*EPF404 03/16/00
Congressional Report, Thursday, March 16, 2000
(Helms, Biden invite UN Security Council to Washington) (300)

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (Republican-North Carolina), and the committee's Ranking Member, Senator Joseph Biden (Democrat-Delaware), have invited the members of the United Nations Security Council to visit the U.S. Senate on Thursday, March 30.

The invitation was a promise Helms had made during his historic UN Security Council speech in January, 2000. Helms and Biden issued the invitation in letters to Security Council President Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh and the other ambassadors on the Council.

"Just as the Foreign Relations Committee's UN visit was an historic moment, so too will (your) visit to Washington contribute to a new beginning in U.S.-UN relations," Helms and Biden wrote.

"We very much appreciated the warm welcome extended to us during our visit to the United Nations in January, and the constructive discussion at the time with the members of the Security Council. It will be our pleasure to repay your hospitality, and to continue the important dialogue we began together in New York," they said.

The Security Council visit will begin with a tour of the U.S. Capitol building and a discussion of Senate history led by U.S. Senate Historian Richard Baker. The Foreign Relations Committee will then host a luncheon in honor of the visiting ambassadors, followed by roundtable discussions on UN reform and peacekeeping in the Foreign Relations Committee hearing room in the Dirksen Building.

"The distinguished Chairman of the Senate's Armed Services Committee, Senator John Warner (who joined us in New York) and that committee's Ranking Member, Senator Carl Levin, will be invited to join the discussion," the letter said.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: usinfo.state.gov)
NNNN