Leading European diplomat to tour Jackson, Vicksburg, Natchez

Contact: Sammy McDavid

The ambassador of the European Commission to the United States will make a three-city official visit to Central Mississippi later this week.

Guenter Burghardt, who became the top EC representative to this country in February of 2000, arrives in Jackson Thursday [Nov. 15]. He then travels to Vicksburg and Natchez on the following days.

The EC is the central executive body of the European Union, which was created after World War II to economically join nations of the Continent so another war among them would be unthinkable. Today, the EU represents some 370 million people in 15 member countries, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Burghardt's tour is co-sponsored by the Janos Radvanyi Chair in International Security Studies at Mississippi State University, along with the economic development authorities in each of the three cities and the convention and visitors bureaus of Natchez and Vicksburg.

While in Jackson, he will meet with state officials and representatives of the Mississippi Economic Development Authority. Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, House of Representatives Speaker Tim Ford, and Sen. Hillman Frazier of Jackson are among those included on his schedule.

For additional information and specific information on his Central Mississippi itinerary, telephone (662) 325-8406 or 325-8326.