ACT Hosts International Conference on Region’s Future

Under the joint sponsorship of the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Center of Washington, D.C., and the Lucy Kulukundis Center for Balkan Studies at the American College of Thessaloniki (ACT), two days of presentations and discussion on the theme of “Greece, the Western Balkans, and the European Union” took place in Anatolia’s newly renovated Raphael Hall Performing Arts Center November 30 and December 1.  The Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation provided funding for the gathering, which drew scholars and diplomats from the U.S., Canada, and many European countries.

The aim of the conference was to bring together leading academic experts and practitioners to discuss the future of the Western Balkans and the role of Greece in the region. The two-day event produced concrete policy recommendations on a range of issues that included EU enlargement, foreign direct investment and economic reform, regional governmental policies and their political implications.  Experts from institutions such as LSE, Oxford, the IMF, the European Commission, the Madrid Center for Political and Constitutional Studies, the European Agency for Reconstruction, and the Universities of Pittsburgh, Bologna, Westminster and Kent, among others, presented papers to an audience of academics and practitioners. The final speaker, Dr. Gulner Aybet of the University of Kent, flew directly from a major presentation at Chatham House in London to Thessaloniki, arriving minutes before her presentation and bringing the conference to a dramatic close.

The Woodrow Wilson Center is a non-partisan institute for advanced study and a neutral forum for open, serious, and informed dialogue. It brings pre-eminent thinkers to Washington for extended periods of time to interact with policymakers through a large number of programs and projects. The event received media sponsorship from ΤΟ ΒΗΜΑ, and the proceedings will be published in book form by the Wilson Center.