhannisyan, European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA)

Chair: Amanda Paul, Policy Analyst, European Policy Centre

To RSVP please email: v.belmega@epc.eu

Date: Tuesday 14 June, 6pm-7.45pm

Venue: Thatcher Room, Portcullis House, Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London SW1A 2LW (use public entrance on Victoria Embankment)

As part of the FPC's global series of events following the launch of the recent Spotlight on Armenia publication, we are delighted to be able to hold an event in London. The FPC's Spotlight on Armenia event will debate the major challenges Armenia faces regarding democratic development, rule of law, media freedom, corruption and other human rights issues, while examining the impact of its international relationships on domestic politics.

Speakers:

• Lord Prescott, Former Deputy Prime Minister and Co-Rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Monitoring Committee for Armenia
• Anna Walker, Senior Analyst-Central Asia and South Caucasus, Control Risks
• Dr Elisabeth Robson, EastWest Insight and former head of the BBC Russia and Caucasus & Central Asia Services
• Dr Armine Ishkanian,Programme Director NGOs and Development, LSE

Chair: Adam Hug, Policy Director, Foreign Policy Centre

To RSVP please email: events@fpc.org.uk

Download Spotlight on Armenia: London invitation (90 kilobyte PDF)

Date: Thursday 2 June, 12.15pm-2pm

Venue: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036-2103

To hear the recording of the event please click here

http://dl2.newmediamill.net/media/carnegie/2011-06-02-Armenia.mp3

As part of the FPC's global series of events following the launch of the recent Spotlight on Armenia publication, we are delighted to be able to partner with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, to hold a seminar in Washington D.C. The event will debate the major challenges Armenia faces regarding democratic development, rule of law, media freedom, corruption and other human rights issues, while examining the impact of its international relationships on domestic politics.

Speakers:

• Adam Hug, Policy Director, Foreign Policy Centre
• Dawn Schock, Armenia Country Director, American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative
• Laura Jewett, Director, Regional Director- Eurasia, National Democratic Institute (NDI)

Discussant: Ambassador John Evans, US Ambassador to Armenia, 2004-06

Chair: Tom De Waal, Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie Endowment

To RSVP please email: events@fpc.org.uk

For more information about the event email: russiaeurasiaprogram@ceip.org

Date: Monday 30 May, 5.30pm-7pm

Venue: Nieuwspoort, Lange Poten 10, 2511 CL The Hague, Netherlands

As part of the FPC's global series of events following the launch of the recent Spotlight on Armenia publication, we are delighted to be able to partner with the Netherlands Helsinki Committee, to hold a seminar in the Hague. The event will debate the major challenges Armenia faces regarding democratic development, rule of law, media freedom, corruption and other human rights issues, while examining the impact of its international relationships on domestic politics.

Speakers:

• Adam Hug, Policy Director, Foreign Policy Centre
• HE Dzyunik Aghajanian, the Ambassador of Republic of Armenia in Netherlands
• Guido de Graaf Bierbrauwer, Senior Programme Officer Caucasus, IKV Pax Christi
• Further speaker tbc

Chair: Harry Hummel, Director, Netherlands Helsinki Committee

To RSVP please email: events@fpc.org.uk

Download Spotlight on Armenia: The Hague (140 kilobyte PDF)

Date: Thursday 25 November, 1.00-2.15pm, (lunch available from 12.45pm)

Venue: Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Room (off Westminster Hall), Houses of Parliament, Westminster

Speakers:

• Jacqueline Hale, Senior Policy Analyst, Caucasus and Central Asia, Open Society Institute - Brussels
• HE Kairat Abusseitov, Ambassador of Kazakhstan
• Dr Bhavna Dave, Chair of the Centre of Contemporary Central Asia and the Caucasus, SOAS
• Saule Mektepbayeva, Regional Director, Central Asia, Penal Reform International

Chair: Lord Anderson of Swansea

As world leaders prepare to meet in Astana (1-2 December) for the first OSCE summit of the millennium, hard questions need to be asked about the future of the institution. This new FPC seminar will look back at Kazakhstan's chairmanship of the OSCE, in particular to its performance against the Madrid human rights commitments its leaders made on being offered this global leadership role. Kazakhstan's chairmanship provides the backdrop for a wider debate about future of the OSCE, to try and identify what role it should play in the modern world. In particular the seminar will explore the future of the OSCE's human dimension, in light of attempts to undermine the importance and independence of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the troubling picture of declining human rights standards in many OSCE member states.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP by email to: events@fpc.org.uk

Download Kazakhstan and the Future of the OSCE (100 kilobyte PDF)

Monday 14 June, 6.00-7.30pm

Grand Committee Room, Houses of Parliament

Followed by a drinks reception 7.30pm-8.30pm in the Jubilee Room

Chair: Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP, former Foreign Secretary

Speakers:

• Prof Bill Bowring, Professor of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London
• Anna Walker, Senior Analyst, Central Asia and South Caucasus, Control Risks
• Mukhtar Ablyazov, Founder, Democratic Choice Party & a leader of the Kazakhstan democratic opposition movement
• Further speakers to be confirmed

The Foreign Policy Centre is hosting a seminar that will explore some of the major governance issues that make 'doing business' in Kazakhstan a challenge, including: rule of law, corruption, security of contracts, political interference and the growing economic influence of China. The FPC is bringing together a high profile panel to debate these issues along with some of the broader political and economic challenges Kazakhstan faces.

For more information or to RSVP please email: events@fpc.org.uk

Download Doing Business in Kazakhstan, June 14th 6pm-7.30pm (140 kilobyte PDF)

Date: Tuesday February 2nd, 6pm-7.45pm

Venue: Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Room, Houses of Parliament.

2010 is a vitally important year for Kazakhstan and for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). For the first time a Central Asian nation has taken the leadership role of a major international political organisation, but Kazakhstan is also be the first non-democracy to become the OSCE's Chairman-in-Office. Kazakhstan is under the international spotlight to an extent it has not seen since independence. In light of this the FPC hosted a major Westminster Seminar, supported by the Civil Activity Fund, to discuss Kazakhstan's OSCE Chairmanship, the current human rights and political situation in the country and the role the international community can play to support reform in the country.

Speakers included:

• Chris Bryant MP, Minister for Europe
• Iva Dobichina, Director of Central Asia Programmes, Freedom House
• Bakhytzhan Ketabayev, Head of K+ Satellite TV Channel, and member of the Civil Activity Fund
• Vera Tkachenko, Director, Legal Policy Research Centre
• Mike Gapes MP, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee (Chair)

Download Transcript of Kazakhstan at a Crossroads Event: Feb 2nd (230 kilobyte PDF)

Wednesday 16th September 3.45-5pm

The Foreign Policy Centre hosted Irakli Alasania, leader of both his 'Our Georgia-Free Democrats Party' and the moderate opposition coalition 'Alliance for Georgia' at a Westminster Seminar on 16 September.

Prior to his role in opposition Mr Alasania served as Georgia's Ambassador to the United Nations from June 2006 to December 2008 and before that, from 2004-2006 as leader of the Abkhazian Government-in-exile and the President's Special Representative in the Georgia-Abkhaz peace talks.

Mr Alasania spoke about the current political and human rights situation in Georgia and what the international community can to do to support the country's democratic development.

An excerpt from his speech can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htLM7ckNAfM

Download Irakli Alasania event invitation (150 kilobyte PDF)

Wednesday 11th March 2009, 6.00-7.30pm

Date: Wednesday 11th March 2009, 6.00-7.30pm

Speakers:

• Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG MP, Former Foreign Secretary
• Tom De Waal, Caucasus Research Associate, Conciliation Resources.
• HE Giorgi Badridze, Ambassador Designate, Embassy of Georgia

Chair: Mike Gapes MP, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee

The FPC hosted a 'Spotlight on Georgia' seminar on Wed 11 Mar to launch a programme of work on Georgia that will examine the country's performance across a range of good governance areas, including: human rights, the rule of law, media freedom, the growth of civil society and the development of democratic institutions.

This work will be set in the context of the development of the relationship between Georgia and the West, the stalled decision on whether to offer Georgia a NATO MAP, and the long-term possibility of EU membership. It will also examine the practical steps that can be taken to improve performance towards good governance goals.

For more information about this project, please email: events@fpc.org.uk

Date: Friday 29 February 2008, 12.30pm to 2pm

Venue: Vault 1, Royal Society of Arts, 8 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6EZ.

Hosted by the Chechnya Peace Forum and the Foreign Policy Centre, this event provided an opportunity for policy-makers, commentators and analysts to discuss political, social and economic developments in Russia and the Caucasus ahead of the Russian Presidential election in March.

Speakers leading the discussion included:

• Stephen Twigg, Director, The Foreign Policy Centre (Chair)
• David Clark, Chair, Russia Foundation
• Ed Lucas, Journalist on the Economist and Author of The New Cold War: How the Kremlin Menaces Both Russia and the West
• Akhmed Zakaev, Prime Minister, Resistance Government of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria

To find out more about the work of the Chechnya Peace Forum please visit www.chechnyapeaceforum.com.

Open Society Institute

On the 11th of June, The Foreign Policy Centre and the Open Society Institute brought together a panel of experts from industry, government and NGO's for the launch of the report: 'Caspian Oil Revenues: who will benefit?'

• Read the Overview and Full report