8:30–9:00: Registration

9:00–9:45
Welcome remarks:Daniel Serwer, Director of the Conflict Management Program (SAIS)and Igor Bandovic, Senior Programme Manager, European Fund for the Balkans

Keynote Address
Florian Bieber– Coordinator of the BiEPAG. Professor of Southeast European History and Politics and Director of the Centre for Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz, Austria

Discussant:Daniel Serwer, Director, Conflict Management Program, SAIS

9:45 – 10:45Panel:The European future for the Western Balkans

• Srdjan Cvijic, Senior Policy Analyst, Open Society European Policy Institute, Brussels
• Mirna Vlasic Feketija,Minister-Counselor, Political Affairs, Embassy of the Republic of Croatia to the United States (tbc)
• Jovana Marovic, Executive Director, Politikon, Podgorica, Montenegro
• Sasha Toperich,Senior Executive Vice President of the Transatlantic Leadership Network (Moderator)

10:45 – 11:00 Break

11:00– 12:00Panel:Managing (Overdue) Conflicts in the Western Balkans

• Zoran Nechev, Senior Researcher, Institute for Democracy ”Societas Civilis”, Skopje, North Macedonia
• Majda Ruge, Foreign Policy Institute, SAIS
• Ed Joseph, Foreign Policy Institute, SAIS (Moderator)

12:00 – 13:00 Panel:Security Challenges in the Western Balkans: Foreign Interference, Refugees, and Radical Extremism

• Tena Prelec, Research Associate, LSE European Institute, London, UK
• Tanja Dramac JiriesProgram Officer at the National Endowment for Democracy, portfolio on Bosnia and Serbia
• Moderator: Sinisa Vukovic, Associate Director, Conflict Management, SAIS