The proposal to raise greater interest in public policy questions among the business community in Central and Eastern Europe will be launched in Prague on 26 April 2007 by PASOS at a conference, Fostering Philanthropy in Europe’s New Democracies. The PASOS international secretariat is located in Prague, Czech Republic, headed by Executive Director Jeff Lovitt, former Communications Director at the Berlin-based international secretariat of Transparency International, the anti-corruption watchdog.
Soros will be joined at the conference, hosted by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, by leading representatives of business and civil society in Central Europe, including Zdeněk Bakala, Chairman of RPG Industries, Robert R. Amsterdam, the defence counsel of jailed Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Vazil Hudák, Vice-President, Central/Eastern Europe and the CIS, of Citigroup, and Vita Terauda, PASOS Chair and Director of Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS in Latvia. The panel also includes Lenka Surotchak, Director of the Pontis Foundation in Slovakia, and Martin M. Šimečka, editor of Respekt weekly newspaper. Alexandr Vondra, Czech Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs, will present the Czech government’s perspective, and the conference will be opened by Dr Jeffrey Gedmin, the new President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The conference, held in Prague, coincides with the meeting on 25-27 April of the international Board of Directors of PASOS, leading think-tank experts from Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. PASOS Chair Vita Terauda is Director of Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS in Riga, Latvia, and former Minster of State Reform with responsibility for launching the reform of Latvia's public administration and local government affairs. PASOS Deputy Chair Dr Jacek Kucharczyk, one of Poland’s best-known political commentators, is Director for Programming at the Institute of Public Affairs, a leading think-tank in Warsaw.
Another PASOS Board member, Cholpon Nogoibaeva, is Programme Director of the Soros Foundation Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek, where she leads the Public Administration, Economic Reform, Information and Education programmes of the Foundation. George Tarkhan-Mouravi, co-director of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in Tbilisi, Georgia, specialises in social and political analysis, Caucasian politics, democratic transition, development and poverty studies.
Their Board colleagues include Adrian Ionescu, Programme Director of the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative of the Open Society Institute in Budapest, Darina Kadunkova, Deputy Development Director at the European Institute, Sofia, and David Král, President of EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy in Prague.
The PASOS conference, Fostering Philanthropy in Europe’s New Democracies, takes place at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Vinohradská 1, Prague, Czech Republic, from 09.00-12.30 on Thursday 26 April 2007. Media with cameras should arrive at 08.00. Registration is required by at the latest 18.00 on Wednesday 25 April 2007 by calling +420 2223 14833 or sending an email to
philanthropy@pasos.org
For requests for interviews with PASOS Board members, please contact PASOS Executive Director Jeff Lovitt at
jefflovitt@pasos.org or on +420 2223 13644 or PASOS Events Manager Eva Rybková at
eva.rybkova@pasos.org or on +420 2223 14833.
PASOS comprises the following policy centres:
(* Associate members)
Albania
Institute for Contemporary Studies (ISB), Tirana
Azerbaijan
Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD), Baku
Economic Research Center (ERC), Baku
Bulgaria
Center for Economic Development (CED), Sofia
European Institute (EI), Sofia
International Centre for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations (IMIR), Sofia*
Croatia
iDEMO Institute for Democracy, Zagreb*
Czech Republic
Association for International Affairs (AMO), Prague*
EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, Prague
Estonia
PRAXIS Center for Policy Studies (PRAXIS), Tallinn
Georgia
Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD), Tbilisi
Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), Tbilisi
Hungary
Center for Educational Policy Analysis (CEPA), Budapest
Center for Policy Studies at the Central European University (CPS - CEU), Budapest
Local Government Initiative Development Limited (LGID), Budapest
Kazakhstan
Public Policy Research Center (PPRC), Almaty
Kyrgyzstan
Center for Public Policy, Bishkek
Latvia
Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS, Riga
Macedonia
Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), Skopje
International Centre for European Culture Euro Balkan Institute (Euro-Balkan), Skopje
Moldova
Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) “Viitorul“, Chisinau
Institute for Public Policy (IPP), Chisinau
Poland
Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw
Romania
Center for Rural Assistance (CRA), Timisoara
Institute for Public Policy (IPP), Bucharest
Romanian Center for Economic Policies (CEROPE), Bucharest
Russia
Center for Legal Support to Local Government (LSLG), Moscow
Strategia - St. Petersburg Center for Humanities and Political Studies, St Petersburg
Serbia
Jefferson Institute, Belgrade
Slovakia
Institute for Public Affairs (IVO), Bratislava
Slovenia
Peace Institute - Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies, Ljubljana
Ukraine
International Centre for Policy Studies (ICPS), Kiev
For contact details, see
www.pasos.org
