MUNICH (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2020) The 56th Munich Security Conference, scheduled to run from Friday to Sunday, will focus this year on the West's failure to agree on common security strategy.
More than 500 international leaders, high level officials, representatives of international organizations and leading experts are expected to attend.
Climate change and other global challenges will be discussed at the conference, with special attention paid to the current crises in Libya, Persian Gulf and East Asia.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are expected to attend for the first time.� Among other world leaders set to speak at the panel discussions are Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
Russia will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. According to Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Lavrov will have a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the conference. He is expected to meet with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman. In addition, Lavrov will attend a working breakfast with his German counterpart, Heiko Maas.
Also in attendance at the conference will be foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Yemen � Mevlut Cavusoglu, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Mohamed Ali Al-Hakim and Mohammed Al-Hadhrami, respectively.
US delegation is set to include Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will make an appearance.
In light of coronavirus outbreak, Director General of the World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will be among the participants.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be one of the international business leaders at the MSC.
One of the key international events on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference will be the first meeting of the follow-up committee on the implementation of the decisions made at the Berlin conference on Libya held on January, 19. The committee is expected to meet Sunday.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russia is still deciding on its level of participation in this meeting.
In addition, a ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition Against the Islamic State (terrorist group banned in Russia) will be held on the sidelines of the conference.
Many organizations will hold their own side events.
