SENATOR LUGAR, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE JONES WILL REPRESENT THE UNITED STATES AT UKRAINE'S INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY

Senator Richard Lugar, Republican of Indiana, and Ambassador A. Elizabeth Jones, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, will arrive in Kyiv August 23 as official representatives of President George W. Bush at ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of Ukrainian independence. Senator Lugar and Ambassador Jones will meet with President Kuchma and other Ukrainian officials during their visit.

Senator Lugar was first elected to the Senate in 1976. He chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and is the second ranking Republican on the Committee on Foreign Relations and Intelligence. Senator Lugar has been instrumental in Senate ratification of treaties that reduce the world's use, production and stockpiling of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. In 1991, he forged a bipartisan partnership with Senator Sam Nunn, then chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to create a program to encourage destruction and elimination of nuclear weapons in countries of the former Soviet Union. Three countries, including Ukraine, took the historic decision to become nuclear-free and more than 4,700 warheads have been deactivated. In 1996, Lugar and Nunn were joined by Senator Pete Domenci in creating a program combating terrorists using weapons of mass destruction.

Ambassador Jones was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs in May of this year. Previously, she served as Senior Advisor for Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy, after having been Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (1998-2000). Ambassador Jones was Ambassador to the Republic of Kazakhstan from 1995 to 1998, and has held a variety of responsible positions both in Washington and overseas, principally in the Middle East, South Asia and Germany.