Annual Global Meeting to Focus on Threats to Democracy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 30, 2015

Washington, DC—Halifax International Security Forum today released the draft Topical Agenda for this year’s Forum to be held November 20-22 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The mix of on-the-record plenary sessions and smaller, off-the-record sessions covers a wide range of security issues affecting individuals and families on every continent.

Since 2009, beginning with the first Halifax International Security Forum, the subjects covered at the November gathering have more often than not proven to be prescient in terms of issues the international security community would be focused on the following year. In November 2013, for example, the plenary “Free Radicals With Return Tickets” addressed publicly the critical issue of Western youth joining radical terrorist organizations in increasing numbers prior to this becoming a major story followed by international media. Similarly, in November 2014, the Forum’s panel “(Re-)Visit Cuba” forecast to keen observers the thawing of relations between Cuba and the United States.

This year will be no different. “All year long, we consult closely with democratic governments around the world to identify the real and complicated threats to a modern world,” said Peter Van Praagh, President of Halifax International Security Forum. “Once identified, we create the agenda for necessary conversations that lead to concrete cooperation and results.”

While the titles of the panels are meant to provoke reaction, the issues they address are both timely and serious.

The Halifax International Security Forum Agenda Working Group meets through the summer months to complete the agenda. To ensure that the agenda is exactly relevant to all of its participants from around the world, the final version of the Halifax Agenda will be released just prior to the Forum.

Halifax International Security Forum brings together individuals who are on the ground facing consequential local threats, writers who challenge and influence the world’s thinking on security, and military and political decision-makers who make the tough choices.

Halifax International Security Forum is a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, DC.

2015 DRAFT TOPICAL AGENDA

Plenary Sessions (On-the-Record)

Cooperate, Contain, or Conquer: Prioritizing Strategy 70 Years On
Breaking Rules: Discipline or Disorder in the Global Playground
Breaking Tradition: Modern Muslims Advance
Broken China: Handle with Care
The American Fix: Best Dosage for Optimal Results
Responsibility to Welcome: Yours. Mine. Ours.
Hi-Tech, Bio-Tech: Unleashing Known Unknowns
Financing Terror: Selling Drugs, Enslaving Women, Making Money

Small Group Sessions (Off-the-Record)

Arctic Rivalries
From Athens to Brussels: Europe on the Line
Being Israel
Betting on the African Union
Cheap Energy, Pricey Consequences
China’s Bottom Line: A Dim Sum
Climate: Warming Up for Paris
Come Together? The Case for a United Korea
The Cuban Thaw and the Future of Latin American Democracy
(Cyber) Rulers of the World
Eurasian Futures: The Sino-Russian Axis
Inclusive Security: Winning With Women
From India to Japan: The Importance of Democratic Asia
Making Peace: Lessons from Colombia
Mullahs with Moolah: The World After the Iran Deal
The Next Wave of Attack: Terror on the Trains
Nigeria’s Next Steps
Post-American Stress Disorder: From Afghanistan to ISIS
Putin Rules by Putin’s Rules
Qui est Charlie? Europe’s Integration Problem
Ruling the Waves: China Whets Its Dream
Terror Plots, Meet Covert Ops
Turkey’s Tough Neighborhood
Unhelpful Help: The Saudi Model
Ukraine’s Tug of War
What’s New with Nukes

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