The Week at CSIS: The Speeches, Discussions, and Events from July 17- July 21
CSIS hosts over 2,000 events a year, from major public speeches to small briefings. Join us here for an inside look at the events of the week.
7.17: The Russia Challenge in Europe
The CSIS Missile Defense Project and the CSIS Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group (DIIG) hosted The Russia Challenge in Europe: The INF Treaty and Implications for Army Modernization, featuring a keynote address by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR). The event also featured the rollout of DIIG’s new report, The Army Modernization Imperative: A New Big Five for the Twenty First Century.


Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO), Chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity, gave the keynote address to the Seventh Annual South China Sea Conference. He laid out a vision for U.S. leadership in the Indo-Pacific region through his legislation, the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA).

7.18: Seventh Annual CSIS South China Sea Conference
The CSIS Southeast Asia Program and Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) proudly hosted CSIS’s Seventh Annual South China Sea Conference.
This full-day conference provided opportunities for in-depth discussion and analysis of the future of the South China Sea disputes, and potential responses, amid policy shifts in Beijing, Manila, and Washington. It featured speakers from throughout the region, from institutions such as the University of the Philippines Law Center, Carnegie India, the National University of Singapore, and others. Panels addressed recent developments, legal and environmental issues, the strategic balance, and U.S. policy under the Trump administration.


Full implementation of the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which entered into force on 22 February 2017, is estimated to produce up to US$1 trillion dollars in global export gains annually and create 20 million jobs worldwide, and America will benefit from making it happen. The TFA is a multilateral trade agreement designed to unclog the pipes at customs and borders. Improving global trade mechanisms will have sweeping economic benefits: better infrastructure, export diversification, and decreased corruption. Uniquely, the Agreement allows for implementation time horizons and support needs to be determined by each country for each provision. Most notably, the TFA is an opportunity for the United States to continue to lead on global trade issues and reinforce the rules of the global order through helping developing countries play by those rules and, ultimately, benefit from them, too.

This discussion focused on strengthening the TFA in the future and explored options for maximizing its benefits.


Does significant physical change in the Arctic, represented by receding glaciers, rapidly changing ecosystems, and diminishing sea ice, translate into significantly new economic opportunities? Are Arctic economics hype or real? How is the United States preparing for a more commercially accessible and potentially economically viable Arctic? Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Angus King (I-ME), and the subsequent panel discussed the opportunities and limitations confronting economic, commercial, and infrastructure initiatives in this resource-rich and heightened risk environment.


The CSIS Energy & National Security Program hosted a discussion on the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard — its current status, prospects for reform and factors relating to EPA decision making, Congressional oversight, and implications for trade and the market. The EPA has indicated that it will lower the overall mandated volume for biofuels for 2018, the first ever reduction.


Venezuela is quickly turning into a failed state as violence, hunger, and poverty increase exponentially daily. The next two weeks, starting with the 16 July referendum organized by the broad opposition to the Maduro regime and its proposed 30 July Constituent Assembly will be among the most important in the history of Venezuela. These events may well determine whether the country continues deteriorating uncontrollably under a repressive regime or begins a path toward rebuilding what was once one of the most developed states of Latin America.


The panelists at this event discussed several key questions: What do Sunday’s referendum results mean for Venezuela and the international community? How does the Constituent Assembly violate Venezuela’s Constitution and how can its consequences be reversed? How can the international community act now to prevent further decline? What obstacles have prevented the global community from bringing about a peaceful, negotiated, democratic resolution to Venezuela’s crisis?
7.20: U.S. Approaches to Preventing HIV in Adolescent Girls and Young Women: Lessons from Malawi
CSIS hosted a discussion with U.S. Ambassador to Malawi, Virginia Palmer, and U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, Deborah Birx, about U.S. approaches to preventing HIV in adolescent girls and young women, building off of lessons from Malawi. The panel discussed why, given constrained U.S. budgets, this program addresses a critical gap in efforts to curb the epidemic. This is a moment of great opportunity as well as challenge; it requires continued focus on and pressure for results, combined with realism and patience about the timeline needed to achieve such critical outcomes.
The discussion also centered on Janet Fleischman’s recent visit to Malawi for CSIS, and the two new publications she authored: “The Next Frontier: Stop New HIV Infections in Adolescent Girls and Young Women” and “Addressing HIV in Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Malawi: The DREAMS Partnership,” which were released at the event.


CSIS hosted a conversation on one of today’s hottest topics: the changing role of the media. This event highlighted how traditional and new media outlets are influencing the narrative on world affairs. Through the panelists’ diverse perspectives, the event brought insight into how newsrooms are shaping and communicating international events.



