Leaders gather for Munich Security Conference

By Ayhan Simsek

MUNICH (AA) - Political leaders from some 40 nations will open the Munich Security Conference on Friday where US Vice President Kamala Harris, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are expected to speak.

The annual event, which is often called the "Davos for Defense," will focus on the war in Ukraine and Western policy toward Russia, according to the organizers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to make the opening speech via videolink and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will be at the conference in person.

Earlier, Munich Security Conference’s chairman Christoph Heusgen said the official representatives of Russia are not invited so as “not to give them a platform for their propaganda.”

Germany's Scholz is scheduled to deliver a speech Friday on Berlin’s new foreign and defense policy, followed by a speech by French President Emmanuel Macron on his foreign policy vision.

Harris and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will address the conference on Saturday on the issues of transatlantic security and cooperation.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis​​​​​​​ and British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace are among the participants.