Black Sea Security Forum 2024

The inaugural Black Sea Security Forum in 2024 brought together more than 450 guests in Odesa, Ukraine — the largest city on the Black Sea coast. It became a vital platform for dialogue on Russia’s unprovoked aggression and the evolving regional security landscape. Notably, it was the first major expert forum held outside Kyiv since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Keynote speaker

H.E. François Hollande

24th President of France

Speakers and panellists

Sergiu Ostaf

Director, CReDO, Republic of Moldova

Vladislav Davidzon

non-resident fellow, Atlantic Council

Taras Vysotskyi

Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine a.i.

Marianne Ward

Ukraine Country Director a.i., World Food Programme

Monika Palotai

Danube Institute

Troup Hemenway

Senior Advisor and Associate Director, Heritage Foundation

Oleksandr Merezhko

Member of the Parliament of Ukraine

Amb. Kurt Volker

Senior Intelligence Advisor, BGR Group; former Special Representative for Ukraine of the US

Sergiy Sydorenko

Editor, European Pravda

H.E. Mihai Popșoi

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Moldova

Amb. Ian Bond

Deputy Director, Center for European Reform

George Scutaru

former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Policy, U.S. Department of Defense(2019 – 2020)

Pavlo Klimkin

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2014 – 2019)

Kristóf György Veres

Danube Institute

Margareta Cederfelt

Member of the Parliament, Chair of the Swedish delegation to the IPU

Indrek Saar

Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Estonia (2019 – 2022)

Michael C. Ryan

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Policy, U.S. Department of Defense (2019-2020)

Vladimir Gjorchev

Member of Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia

Maria Piechowska

Ukrainian analyst, Polish Institute of International Affairs

Nicholas N. Eberstadt

Member of the Parliament, Chair of the Swedish delegation to the IPU

Rémi Duflot

Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the EU Delegation to Ukraine

Luke Coffey

Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute

Emanuelis Zingeris

Member of the Parliament, Lithuania

Kira Rudik

Member of Parliament, Leader of Political Party “Golos”

Hugo Antonio Acha

Director of Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba

Dr. Dalibor Rohac

Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Yevgeniya Gaber

Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council Türkiye

Rt Hon Tony Abbott

Prime Minister of Australia (2013-2015)

Col. Richard Kemp

CBE, United Kingdom

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze

Member of the Parliament, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Integration of Ukraine to the EU

Dr. Hanna Shelest

Director of the Security Studies Program, Ukrainian Prism Foreign Policy Council

Michał Kamiński

Deputy Marshal of the Senate, Poland

Brooks Newmark

Founder, Trypillian

H.E. Bridget Brink

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine (2020-2024)

Shelby Magid

Director of Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council

Gen. Wesley Clark

Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO( 1997-2000)

Col. Mykhailo Tretyak

Chief Specialist of the Marine Unmanned Systems Development, Department of the General Directorate of the Unmanned Systems

Mamuka Mamulashvili

Commander of the Georgian Legion, Armed Forces of Ukraine

Steven Moore

Founder & President of Ukraine Freedom Project

Video addresses

Jeanne Shaheen

U.S. Senator, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Ambassador Cindy McCain

Executive Director, UN World Food Programme

Ambassador Michael R. Carpenter

Senior Director for Europe at the National Security Council (2024-2025), U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (2021-2024)

James C. O’Brien

Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, U.A. Department of State (2023-2025)

Agenda

Overview of the full main program of the Black Sea Security Forum 2024.

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