COMOROS APPROVES STANDARD INSTRUMENT TO PARTICIPATE IN EUCLID

On 10 April, EUCLID Secretary-General Syed Zahid Ali announced today that the Government of the Union of Comoros, represented by H.E. Mohamed Toihiri, Permanent Representative of the Union of Comoros to the United Nations, approved the standard instrument to participate in Euclid Intergovernmental Organization for Sustainable Development (EUCLID). Comoros's participation, with the pre-approved participation of Tanzania and the Central African Republic, brings to a total of ten (10) participating States. Deputy Secretary-General Vince Sinning represented EUCLID at the signing of Comoros's participation, joined by staff members Mr. Chad D'Amore and Mr. Christopher Thomas.

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On 1 April, the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC hosted a panel discussion on the upcoming Summit of the Americas - April 13th, 2009 in Trinidad & Tobago - and the recently printed The Obama Administration and the Americas: Agenda for Change (Brookings Institution Press, 2009). Discussants were Abraham F. Lowenthal and Theodore J. Piccone (co-authors of the book), and Laurence Whitehead (a fellow of the University of Oxford). Mexican Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Mr. Arturo Srukhan, was the keynote speaker.
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JAPAN: Prime Minister Taro Aso unveiled $150 billion stimulus package to protect livelihoods and to foster future growth. The package includes measures boost fuel-efficient vehicles and consumer electronics. Japan faces its deepest recession since World War II. Prime Minister Aso's coalition government plans to put the stimulus package before parliament by the end of April.

FIJI: The High Court's ruling of the illegality of the December 2006 coup led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama prompted President Ratu Josefa Iloilo to suspend the consAutitution and restored Commodore Bainimarama's post as interim Prime Minister. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that the political upheaval in Fiji was grave and unwelcome. The United States also expressed deep disappointment while United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed dismay.

CUBA-US RELATIONS:U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, the top Republican on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged President Barack Obama last week to "recast a policy that has not only failed to promote human rights and democracy, but also undermines our broader security and political interests."

NATO: Twenty-eight Heads of State and Government unanimously appointed Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the next Secretary-General. Prime Minister Rasmussen will formally take up his duties on 1 August 2009 when the term of the current Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, expires after five and a half years.