WASHINGTON – His Excellency Jan Eliasson, President of the United Nations General Assembly, will speak about United Nations reform in the context of current global challenges in a presentation entitled “The United Nations at a Crossroads.” The U.S. Institute of Peace will sponsor the on-the-record event, which is scheduled from 3:30-4:30 p.m. on September 25, 2005 at the New Canaan Library in New Canaan, NY. The presentation will be followed by questions from the floor; a reception will follow the program.

Ambassador Eliasson, an expert on mediation, conflict resolution, and UN reform, served as Sweden’s Ambassador to the United States from 2000 to 2005. In 1992, he was appointed the first UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, and was involved in operations in Somalia, the Sudan, Mozambique, and the Balkans. From 1988 to 1992, he was Sweden’s ambassador to the United Nations and served as the Secretary General’s Personal Representative on Iran/Iraq. From 1980 to 1986 he was part of the UN mission mediating the war between Iran and Iraq. During his diplomatic career, Eliasson has been posted in New York, Paris, Bonn, Washington, D.C., and Zimbabwe, where he opened the first Swedish Embassy in 1980. He is the author of numerous books and articles and is a frequent lecturer on foreign policy and diplomacy.

For more information about the Institute of Peace, please contact the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs at (202) 429-3832 or by e-mail at publicaffairs@usip.org. For additional information about this program, please contact Cynde Bloom Lahey at (203) 594-5000.