Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, challenged Ukrainians to step up efforts to slow environmental degradation and climate change in an address on May 16 in Kyiv. Sponsored by the Kyiv School of Economics’ public lecture series, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate argued that a warmer world will allow infections diseases to spread, threaten food security and swallow low-lying areas threatened by a melting polar ice cap. “Global Warming trends perilously close to the point of no return,” he said, noting that climate change could spark the world’s worst ever economic crisis and that the hardest hit populations will be the world’s poorest.   

Mr. Annan urged the Ukrainian government and corporations to make climate change an integral component of their strategic thinking, noting that there is much we can do to halt the process and adapt to its detrimental effects. He urged continued research into green energy and the more efficient use of fossil fuels. “It will cost us far less to cut emissions now than to deal with the consequences later,” he said. He also noted that polluters must be compelled to compensate society for their carbon emissions.

Victor Pinchuk, honorary chairman of the Kyiv School of Economics, introduced Mr. Annan to a packed room of students, professors and dignitaries. The Kyiv School of Economics was founded by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and the Economics Education and Research Consortium.  EERC, the leading economics graduate program in the region, was established by the Eurasia Foundation in 1995. 

On April 15, the founder of East Europe Foundation, Eurasia Foundation (EF), celebrated fifteen years of positive change. Distinguished guests and supporters gathered for the program, which included special remarks by Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank Group and a member of EF’s Board of Trustees from 1997 to 2000. The Foundation also recognized Sarah C. Carey, current Chair of the Board and The Honorable William Frenzel, current Vice Chair and founding Chair, for fifteen years of dedicated service to the Foundation.

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Three Ukrainian scholars will travel to Washington, D.C. to represent their country at a conference on "Identity and Integration in the New Eurasia" with support from the East Europe Foundation (EEF) and Open Ukraine Foundation.

The conference, which will take place at Georgetown University April 14-15, brings together distinguished scholars and specialists for panel discussions examining regional identities and integration with Western institutions.

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EEF is pleased to welcome Tim Pylate, the new Eurasia Foundation Regional Development Director for the Kyiv Regional Office, covering Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. Before joining the KRO, Mr. Pylate worked with World Vision International as the Operation Director for Lebanon, where he oversaw a wide range of development and relief programming. Prior to that, he served as the manager of World Vision’s Food for Education program in Afghanistan.

Tim also has a lot of experience working in Ukraine. From 2000-2005, he was the Country Director for Project Harmony in Ukraine.  Mr. Pylate also spent several years teaching high school students as a Peace Corps volunteer in Donetsk, Ukraine from 1996-1998.  He holds a B.A. in English from Sam Houston State University and an M.Ed. from the University of Texas, El Paso. Speaks Russian and Ukrainian.