Kastelholm
Talks on Peace

The Kastelholm Talks on Peace will be held on 30th of March 2023
with the theme: 

“Peace, War and Money, Money, Money“

There are several conflicts going on around the world. Most of them are complex wars with many actors involved, a broader regional character and with global effects also in the field of the economy. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which is a classic war where a country attacks a neighboring country, also has global effects. Today we see great economic and other effects of the wars and confrontations around the world. In combination with the climate crisis, they today result in starvation and famine in many places. In 2019, over 750 million people were in a situation of extreme food insecurity, most of them in Asia and Africa, according to the UN. Now the number has increased during the pandemic, climate disasters and war. The effects of war differ greatly between countries and affect different groups and actors within countries in different ways. Minorities are often hit hard. Everyone is affected.

This year’s panelists are Neta C. Crawford, professor in international realtions at University of Oxford, Nan Tian, Senior Researcher at SIPRI and Peter Wiklöf, managing director at Ålandsbanken. 

A novelty in March 2023 is that the panel discussion at Kastelholm Castle will be held in English. The subsequent round table discussion will be held once more at Alandica in Mariehamn and will be in Swedish.

The Kastelholm Talks are recurring talks on the topic of peace, under the patronage of former President of Finland, Tarja Halonen. The talks are always held in association with Åland’s Demilitarization Day, the 30th March.

Through the Kastelholm Talks, the Åland Islands Peace Institute seeks to highlight a peace perspective by identifying and discussing solutions and opportunities for peaceful coexistence.