DIPLOMATIC TRAFFIC
Foreign visitors in Washington this week include:
Monday
• Vladimir Bukovsky, one of the most famous Soviet dissidents, who addresses the Cato Institute on the changing perceptions of communism since the collapse of Marxism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
• Khailee Ng, a Malaysian human rights advocate and executive director of YouthAsia, an organization inspired by President Obama’s call for change. He is promoting the Youth Gathering in Kuala Lumpur in November.
Tuesday
• Margot Wallstrom, vice president of the European Commission, who meets with officials at the State Department and National Security Council and addresses the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on issues facing the climate summit in Copenhagen.
• Michael Nazir-Ali, the Pakistani-born Anglican bishop of Rochester, England, and a member of the British House of Lords. He addresses the Hudson Institute on apostasy, blasphemy and other Islamic laws.
Wednesday
• Michael Martin, foreign minister of Ireland, who addresses the European Institute on the impact of Ireland’s approval of an EU constitution.
• Adil Akhmetov, Kazakhstan’s ambassador for combating intolerance and discrimination against Muslims, and Mario Mauro, Italy’s ambassador on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination. They testify at a 10 a.m. hearing of the congressional Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Room SVC 208/209 of the Capitol Visitor Center.
• Karon Cochran Budhathoki, Shobhakar Budhathoki and Surendra Shah of the Nepalese office of the United States Institute of Peace. They address the institute on efforts to reform civil society in Nepal.
• Ann Livingstone, vice president of Pearson Peacekeeping Center of Canada, who addresses the United States Institute of Peace on political conditions in Haiti.
Thursday
• Mohammed bin Abdullah bin Mutib al Rumalhi, assistant to the foreign minister of Qatar, and Abdulrahman H. al-Saeed, an adviser to the royal court of Saudi Arabia. They address the 18th annual policymakers’ conference of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.
• Sergia Galvan of the Collective for Women and Health of the Dominican Republic, Fisseha Mekonnen of the Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia, Shilpa Merchant of Population Services International of India and Grace Sedio of the Bomme Isago Association and International Community, which helps women with AIDS or the HIV virus in Botswana. They address a U.N. conference on AIDS at 1:30 p.m. in Room HVC 215 of the Capitol Visitor Center.
Friday
• Pavol Demes, director of the Bratislava, Slovakia, office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States; Katarina Mathernova, deputy director-general of the European Union; Ivan Vejvoda, director of the Belgrade, Serbia, office the German Marshall Fund of the United States; and Lucan Way of the University of Toronto. They address a forum on the status of democracy in Europe and Eurasia sponsored by Johns Hopkins University, the German Marshall Fund, George Washington University and the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
DIPLOMATIC DEFINITION
“It is a necessary quality of a diplomat or a politician that he will compromise. Uncompromising politicians or diplomats get you into the most terrible trouble.”
- John Keegan, British military historian and author
• 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.
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