On Friday, the Munich Security Conference will be inaugurated by political leaders from almost 40 different countries, including US Vice President Kamala Harris, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The Ukrainian conflict and Western policies toward Russia will be the main topics of discussion at the annual conference, which is also known as the “Davos for Defense.”
The conference’s opening address is anticipated to be delivered by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy via videolink, and Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, will be there in person.
The official representatives of Russia are not invited, according to Christoph Heusgen, the chairman of the Munich Security Conference, “not to give them a platform for their propaganda.”
The French President Emmanuel Macron will speak after German Foreign Minister Horst Scholz on Friday to discuss Berlin’s new foreign and defense policy.
On Saturday, Harris and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will speak at the conference about the security and cooperation between the two countries.
Participants include Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, EU Commission Chair Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.