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).

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