CEPA Forum 2015 and 2016
Speakers
István Gyarmati
President, International Centre for Democratic Transiton


After earning his Ph.D. in Military Science, Dr. Gyarmati worked at the Zrínyi Miklós National Defense University, the Association of Hungarian Journalists, and the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as the Alternate Permanent Representative of Hungary to the IAEA from 1981 to 1986. He participated in the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, he was the deputy head of the Hungarian delegation at the negotiations on conventional armed forces in Vienna in 1989, and he participated in the negotiations surrounding the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary. From 1992 to 1994 he led the Hungarian delegation to the expert meetings of the Helsinki Summit, the Hungarian expert delegation to the London Conference on Yugoslavia, and the Department for Security Policy and Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After serving in various positions in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, he became Deputy Secretary of State for Integration at the Ministry of Defense in 1996 then Undersecretary for Policy in 1998. He held top leadership positions at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapon, the EastWest Institute, and the OSCE/ODIHR Election Monitoring Mission in Moldova. He was President and CEO of the ICDT since 2005 and became President of the Centre for Democracy Public Foundation in 2011. He is again President of ICDT since 2013. He speaks English, German, Russian, and French. Dr. Gyarmati is married and has two children.