9th Yalta Annual Meeting (YES)

Well the 9th Yalta Annual Meeting as sponsored by one of Ukraine’s most famous Oligarchy, Viktor Pinchuk, son-in-law of ex-President Kuchma, has begun.

Amongst those attending are EU Commissioner Stefan Fule, Swedish FM Carl Bildt, Condi Rice ex US Secretary of State, Gordon Brown ex-Prime Minister of the UK, Newt Gingrich and William Daley and numerous others.  (So many I don’t want to list them all, but about 200 politicians and business leaders from about 20 nations).

It was opened jointly by President Yanukovych and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and takes places at the rather pleasant Livadia Palace.

The title of the conference - “Ukraine and the World - Addressing tomorrow’s challenges together” - Quite a task, as many would argue that since 1991 Ukraine has never even dealt with the challenges of the present internally, let alone those of tomorrow.

Even more of a task to deal with all those heavy, difficult and complex issues between 13 - 16 September.

Somehow I suspect the Yalta Car Rally which is happening at the same time will create far more public interest and enthusiasm.