JBANC Press Release May 31, 2002 contact: Karl Altau (JBANC) --- The Director of the Latvian Institute, Ojars Kalnins, will discuss preparations for the Riga Summit in a live webcast at 12:00 noon (EST) on Wednesday, June 5. The live webcast is the fifth in a series hosted by the Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC http://jbanc.org) to help facilitate a dialogue on the NATO enlargement process. Featured guests have included prominent policy makers Bruce Jackson and Ron Asmus and government officials including the ambassadors from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, who are working closely on the issue. During the webcast, listeners are welcome to e-mail questions to Mr. Kalnins at: jbanc@jbanc.org. Ojars Kalnins is former ambassador of Latvia to the United States. According to its website, the "Latvian Institute was created by the Latvian Government in 1998 to provide information to the global community about Latvia and its people." The Riga Summit (http://www.rigasummit.lv/en), to be held July 5-6, will be the last major meeting of the ten NATO aspirant countries. Seven of the countries - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria - are considered among the most likely to receive invitations in November to join NATO. The theme of the Riga Summit is appropriately entitled "The Bridge to Prague". The discussion will be moderated by JBANC chairman Vello Ederma. |
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