To accomplish our mission and goals, we engage thought-leaders, foreign and security policy experts, as well as leading youth and women organizations, with a particular interest in international relations, to discuss, inform, equip and connect stakeholders through policy and strategy research, analysis and discourse. We organize roundtable discussions, trainings and conferences on current foreign and security policy challenges.
Activities
Conferences
The 2022 Budapest Strategy Conference
The 2023 Budapest Strategy Conference
S&L’s president and founder was key in launching the international conference on foreign and security policy challenges to euro-atlantic cooperation in 2022. In the cooperation of the International Republican Institute, the Hungarian Atlantic Council, and the Equilibrium Institute, the event gathered together foreign and security policy experts, heads of think tanks, departments of international relations of various universities for a 1,5 day conference on Chatham House rules. The Opening Speech was held by Janos Martonyi, Hungary’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the concluding remarks were offered by Zsolt Nemeth, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Hungary.
Read the agenda here.
The second conference on security and foreign policy challenges involved over 150 participants and offered a very important platform for expert discussion. Co-organized by the Hungarian Atlantic Council and the IRI, the conference was on-invitation only, based on Chatham House rules. The 1,5 day event covered topics such as the challenges to transatlantic security, Russia’s war against Ukraine, China’s strategic investments in Europe, the evolution of Russian strategic thinking, disinformation and the war of narratives.
In line with the first conference, the Opening Speech was held by Janos Martonyi, Hungary’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the concluding remarks were given by Zsolt Nemeth, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Hungary, the former Minister of Foreign affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin, Kurt Volker, former US Ambassador to NATO and Jay Truesdale. The event’s Luncheon Keynote was offered by Benedetta Berti, Office of NATO Secretary General.
Read the program here.
2022
2023
2024 marks a landmark year: In cooperation with the Equilibrium Institute and NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division, the first major international strategy conference was organized in Budapest. With over 50 international speakers and 300 participants, the 2024 Budapest Energy and Security Talks was a platform for strategic discussion and exchange in all the major security challenges that lie ahead of the transatlantic community. Strategy and Leadership for a New Central Europe was a proud partner of the event held in the Kempinski Hotel.
See the detailed program here.
Watch the video made of the event.
Follow the major panel discussions and the most important high-level messages sent to conference participants here.
The 2024 Budapest Energy and Security Talks Conference
2024
SAVE THE DATE!
The 2025 Budapest Energy and Security Talks will be held on May 14-16, 2025.
Roundtables
Budapest Roundtable
Warsaw Roundtable Series
On the invitation of S&L President Reka Szemerkenyi, Matt Boyse, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US State Department was Guest of Honor in the roundtable discussion organized by the Hungarian Atlantic Council entitled “Transatlantic Challenges and Cooperation, The Importance of US-Hungarian Relations.”
In cooperation with SGH - the Warsaw University of Economics, S&L launched a roundtable discussion series focusing on the most important challenges of energy security for the CEE region. The series highlighted the trilemma of solving the energy challenges of Central Europe, leaving the era of unilateral Russian import dependence, entering the era of the green transition. It set to investigate the necessary steps for Poland to remain in the lead for the new era of green energy, especially with a heavy focus on innovation in the energy sector. The series provided a unique opportunity for SGH students to interact with energy experts, top analysts, decision makers, and business leaders - as well as visiting leading American business representatives.
Fall 2023
February 2024
Contribution to High-Level International Exchanges
April 2024 Uzhorod, Ukraine
Conference organized by the Institute for Central European Strategy, entitled “Ukraine, Central Europe, The Future”. High-level Panel Speaker with Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Rufin Zamfir, Programmes Director at GlobalFocus Center Romania, Réka Szemerkényi, Former State Secretary, Foreign and Security Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Hungary, Ábel Ravasz, Advisor to the minister of education of the Slovak Republic, emeritus president of the Mathias Bel Institute.
May 2024 Rome, Italy
Together for Humanity – Dialogue for a New Humanity – Conference organized by the New Humanity Movement
May 2024 Warsaw
“Strategic Ark” conference organized by PISM, the Polish Institute for International Affairs
May 2024 Budapest
Speech on the Three Seas Initiative, Economic roundtable organized by the Equilibrium Institute
May 2024 Prague
Transatlantic Defense Forum Conference, a high-level event on the side of the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers
June 2024 Budapest
Ronald Reagan Memorial Conference, organized by the Peter Pazmany Catholic University and the Ronald Reagan Memorial Committee. Organized on 5 June 2024 at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest, opened by Dr. Zsolt Semjén, Deputy Prime Minister, President of the Ronald Reagan Memorial Committee and Dr. László Komáromi, Dean, the Pázmány Péter Catholic University. Video message by former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Speakers: Prof. Steven F. Hayward, visiting professor at Berkeley School of Law, author of “The Age of Reagan”: “Ronald Reagan’s timeless lessons for the 21st century.” John O’Sullivan, president and director, Danube Institute, author of “The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister”: “The simultaneous presence in the highest offices of Reagan, Thatcher and Pope John Paul II., as the cause of the Soviet collapse”
High-level Speaker in the Panel “Ronald Reagan and the changing US foreign policy doctrine” Dr. Réka Szemerkényi, former national security and foreign policy adviser, former Ambassador of Hungary to the United States
Prof. Attila Horváth, Judge of the Constitutional Court of Hungary: “How did Ronald Reagan’s policy bring down the Berlin Wall and the Soviet system?” Ambassador Dr. István Gyarmati, President of the Institute for Democratic Transition: “Ronald Reagan and the changes in the concept of the US defense policy” Prof. Marcel Szabó, Judge of the Constitutional Court of Hungary: “Ronald Reagan’s influence on the change of the international legal order.”
June 2024 Greece
Roundtable discussion entitled “Transatlantic Security and the Impact of the Evolving Relationship between Russia and China”
July 2024 Washington DC
NATO Summit – Public Forum – Strategy and Leadership for a New Central Europe was honored to be invited together with Equilibrium Institute to represent Hungary at the high-level strategy forum organized as the side event of NATO’s celebratory Summit of its 75 th anniversary.
July 2024 Romania
Participation at the Annual Summer University Tusvanyos.
August 2024 Georgia
Kutaisi Youth Roundtable Discussion on the Future of Transatlantic Cooperation and Security
August 2024 Prague
Participation at the annual GlobSec Conference, first time in Prague.
September 2024 Karpacz
S&L New Central Europe Secretary General Kris Bledowski participated as Speaker at the annual Karpacz Economic Forum in Poland.
September 2024 Budapest
The Budapest Energy and Security Talks conference main partner organization. See above,
September 2024 Budapest
Danube Institute Geopolitical Summit Conference
September 2024 Budapest Ludovika
Conference ”European Defence Industry and Innovation Conference” – organized by the John Lukacs Institute in the Ludovika University of Public Service, Ceremonial Hall on 20 September 2024. High-Level Panel Moderator of Opening Panel entitled: „Changes in Europe's security environment: new challenges and their impact on defence industry” Gergely Deli, Rector of the Ludovika University of Public Service. Opening Keynote Speaker: Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Minister of Defence of Hungary “Defence Capability Development and Defence Industrial Aspects” Speakers: Timo Pesonen, Director- General for Defence Industry and Space of the European Commission.
September 2024 Budapest
Youth Roundtable on “The US Elections - What to Expect” – meeting and presentation to graduating high school students at the Kürt Iskola in Budapest.
October 2024 Warsaw
High-level speaker at the Warsaw Security Forum, in panel “Energy Security as the Basis for Just Transition in Post-Industrial Areas” Speakers: Josh Freed - Senior Vice President for Climate & Energy, ThirdWay, USA ● Georg Zachmann - Senior Fellow, Bruegel ● Daniel Poneman - US Deputy Secretary of Energy(2009-2014), USA ● Reka Szemerkenyi - Senior Advisor, Equilibrium Institute, Hungary Moderator: Michał Kurtyka – Chair of the Energy Security and ClimateTrack, Warsaw Security Forum, Minister of Climate and Environment(2019-2021), Poland. Session in partnership with the Central European Initiative.