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Geopolitical Calendar: Week of April 21, 2014

EUROPE
  • April 22: By this date EU countries are expected to give feedback on an EU Commission assessment of possible financial and trade sanctions against Russia.
  • April 23-27: Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa will travel to Spain and Italy.
  • April 24: The EU Competitiveness Council will hold an informal meeting in Athens.
  • April 27: Macedonia will hold parliamentary elections and the second round of its presidential election.
FORMER SOVIET UNION
  • April 21: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will visit Ukraine to discuss the latest events in the eastern part of the country.
  • April 21: The leaders of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs are expected to travel to Ukraine.
  • April 21: New Kazakh Defense Minister Serik Akhmetov is expected to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan.
  • April 21-25: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will lead a high-level delegation to Azerbaijan and Belarus to discuss bilateral relations.
  • April 22: Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is scheduled to travel to Moscow to attend a ministerial meeting of the Caspian Sea littoral states.
  • April 23: A delegation from the Council of Europe is scheduled to visit Azerbaijan.
  • April 23: Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo will pay his first official visit to Azerbaijan to discuss ways to deepen bilateral relations and prospects for further cooperation.
  • April 23: The Azerbaijan-Netherlands Business Forum will be held in Baku.
  • April 25: The state border between Crimea and Ukraine is expected to open.
  • April 26: A Russia-China intergovernmental agreement relaxing visa formalities will take effect on this date.
ASIA-PACIFIC
  • April 21-22: The 20th China-ASEAN Senior Officials' Consultation will be held in Thailand. Delegates will exchange views on China-ASEAN relations, East Asian cooperation and international and regional issues.
  • April 22: Thailand's Election Commission will meet with political parties.
  • April 22-24: The Western Pacific Naval Symposium will be held in Qingdao, China.
  • April 23-28: U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Japan on April 23, South Korea on April 25, Malaysia on April 26 and the Philippines on April 28.
  • April 24-26: Tokyo Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe is expected to visit China at the invitation of Beijing Mayor Wang Anshun.
SOUTH ASIA
  • Unspecified date: India's Defense Research and Development Organization will conduct a high-altitude interceptor missile test over the Bay of Bengal on April 27 or 28.
  • April 22: India and China will hold director-general of military operations-level talks, followed by a meeting between the Chinese delegation and Indian Defense Minister AK Antony on April 23.
  • April 24: Afghanistan is expected to release the preliminary results of its April 5 national elections.
  • April 24: India will hold phase six of its Lok Sabha elections for 117 seats in 12 states, including Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
  • April 24-26: The first South Asian Labor Conference will take place in Lahore, Pakistan, with the participation of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan.
  • April 26: Former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom will attend the Commonwealth Day celebrations in Colombo as a guest of honor.
  • April 26: The Asia Development Bank could approve $400 million in assistance for Pakistan.
MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA
  • April 21: Candidates for Syria's presidential election can begin to register and the date of the vote will be announced.
  • April 21: An Iranian parliamentary delegation headed by the chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, is scheduled to visit South Korea.
  • April 22: Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri called for a parliamentary session at noon on this date to elect a new president.
AMERICAS
  • Unspecified date: The Venezuelan government and opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) will meet.
  • April 21: Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman will pay an official visit to Paraguay.
  • April 21: Colombian public transport and cargo drivers will decide whether to join national protests.
  • April 22: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the government will start implementing new economic measures.
  • April 21-27: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil.
  • April 23: Panama's Single Union of Construction Workers threatened to go on an indefinite national strike on this date if they do not reach a collective negotiation agreement with the Panama Chamber of Commerce.
  • April 24: Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim will meet with his Paraguayan counterpart, Bernardino Soto Estigarribia.
  • April 24: A new round of peace talks between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known as FARC, will begin in Havana, Cuba.
AFRICA
  • April 21-24: Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain will visit Nigeria to meet with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. This will be the first such visit in 30 years.
  • April 22: The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North rebel group and the Sudanese government will resume the final round of peace negotiations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
  • April 24: The African Union Peace and Security Council is scheduled to hold a discussion on the implementation of a road map to a conflict-free Africa by 2020.


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