Washington, DC (JBANC) --- The eighth biennial Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC) conference being held in Washington, DC on May 15-16, 2009 will focus on Baltic Regional Security and "Old Threats and New Challenges."

The President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers will be giving the opening keynote address at the conference on Saturday, May 16. The main conference venue is at the Renaissance M St. Hotel in Washington, DC located at 1143 New Hampshire Avenue.

Saturday's program on May 16 features four panels, each dealing with a specific look at the Baltic region. Discussions will range from a regional threat assessment, regional partnerships and potential solutions in addressing these challenges, policies of the new U.S. Administration and Congress towards the Baltics, along with diaspora relations and citizen diplomacy.

The Friday, May 15 program includes two events. These are a congressional briefing and reception to be held on Capitol Hill from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. The panel will be moderated by Stephen Blank, Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) of the U.S. Army War College. U.S. Congressional staff will also participate. From 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. a presentation and panel discussion will be held at the Heritage Foundation, co-hosted by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Presenters include representatives from the VOCMF's Global Museum on Communism (GMOC) and the Swedish-based Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism (IICC/UOK). A reception will follow.

The basic registration fee for the conference is $165. Registration forms can be found and downloaded at: http://jbanc.org/?m=1&p=2.

Additional information about the conference is available on JBANC's website: http://jbanc.org and JBANC will also be frequently updating conference information on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/JBANCchatte.... For any questions related to the conference, please contact JBANC at: or (tel.) 301-908-2579.


JOINT BALTIC AMERICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, INC.
Representing:
ESTONIAN AMERICAN NATIONAL COUNCIL, INC.
AMERICAN LATVIAN ASSOCIATION, INC.
LITHUANIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL, INC.

Märkmed: