Washington, DC - The White House is hosting a Summit on Countering Violent Extremism this week to highlight domestic and international efforts to prevent violent extremists and their supporters from radicalizing, recruiting, or inspiring individuals or groups in the United States and abroad to commit acts of violence – efforts made even more imperative in light of recent, tragic attacks throughout the world.

As a component of the White House Summit, the Department of State on February 19 will host ministers, senior officials from the UN – including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon – and other multilateral organizations, and private sector and civil society representatives to develop an action agenda against violent extremism. This high-level event will include remarks by President Barack Obama, opening remarks by Secretary of State John Kerry, and closing remarks by National Security Advisor Susan Rice. Panel sessions will feature a broad range of foreign government officials and representatives from civil society and the private sector.

A schedule of all Summit events taking place at the Department of State on February 19, 2015 is listed below. All events will take place in the Department of State’s Loy Henderson Conference Room, in the Harry S Truman Building, Washington D.C. All events are listed in Eastern Standard Time:

**All times are tentative and subject to change**

8:45 a.m. -- 9:00 a.m.  Opening Remarks by Secretary of State John F. Kerry “Outlining an Action Agenda to Counter Violent Extremism”

9:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.  Session 1: Understanding Violent Extremism Today

Moderated by Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with remarks by:

  • Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General, United Nations 
  • Smaïl Chergui, African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security
  • Bernard Cazeneuve, Minister of the Interior, France
  • Nasser Judeh, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jordan
  • Mr. Nick Rasmussen, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, United States
  • Dr. Peter Neumann, Director, International Centre for the Study of Radicalization, United Kingdom

With additional remarks by

  • Sameh Shoukry, Foreign Minister, Egypt 
  • Martin Lidegaard, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Denmark
  • Jan Jambon, Minister of Interior, Belgium
  • Joseph ole Nkaissery, Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government, Kenya
  • Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, Secretary of the Interior, Mexico
  • Yasuhide Nakayama, State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Japan
  • Askhat Daulbayev, Prosecutor General, Kazakhstan
  • Iyad Ameen Madani, Secretary General, Organization of Islamic Cooperation

10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.  Remarks by President Obama