UNIS/INF/247
9 November 2007

Networking for Peace: Peacekeepers from Central Europe to Meet at United Nations in Vienna

VIENNA, 9 November (UN Information Service) - Active and veteran peacekeepers, civil society representatives, government officials and journalists will meet at United Nations headquarters in Vienna on 12 November at the first Networking for Peace regional peacekeepers' forum, hosted by the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Vienna, in cooperation with the Association of Austrian Peacekeepers. The participants are from Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The meeting aims to facilitate the establishment of peacekeepers' associations in the participating countries, to function inter alia as liaison partners between active and veteran peacekeepers, civil society, the United Nations, and national government bodies, as advocates for peacekeeping.

The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Kiyotaka Akasaka, will address the meeting.

Major General Johann Pucher, Director of Security Policy at the Austrian Ministry of Defence will deliver a keynote address. This will be followed by presentations and discussions by General (retd.) Guenther Greindl, President of the Association of Austrian Peacekeepers;  Maj. Ibrahim Tahirovic from Bosnia and Herzegovina; Maj. Nevrenka Kovac and Capt. Boran Protic from Croatia; Lt. Col. Ladislav Sornas, Vice President, and Lt. Col. Karel Cernoch, Czech Veteran Association; Dr. Zoltan Szenes, former Chief of Staff of the Hungarian Defence Forces; Lt. Col. Miklos Szabo, Hungarian Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement; Col. Alfred Majewski and Col. Stanislaw Malinowski, Polish Association of Veterans of UN Peacekeeping Operations; Chief Commissar Dumitru Galma, Director of European Affairs, General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police; Lt. Col. Liviu Leoveanu, Romanian Defence Ministry; Col. (retd.) Vladimir Zbodak, President, and Sgt. Dusan Krissak, civil society organization UN-Veteran Slovakia; and Professor Anton Grizold, former Defence Minister of Slovenia. Permanent Representatives to the United Nations (Vienna) and military advisers will also participate in the meeting.

The participants will share their experiences and views concerning veteran activities in the different countries, and discuss the establishment of peacekeepers' associations. The meeting is intended to result in a range of follow-up activities and to become a regular platform of exchange.

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For information contact:

Sonja Wintersberger
Information Officer, UNIS Vienna
Tel.: +43 1 260 60 3430
E-mail: sonja.wintersberger@unvienna.org