Panel discussion “Euro-Atlantic Integration – Slovak Experience for Ukraine” took place on September 19, in Uzhorod. The event was organized by the Institute for Public Affairs in cooperation with Uzhorod National University, NATO Information Centre in Uzhorod and Democratic Initiatives Foundation (Kiev). The IVO was represented by Martin Bútora and Grigorij Mesežnikov. They outlined Slovak Euro-Atlantic integration and NATO membership experience to the attending scholars and students. Transatlantic cooperation and relations among EU, NATO and Ukraine were also discussed in the context of current international development including recent Russian-Georgian conflict. Ukrainian participants from Uzhorod, Kiev and Donetsk research and academic institutions presented findings concerning selected questions of domestic political development of Ukraine and its international security policy. This event took place within the IVO project “Endorsing the Transatlantic Debate, Promoting Transatlantic Values, and Strengthening Euro-Atlantic Vector in Ukraine”  supported by GMF.

At the same day an informal round table discussion was organized for Slovak and Ukrainian experts at the venues of the Faculty of International Relations, the Uzhorod National University. The main points of the discussion were the questions of Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine and Slovak-Ukrainian civil society cooperation.


Participants of the panel discussion: Julij Hojdaš, director of the NATO Information Centre in Uzhorod, Svitlana Mytryayeva, director of the Uzhorod regional branch of Institute for Strategic Research, Grigorij Perepelica, director of the Diplomatic Academy of Ukrainian MFA, Ilko Kucheriv, director of the Democratic Initiatives Foundation (Kiev), Martin Bútora, Honorary President of IVO, Mikola Plinchuk, Dean of Faculty of International Relations of Uzhorod National University, and Grigorij Mesežnikov, President of IVO.


Opening remarks were delivered by Igor Todorov, deputy director of the Center of International Security, Donetsk National University, and Serhij Voloshchuk, political scientist (Uzhorod).


Participants filled up the auditorium up to the last seat.