Madeleine Albright christens new Aspen Institute in Prague

Thursday saw the ceremonial opening in Prague of a new branch of the US-based Aspen Institute. The ceremony was attended by numerous former foreign ministers from around the globe, including former us Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Madeleine Albright, photo: CTK

The Aspen Institute was founded in 1950 as a non-profit organization dedicated to seeking out leadership and fostering dialogue on crucial issues of the day. It has branches across the globe and the latest addition in Prague is designed to provide a crucial forum in the Czech Republic and across Central Europe. Former US Secretary of State in the Clinton Administration Madeleine Albright, who was born in Czechoslovakia before moving to the US in 1948, was in Prague on the occasion of the opening. She spoke in her native Czech:

“I am very glad to be here, especially to be present at such a time as this when we are founding Aspen, Prague. For me this is very important because I work in the Aspen programme, and for a long time we thought that it would be great to have an Aspen Prague here in order to undertake regional work. Prague is really a centre for so many things and I am delighted that [former] Ambassador [to the US] Žantovský can serve as chair and that we can work here together. We will come more often as a result. So once again, I am delighted and congratulate everyone for managing to put this organization together here.”

Madeleine Albright, Michael Žantovský, Radek Špicar. Photo: CTK

I spoke with Radek Špicar, the director of Aspen, Prague about the new centre and began by asking him why such a place was opened:

“There are Aspen Institutes in Tokyo, Paris, New Delhi, Paris, Berlin, Rome and other cities. And some people had the idea that it might be an interesting option to create an Aspen Institute in Prague. We were asked not to focus solely on the Czech Republic but to cover a broader region and so this will be for the four Visegrasd countries – Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.”

Špicar also noted that in the spirit of the organization, to be bipartisan and non-ideological, both Social Democrat and Civic Democrat politicians serve on its board of directors. He also noted the contribution of Madeleine Albright to the organisation’s existence in Prague:

Radek Špicar, photo: CTK

“Madeleine Albright has been extremely helpful in the run up to the establishment of the Aspen Institute. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the US Aspen Institute, and without her help, I can hardly imagine that it would have been possible to establish the Aspen Institute in Prague. And she came together with twenty former foreign ministers because they meet at least once a year within a project called the Aspen Ministers Forum. So we basically combined our launch together with this forum.”

So what exactly are the aims of Aspen, Prague and how will it carry out its mission of seeking out new leadership? Radek Špicar again:

“First of all, we will proactively look for young leaders, and it is important to say that not only in politics and business but also in the arts and sports. And we will be open to their applications and their interests. It is already happening as the Aspen brand is becoming more known in the Czech Republic, people are sending in their applications to be forwarded to Aspen, Colorado that they would like to work with us and that is great.”