AJC Transatlantic Institute to Celebrate Ten Years

BRUSSELS, Feb. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC's Transatlantic Institute (TAI) will celebrate its tenth anniversary with a gala dinner on February 19. European political leaders, diplomats, Jewish leaders, and civil society partners are expected to attend.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100816/AJCLOGO)

Belgium Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Didier Reynders and Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, will deliver keynote addresses.

Earlier in the day, TAI and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation will co-sponsor a conference on Transatlantic Security Challenges and Relations. One panel will assess the status of Iran's nuclear program and negotiations with the P5 + 1 for a comprehensive agreement following the six-month interim deal. A second panel will examine the issue of transatlantic data protection.

Launching the Transatlantic Institute in 2004 fulfilled a vision of AJC, the global advocacy organization, to establish a permanent presence in the political and administrative center of the European Union.

"AJC has for decades been a trailblazer in building bridges between Europe and the United States," said AJC Executive Director David Harris at the opening of TAI.

"The ties that bind us -- shared democratic values, mutual defense commitments, interwoven histories, and common foreign policy concerns -- are central to the transatlantic partnership," said Harris. "The AJC Transatlantic Institute works to strengthen this essential relationship and deepen understanding of its vital role in key policy sectors in Europe and the United States."

Since TAI was launched in February 2004, EU membership has grown from 15 to 28, an expansion that AJC has supported.

Under the leadership of TAI Director Daniel Schwammenthal, the institute engages decision-makers across the political spectrum in all three major European institutions—the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament—as well as with NATO and the diplomatic missions to the EU, think tanks, journalists, and others in the civil society sector.

During its first ten years, TAI has informed a broad range of European leaders in Brussels on a number of pressing issues of concern to the transatlantic community, including Iran's nuclear program, the Israeli-Arab peace process, terrorism, human rights, energy security, integration of immigrants, and, not least, anti-Semitism in Europe.

The opening and operation of TAI has been made possible by a generous donation from Rhoda and the late Jordan Baruch. In addition to Brussels, AJC maintains European offices in Berlin, Paris and Rome.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee