On May 5-6 OSCE Academy has conducted the 2nd Alumni Conference on Comprehensive Security and Sustainable Development in Bishkek. Around thirty alumni from Central Asia and Afghanistan participated in the conference. This year the conference was opened by the public lecture "Securing Central Asia" by Dr. Sally Cummings, Senior Lecturer, University of St. Andrews. 16 alumni presented their papers within the three OSCE dimensions-panels: Political Military, Human and Economic-Environmental. Presenters touched upon the security in Central Asia and Afghanistan, human security and conflicts in Central Asia, energy security and the climate changed and other important for the region issues. Mr. Sean McGreevy from the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, Mr. Roman Mogilevsky from the Institute of Public Policy and Administration at UCA and Dr. Sabine Machl from the UN Women in Kyrgyzstan chaired and excellently moderated the conference panels. The Conference was honored and welcomed by the Ambassador Andrew Tesoriere, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek and Dr. Indra Overland, Head of the Russian and Eurasian Studies Department, NUPI.
Participants voted for the best three papers presented at the conference, which will be published as Central Asia Policy Briefs. The winners are:
"Afghanistan: State, Human Boundaries and Sources for Perpetual Conflict"- Elham Gharji '10, President, Gawharshad Institute of Higher Education, Kabul, Afghanistan
"Re-defining "Energy Security" in the context of Central Asian Energy Export-Import Relations"- Farkhod Aminjonov ‘09, PhD Candidate, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Toronto, Canada
"Understanding conflicts in Central Asia: a need to go beyond the search for causality" - Khushbakht Hojiev ‘06, PhD Candidate, Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn, Centre for Development Research, Bonn, Germany
On the Photos: Participants of the 2nd Alumni Conference and Dr. Sally Cumings and Dr. Maxim Ryabkov
The Alumni Conference was followed by the reception where OSCE Academy Alumni Network announced the Alumna of the Year 2012- Dina Iglikova ‘07.
Dina Iglikova '07 is receiving her award from Violetta Yan and Maxim Ryabkov
The OSCE Academy expresses its deepest appreciation to the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Norwegian Institute of Foreign Affairs (NUPI) and the OSCE for their generous support of the OSCE Academy's Alumni Network.
On behalf of the Academy's graduates, we would also like to convey sincere gratitude to the visiting and permanent faculty of the OSCE Academy who numerously contributed to professional and academic growth of our alumni.