Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder
Aspen Institute
Aspen Ministers Forum Session XIX – April 2016
Note: This is a past event, additional resources may be available below.
The Aspen Ministers Forum met in Oslo, Norway to discuss the migrant crisis, especially the waves of Syrian refugees leaving the Middle East for Europe. Several Syrians experts detailed the situation in the region; then, the group heard from experts whose countries neighbor the crisis. Discussions lingered over systematic concerns, including the geopolitical and economic ramifications of refugee flows, while topics ranged from integrating refugees arrived in Europe to ameliorating the situation in camps to addressing the root causes of unrest.
Given the group’s considerable expertise in international governance, the Ministers explored ways to make current institutions more nimble on this pressing topic, including incorporating new technologies and scaling up potential partnerships with the private sector. Keynote speakers included UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi, Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende, and Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri.
In October 2023, AMF convened in Copenhagen for its 27th session. Participants from around the world explored a variety of interconnected themes impacting the international system including emerging technologies, global power shifts, and transnational challenges.
In December 2022, the Aspen Ministers Forum convened in Prague, Czech Republic for their 26th session. The ministers focused on the themes from Secretary Albright’s final article in Foreign Affairs titled “The Coming Democratic Revival.”
In November 2019, the Aspen Ministers Forum (AMF) convened for its 25th session in Vienna, Austria. Chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, the AMF assembled former foreign ministers, top diplomats, journalists, experts and thought leaders from around the world to build on the themes discussed at the group’s 24th session at the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri.
This session of the Aspen Ministers Forum will focus on reimagining current domestic and international institutions to face today’s pressing challenges, from climate change to globalization and the reemergence of extreme nationalism.
This session of the Aspen Ministers Forum in Marrakesh, Morocco focused on the immense transformation, challenges, and progress occurring across the African continent.
This gathering of the Aspen Ministers Forum in Versailles, France focused on the rise of extreme nationalism, the dangers it presents, and what actions can be taken to push it back.
This convening of the AMF centered around the theme of “A Repositioned Europe and its Role in the World.” The conference focused on Europe’s internal trajectory as well as Europe’s external relations and how Europe can help lead an effort to reinvigorate international institutions and a rules-based international order.
The AMF held Session XX in Silicon Valley, California in November 2016 to discuss how technology can provide opportunities to rebuild and strengthen the social contract, in particular solutions through technology to address humanitarian crises.
Continuing the group’s sustained focus on international institutions and multilateralism, fifteen former foreign ministers convened at the Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in Tarrytown, New York
Highlights of this forum included a speech by former President of Turkey, Abdullah Gül, on the challenges facing the international community in the Middle East, and timely remarks by former Prime Minister of Greece, George A. Papandreou on the Greece-EU crisis.
