PDP Co-Director Ashton B. Carter travels to Munich, Germany to participate in the Munich Conference on Security Policy

Munich, Germany – On February 9-11, 2007, PDP Co-Director Ashton B. Carter traveled to Munich, Germany as a delegate to the 43rd annual Munich Conference on Security Policy, formerly known as “Wehrkunde” and now frequently referred to as the “Security Davos”.   Dr. Carter was a member of the U.S. Congressional delegation led by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT).  The theme of this year’s conference was “Global Crises – Global Responsibilities” and the topics addressed ranged from “Peace in the Greater Middle East” to “NATO in the Age of Global Challenges” to “Russia’s Role in World Politics”.  Established in 1962 as a forum to encourage dialogue on issues of European and American security policy, the Munich Conference on Security Policy has evolved into an international discussion addressing international security challenges affecting every region of the world. 

Dr. Carter joined more than 300 world leaders from the government, business, and security sectors of their countries to come together in “peace through dialogue”, which has been the hallmark mission of the Munich conference since its inception. This mission functions both through the formal speeches and panels, but also through private and impromptu meetings of the conference’s delegates.  This year’s conference included news-making speeches by new U.S. Defense Secretary Bob Gates – who delivered one of his first speeches in his new capacity, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian Secretary of National Security Ali Larijani and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

While in Munich, Dr. Carter also served as a panelist for a forum sponsored by the Hanns Seidel Foundation titled “Transatlantic Security and Defense Relations after NATO’s Riga Summit”, at which he joined members of the German parliament and German leaders in international security policy.

Complete information about the Munich Conference on Security Policy may be found on the conference’s website at http://www.securityconference.de/index.php?menu_2007=&menu_konferenzen=&sprache=en &

To access Secretary Gates’ speech, please visit the U.S. Department of Defense’s website athttp://www.defenselink.mil/Speeches/Speech.aspx?SpeechID=1123

Complete information about the Hanns Seidel Foundation and its annual conference may be found on the foundation’s website at http://www.hss.de/homepage-e.shtml