December 23, 2003 U.S. Ambassador To Armenia To Speak At the Library on January 8

Press Contact: Audrey Fischer (202) 707-0022
Public Contact: Levon Avdoyan (202) 707-5680

John M. Ordway, United States ambassador to the Republic of Armenia, will present a “Report from Armenia: 2003" at the Library of Congress at noon on Thursday, Jan. 8, in the West Dining Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E. in Washington, D.C. The lecture, which is sponsored by the Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division, is free and open to the public, but space is limited.

This year witnessed disputed elections and continuing economic problems as well as encouraging advancements in international relations and commercial relations in Armenia and the two other republics of the Caucasus—Azerbaijan and Georgia. Ambassador Ordway will present his observations on these matters within the context of the growth of American-Armenian relations throughout the year.

Ordway became the fourth ambassador from the United States to Armenia on Nov. 16, 2001. He brings to that assignment an extensive background in Soviet and Russian affairs, European security, conflict resolution and peacekeeping operations.

Born in California, Ambassador Ordway was educated at Stanford University and studied in Florence, the University of California’s Hastings College of Law and the University of California, Berkeley. He has been a career Foreign Service officer since 1975 and has served in embassies in Prague, Moscow and Brussels. He was deputy chief of mission in Moscow from 1996 to 2001.

In Washington, Ordway he has worked in the State Department’s press office and in the Office of Soviet Union Affairs. He also served twice as director of African affairs for the National Security Council and was involved in important events in Angola, Somalia and Namibia.

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PR 03-216
2003-12-23
ISSN 0731-3527