15th WEEC – day 1

28 of June at 11:00 a.m., in the auditorium of the Old Library of the University of Warsaw the 15th Warsaw East European Conference has started. This year`s edition title is “Independence”. The opening ceremony of the conference was initiated by the speech of Jan Malicki (director, Centre for East European Studies director), John Micgiel (conference director) and Maciej Duszczyk (Vice-rector, University of Warsaw).

The opening ceremony was honoured the representatives of many embassies and major institutions. The opening lecture was delivered by Jacek Czaputowicz, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. The keynote speaker, ambassador Bogusław Winid gave a brilliant lecture entitled “The role and activities of thec Eastern European Group within the United Nations system”

After the opening ceremony, the participants of the conference took part in three panel sesions and special lecture delivered by Gordon N. Bardos from Southeast European Research & Consulting, entitled “Militant Islamism in Southeastern Europe: Infrastructure, Actions, andthe Potential Threat Horizon“.

One of the most important event of the WEEC`s first day was Round Table entitled  “Building a modern and robust banking system: Poland’s experience after 1989“. Participants of the Round Table: Stefan Kawalec (President, Capital Strategy; former Deputy Minister and Director General, Polish Ministry of Finance), Krzysztof Kalicki (President, Deutsche Bank Polska; former Deputy Minister of Finance), Sławomir S. Sikora (President, Citibank Poland; former Director, Banking Institutions Department, Ministry of Finance), Hubert A. Janiszewski (Deputy Chairperson, Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank Polska) discussed about history of macroeconomic changes in Poland.

The Warsaw East European Conference first day ended with an ehxibition entitled “100 Years of Georgia’s First Democratic Republic”, co-organised with the Embassy of the Georgia to Republic of Poland. The exhibition was opened by Ilia Darchiashvili, Ambassador of Georgia to Poland.