The Brussels Diplomatic Academy at VUB (BDA) is hosting a series of webinars throughout May and June. The focus will be on issues across a wide range of themes covering the BDA’s cross-cutting and geographic fields of expertise including cultural and financial diplomacy, the trans-Atlantic relationship, and the role of international organisations during these times of crisis. Geographic spread is core to these debates and will cover Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, CIS countries, the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

Each webinar will be moderated by Ambassador Len Ishmael*, the BDA’s Global Affairs advisor with the objective of introducing the individual BDA coordinators and their fields of expertise to the virtual audience through robust conversations around topical issues.  The series will run from 19 May until 18 June, at 14:00-15:00 CET (GMT+1). Each webinar will have its own URL, so check below for the right link to the webinar of your choice. Anyone is welcome to join. More info can be obtained from delia.barbu@vub.be

The series kicks off on Tuesday 19 May, with “The Perfect Storm: How the COVID-19 pandemic and oil price crash combine to undermine prospects for geopolitical and economic stability in 2020 and beyond”. The session’s speaker is Bashir Bernard Siman OBE, Financial Diplomacy Coordinator for the BDA, and former UK Special Representative for Financial and Professional Services. You can join this session through this link

Next on the agenda are the following topics and speakers:

Friday 5 June 2020 – “Multilateralism & the role of international organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic: focus on Africa and the role of international financial institutions on the question of debt relief.”

Thursday 11 June 2020 – “Latin America and the Caribbean – Post COVID-19: risks and opportunities”.

*THIS WEBINAR HAS BEEN POSTPONED* - date to be confirmed â€“ “Cultural diplomacy in exceptional times: bridging the divide and helping the world cope with siege conditions”.

Friday 26 June 2020 -  â€śThe CIS & the Middle East: understanding different regions through the prism of the COVID-19 crisis”.

TBC – “A super-power in the making: China’s use of crises to deepen and expand influence and power in Europe and beyond”.

TBC â€“ “The role and value of a diplomatic academy in highly dynamic and fluid times”.

For more information on the Brussels Diplomatic Academy at VUB (BDA), its study programmes and their different events, check out the BDA website.

 

*Len Ishmael is former Ambassador of the Easter Caribbean States to the Kingdom of Belgium, and EU and past President of the 79-member African, Caribbean & Pacific (ACP) Committee of Ambassadors in Brussels. She was Director & Heard of the Regional Headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America & the Caribbean; Director General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, Alternate Governor of the World Bank and Director for the Foundation: Leadership for Environment and Development of the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City. She is a German Marshall Fund Fellow and Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South and a visiting Professor at the Mohammed 6 University in Morocco. She is The Fletcher School’s Tufts University GMAP Endowment Fellow and member of the Fletcher School’s GMAP Advisory Council. She was an expert witness at the House of Lords’ inquiry into Commonwealth efforts post Brexit to lift countries out of poverty through trade. She is the author of several publications on global politics and international relations. Dr Ishmael was conferred a Doctoral Degree in Development Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, and Global Master of Arts form the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. She was bestowed the Order of Merit of the Kingdom of Spain by HM King Carlos for her efforts in building the Spanish-Caribbean relationship.

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