June 12-(JBANC/Washington, DC) - The Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC) has undertaken an extensive effort to organize a national campaign to assure that NATO enlargement continues and that the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are included in the enlargement process. The joint effort will involve state and local Baltic committees. Campaign organizing kickoff meetings were held with Baltic-American activists in June in Chicago, Kalamazoo, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Similar gatherings will be held in other parts of the country. Meetings are planned for Hartford, Connecticut on July 17, New York on July 18 (Tuesday, July 18, 2000 at 7:30 PM at The Estonian House, 243 East 34th Street (just west of 2nd Avenue), New York NY. , East Brunswick, New Jersey on July 19 and Philadelphia on July 20. The initial steps of the campaign are to organize state and local committees or working groups and to mobilize grass roots support for NATO enlargement. This is to assure that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are extended invitations to join by the NATO heads of state at their next summit meeting, which is expected to take place in 2002. As was the case with the induction of Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into the Alliance, the campaign will be coordinated with organizations of Central and East European groups, veterans and others with an interest in promoting United States foreign policy objectives. The groups at all levels will mobilize support by members of Congress and the President. After invitations to join are extended at the NATO summit, the joint effort will concentrate on assuring that the United States Senate and parliaments of other NATO member countries ratify the membership of the Baltic countries and others.
"JBANC believes that in order to achieve a Europe that is whole and
free,
all Central and East European countries, who desire to join and have
met the
membership requirements, including the Baltic nations, should be
admitted
into NATO," stated JBANC president Janis Kukainis of Northville,
Michigan.
"A democratic and free Europe is
in the national security and economic interests of the United States.
During the last century, the United States had to fight two world wars
and a
fifty-year cold war because peace in Europe was not truly established.
JBANC believes that NATO can be the guarantor of peace, democracy and
prosperity in Europe and in turn the United
States," continued Kukainis. |
Octobr 17, 2008 - President Bush Discusses the Visa Waiver Program Office of the Press Secretary/ White House News  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. (Applause.) Please be seated, thank you. Welcome to the White House. I'm pleased to stand with the representatives of seven countries -- the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and South Korea -- that have met the requirements to be admitted to the United States Visa Waiver Program. Soon the citizens of these nations will be able to travel to the United States for business or tourism without a visa. I congratulate these close friends and allies on this achievement, and I thank you for joining us here.I also thank Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of the Homeland -- Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff for working hard to make sure this day has finally arrived. Appreciate other members of the administration here and members of the Diplomatic Corps. More... 400 Hurley Avenue Rockville, MD 20850-3121 tel. 301-340-1954 fax: 301-309-1406 e-mail:jbanc@jbanc.org |