The Nizami Ganjavi International Center (NGIC), in collaboration with the National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP), held a forum on Euro-Atlantic challenges in New York as part of a multi-day program of meetings with leaders of the United Nations (UN) and the United States (U.S.)partner organizations.
Zlatko Lagumdzija, President of the Foundation Shared Societies and Values, moderated a panel with Susan Elliott, NCAFP President, on “Security and Euro-Atlantic Integration” and “Security Challenges in the Western Balkans” with political, diplomatic, and academic leaders from 12 countries which were gathered through the partnership of the NGIC and NCAFP.
Former presidents of Latvia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic, Vaira Vike Freiberga, Boris Tadic, Ivo Josipovic, Mladen Ivanic, Rosen Plevneliev, and Jan Fischer, among others, together with the U.S. hosts took part in the discussion. NGIC co-chair Ismail Serageldin and Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation also participated.
Lagumdzija stated that the Western Balkans represent one of the key challenges for the survival and stability of Euro-Atlantic structures. To the extent that the U.S. and the EU build a partnership on the integration of BiH and the Western Balkans through support for the values on which they themselves have, they can preserve their own geopolitical credibility and security.
Concluding the discussion on the example of current events in BiH, Lagumdzija mentioned that the latest “savagery” of Milorad Dodik and his henchmen has nothing to do with anyone’s national interests, but only to defend criminally acquired power and money through the backs of his own people.
”He added that the U.S., for its own role on the global stage, must take all necessary steps to preserve international law and the Dayton Peace Agreement, while demonstratively sanctioning criminals who hide behind the masks of false national leaders and self-proclaimed statesmen. It is clear to everyone that without the leading role of the U.S. in this EU, which is being attacked from within by forces of the black international and segregated societies, the necessary leadership will not be reached for a long time to complete the Euro-Atlantic area,stabilize peace and security,” it was announced by the Foundation Shared Societies and Values.
E.Dz.
