Foreign policy experts to flock to Tallinn for Lennart Meri Conference

Vilnius was the focus for foreign policy experts in February with its hosting of the increasingly well regarded Snow Meeting and Vilnius Forum of Intellectuals. But in April, international experts are increasingly turning their eyes to Tallinn, which will be hosting the 8th Eight Lennart Meri conference on April 24-26.

Entitled “The Limits of Order”, this year's Lennart Meri Conference, which is named after Estonia's former president, will bring together renowned experts, politicians and officials, who will be flying in from across the world to discuss the deteriorating international situation.

"Many if not all of the fundamental principles of the international system, together with liberal democratic values, are being abused, eroded, or outright obliterated by a range of revisionist, cynical and aggressive actors," reads the Lennart Meri website. "We are scrambling for a proper response to protect the current order on which our security, prosperity, and freedoms rest—and which the West has taken for granted until now."    

The event is hosted by the Estonian state funded think tank, the International Centre for Defence Studies, which is headed up by former US diplomat Matt Brydza.

Confirmed participants at the event will be looking to offer solutions to the big picture issues facing policy makers today —  with the West’s standoff with Russia over the Ukraine conflict, no doubt high on the agenda.

Meanwhile, Lennart Meri Conference speakers will include, among others: the NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow, the OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, the Polish Sejm Chairman Radoslaw Sikorski, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Anne Brasseur, the German Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Norbert Rottgen, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius, US Army Europe and NATO ground forces commander Frederick Hodges, former Spanish Foreign Minister Ana de Palacio, former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, Russia’s State Duma member Ilya Ponomaryov, former Russian presidential adviser Andrei Illarionov, Russian opposition activist Masha Gessen, Pakistani writer Ahmed Rashid, along with Edward Lucas, a senior editor at The Economist.