The Baltic Defence College co-hosts its first conference in Brussels

On Tuesday, the Baltic Defence College – in conjunction with the Institute of European Studies and backed by NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division – hosted a day-long conference entitled ‘Tracking NATO’s Revival: From Warsaw to Brussels’. Hosted in the Hilton Grand Place Hotel in Brussels, the conference was organised as a large public roundtable with the intention of addressing the outcomes of the Warsaw Summit and paving the way towards to the Brussels Summit in spring 2017. Part of the conference aimed to provide a Baltic perspective on the deterrence measures.

The conference included three panels, each with three distinguished panelists from the academic, political and military arenas, as well as a moderator from the co-organising institutions.

Panel I, comprising Mr. Heinrich Brauss, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defence Policy and Planning; Mr. David A. Shlapak, Senior International Research Analyst, RAND Corporation; Dr. Vaidotas Urbelis, Policy Director, Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence, and moderated by Mr. James Rogers of the Baltic Defence College, focused on the evolution from the assurance measures of the Newport Summit to the deterrence measures of the Warsaw Summit.

Panel II, including Mr. Chris Donnelly, Co-Director, Institute for Statecraft; Lt. Gen. Esa Pulkkinen, Director-General, European Union Military Staff; Mrs. Carmen Romero, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, NATO, and moderated by Dr. Alexander Mattelaer of the Institute for European Studies, addressed the challenges surrounding hybrid or non-linear warfare.

Panel III, with Prof. Christopher Coker, London School of Economics; Ambassador Masafumi Ishii, Representative of the Government of Japan to NATO; Dr. Thomas G. Mahnken, President, Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, and moderated by Dr. Luis Simon of the Institute for European Studies, looked at the implications of the rise of Asia for the transatlantic relationship.

Dr. Luis Simon and Mr. James Rogers provided opening and closing remarks, respectively.

Approximately one-hundred guests were in attendance.