OSCE Summit - Special events in Istanbul

ISTANBUL, 16 November 1999 -- The OSCE announces the following special events at the Istanbul Summit:

WEDNESDAY, 17 November

• 20:30 - Media Photo Opportunity for selected pool. OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek hosts a Central Asian Heads of State dinner on November 17 at the Istanbul Hilton, in the Faith II Room. Heads of State from five Central Asian States will be present.

THURSDAY, 18 November

• 07:30 - OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Foreign Minster Knut Vollebaek, will convene a breakfast meeting on Regional Stability, Achievements and Future of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe. Foreign Ministers from more than 40 interested countries, as well as Mr. Bodo Hombach, Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact, are expected to attend along with several other senior European officials. There is no photo opportunity available. A press release summarizing the meeting will be distributed at the Media Center.
• 16:00 - Media Photo Opportunity. OSCE Chairman-in-Office, at the special request of Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel, will convene a meeting with the President of Montenegro and leaders of the Serbian opposition. Further details will be announced at the OSCE Media Centre in Istanbul.
• 17:00 - Charter for European Security Signing Ceremony will take place in the Palace Conference Ballroom. A photo opportunity will be arranged for pool coverage.
• 18:15 - OSCE Role in Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, in the Anadolu Auditorium in the Media Centre. This event features presentations by Ms. Ruth Dreifuss, President of Switzerland; Mr. Anris Skele, Prime Minister of Latvia, and Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton, First Lady of the United States of America, among other representatives. The event is open to the media and the doors open at 17:30 hrs.

FRIDAY, 19 November

• 08:15 - Signing Ceremony - Agreement on Adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe in the Anadolu Auditorium, OSCE Media Centre, Istanbul. The ceremony will be chaired by the Heads of State of Hungary, Netherlands and Turkey. Heads of States from 30 countries will be present for the signing. This event is open to media. Doors open at 07:15 hrs;
• 13:00 - Istanbul Summit Final Press Conference will be held at 13:00 on 19 November in the Anadolu Auditorium, Media Centre, Istanbul. The OSCE Troika, represented by the Foreign Ministers of Norway, Austria and Poland, as well as the Foreign Minister of Turkey and the Foreign Minister of Romania as incoming Troika member, will be present. This event is open to all members of the media. NOTE: Further details on the events will be announced separately.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Melissa Fleming, OSCE spokesperson, tel.: +90) 532-790 75 68 or e-mail: [email protected] ; or Tanya Domi, OSCE Media Events Co-ordinator, Istanbul, tel.: (+90) 0532 7907 577 or e-mail: [email protected]