Centennial of Baltic countries to be celebrated at Stanford University

TALLINN - A conference dedicated to the centennial of the three Baltic countries, aimed at fostering contacts between Baltic and U.S. researchers and students and emphasizing the importance of Baltc studies for international research, will start at Stanford University on Friday.

The conference is organized by the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS), which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, Archimedes Foundation said in a press release.

The three-day program, to be held on Stanford University campus on June 1-3, will feature approximately 50 panels, roundtable discussions and workshops, and more than 400 experts, academics and entrepreneurs from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are to take part in it.

The opening keynote talk of the conference, "Russian and East European Studies and Baltic Studies: A Historical Exploration," will be delivered by Norman Naimark. The conference's official opening ceremony will feature a keynote talk, "The Baltic States and Human Rights in Europe: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," by Nils Muiznieks, whereas the third keynote talk, "50 Years of Transforming Geopolitics and Baltic Studies," will be delivered by Agnia Grigas.

The contributors from Estonia are the University of Tartu, Archimedes Foundation, the Estonian National Museum, Tallinn University, and many others. The Estonian speakers will include former president Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Lauri Malksoo, Raul Eamets, Partel Piirimae, Sten Tamkivi, Birute Klaas, Linnar Viik and Marju Lauristin.

A roundtable discussion featuring the Baltic foreign ministers Sven Mikser, who will take part via conference call, Edgars Rinkevics, and Linas Linkevicius, chaired by noted political scientist Anna Grzymala-Busse, professor in the Department of Political Science at Stanford, will be held as part of the conference on Friday.

The conference will also include numerous additional events, such as evening receptions, film screenings, exhibits, and tours of Stanford's Baltic collections.

Held every two years, the AABS conferences are the biggest meetings on Baltic studies worldwide. The conference was held at the University of Pennsylvania in 2016, at Yale in 2014 and at University of Illinois at Chicago in 2012.