PROFESSIONAL LUNCHEON
Sven Alkalaj,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bosnia and Herzegovina

The speech and Q & A will be in English.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the five newly independent states that emerged from the ashes of the former Yugoslavia. The disintegration of Yugoslavia, which was triggered by the conflict in Croatia, received its fatal blow when Bosnia decided to secede from the republic.

But the country had to pay a high price in terms of human casualties and suffering. Today, Bosnia and Herzegovina is trying to find its rightful place in the world community, and also struggling to forge a national identity that will unite its three major ethnic groups for the common cause of peace and prosperity.

Sven Alkalaj was appointed Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina in February 2007, after serving for more than a decade as ambassador to the United States, the Organization of American States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. His diplomatic career covers virtually the whole period of the country's existence as an independent state, which makes Alkalaj well versed in the situation not only in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but also in the broader Balkan region.

Don't miss this opportunity for a first-hand account of a region that now rarely makes headlines.

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Sven Alkalaj, Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina