President Valdis Zatlers will spend Sept. 20-28 in the United States attending the United Nations, meeting with world leaders and spending some time with the Latvian community in New York. Among highlights of his visit will be speeches at Columbia University and to the U.N. General Assembly, according to the president’s press office.

After arriving in the U.S., the president is scheduled to attend the Sept. 21 American premiere of the documentary film The Soviet Story. The screening is set for 11 a.m. in the Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave., New York. A reception with the film’s director, Edvīns Šnore, as well as with Zatlers, will follow the screening. Admission is USD 20 and can be bought at the door.

The work week begins with a round table discussion, “Africa’s Development Needs,” led by Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Finnish President Tarja Halonen at the United Nations. The program begins at 9 a.m. in the General Assembly Hall of U.N. Headquarters, First Avenue at 46th Street, New York.

Later in the day, Zatlers will discuss Latvia’s views on global affairs at the Clinton Global Initiative in 1501 International Affairs Building, The European Institute of Columbia University, 420 West 118th St., New York. The program begins at 5 p.m .. A reception at the “Latvia Today” photography exhibition on the fourth floor of IAB will follow the event. The president also is expected to participate in a discussion with teachers and students about the situation in Georgia.

The opening of the 63rd session of the U.N. General Assembly is on the president’s agenda for Tuesday, Sept. 23. During the day, Zatlers also is to meet with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and will attend an event honoring soldiers who have died in Iraq. Latvia has lost three troops in Iraq. In the evening, Zatlers is to attend a dinner for world leaders hosted by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

On Wednesday, Sept. 24, Zatlers takes the podium to address the U.N. General Assembly. Last year, the president discussed the U.N.‘s peacekeeping role, focusing especially on the question of Kosovo. Also on the calendar for Zatlers are meetings with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

In the evening, Zatlers will participate in the opening of this year’s Clinton Global Initiative, a non-partisan effort started in 2005 by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

The schedule for Thursday, Sept. 25, includes participation in the U.S. plenary “Millennium Development Goals” and a round table discussion on environmental sustainability. Zatlers also is to meet with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and visit the NASDAQ stock market.

As the work weeks winds down, Zatlers on Sept. 26 has other meetings scheduled with world leaders, including Serbian President Boris Tadić and President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan.

Latvia has finalized all requirements for joining the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, meaning Latvian citizens may be just a few months away from being able to enter the United States with little more than a passport.

The Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Sept. 18 that Latvian and U.S. officials have finalized language in an agreement on combatting serious crime. The agreement is the last step in the consultative process that should lead to Latvia being admitted into the visa waiver program.

“We have completed all our homework,” Pēteris Podvinskis, first secretary in the Latvian Embassy in Washington, D.C., told Latvians Online.

Latvian Ambassador Andrejs Pildegovičs, U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Stewart Baker and Dept. of Justice representative Kenneth P. Mortenson initialed the agreement on Sept. 18. The agreement focuses on serious crime, especially terrorism, and calls on both sides to exchange information about criminals.

The agreement still needs to be signed by both sides, Podvinskis said. It is expected that Latvia’s Cabinet of Ministers will review the agreement on Sept. 23, after which a date will be set for the signing.

Latvia is the first of a number of candidate countries from Eastern Europe to complete the consultative process, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.

The only remaining hurdle might be the current rate of visa refusal for Latvians seeking to travel to the United States. Under the Visa Waiver Program, a candidate country must have a refusal rate of no more than 10 percent. The last time the U.S. State Department reported data in 2007, Latvia’s refusal rate stood at 11.8 percent. New numbers are scheduled for release in October, and Podvinksis said Latvian officials are confident Latvia’s rate will be below 10 percent.

Latvian officials have worked for several years on earning the visa waiver. Currently just 27 countries, most of them in Western Europe, are part of the Visa Waiver Program.

Canada lifted its visa requirements for Latvian citizens last October.

The U.S. Senate has unanimously agreed to a resolution honoring Latvia on the 90th anniversary of its declaration of independence and calling on the president to ask Russia to acknowledge that the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states was illegal.

The resolution, introduced June 9 by Republican Sen. Gordon H. Smith of Oregon and Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, was discharged by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Sept. 16 and adopted the same day by the full Senate. The committee’s action came a day before it was scheduled to hear testimony about Russia’s aggression against Georgia.

The resolution specifically calls on the U.S. president and the secretary of state “to urge the government of the Russian Federation to acknowledge that the Soviet occupation of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and for the succeeding 51 years was illegal.”

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, signed in August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, included a secret protocol that allowed the Soviet Union to extend its sphere of influence over the Baltic states.

The resolution also “commends the government of Latvia for its success in implementing political and economic reforms, for establishing political, religious and economic freedom, and for its strong commitment to human and civil rights.”

A similar resolution introduced July 31 in the House of Representatives does not ask the president or the secretary of state to seek Russian anknowledgement of the illegality of the Soviet Occupation. That resolution, H. Res. 1405, remains under review by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.