Shevardnadze, Baker to Discuss Roles in Bringing Cold War to End

Shevardnadze, Baker to Discuss Roles in Bringing Cold War to End

BY MICHAEL CINELLI
Rice News Staff
April 8, 1999

Georgian President Eduard Shevard-nadze will deliver an address, "Georgia,
the Caucasus and Beyond," and join former U.S. Secretary of State James
A. Baker, III, in a "town hall" meeting to reflect on historic events
that brought about a peaceful end to the Cold War nearly 10 years ago.

The event–sponsored by Rice’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy–is
scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 22, in Stude Concert Hall at
Alice Pratt Brown Hall on the Rice campus. Prior to the event, Shevardnadze
will meet with news media representatives at 5 p.m. in the International Conference
Facility of Baker Hall.

This will be the first time Shevardnadze and Baker have appeared together in
public to talk about their roles in bringing the Cold War to an end and on future
perspectives. They both made significant contributions–as foreign minister
of the Soviet Union and the U.S. secretary of state, respectively–in managing
a peaceful transfer to the post-Cold War era.

Former President George Bush will deliver a videotaped welcoming message to
start the evening’s program. Shevardnadze will then make his address and participate
in the "town hall" meeting, during which he will exchange views with
Baker on the historic events of 1989 and the state of the post-Cold War world.

After the meeting concludes, Shevard-nadze will be presented with the Baker
Institute’s Enron Prize for Distinguished Public Service. Enron Chairman Ken
Lay will participate in the presentation. Shevardnadze will be the third person
to receive the prize. Previous recipients were retired U.S. Gen. Colin Powell
(1995) and former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev (1997).

The event is by invitation only, except for students, faculty and staff of
Rice, who need only show university identification for admittance to the event
site.

As Soviet foreign minister from 1985 until his dramatic resignation in December
1990, Shevardnadze was one of the principal architects of glasnost and Perestroika
and a leader of the movement for democratic reforms and self-determination.
He directed the policies that led to the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan,
reduction of nuclear arms, the independence of the countries of East and Central
Europe and the reunification of Germany.

In 1992, the Georgia State Council invited Shevardnadze to return to his native
country to help restore peace and democracy following an uprising in northwest
Georgia, where ethnic Abkhaz nationalists and military units of foreign mercenaries
embarked on a policy of "national cleansing," expelling 250,000 Georgians
amid fierce fighting. With considerable personal courage and risk to his life,
Shevardnadze rallied the Georgian forces at the front and then negotiated a
cease-fire.

In 1995 elections, his Citizens Union party won a majority in the Georgian
parliament and he was elected president. He introduced democratic and economic
reforms that restored political stability, economic growth and increased cooperation
throughout the region. He also launched a program of privatization.