Security Challenges in South-East Europe – Iasi, November 3rd

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Security Challenges in South-East Europe – Iasi, November 3rd

On November 3rd 2017, New Strategy Center, and its partners from Iasi, Universitatea „Al. I. Cuza” , Universitatea Tehnică „Gheorghe Asachi” and Iași City Hall organized the international conference “Security Challenges in South-East Europe”.

Panel 1.  Old and new challenges to the South-East Europe’s security
Moderators: Mr. Dan DUNGACIU, member of the Scientific Council of New Strategy Center, and Mr. Gheorghe IACOB, Vice-chancellor of „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University;
Guests:

  1. Mr. Victor MICULA, state secretary, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
  2. Mrs. Abigail RUPP, Deputy Chief of Mission, the US Embassy in Romania;
  3. Mr. Igor MUNTEANU, president of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives „Viitorul”, the Republic of Moldova;
  4. Mrs. Deborah SANDERS, King’s College, London, Great Britain;
  5. Mr. Tomasz DĄBOROWSKI, Senior Fellow, Central European Department, Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), Poland.

During the fist panel, the discussions focused on the classic and emergent threats to the regional security, as well as on Romania’s role of sustaining EU and NATO’s policies meant to increase security and to counteract these threats. There is need of enhanced EU’s involvement and strong NATO’s presence, as a consistent discouraging element designed to  maintain peace in the region. NATO and EU can collaborate to strengthening the resilience of the countries in this region.

It was stated that the Republic of Moldova remains Romania’s number one priority in terms of foreign policy and from the perspective of the strategic partnerships. The arguments are based not only on the granted funds and investments, but also on the energy inter-connectivity projects between Romanian and the Republic of Moldova will be implemented.

Noticing Russia’s aggressive actions in the Black Sea, the refugees’ crisis and the war in Syria, increased tensions in the Balkans since the illegal annexation of Crimea, both NATO and USA renewed their engagement towards the 5th Article of the North Atlantic Treaty. Considering the 2% of the GDP allocation for defense and the engagement regarding military acquisitions, Romania became a model.

Another top subject was the situation in Ukraine, a country facing multiple threats, which affect even its survival as a state. Turkey, on the other hand, has a regional approach, thus facing regional challenges with regional solutions. Therefore, NATO’s direct involvement is affected. The conflict in Ukraine is a major problem for the regional security, and Brussels already shows a so-called ‘Ukrainian fatigue’, fact that leads to  a pronounced distancing between Brussels and Kiev. Moreover, some of Ukraine’s decisions, such as the recent education law, affect even the relationships with those who might supported it in getting closer to the West.

Please find bellow two of the speakers’ presentations:

Presentation – Mrs. Deborah Sanders

Presentation – Mr. Tomasz Daborowski

Panel 2. Cyber security and increasing challenges in this field
Moderators: Mr. Daniel CONDURACHE, Vice-Chancellor of „Gheorghe Asachi” University, and Mr.Adrian IFTENE, dean of Science Computer Faculty, „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University.

Guests:

  1. Mrs. Laura G. BRENT, Cyber Defence Officer, Emerging Security Challenges Division, NATO;
  2. Mr. Gabriel DINU, Department Chief, National Center Cyberint, The Romanian Intelligence Service;
  3. Mr. Tal PAVEL, research fellow, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), Israel;
  4. Mr. Dragoș GAVRILUȚ, Science Computer Faculty, „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University;
  5. Mr. Cristian AMARANDEI, Control Engineering and Computers Faculty, „Gheorghe Asachi” University.

In the second panel, the debates concentrated on security challenges in the cyber field. The security risks in the region make us a target also from the cyber security point of view, and to answer to such a new threat it is compulsory to increase the resilience of the other state sin this area. On NATO level, cyber space mainly means team activity, underlining Romania’s contribution as leader in the NATO program of cyber defense in Ukraine. It is very important to invest in multilateral relationships with all partners, because cyber security can be achieved only through cooperation, sharing resources and good practices. The safety of the computer networks is the result of the common effort and knowledge transfer i necessary in this process.

Also, the debates showed that human factor in the cyber space leads to some social engineering models, aspect related to the manipulation of natural human predisposition to trust. Therefore, users represent the first line of defense in front of the challenges to the cyber security.

Please find bellow two of the speakers’ presentations:

Presentation – Mr. Tal Pavel

Presentation – Mr. Cristian Amarandei

* A selection of pictures is available in ‘Photo/video’ section.

The video transmission of the conference is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl7ny5Xc8Es&feature=youtu.be