Radio Sputnik discussed the issue with Stephen Schlesinger, political commentator and a Fellow at the Century Foundation. Commenting on his expectations of the conference, he said:
"Actually, I have a lot of expectations from this conference. We are lacking clarity today about foreign policy around the world. And this is led I think by the incoherenceof the Trump administration which has generated a great anxiety in Europe and in other places around the globe because it doesn't really have any clear international policies of its own that it has been able to articulate."
According to the expert, the conference gives an opportunity to find out what kind of policy the United States is going to pursue in the near future. Taking into account the fact, that Donald Trump "in a sense opposed the European Union" and withdrew from the traditional foreign strategy of the United States, Europeans countries are worried "what impact it will have on the future of the European Union."
Participants include new UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Among other attendees are German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US Vice President Mike Pence, US Defense Secretary James Mattis and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
