By Christine June
Public Affairs Office
George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (Jan. 21, 2016) - Our Seminar on Regional Security starts today, Thursday, Jan. 21 and ends Feb. 11.

Program director is Colonel (GS) Diplom-Ingenieur Jörg Kunze, and the deputy directors are Dr. Petra Weyland, professor of Middle Eastern Affairs, and U.S. Army Col. John H. Knightstep.

This is the fourth time the Marshall Center has offered this as a resident program.

Currently, there are 42 participants from 25 countries: Albania Armenia, Azerbaijan; Bosnia & Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Czech Republic; Estonia; Georgia; Germany; Greece; Kazakhstan; Kosovo; Latvia; Lithuania; Macedonia; Moldovia; Mongolia; Montenegro; Republic of Korea; Romania; Serbia; Slovakia; Ukraine; and, United States.

Participant Overview: 18 are Marshall Center alumni; 13 from the military in ranks O-4 to O-6; 28 from civilian organizations; 29 males and 12 females; and 38 speak English with three speaking Russian.

Organizations Represented: 12 from Ministry of Defense, eight from Ministry of Foreign Affairs; four from Ministry of Interior or Internal Security; four from cabinet level ministries; one from legislative branch; one from police department, one from non-governmental organization; one from an academic institution.

This is the fourth iteration of this resident program at the Marshall Center.

Five case studies will be examined: Ukraine; Libya; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Georgia; and, Syria.

Scheduled guest speakers: Oksana Syroyid, Vice Speaker Ukraine Parliament; GenLt (ret) Buzhinsky, Chairman Executive Board PIR Center – a NGO based in Russia; Geoffrey Pyatt, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine; Antonio Missiroli Director of European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS (EU); Ihor Dolhov, Deputy Defense Minister Ukraine Jennifer Gavito , from U.S. Consul General and who will be the graduation speaker; and, Dr. Marian Staszewski, Deputy Head of Mission, Office of the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for peace talks on the conflict in eastern Ukraine.