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Updated: 22-Nov-2001 Week of 29 March - 4 April 2000

29 Mar. 2000
Lord Robertson in Latvia and Sweden

During a two-day trip to the Latvian capital Riga (29-30 March), Lord Robertson reiterated the Alliance's open door policy in a country which is among the candidates for NATO membership. He met with the President, the Prime Minister, as well as the Foreign and Defence Ministers of Latvia and the Speaker of the Parliament.

Lord Robertson then travelled on to Sweden on 31 March where he met with the Prime Minister, the Foreign and Defence Ministers and members of Parliament. Among the issues discussed were the situation in Russia, relations between the European Union and NATO, and Swedish participation in the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo.

   
31 Mar. 2000
International donors commit 2.4 million euros to the Stability Pact for the Balkans.
   
3 Apr. 2000
A five-day visit to the United States
Following up on current debates on European defence and NATO's new Defence Capabilities Initiative -which calls for greater European contribution to security as a whole- Lord Robertson has started a tour of the United States during which he will hold bilateral meetings with high-level officials and give several speeches.

Among those he is meeting with between 3 and 7 April are Vice-President Al Gore, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and key Senators. He is also giving speeches at prestigious think-tanks and universities across the country.

Additional information:

3 Apr. 2000
High ranking Bosnian Serb detained
Momcilo Krajisnik, a former aide to Radovan Karadzic during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was arrested by NATO-led SFOR troops on 3 April. The Bosnian Serb leader has been charged with genocide and many other war crimes such as murder, wilful killing, extermination, deportation and inhumane acts.

Krajisnik is the highest ranking person to have been arrested up to now. Wartime president Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic, who have both been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia in The Hague, have yet to be arrested.

Krajisnik's arrest has taken place on the eve of municipal elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

3 Apr. 2000
Civil emergency planning course in Azerbaijan
A course on civil emergency planning and civil-military cooperation is being run in Baku, Azerbaijan from 3-7 April. It is open to participants from Azerbaijan and from neighbouring countries which are also members of NATO's Partnership for Peace programme.

The course aims to familiarise participants with the functions of civil emergency planning and with procedures and principles used during civil-military cooperation within the framework of NATO's strategic concept.