"Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will address legislators from Russia and the United States this Thursday in the first-ever open meeting between the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on International Affairs of the Duma, the legislature of the Russian Federation.
"I am delighted that the Speaker of the House will share her thoughts on US-Russian relations in this ground-breaking forum," said Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA), chairman of the House committee and the host of the event. "The Speaker is a strong supporter of inter-parliamentary dialogue. She will set the tone for us, and set the ball rolling for the day."
The June 21 joint session will mark the third in the series of meetings between the American and Russian foreign affairs committees, with previous sessions held in Moscow (June 2004) and Washington (November 2005). It will be the first such meeting ever to which the media and members of the public will be invited.
The gathering will focus on four key themes:
- democracy and human rights,
- unresolved regional conflicts,
- strategic stability and trade and
- economic issues
Agenda for Public Session of Joint Meeting
June 21, 2007 Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building [Washington time]
10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Opening Statements, including Speaker Pelosi
10:30 a.m. - 10:55 a.m. Strategic Stability (including the Conventional Forces in Europe, non-proliferation, missile defense)
10:55 a.m. - 11:20 a.m. Unresolved Regional Conflicts (including Kosova, Georgia, Moldova)
11:20 a.m. - 11:40 a.m. Humanitarian Issues (including democracy, human rights)
11:40 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Trade and Economy (including energy security)
