Diplomatic traffic
Foreign visitors in Washington this week include:
Monday
• Foreign Ministers Carl Bildt of Sweden and Radoslaw Sikorski of Poland; Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European commissioner for external relations; Matthew Baldwin, adviser to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso; Andrzej Cieszkowski, plenipotentiary of the Polish Foreign Ministry for the Eastern Partnership of European nations; Mikael Eriksson, energy policy coordinator of the Swedish Foreign Ministry; Steven Everts, special adviser to Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy representative; Peter Semneby, the European Union’s special representative for the South Caucasus; and Mikhail Troitskiy, deputy director of the Academic Educational Forum on International Relations in Moscow. They’ll discuss U.S.-EU cooperation and security issues in a forum at the Brookings Institution.
• Uzi Rubin, founder and first director of the Missile Defense Organization in the Israeli Defense Ministry. He’ll address the Washington Institute of Near East Policy on the Iranian missile threat.
• A group of regional young leaders from Central Asia and the Caucasus with Nafisa Abdullayeva of Uzbekistan, Beka Aladashvili of Georgia, Vahe Grigoryan of Armenia, Murod Ismailov of Uzbekistan, Irakli Laitadze of Georgia, Gunay Rahimova of Azerbaijan and Aizhan Zhantayeva of Kazakhstan. They’ll address the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Tuesday
• Former Presidents Nicolas Ardito Barletta of Panama, Vinicio Cerezo of Guatemala, Vicente Fox of Mexico, Ricardo Maduro of Honduras, Carlos Mesa of Bolivia and Alejandro Toledo of Peru. They’ll discuss democracy in Latin America in a forum sponsored by the Brookings Institution, the Global Center for Development and Democracy, the Inter-American Dialogue, the National Endowment for Democracy and the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
• Roman Ortiz of the Colombian security firm Grupo Triarius, who’ll address the Inter-American Dialogue on the tensions between Colombia and Venezuela.
• Vladimir Milov, co-founder of the Russian Solidarity democratic opposition movement; Dmitry Muratov, editor of the Novaya Gazette; Grigory Shvedov, chief editor of the Caucasian Knot; and Maxim Trudolyubov, commentary editor of the Vedomosti business daily. They’ll discuss violence against Russian journalists in a hearing before the congressional Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe at 11 a.m. in room 1539 of the Longworth House Office Building.
Wednesday
• President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, who will attend celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, which overthrew communism in the former Czechoslovakia.
• Foreign ministers Carl Bildt of Sweden and Radoslaw Sikorski of Poland; Tomas Pojar, deputy foreign minister of the Czech Republic; Slawomir Debski of the Polish Institute of International Affairs; Kadri Liik, director of the International Center for Defense Studies in Estonia; and former Foreign Ministers of Poland Andrzej Olechowski and Adam Rotfeld. They’ll address the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Mr. Sikorski also meets Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
• Nenad Popovic, a member of the Serbian parliament, who will discuss the economic foundations for peace and stability in Kosovo in a briefing at the Institute on Religion and Public Policy.
Thursday
• Manuel Rosales, who ran against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2006 and was forced into exile in Peru two years later. He’ll address the Hudson Institute on challenges to democracy in Latin America.
• Call Embassy Row at 202/636-3297, fax 202/832-7278 or e-mail jmorrison@ washingtontimes.com.
• James Morrison can be reached at jmorrison@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.