Speakers:

Ambassador Romana Vlahutin is a career diplomat. Before joining Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999 she worked as an analyst for the Bassiouni UN Commission for former Yugoslavia, the UN Tribunal (ICTY) in The Hague and the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington DC. As a Croatian diplomat she served in embassies in Washington (Head of Political Section) and Belgrade (Deputy Ambassador), and as the Head of Strategic Analysis and Policy Planning at the MFA in Zagreb (2000‒2004). She also served as a Political Director of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo (2006‒2007). From 2010‒2014 she was the Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Croatia. Most recently she was posted as the EU Ambassador to Albania (2014‒2018). From February 2019 to August 2022 she held the position of Ambassador at Large / EU Special Envoy for Connectivity in the European External Action Service, where she spearheaded the EU global connectivity strategy and was a chief negotiator for the connectivity partnership agreements with Japan and India. Ambassador Vlahutin is a graduate of Zagreb University (Faculty of Philosophy) and Harvard University (J. F. Kennedy School of Government). She is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Dr. Maaike Okano-Heijmans is a Senior Research Fellow at the Clingendael Institute and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Leiden. At the ‘Clingendael’ in The Hague, she leads the ‘Geopolitics of Technology and Digitalisation’ work programme. She is also a Visiting Lecturer in the Master of Science in International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) of the University of Leiden. Her main research interests are in connectivity and the geopolitics of technology and digitalisation in EU-Asia relations, with a special focus on China, Japan and the Indo-Pacific. A key question underlying much of her work is how the fourth industrial revolution reshapes international relations, and what this means for the EU and its member states – in particular the Netherlands. Recent projects focus on digital connectivity, digital for development, China’s Digital Silk Road and Europe’s Digital Decade. In addition, since joining Clingendael in 2006 she has worked on issues related to consular affairs and diplomacy – also known as ‘citizen security’ or ‘duty of care’.

Chairs & Moderation:

Prof. Dr. Patrick Köllner is Vice President of the GIGA, Director of the GIGA Institute for Asian Studies, and a political science professor at the University of Hamburg.

Dr. David Camroux is Honorary Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor, Sciences Po-CERI.