Contact: Burdett Loomis, Dole Institute for Public Service and Public Policy, (785) 864-9033
HEARTLAND FOCUSES ON NATO'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY LAWRENCE -- For the second time this year, NATO advisers, international business executives, military officials, congressional representatives and scholars will gather in the Kansas City area Sept. 9 to 11.
The Robert J. Dole Institute for Public Service and Public Policy at the University of Kansas is joining with Fort Leavenworth's U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and Johnson County Community College in Overland Park to conduct the three-day conference: "NATO: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow."
In March 1999, NATO officials and diplomatic representatives met in Kansas City as the first former Communist nations officially joined NATO. The foreign ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary met with Secretary of State Madelaine Albright at the Truman Library in Independence, Mo., to sign the official documents joining the alliance.
On Sept. 9 to 11, NATO leaders and scholars will join with regional business and congressional leaders to observe NATO's 50-year history and to explore its future role.
Kansas and Missouri have strong connections to NATO, Burdett Loomis, Dole Institute director said. Those links include Sen. Dole's support of NATO in the U.S. Senate; Ft. Leavenworth's command officer corps training center where military allies from around the world receive leadership training; President Harry Truman presided over NATO's creation and President Dwight D. Eisenhower provided leadership during the early years of the Cold War.
"We are also linked economically to Europe and the former Iron Curtain countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia," said Charles Ranson, president of the Topeka-based economic and planning institute, Kansas Inc., a conference co-sponsor.
Market analysts regard the former Iron Curtain countries as an untapped emerging market of nearly one-half billion consumers. Kansas' exports to that market represent about three percent of the state's total exports. "Bringing this conference to the Kansas City area provides a tremendous opportunity to expand our global economic ties," Ranson said.
"This conference takes advantage of the military, scholarly and international business strengths of the Kansas City region," Loomis said. "We are especially happy to be able to join with Ft. Leavenworth and JCCC to put this program together."
Each day of the three-day conference will be in a different location: Thursday, Sept. 9 at Fort Leavenworth; Friday, Sept. 10 at KU; and Saturday, Sept. 11 at JCCC.
Kansas senators Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts have joined the roster of invited speakers including o Ret. Adm. William Crowe, senior adviser for a Washington, D.C., international crisis management firm and former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff; o John Gaddis, Yale University's Robert A. Lovett professor of history o Ret. Brig. Gen. Carl Reddel, Eisenhower World Affairs Institute, Washington, D.C.; o John Lough, NATO headquarters, Brussels.
Conference major topics cover the "Ukraine and NATO Enlargement" on Sept. 9 at Fort Leavenworth 's Command and General Staff; "NATO in a New World" on Sept. 10 at KU's Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union; and "NATO: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" on Sept. 11 at Johnson County Community College's Cultural Education Center Theatre.
Sessions on Sept. 9 and 10 are free and open to the public. Registration is required on Sept. 11.
Conference co-sponsors include KU's Center for Russian and East European Studies; KU's Chancellor's Office; Johnson County Community College; Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation in Topeka; Kansas Inc; Ft. Leavenworth Command and General Staff College; Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Mo.; Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene; and the International Relations Council of Kansas City.
A complete program of events is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.ukans.edu/~dole98 or for more information, call the Dole Institute (785) 864-9033. -30-
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