Tony Blair to give public lecture “Modernizing Countries in the 21st Century” in Dnipropetrovsk on October 23

On Tuesday, October 23, 2012, at the invitation of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, Tony Blair, former Prime Minister (1997-2007) of Great Britain will give Public Lecture, entitled “Modernizing Countries in 21^st Century”, and will hold a meeting with young people of Dnipropetrovsk.

During the lecture, Tony Blair will present his vision of the key factors which influence development and modernization of countries in our time, referring to his personal experience of leading the UK’s government.  He will also answer questions from the audience consisting of the top Dnipropetrovsk university students, graduates, Zavtra.UA scholarship holders, as well as employees of Interpipe Steel factory.

Tony Blair’s appearance in Dnipropetrovsk will be the first Public Lecture held by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation outside Ukrainian capital city. In June 2011, former British Prime Minister met Ukrainian students in Kyiv and discussed the role of religion and its influence in today’s world.

As part of the Public Lectures project, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation regularly invites world renowned politicians, thinkers and public figures to Ukraine to discuss challenges facing the world and Ukraine. By organizing such a dialogue between world leaders, experts and Ukrainian students, the Foundation wishes to contribute to fostering a new generation of responsible leaders.

In previous years, lectures were given, among others, by Professor of International Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University Francis Fukuyama; co-author of Microeconomics Robert Pindyck; James Wolfensohn, 9th President of the World Bank Group; 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhhamad Yunus; Colin Powell, 65th US Secretary of State; former High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union and Secretary General of NATO Javier Solana; former Vice Chancellor of Germany Joschka Fischer; the 42nd President of the United States Bill Clinton; President of Israel Shimon Peres; Jimmy Wales, founder of the Wikipedia, Wiki concept creator and a member of the Board of Trustees at Wikimedia Foundation.