Free World Affairs Conference Returns for 6th Year

ST PETERSBURG – The St. Petersburg Conference on World Affairs returns to downtown St. Pete February 20-23 in the USFSP University Student Center. The event is free and open to the public.

The conference is a cooperative venture of a group of civic-minded St. Petersburg residents and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Multiple panels of distinguished diplomats, military, media, and academic experts will discuss critical current international issues.

Seating will be on a first come, first seated basis. The popular event is now in its sixth year, with several thousand local residents and students attending discussions.

The keynote speaker this year will be Thomas R. Pickering, Chairman of the Board of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Pickering holds the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the U.S. Foreign Service.

In a diplomatic career spanning five decades, he was U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation, India, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. From 1989 to 1992 he was Ambassador and U.S. Representative to the United Nations in New York. His last assignment with the Department of State was as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 1997 to 2000.

The many panelists will include Director of the USF Institute on Russia; Golfo Alexopoulos, LTC (retired) Alfredo Anthony, whose military career included multiple tours in the Middle-East, Europe, South Korea, and the Continental United States and Paul Berg, a member of the U.S. Foreign Service since 1983, most recently served overseas as Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Rome.

Click here for the conference schedule.