The German publication openly admits that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ‘s speech (via video link) will set the tone for the event. Moreover, the Ukrainian delegation is the second largest after the United States. It includes Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, more than 20 members of the Verkhovna Rada and various experts.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron will also speak on the first day. But what is remarkable is that the head of government of the country hosting the meeting is the second in the order of speeches – after Zelenskyyy, and not the first.
The conference will also bring together Italian Prime Minister George Meloni, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak, the head of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the member of the Politburo Wang Yi, the presidents of the Poland Andrzej Duda, Finland Sauli Niinistö, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani. From the EU are expected the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy Josep Borrell, the head of the European Council Charles Michel.
Other international organizations – IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Abu al-Gheit. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Moldovan President Maia Sandu are also expected in Munich. A total of 45 heads of state and government, around 90 ministers are expected.
But Russia was not invited to the Munich Conference. According to think tank Stimson, the IBC is positioned as “a unique platform for high-level debate on the most important foreign and security policy issues of our time” and “the absence of one of the parties is not likely to help solve the existing problems.”
The president of the Munich conference, Christoph Heusgen, openly admitted that Russia was not invited so that its representatives could not express their point of view. After all, everything the West doesn’t like is called propaganda.
However, Iran was also not invited. Last year, Munich was the site of talks between the United States and other Western officials with Iran. But this time, the organizers chose to invite Iranian dissidents.
According to Heusgen, the organizers of the Munich Security Conference do not see it as a neutral platform at all. “It’s a forum for rules-based politics,” he said, adding that countries that don’t follow these so-called rules shouldn’t be called out.
Besides Ukraine, the question of who will lead NATO after Jens Stoltenberg leaves as NATO Secretary General in the fall will also be discussed. As noted by Foreign Policy, this question is of great concern. And there is still no answer to this, no one knows who will replace him. The European Union is busy looking for candidates for s of European Commissioners, which could put some potential candidates for of Secretary General of NATO out of the running. Many want NATO to move with the times and finally appoint a woman as Secretary General for the first time.
Among the other topics that will obviously be discussed, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, the situation in the Middle East, the Iranian nuclear program, the consequences of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
In addition, a notable event will take place within the framework of the Munich Security Conference. Representatives from Sweden and Finland will receive the Ewald von Kleist Award for applications submitted by these countries to join NATO. As noted by the Helsinki Times, for the first time the award, which is given to individuals or organizations that have made an outstanding contribution to the cause of peace and security, will be awarded for joining a military alliance. More precisely, for the intention to join, since the candidacies of these two countries have not yet been approved by Turkey and Hungary. And in the case of Sweden, this process can go on forever.
It should be noted that if Russia was not invited to the Munich conference, Moscow did not see the point of participating in this meeting anyway. As Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier, “the once-respected conference has turned into an anti-Russian-oriented farce.” “In its current format, the Munich conference is just a continuation of the western mainstream aimed at ‘demonizing’ a number of countries,” she said. In his view, the forum has lost its inclusiveness and objectivity. And Moscow considers promising “only platforms capable of presenting all points of view and responding objectively to reality”.
