Euro-Atlantic Center, Kuzmányho 3, 974 01 Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic Tel./Fax: 00421 048 415 1689 E-Mail: eac@eac.sk

Eva Dvořáková is a Deputy Director and Head of the Unit for Regional Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Central European Department. She held positions at the Embassy of the Czech Republic to Austria - Political Secretary for bilateral relations (2004 – 2008), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Central European Department, from 2002 Head of the Unit for V4 Countries, Slovenia and Baltic States (2001 – 2004) and Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, Department for International Cooperation and European Integration (1998 – 2001). Eva received her Master degree in History at Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, Department of World History, Institute for History of International Relations in 1997. She attended a study stay at University of Texas at Austin in 1996 and Chevening Fellowship Programme at University of Birmingham in 2000.

Amb. Ferenc Jári is a career diplomat and Deputy V4 National Coordinator. He is a graduate of Moscow State Institute of International Relations (1986). He was appointed a Deputy Head of the Department of European Political Cooperation in 2004. He has been Desk Officer at the Department for the Asia-Pacific since 1986. He previously held positions of Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary in Ireland (2007-2011), Head of the Minister’s Cabinet, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Hungary in Canberra, Head of Section for EU Communication, Department of European Political Affairs, Deputy European Correspondent, Department of European Political Affairs, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Hungary in New

Delhi, Desk Officer for India and Attaché, Third Secretary then Second Secretary, Embassy of Hungary in New Delhi.

Piotr Samerek was born in 1969 in Warsaw. He studied philosophy and history. Since 2000 he has been a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. In 2000-2001 he was working in Department of Western Europe and during 2002-2003 in the Department of Europe, where he was responsible for Holy See, Italy and Malta. In 2003-2010 he has been secretary and counsellor at the Polish Embassy in the Holy See. He was the First Counsellor of European Policy Department in the years 2010 and 2011 and he is responsible for Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia. In 2011 he had became head of the

Central European Section in the European Policy Department.

Amb. Pavol Ivan, V4 National Coordinator, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia. Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs appointed Ambassador P. Ivan as V4 National Coordinator in March 2010. During previous period he held different posts at the Ministry – Director of the Office of the State Secretary of the MFA, Director of the Cultural Relations and Compatriots Affairs Department, Deputy Director General of the Section of Bilateral Cooperation and Head of the Cultural Relations Department (1994) as well as important assignments abroad: President of the Slovak Republic appointed him as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Republic to the Republic of South Africa (2003-2008) with

accreditation in other 11 states of the region, Chargé d´affaires a.i. of the Slovak Embassy in Iran (1995-1999). He holds an M.A. in International Relations and Diplomacy (graduate from Moscow State University of International Relations), degree of Doctor at Law from Law Faculty of the Comenius University and postgraduate study stay at Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. Since 2010 he has been lecturing and teaching diplomatic protocol and Slovak foreign policy priorities at the Institute for International Relations and Law Approximation at Faculty of Law, Comenius University in Bratislava.

Euro-Atlantic Center, Kuzmányho 3, 974 01 Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic Tel./Fax: 00421 048 415 1689 E-Mail: eac@eac.sk

Peter Michalko is a Director of Political Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic. He is a graduate of George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies (2001) and Moscow State Institute of International Relations (1989-1994). He has held various positions within Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic since year 1994. He was a Political Advisor to the Special Representative of the European Union for the Republic of Moldova, Odessa/Chisinau (2008-2009), Deputy Political Advisor to the KFOR Commander, Pristina (2006-2007), Counsellor, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Athens (2002 – 2006) and First Secretary, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Bucharest (1996-2000).

Małgorzata Wierzbicka graduated the Faculty of Slavonic Philology of the Warsaw University. By the year 1989 she worked in various scientific centres in Poland, including the Warsaw University and the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1989-1989 she was an employee of the International Bureau of the Chancellery of Sejm of the Republic of Poland (chamber of the polish parliament). Since 1992 is an employee of the Polish Foreign Service. In 1992-1997 she was a First Secretary and then Counsellor in the Polish embassies in Zagreb and Ljubljana. In 2000-2006 she was the Deputy Head of the Mission at the Polish Embassy in Belgrade. Since 2009 is working at the Polish Embassy

in Bratislava, where she serves as a Deputy Head of the Mission and First Counsellor for the political affairs. Csaba Balogh is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Hungary. He has been a Deputy Director at the Department of Eastern Europe and Central Asia – MFA, Hungary since year 2009. He previously was a Deputy Head of Mission in Sofia (2004-2009), Head of Unit at the Department of South-Eastern Europe (2002-2004), Deputy Head of Mission in Bucharest (2001-2002), III and II Secretary in Bucharest (1995-2001), Desk officer of Romania at the Department of South-Eastern Europe (1992-1995). Amb. Balogh received his degree of Doctor at the University of Pécs (2002), he received a master’s degree as an Expert in International Relations at the University

of Economic Sciences, Budapest (1994). He is also a graduate of Moscow State Institute of International Relations and College Mihály Fazekas, Debrecen.

Euro-Atlantic Center, Kuzmányho 3, 974 01 Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic Tel./Fax: 00421 048 415 1689 E-Mail: eac@eac.sk

Jaroslav Naď (1981) received his master’s degree and degree of doctor at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations, University of Matej Bel in Banská Bystrica. He also attended European Security and Defence College, George C. Marshall Center for Security Studies and NATO School. He worked at Euro-Atlantic Center and Slovak Society for Foreign Policy, he has been working at the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic since year 2004. Mr. Naď was a personal advisor of the plenipotentiary of the Slovak government for the organisation of informal

negotiation of Ministers of Defence of NATO Member States in Bratislava. He became a director of Defence Policy, International Relations and Legislation Department at the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic in 2010.

Péter Rada is the president of the Corvinus Society for Foreign Affairs and Culture. He holds a MA in International Relations and a PhD in Political Sciences from the Corvinus University of Budapest. He is an associate professor at the Eszterházy Károly College, Eger and at the Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest. He was a visiting scholar at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University and at the Columbia University. From 2007-2010 he has been working for the International Centre for Democratic Transition and he was a project manager of a working group on the transnational threats of the Community of

Democracies. In 2008, he was an analyst of the Strategic Planning Department of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has published several articles and book chapters on democratization, state-building and the challenges of failed states.

Jan Havránek is the Deputy Director at the Defense Policy Division at the Czech Ministry of Defense. Prior to assuming this position, Mr. Havránek served as the foreign policy advisor to the Minister of Defense Mr. Alexandr Vondra. Before joining the Czech Ministry of Defense in 2010, Mr. Havránek had worked in the non-governmental sector and academia. Jan Havránek has over five years of experience of working with foreign and security policy stakeholders as a program coordinator, researcher and consultant. He held previously positions at the Prague Security Studies Institute, Institute for Foreign

Policy and Analysis, The Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies, Washington Policy and Analysis and Association for International Affairs. Mr. Havranek received a Master’s degree in International Security Studies and Business Relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University, 2009) and is also a graduate of Charles University in Prague (2006).

Jarosław Gryz has been the Assisting Professor at the University of National Defence in Warsaw since 2000. He is an expert on the field of the Transformation of International Environment, Transatlantic Relations, International and National security, International organizations, Policy and strategy of state Crisis Response Management. In year 2010 he has become a member of the working panel at the National Security Strategic Review, National Security Bureau Republic of Poland. Since year 2007 he has been a member of working panel at the National Security Strategy of the Republic of Poland, National Defence

University and he has been an observer in Bosnia and Herzegovina of the OSCE. He held previously positions at the Multiple Futures Project and Department of International Security Republic of Poland. Mr. Gryz received PhD in Political Science at the Maria Curie Sklodowska University, Political Sciences Faculty (2005) and a PhD at the International Relations Institute at the Warsaw University (1997). He is also a graduate of Adam Mickiewicz University.

Euro-Atlantic Center, Kuzmányho 3, 974 01 Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic Tel./Fax: 00421 048 415 1689 E-Mail: eac@eac.sk

Radoslav Kusenda - State Counsellor, Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Bratislava. Radoslav Kusenda joined the MFA in May 1994. Since then he had worked at the Slovak Embassy in Moscow (1998-2002) and later at Permanent delegation of the Slovak Republic to NATO in Brussels (2005-2009). During his stay at MFA he had been working in various positions in the Department for Analysis and Planning, the Eastern European Department and the Policy Security Department. He graduated at the Comenius University in Bratislava and also took part

in various specialized courses in International Policy and Security at the George C. Marshall European Center in Garmish-Partenkirchen, NATO Defence School in Oberammergau and NATO Defence College in Roma.

Rudolf Šulík is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Political Sciences and International Relations where he is currently holding lessons in International Relations. He deals mostly with topics connected to EU foreign policy, enlargement and institutions. He participated as a speaker at various conferences in Slovakia and also abroad, including National Convention on EU. He completed internships at Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Permanent Representation of Slovak Republic to the European Union and short internship at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Svetlana Pinzari is a scholar and lecturer at the Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Faculty of Political Sciences and International Relations. Among her scientific interests dominate Multilateral Diplomacy, Official Development Assistance, Visegrad countries region and International Organizations (EU, UN). She studied as a researcher with the Scholarship of Polish Government for Young Academicians at the University of Wroclaw, Institute of International Relations (2008-2009) and she worked as a senior lecturer at the State Institute of International Relation, Faculty of Political Science and International Relations (2004-2008) and Academy of International Relations and Diplomatic Studies, International Relations Department (2000-2004). Mrs. Pinzari studied postgraduate Polish and English at the High School of Social Psychology in Warsaw, Center for Practical Education in Wroclaw (2009-2010) and she received a Master Degree in Political Science at Moldova State University, Faculty of International Relations, Political and Administrative Sciences (2000-2001).