YATA Final Report on the 14th General Assembly

YATA General Assembly

7^th- 9^th October 2009, Kyiv, Ukraine

The 14th YATA General Assembly took place in Kiev, Ukraine from the 7th to the 9th of October 2009, under the general theme “60 Years of NATO and looking ahead.” The General Assembly usually represents the early occasion to review the work and activities performed in the past year, to elaborate the way forward and discuss some of the most challenging issues for the Atlantic Community.

This year General assembly was organized with the gracious support of the Atlantic Council of Ukraine, the Atlantic Treaty Association, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the NATO-Ukraine Civil League and the Naumann Stiftung Foundation.

On October 7^th, a session on Atlanticism and new Media: communication challenges in the XXI Century was organized. It aimed at providing participants with an analysis on the challenges that journalists, communication experts and leaders face when communicating with their public – especially the younger generation. According to Sabina Castelfranco and Antoinette Nikolova, the greatest challenges that journalists and reporters find when reporting news or an event are twofold: they must try to guarantee impartiality, while being able to get enough variety of independent sources. Information availability versus reliability has been at the centre of the debate, as the speakers have addressed the audience with concrete experience and analysis.

Michel Duray, Head of NATO Public Diplomacy Outreach Country Section concluded the debate with precious insights on the efforts that NATO is dedicating to informing partner countries civil society.

During the same session, the issue of Atlanticism beyond borders has been analyzed in depth, thanks to the reports delivered by Marat Nurgaliyev, First Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakstan, Mohammed Tariq Ismati, Executive Director of the National Solidarity Programme of the Afghan Ministry or Rural Rehabilitation and Tahera Qurban Ali, Researcher at the Atlantic Council of Canada. Their view on Atlantic Community perceptions from partners countries, as well as their insights on the current situation in Central Asia – especially in Afghanistan – were of great interest for the participants.

On the same day, participants where hosted at the European University for a reception, where two memorable moments took place: first the Executive Board announced the dedication of the General assembly to a leading person of the Atlantic Movement. It was decided to dedicate this Kyiv Assembly to the memory of Karl Popper, the famous German philosopher who contributed to the debate on human rights, freedom and rule of law with his worldwide known ideas and concepts. Following, the Executive Board awarded four national chapters for their activeness and dedication to the Trans-Atlantic cause. The award for best international activity was given to the 14^th Edition of the Portuguese Atlantic Youth Seminar, organized in August by the Portuguese Atlantic Youth Association. The best national activity resulted to be the conference of “Environmental Change” organized by the Armenian Atlantic Chapter. Best Breakthrough activity was the “Energy For all, a Challenge to all” Conference organized by the Dutch Chapter, while most active chapter award was given to the Italian Chapter.

On the 8^th October, the YATA Council Meeting was attended by YATA representatives from 31 countries. Besides the annual reports and debates that followed, three were the major highlights:

- a video conference with Moscow Lomosov State University was organized. The video link was opened by the remarks of ATA President, Hon. Karl Lamers and it saw the participation of some 20 Russian students;

- the accession of the Belarusian chapter to the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association, as its 40^th member;

- a video campaign on “What does it mean to be an Atlanticist in XXI Century”, during which a series of video interviews where showed to the participants, along with a video on NATO history and most remarkable moments.

A new Executive Board for 2009-2010 has been elected. It includes Giuseppe Belardetti (Italy), President, Samuel de Paiva Pires (Portugal), Executive Vice- President, Tamas Godo (Hungary), Secretary General, Tornike Metreveli (Georgia), Vice- President for Outreach, Miroslav Mizera (Slovakia), Vice- President for Finance and Antti Talonen (Finland), Vice- President for Communication.

A final session on “Communicating Atlantic Values in the Ukrainian Civil Society was organized in cooperation with the Naumann Stiftung Fundation (NSF) and it saw the participation of Dr. Heike Dorenbacher, head of Ukraine and Belarus Desk at NSF, Col. Eberhard Von Seydlitz, Defense Attaché of the German Embassy to Ukraine, Dr. Tatiana Parkhalina, Vice President of the Russian Association for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation and Amb. Boris Tarasyuk, Deputy Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

The Atlantic Treaty Association General Assembly follow suits. It consisted of a series of panels and debates on the most pressing issues that the international community is facing in the years to come, ranging from energy security to public diplomacy initiatives, from the new NATO Strategic Concept to the security for civil society in XXI century.