White House Summit

Analytica’s Security Research Fellow Andreja Bogdanovski participated at the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism between 16 – 20 February in Washington DC. The purpose of the Summit was to develop a multi-stakeholder action agenda to address the phenomenon of violent extremism.

The summit included over 60 countries’ representatives, as well as the High Representative and Vice President of the European Union Federica Mogherini, the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and senior officials from regional organizations and other multinational bodies, as well as representatives from the private sector from civil society.

The President of the United States Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have both addressed the threat of ISIS while at the same time making a clear statement that “We are not at war with Islam” a clear message hoping to reach as many people as possible.

On the last day of his visit Mr.Bogdanovski had meetings with representatives of the US Department of State and other representatives from the Western Balkans discussing current challenges when it comes to the issue of foreign fighters where he stressed the need for regionalising efforts in addressing such a common threat. Mr. Bogdanovski also had the chance to meet prominent think tanks representatives and security analysts at the Washington Institute for Near East Policies roundtable on rehabilitation and reintegration of foreign fighters such as Gilles de Kerchove, EU’s Counterterrorism coordinator.