Christoph Zopel, Former Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, member of Socialist International, a leading figure in the German Social Democratic Party, visited Civilitas on March 18. Mr. Zopel met with Vartan Oskanian and discussed some regional and domestic issues, as well as global economic crisis and its influence on the region. Mr. Oskanian talked about the importance of rule of law especially in these times of crisis, as well as the need for a review of the policy of laissez-faire capitalism. Mr. Oskanian repeated that especially in the post-soviet territory, where rule of law is often a major problem, wild capitalism can’t work effectively, because it is essential that public-private relationships are based on the rule of law.