Transatlantic Dialogue: Strengthening Cooperation on Democracy Support

Thanks to the support of the European Commission and other partners, NDI has organized a two-year dialogue program to facilitate the development of recommendations to strengthen transatlantic cooperation on democracy support.

The first phase of the dialogue primarily engaged political level actors, bringing together senior European and U.S. policymakers, including administration officials, members of Congress and the European Parliament, as well as opinion leaders from think tanks, academia and the broader transatlantic and democracy policy communities. The dialogue is co-chaired by:

• Madeleine K. Albright
  NDI Chairman, Former U.S. Secretary of State
• Jerzy Buzek
  President of the European Parliament
• Javier Solana
  Former European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign Security Policy
• Vin Weber
  Former Congressman, Former Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy

The second phase of the dialogue is focused more on an operational level, engaging democracy assistance donors and implementers from Europe and the U.S. as well as key representatives from rising democracies such as Brazil, India, Indonesia and South Africa.

Opening Conference, June 27-29, 2010, Washington, D.C.
NDI officially launched the transatlantic dialogue with an opening conference in Washington, D.C., on June 27-29. The opening conference concluded on June 29 with a moderated panel discussion at the National Press Club with the dialogue's co-chairs (See the video).

Roundtable with Emerging Democratic Powers, Feb. 6-8, 2011, Washington, D.C.
A group of politicians, civil society leaders and academics from the transatlantic community and emerging powers – including Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa – convened in February 2011 in Washington to discuss the potential for greater cooperation on democracy support.

Second Conference, March 13-15, 2011, Brussels, Belgium
The first phase of the transatlantic dialogue concluded with, a conference at the European Parliament in Brussels from March 13-15. The event included a public panel discussion which took place at Concert Noble on March 15.

Final Conference, Oct. 5-6, 2011, Bellagio, Italy
Senior officials from key bilateral aid agencies, thought leaders and high-level representatives from rising democracies met to advance strategic thinking on democracy support policy and consider how best to put into practice a number of  recommendations that have been developed in previous meetings of the dialogue.

The recommendations and conclusions that have resulted from this two-year program will be published in late 2011 and released at a public event in Washington, D.C.

Dialogue participants, sign in here.

NDI gratefully acknowledges the support of its partners in the transatlantic dialogue program. Dialogue partners include: the European Commission; the National Endowment for Democracy; the European Parliament’s Office for the Promotion of Parliamentary Democracy; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; the European Partnership for Democracy: the German Marshall Fund of the United States; the U.S. Mission to the EU; Carnegie Europe; and the Rockefeller Foundation.

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