Date: This Friday, April 30, 2021, 8:00am EST US, 4:30pm Kabul Time

Host: Online via WebEx hosted by the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) and AmCham Afghanistan

Access Instructions: See Links and Password Below

Rules: No RSVP or Pre-Registration Required, Closed Press Event. Undertaken under Chatham House Rule

Note: Potential questions should be submitted in advance to Event Moderator, Jeff Grieco, at AACC via email at: info@a-acc.org

Event Agenda:

• Welcome, Event Ground Rules and Introduction of Honored Speaker, Ambassador Ross Wilson by Jeffrey Grieco, President & CEO, Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce (AACC)
• Remarks by Ambassador Ross Wilson. Topics to be addressed: status of the peace process, military withdrawal and future of the business environment in Afghanistan.
• Moderated Q&A with questions submitted via email (as noted above) or through WebEx Chat Box function.

Join by computer

WebEx Meeting: Click Here to Join​

Meeting number: 182 459 0030

Password: 2020

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Dial 1824590030@webex.com

You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number.

Join by phone

+1-646-992-2010 United States Toll (New York City)

+1-415-655-0001 US Toll

Access code: 182 459 0030

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Biography of Ambassador Ross Wilson

Ambassador Ross Wilson arrived in Kabul January 18, 2020, as the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Over the course of four decades as a U.S. diplomat, he has served as ambassador to Azerbaijan from 2000-2003 and to Turkey from 2005-2008, and he held later assignments as chargé d'affaires in Turkey in 2014 and the Republic of Georgia from 2018‑2019.

Elsewhere overseas, Ambassador Wilson served at the U.S. embassies in Moscow and Prague and was consul general in Melbourne, Australia. He was principal deputy to the ambassador-at-large and special advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State for the new independent states of the former Soviet Union in 1997-2000. He also served as deputy executive secretary of the U.S. State Department for Secretaries Jim Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger, and Warren Christopher; chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick; chief U.S. negotiator for the Free Trade Area of the Americas; and worked in State Department offices dealing with the USSR and Egypt.

From 2010 to 2014, Ambassador Wilson was director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, where he led Council work on Turkey, the former Soviet states, and regional energy, economic, and political issues and integration, and organized its annual Energy and Economic Summits in Istanbul. In addition, he has been a visiting lecturer in international affairs at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and served on the boards of Global Minnesota and the Institute of Turkish Studies and on advisory councils of other non-profit organizations active in international affairs.

Ambassador Wilson received a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota and master's degrees from Columbia University and the U.S. National War College. He is a recipient of the U.S. President's Meritorious Service Award, as well as numerous U.S. Department of State awards and honors. He holds memberships in the Academy of American Diplomacy; the American Foreign Service Association, Diplomatic and Consular Officers Retired; the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs; and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He is married to Margo Squire, also a veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service.