Embassy Row

Books and seeds

The United States planted the seeds for future education and agriculture in Nigeria when U.S. Ambassador John Campbell presented books about black Americans and American history and dedicated a special facility to store seeds for crops.

“Support for education is a high priority for the American government and represents a significant aspect of our foreign assistance around the world,” Mr. Campbell said when he donated books this month for more than 60 elementary schools in northern Nigeria.

In a separate ceremony, Mr. Campbell dedicated a project that will allow the government of Kano province to store and produce seeds to improve harvests in an arid region prone to economic hardships.

Diplomatic traffic

Foreign visitors in Washington this week include:

Today

c Herman von Hebel, a Dutch lawyer and deputy registrar of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. He holds a 10 a.m. press conference at the National Press Club to discuss the status of prosecutions against accused war criminals in the West African nation.

c Miri Eisin, spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel. He holds a 3 p.m. press conference at the National Press Club.

c Canada’s Carolyn McAskie, assistant secretary-general of the U.N. Peacebuilding Support Office, who addresses a forum sponsored by the Canadian Embassy and Women in International Security.

Tomorrow

c Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu of Romania, who meets with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley and Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England. On Thursday, he addresses Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

c Wu Jianmin, undersecretary-general of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, who addresses a forum sponsored by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation.

c Hamidullah Farooqi, president of the Afghanistan International Chamber of Commerce; Jafar Javan of the U.N. Development Program; and Muhamet Mustafa of Kosovo’s Riinvest Institute. They participate in a briefing on post-conflict reconstruction at 8:30 a.m. in Room 2261 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

c Ilmars Knagis and Benita Eglite of Latvia’s Politically Repressed Association, who attend a dedication ceremony for the Victims of Communism Memorial at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Massachusetts and New Jersey avenues Northwest and G Street Northwest.

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