Tunisian Foreign Affairs Minister Guest of Baker Institute

CONTACT: Michael Cinelli
PHONE: (713) 831-4794

TUNISIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER GUEST OF BAKER INSTITUTE

Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs Habib Ben Yahia will speak
on Thursday, Sept. 21, 1995, at a dinner sponsored by Rice
University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. Ben
Yahia’s speech is titled “Tunisia’s Approach to Islam.”

The dinner
will start at 7 p.m. in the Austin Room of the Four Seasons Hotel,
1300 Lamar. The foreign minister will speak at about 8 p.m.

“Tunisia is an important country in North Africa, and the
close bilateral relations between the United States and Tunisia have
been instrumental in promoting the Arab-Israeli Peace Process,” said
Edward P. Djerejian, director of the Baker Institute. “The Baker
Institute is fortunate to have the opportunity to provide a forum in
which faculty and students of the Rice community and members of the
Houston community can interact with Foreign Minister Ben Yahia.”

Ben Yahia was named Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Tunisian
Republic in February 1991. Prior to that he served as deputy
minister of foreign affairs, and as Tunisian Ambassador to the
United States and Japan.

The dinner is another in a series of presentations sponsored by
the Baker Institute as a part of its Shell Lecture Series, which is
made possible through a gift from the Shell Oil Company Foundation.

Reporters interested in covering the event should contact
Michael Cinelli, director of the Rice University News Office, at
(713) 831-4794. Copies of Ben Yahia’s speech will be available from
the Rice University News Office on Friday, Sept. 22, 1995, by
calling (713) 831-4795.

###