No. 367-P:12/28/95:Secretary of Defense WilliamJ. Perry wi

Secretary of Defense William J. Perry will depart Washington, D.C. Mondaynight, January 1, 1996, on an eight-country, seven-day trip to Europe and theMiddle East.

The Secretary will visit U.S. and NATO forces at Aviano AB and Vicenza, Italy,and Taszar and Kopasvar, Hungary on January 2. The next day he will travel toSarajevo and Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina. While in Sarajevo, he will also meetwith officials from the Bosnian government. Accompanying the Secretary inItaly, Hungary and Bosnia will be Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman, JointChiefs of Staff.

On January 4, the Secretary visits Kiev, Ukraine for bilateral discussions withUkrainian government officials as well as a trilateral meeting with UkranianMinister of Defense Valery Shmarov and Russian Minister of Defense PavelGrachev. On January 5, Secretary Perry and his Ukrainian and Russiancounterparts will jointly participate in a missile silo destruction inPervomaysk, Ukraine. There will also be a separate ceremony marking theturnover of housing built for Ukrainian officers as part of the CooperativeThreat Reduction Program.

Later on January 5, Secretary Perry flies to Muscat, Oman for meetings withOmani government officials.

On January 6, after meetings in Oman, Secretary Perry travels to Riyadh, SaudiArabia to discuss regional security issues with Saudi government officials.The following day, the Secretary moves to Amman, Jordan, where he will meetwith King Hussein and other Jordanian government officials. On January 8,Secretary Perry will continue regional security discussions in Jerusalem withIsraeli government officials. He will return to Washington, D.C. later thatsame day.