ICFTU ONLINE...193/980917/ND
The Week Ahead
September 21-27,1998
Brussels, September 17, 1998 (ICFTU OnLine): The following is a selection of next week's events. This selection has been prepared for the information of subscribers to the ICFTU's OnLine service, and does not necessarily reflect the position of the ICFTU.
Monday September 21: The mandate of the UN Mission for the Organisation of a Referendum in Western Sahara (Minurso) expires. The United Nations is hoping that the referendum on self-determination can take place in February 1999 and will at last settle the future of this territory currently administered and claimed by Morocco.
Monday September 21 to Thursday September 24: 71 representatives of the ACP (Africa-Caribbean-Pacific) countries signatory to the Lomé Convention and 71 members of the European Parliament meet in Brussels at the ACP/EU Joint Assembly. Their discussions will focus on cooperation between ACP states, the future of relations between the ACP countries and the European Union, and the impact of the introduction of the euro on ACP countries.
Monday September 21 to Friday September 25: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is hosting a meeting in Geneva on terms of employment and working conditions in view of reforms in the health sector.
Tuesday September 22 to Friday September 25: The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) dispute settlements commission and its committee on market access are due to meet in Geneva. From September 23 to 25, it is the turn of the WTO working group on the interaction between trade and competition policy, as well as the committee on regional trade agreements, to meet. The WTO General Council meets from September 24 to 25 to discuss the replacement of Director General Renato Ruggiero whose mandate expires at the end of April 1999, and the preparation of agreement on the electronics trade.
Wedensday September 23: The World Bank publishes its annual report in Washington.
Wednesday September 23: General Elections are to be held in Kiribati.
Thursday September 24: The Foreign Affairs Ministers of the G7 plus Russia meet in New York.
Thursday September 24: The European Union’s Justice and Home Affairs Council is to examine the different aspects of the fight against organised crime, migration from Iraq and Kosovo, and the policy of surveillance against racism and xenophobia.
Saturday September 26 and Sunday September 27: Slovakia is to hold parliamentary elections to elect the 150 members of the National Council through a system of proportional representation.
Sunday September 27: Local elections are scheduled to take place in Nagornyy-Karabakh, the unrecognised Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan. Previous elections in the self-proclaimed republic have been deemed illegitimate by the international community because the disputed region's ethnic Azeri minority, who fled during the early years of the conflict, were unable to participate.
Sources: These forecasts have been prepared in cooperation with Future Events News Service in London (FENS), 8-10 Wiseton Rd, London SW17 7EE. Tel.:++44 181 672 31 91. Http://www.hubcom.com/fens
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