From June 16 through June 29, 2007, AFPC President Herman Pirchner, Jr. led a fact-finding delegation to Siberia to examine the Russo-Sino relationship. The group visited numerous cities along the Russia-China border including Irkutsk, Chita, Blagoveshchensk, Khabarovsk and Vladivostok.
On February 28, 2007, AFPC was pleased to host the fifth installment of its Capitol Hill conference series on “Missile Defenses and American Security.” This year’s event, held at the Capitol Hill Club, brought together top experts and policymakers to discuss the state of the policy and technology debates surrounding the Bush administration’s efforts to protect the American people from ballistic missile attack.
AFPC President Herman Pirchner traveled to Moscow in February 2007 to witness and briefly speak before a meeting of Russia’s Public Chamber. The Public Chamber is a new institution in Russia - a national body created by statue which advises the legislature (State Duma) and President on relevant legislation and monitors the implementation of new laws. The Chamber, whose members serve for unpaid, two-year terms, is composed of respected Russian professionals and academics with no ties to political parties.
From January 30th to February 7th, 2007, AFPC experts and associates took part in a high-level fact-finding mission to India. The six-member delegation, headed by former Pennsylvania governor and Homeland Security Secretary Thomas J. Ridge, included Pentagon Defense Science Board Chairman William Schneider, AFPC President Herman Pirchner, Jr., AFPC Vice President for Policy Ilan Berman, AFPC Senior Fellow in Asia Studies Stephen Yates, and Moffat & Company president Nathaniel Moffat.
From December 3rd to the 10th, 2006, AFPC was pleased to host the Washington visit of world-renowned Russian physicist and civil society advocate Evgeny Velikhov. Velikhov is a national figure in Russia, active in the fields of democracy, the environment and education.
On June 23, 2005, AFPC, in cooperation with the Center for US-Ukrainian Relations (CUSUR) and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), sponsored the second annual U.S.-Ukrainian Security Dialogue on Capitol Hill.
On June 20, AFPC Vice President Ilan Berman testified before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security on the topic of "The Iranian Nuclear Impasse: Next Steps."
Between June 17-21, 2006, a ten-person American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) delegation led by General Richard B. Myers, USAF (Ret.), former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. armed forces visited China. Delegation members included former Undersecretary of Defense Dov Zakheim; Gen. Wayne Downing, former Commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command; former NSC Arms Control Director Sven Kraemer, and other national security experts. The trip marked the 24th such exchange of views facilitated by AFPC over the past 12 years.
In early April, AFPC President Herman Pirchner, Jr. and Pentagon Defense Science Board Chairman (And AFPC Advisory Board member)) William Schneider, Jr., traveled to India for a meetings with top officials in New Delhi.
In late February 2006, Valentina Matvienko, Governor of the St. Petersburg oblast, visited Washington, D.C. to discuss matters of cooperation between the Russian and American governments.
On February 1, 2006, AFPC Vice President Ilan Berman testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services on the topic of "Confronting A Nuclear Iran." Below is his written statement.
AFPC kicked off the summer by hosting a five-member Chinese delegation headed by CPC International Department Vice Minister Mr. Zhang Zhijun and Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAFIU) Senior Research Fellow Liao Dong.
On March 9, 2005, AFPC Vice President Ilan Berman testified before the U.S Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe on the topic of "The Russian-Syrian Connection: Thwarting Democracy In The Middle East And The Greater OSCE Region."
AFPC Senior Associate Wayne Merry participated in a major conference on “Asia-Pacific Realities, Perspectives, Projects: XXI Century” at Russia’s Far Eastern State University in Vladivostok, from November 29th to the 31st, 2002.
Since last year’s presidential crisis in Ukraine, the importance of U.S.-Ukrainian relations has taken on a new significance. Not only is Ukraine delicately balanced between East and West it is also one of the five largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid. Yet the country is too often considered only in the shadow of her Russian neighbor.
In September 2002, AFPC was pleased to host the Washington meeting of the World Anticrime and Antiterrorism Forum
On February 28, AFPC hosted an intimate dinner for the Chairman of the Mexican Senate Committee on International Relations, Mr. Fernando Margain. Senator Margain is an articulate advocate of close US-Mexican relations. His visit occurred soon after President Bush and President Fox of Mexico met to discuss this important bilateral relationship.
The Duma-Congress Study Group, the formal coordinating body between the Russian Parliament and the US Congress, in cooperation with the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) organized the GPP convention visit of Unity Party parliamentary head Boris Gryzlov. Unity is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s party.
Duma Defense Committee Chairman Andrei I. Nikolayev addressed an AFPC dinner of U.S. and Russian defense policy-makers on May 16, offering a look at the changed military thinking behind newly-inaugurated President Vladimir Putin.
To intensify and regularize staff exchange work, AFPC organized an April delegation to Moscow of House staffers. The Honorable Jeff Trandahl, Clerk of the House of Representatives, led the delegation on a reciprocal staff visit.