Friday, april 23

09.30-11.00:

Plenary Session #4 (Ballroom)

THE NEW GREAT GAME: INTERNATIONAL BATTLE FOR INFLUENCE IN CENTRAL ASIA

The geopolitical and economic importance of the Central Asian and Caucasian republics is attracting increasing international attention. What are the aims and interests of the big powers, China, Russia and the United States? This discussion will focus on their various policies to win friends and influence in the region: military bases, oil exploration, business investment, information campaigns. Also, the challenges to security and stability in the region - terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, leadership and regime transition - and how they are covered in the media.

Producer: The International Institute for Modern Politics, Kazakhstan

Keynote speaker: Richard Holbrooke, Vice Chairman, Perseus, LLC, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Assistant Secretary of State, USA
Chair: Erlan Karin, Director of the International Institute for Modern Politics, Kazakhstan
Panelists:
Jean Fournet, Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, NATO
Dr. Ariel Cohen, Research fellow, Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Security, the Heritage Foundation, USA
Dr. Ian Bremmer, President, Eurasia Group, USA
Irina Zvyagelskaya, Vice-president, Center for Strategic and Political Research, Russia
Marat Tazhin, The First Deputy Head of the President's Office, Kazakhstan

11.00-11.30:	Coffee break (Ballroom lobby)
11.30-13.00:	Plenary Session #5 (Ballroom)

NORTH KOREA - A CASE IN ISOLATION

One of the world's most secretive societies, North Korea inspires fear and curiosity. Its nuclear ambitions could make it the next big challenge to world peace. How are the external media, Asian and Western, covering the story? How fair and informed is their reporting about conditions inside the country and what drives the North Korean leadership? And what about the internal media - just a steady stream of government propaganda?

Producer: Ewa Ewart, BBC Producer, UK
Chair: John Owen-Davies, Former Reuters Bureau Chief and member of the Korea Group at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, UK
Keynote speaker: Richard Perle, Resident Fellow at American Enterprise Institute; former Chairman of the Defense Policy Board (2001-2003); former Assistant Secretary of Defense (1981-1987)
Panelists:
Vladimir Rerikh, Editor-in-chief, "ASAR" newspaper, Kazakhstan
Ewa Ewart, BBC Producer, UK
Shiraz Paracha, journalist, Pakistan

13.00-14.30:	Lunch and presentation hosted by the British-Kazakh Society (Asian Cafe, Regent hotel)
15.30-21.00:	Cultural Excursion hosted by Almaty Oblast Akim Mr. Kulmakhanov, Tau-Dastarkhan, Alma-Arasan gorge