NATO Enlargement Prospects Discussed with Senate Staffers

July 26, 2002

Eric Pierce - Sen[1]. Ben Nelson2.JPG (54728 bytes)

Jeff Nelson (U.S.-Baltic Foundation), Simonas Girdzijauskas (JBANC), Eric Pierce (office of Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson), Vello Ederma (JBANC chairman, and representative of the Estonian American National Council, Inc.), Karl Altau (JBANC) and Kaija Dankers (JBANC).

Washington, DC (JBANC) - Representatives of Baltic-American organizations, including the Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC), met this week with Legislative Assistants from the offices of two U.S. Senators who recently participated in the Summit of NATO aspirant countries, held in Riga, Latvia July 5-6.

Meetings were held with Dirk Maurer of the office of Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) and Eric Pierce of the office of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE). Topics discussed were the status of the NATO enlargement process, the investment climate in the Baltics, human rights issues and legislation relevant to U.S. interests in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Senators Bunning and Nelson are both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is expected to hold additional hearings on NATO enlargement prior to debate on ratification of the NATO Treaty. Both Senators voted for the Freedom Consolidation Act, a bill which supports the principles of NATO enlargement and which passed in May by a large margin.

Other Members of the U.S. Senate delegation to visit Riga were Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS), Robert Bennett (R-UT) and Craig Thomas (R-WY).

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...

The Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc.
400 Hurley Avenue
Rockville, MD 20850-3121
tel. 301-340-1954
fax: 301-309-1406
e-mail:jbanc@jbanc.org