2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007

EU - President of the Spanish Government before the European Parliament plenary session

(07/04/2010 to 07/04/2010) Strasbourg

President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero report on the Spring Council, of 25 and 26 March.

Czech Republic - US-Russia nuclear agreement

(08/04/2010 to 08/04/2010) Prague, Czech Republic

On April 8 in Prague, the United States and Russia will sign a new a new nuclear disarmament agreement, replacing the START treaty, which expired in December 2009. (no tiene que ser se venció en español?)

Last year in the Czech capital, US president Barack Obama unveiled an ambitious initiative aiming to eradicate the world’s nuclear arsenals. Obama showed his willingness to work towards achieving a world without nuclear weapons, which would include the ratification in Washington of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the holding of a summit against the proliferation of atomic weapons.

The new START agreement, which follows the lines of the historical pact established between the two superpowers in 1991, is the first fruit that Obama’s vision has borne.

Sudan - Presidential Elections

(11/04/2010 to 13/04/2010)

Sudan to hold 1st multi-party polls in 24 years. Presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in Sudan 11 -13th April to elect the President of Sudan and the National Assembly of Sudan. The election brings to the end the transitional period which began when the decades-long Second Sudanese Civil War ended in 2005.

In January, President Omar Hassan Al Bashir resigned as supreme commander of the Armed Forces (he held since 1989 to be a candidate). Al Bashir was born in 1944 and served as army chief after coup staged on 30 June 1989 against President Sadek al-Mahdi.

Since July 14, 2008 is considered a fugitive from international justice after the International Criminal Court charged him with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Sudanese region of Darfur, which has killed over 300,000 people.

On 1 April, Yasir Arman, presidential candidate for the People's Liberation Movement in Sudan (SPLM), the main opposition party in the South and al-Bashir oponent, announced his abandonment of the presidential race, believing that a massive electoral fraud will occur, especially in the Darfur region.

Hungary - Parliamentary Elections

(11/04/2010 to 11/04/2010)

The next parliamentary election in Hungary will be held on 11 April and 25 April 2010. This will be the sixth free elections after the end of communism. The 386 members of parliament are to be elected in a combined system of party lists and electoral constituencies.

As polls showed both MDF and SzDSz would be unlikely to make it into parliament on their own, they have agreed to a limited electoral cooperation

USA - Nuclear Security Summit

(12/04/2010 to 13/04/2010) Washington D.C., United States

U.S. President Barack Obama has officially invited Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to participate in the Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Washington April 12-13 with the aim of fighting against the threat of nuclear terrorism. This would be Zapatero’s second visit to Washington since he met with Obama at the White House last October

The White House has invited about 40 heads of state and government to the summit. The aim of the meetings, as proposed by the White House, is to guarantee the security of “vulnerable” nuclear material over the next four years, a task that requires examining existing cooperation measures and providing assistance to countries that may require it.

BRIC - Second Summit

(14/04/2010 to 17/04/2010) Brasilia, Brazil

In economics, BRIC (typically rendered as "the BRICs" or "the BRIC countries") is a grouping acronym that refers to the related economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.

The acronym was prominently used by Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs in 2001. According to a paper published in 2005, Mexico and South Korea are the only other countries comparable to the BRICs, but their economies were excluded initially because they were considered already more developed. Goldman Sachs argued that, since they are developing rapidly, by 2050 the combined economies of the BRICs could eclipse the combined economies of the current richest countries of the world. The four countries, combined, currently account for more than a quarter of the world's land area and more than 40% of the world's population.

Venezuela - Commemoration of the Bicentenary of the Independence

(19/04/2010 to 19/04/2010)

The Presidential Commission for the Commemoration of the Bicentenary of the Independence of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was created in order to schedule the acts concerning the celebration of Independence, which have been carried out since 19 April 2009 and that extended until 5 July 2011. 

EU - Pakistan Summit

(21/04/2010 to 21/04/2010) Brussels, Belgium

Participants: Prime Minister from Pakistan, President of the European Council, President of the European Commission, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affiars and Security Policy.

Austria - Presidencial Elections

(25/04/2010 to 25/04/2010)

Presidential elections will be held in Austria on 25 April 2010.

Incumbent President Heinz Fischer (independent, retired member of Social Democratic Party of Austria) announced on November 23, 2009 that he will seek a second term.

The FPÖ announced in June 2009 that it would definitely field a candidate "to prevent Fischer['s reelection]" (possible candidates mentioned include Norbert Steger, Siegfried Dillersberger, Norbert Gugerbauer, Dieter Böhmdorfer and Wilhelm Brauneder). On 28 February 2010, Strache announced in the Kronen Zeitung that the FPÖ would nominate Barbara Rosenkranz as its presidential candidate.

III Alliance of Civilisations Forum

(27/04/2010 to 29/05/2010) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Alliance of Civilisations is a worldwide initiative which aims to have a local application, close to the citizens themselves. Its objective is to ‘win hearts and minds’, proposing concrete projects and ways of moving forward when it comes to respect, tolerance and unity; the very essence of the United Nations.

With this objective, its development is taking place on different levels: on the international level through the Action Plans and the Alliance’s Regional Strategies, on the national level through the National Plans for the Alliance of Civilisations in the member countries; and at local level through the direct involvement of civil society.

More from the international agenda