INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
What Future for the Kurds in Iraq ?

Organised by: The Kurdish Institute of Paris
Friday 29 november 2002
At the Salle Victor Hugo
101 rue de l'Université, 75007 Paris

PROGRAM

8.45: Welcoming speech.

9.25: Opening speech : Jalal Talabani, Secretary General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

9.30 - 11.00 : Panel 1 : Is the status quo tenable ?
· Moderator: Alain Gresh, Editor in Chief of the Le Monde Diplomatique
· Keynote Speaker: Gérard Chaliand, geopolitical expert, back from Iraqi Kurdistan.

DISCUSSANTS :
· Hamit Bozarslan, lecturer at the Ecole des hautes études en Sciences Sociasles (School of Advanced Social Sciences)
· Fuad Hussein, Vice-President of the Paris Kurdish Institute (Amsterdam)
· Pierre-Jean Luizard, specialist on Iraq
· Adnan Mufti, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdish Regional Government (Suleimaniah)
· Dr. Mowafaq Al Rubaie, Iraqi opposition, London.

11.00 - 12.45: Panel 2 : The situation of the Kurds and the minorities in Kurdistan
· Moderator: Bernard Dorin, Ambassador of France

Key Speaker: Mrs. Nasrine Berwari, Minister of Reconstruction in the Kurdish Regional Government (Irbil)

DISCUSSANTS :
· Jasim Elyas, Yezidi former minister
· Abdul Razzak Feyli, Minister for Humanitarian Action in the Kurdish Regional Government (Suleimaniah)
· Jewdat Najar, a Turkoman junior Minister in the Kurdish Regional Government
· Albert Yelda, Chairman of the Assyrian Cultural Centre (London)

12.45 - 14.45 Lunch Break

15.00 - 16.30: Panel 3 : What political future for the Kurds in Iraq ?
· Moderator: Jonathan Randal, Journalist, former Washington Post Middle East Correspondent.
· Keynote Speaker: Jalal Talabani, Secretary General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

DISCUSSANTS :
· Ghassan Attiya, Iraqi opposition
· Siyamend Othman, independent Iraqi analyst, former Vice-President of United Press International (London)
· Adil Abdul Wahid, Spokesman of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution
· Hushyar Zibari, Head of the Department of International Relations of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (Irbil).

16.30 - 18.20 Panel 4 : What role for France and Europe in tomorrow's Iraq
· Moderator: Serge July*, Director of Libération daily
· Keynote Speaker: Bernard Kouchner, former Minister of Health, back from Iraqi Kurdistan

DISCUSSANTS :
· Dominique de Villepin*, French Minister of Foreign Affairs
· Peter Galbraith, former U.S. Ambassador in Croatia, specialist on Iraq (Washington)
· François Loncle, Vice-President of the Foreign Affairs Commission
· Kendal Nezan, President of the Paris Kurdish Institute
· Hubert Védrine, former Foreign Minister of France

18.20 Closing speech : Massoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party
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