On 5 July the OSCE Academy was honored to welcome Mr. John D. Marks, the founder and former president of Search for Common Ground (SFCG), a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on international conflict management programming. Mr. Marks delivered a guest lecture “At the Crossroad between Diplomacy and Peacebuilding” and elaborated on the notion of Track II Diplomacy, of its importance and the ways it works based on his decade-long personal professional experience. He explained the criteria that have to be fulfilled in order for Track II diplomacy to work on the example of the US-Iranian relations, a case he has worked on for more than 20 years.

On 1 July Mr. Rohan Titus, Political Affairs Department Director and Mr. Maciej Dachowski, Political Officer for Regional Affairs of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), visited the OSCE Academy and met MA students from Afghanistan. During the meeting, Dr. Alexander Wolters, Director of the Academy, provided general information about the OSCE Academy and presented the overall admission statistics as well as specific numbers on Afghan candidates and enrollment of Afghan students. Following the introduction, Mr. Titus presented the internship opportunities for Afghan students within UNAMA and elaborated on further opportunities for collaboration between the Academy and UNAMA.

From 27-30 June OSCE Academy staff members participated in a Retreat at the picturesque lake Issyk-Kul.

From 24 to 29 June, the OSCE Academy conducted a regular Regional Training on the analysis of the impact of regulatory legal acts for junior and mid-level public officials from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, in order to improve the public officials professional skills and qualifications.