Transatlantic Marshall Dialogue

The Honorable Urmas Paet, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, and The Honorable Kurt Volker, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, engaged in an informal dialogue on critical challenges and issues facing transatlantic relations. Moderated by Heather Conley, Director and Senior Fellow of the Europe Program at CSIS, a range of topics will be discussed including prospects for NATO's future, U.S. and European efforts to reset relations with Russia one year after the Russian - Georgian conflict, the political impact of the economic crisis on the Baltic region, and an assessment of current regional political and energy security challenges.

Minister Urmas Paet has served under Prime Minister Andrus Ansip as the Minister of Foreign Affairs since April 2005. Having started his career in journalism at Estonian Radio as the editor in the Chief Editorial Office of Foreign News in 1991, Minister Paet entered politics in 1999 as an Advisor to the Estonian Reform Party, a position that he held until April 2005. He also served in the Tallinn City administration until 2003. Prior to his appointment as Foreign Minister, Minister Paet served as Minister of Culture. Foreign Minister Paet is a graduate of the University of Tartu and he received his Masters in International Relations at the University of Oslo.

Ambassador Kurt Volker recently joined The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Center on Transatlantic Relations (CTR) as managing director and senior fellow. Formerly, he served as the U.S. Ambassador to NATO since July 2008, coordinating preparations for NATO's 60th Anniversary Summit. Before assuming his duties at NATO, Ambassador Volker served for three years as the U.S. Department of State's Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, overseeing U.S.-EU relations, NATO and OSCE policy, and bilateral relations with Western Europe. Ambassador Volker served for four years on the National Security Council staff and for two years as deputy chief of staff to then-NATO Secretary General George Robertson.

This event is invitation only.