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Geopolitical Calendar: Week of May 5, 2014

 

EUROPE
  • May 5: EU finance ministers will meet in Brussels.
  • May 5: The European Commission will publish its Spring European Economic Forecast during a news conference in Brussels.
  • May 5: Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic will visit Vienna, Austria, where he will attend the meeting of the Committee of Foreign Affairs Ministers of the Council of Europe.
  • May 5: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will start his European tour in Warsaw.
  • May 5: Japan is expected to announce an initiative to help Eastern European countries build coal-fired power plants at the meeting of energy ministers from Japan and other G-7 industrialized nations in Rome.
  • May 5-6: The EU agriculture and fisheries ministers' informal meetings will continue in Athens.
  • May 6: EU finance ministers will hold a meeting of the Ecofin Council.
  • May 6: The European Commission will discuss climate change adaptation and mitigation in range of the release of IPCC's (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 5th Assessment Report and its implications for policy and decision-making.
  • May 6-8: Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades will visit Berlin.
  • May 7: Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic will attend the EU-Western Balkans meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece.
  • May 7-8: EU ministers of maritime affairs will hold informal meetings in Athens.
  • May 8: The European Central Bank Governing Council will be held in Brussels.
  • May 8: EU foreign ministers will meet in Brussels and are expected to discuss trade.
  • May 8: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will visit Berlin, where he is expected to attend the Europe Forum conference.
  • May 8-9: EU transport and telecoms ministers will hold informal meetings in Athens.
FORMER SOVIET UNION
  • May 5: Azeri state oil company SOCAR is expected to sign contracts with a consortium of banks, securing financing for its Turkish oil refinery project.
  • May 5-8: The first IMF loan tranche to Ukraine, worth $3 billion, is expected to come through.
  • May 6: The next session of the Ukrainian parliament will be held.
  • May 7-8: British Foreign Secretary William Hague is expected to visit Tbilisi, Georgia.
  • May 9: Russian President Vladimir Putin will make his first visit to the Crimean peninsula since Russia annexed the territory in March.
ASIA-PACIFIC
  • May 5-16: Around 3,000 Philippine troops and 2,500 U.S. military personnel will join in bilateral military drills to be held in various camps across the Philippines.
  • May 6: Pro-government protesters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship will hold major demonstrations in Bangkok.
  • May 11-15: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Japan.
SOUTH ASIA
  • May 5: Pakistan will host a Bahraini parliamentary delegation.
  • May 5: Pakistani Finance Minister Ishaq Dar will visit Dubai to hold policy talks.
  • May 6: U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Kyung Wha Kang will arrive in Pakistan to gather information on the humanitarian situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Sindh.
  • May 7: India will hold phase eight of its nationwide Lok Sabha elections. The elections began April 7.
  • May 8: The U.S.-India Business Council meeting will be held in San Jose, California.
  • May 11: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Tahirul Qadri will stage a protest calling for a re-examination of the 2013 general election results.
MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA
  • Unspecified date: Qatar will mediate a dialogue with Darfur rebels in Doha, Qatar.
  • May 5-9: The Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons will continue its meeting at the the U.N. office in New York. This meeting is the third of three sessions that will be held prior to the 2015 Review Conference.
  • May 7: This is the date set for the third round of presidential election voting in Lebanon.
AMERICAS
  • Unspecified date: Argentine and Brazilian government officials will hold another meeting in Buenos Aires to discuss bilateral trade.
  • Unspecified date: A UNASUR (Union of South American Nations) delegation will return to Venezuela to participate in the dialogue between the government and opposition.
  • May 5: U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with Djibouti President Ismail Omar in Washington.
  • May 5: An International Monetary Fund delegation will visit Nicaragua to review the country's 2013 economic performance and make projections for 2014.
  • May 6: Colombia will suspend natural gas exports to Venezuela.
  • May 7: Mexico is expected to begin an extraordinary legislative session in order to pass the first of several pending pieces of legislation.
  • May 8: Argentine anti-government labor union CTA will hold a march.
  • May 8: Chile's student confederation, high school student national coordination, National Assembly of high school students and private university students will march in protest against elements of the government's educational reform bill.
AFRICA
  • May 5-11: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will continue his four-nation tour of Africa, including Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola and Kenya.
  • May 7: South Africa will hold its general elections.
  • May 7-9: The World Economic Forum on Africa will be held in Abuja, Nigeria.

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