Every year the FPS Foreign Affairs, the Egmont Institute, the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, and Ghent University, organise a conference on Belgian foreign and defence policy that looks back at the key developments, and looks ahead at future challenges and ambitions. Because of the pandemic, the edition 2020 will take place by way of a series of three webinars.

At the moment when Belgium will be near the end of its two-year membership of the UN Security Council, these webinars will take stock of achievements, identify lessons to be learned, and formulate new ambitions.

Webinar 1 will start with a keynote speech by Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmès. A panel will then look at the Security Council and the multilateral system in general: How has the role of the Council changed since Belgium was last elected? Which role can the Council play in a world marked by increasing great power rivalry? How can effective multilateralism be safeguarded, and how can Belgium in particular contribute, together with like-minded countries such as Germany, with which it entered the Security Council in 2019?