AUSTRIAN AMBASSADOR TO VISIT PITT

PITTSBURGH, September 4 -- Helmut Tuerk, Austrian ambassador to the United States, will speak at the University of Pittsburgh during a visit to the city,

September 10.

In his address, "Austria's European Union Presidency," which begins at 2:00 PM, Tuerk will present the status of the European Union and its goals during the six-month presidency of his country, which commenced July 1.

"The ambassador's visit provides a marvelous opportunity to learn about the European Union's new initiatives, including Europe's single currency," said Alberta Sbragia, director of Pitt's Center for West European Studies (CWES). "These initiatives will affect our region, and Ambassador Tuerk's lecture will help all of us understand how the European Union affects Pittsburgh."

Tuerk's campus visit is sponsored by the European Union Center at CWES, a unit of the University Center for International Studies at Pitt. This new European Union Center is one of only ten such centers of excellence in the United States.

Prior to arriving on campus, Tuerk will speak at a breakfast meeting of the Global Trade Institute of Pittsburgh, the training arm of the World Trade Center of Pittsburgh. This will be the fourth presentation in the European trade bloc series, which is the result of a partnership between the U.S. Commerce Department, the International Business Center of the Katz School at the University of Pittsburgh and the World Trade Center of Pittsburgh.

Following his address and reception at the University of Pittsburgh, Tuerk is scheduled to meet with members of the Jewish community at the Holocaust Center in Squirrel Hill.

Tuerk's address at the university is free and open to the public. It will be held in Room 2M 2P56 in the Forbes Quadrangle Building, located at 230

S. Bouquet Street in Oakland, behind Hillman Library.

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