Wilson Center to Honor Pickering and Alekperov for Contributions to U.S.-Russian Relations

On Thursday, May 26, 2005, Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, Senior Vice President of The Boeing Company, and Vagit Alekperov, President of LUKOIL, will be honored by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution. Ambassador Pickering will receive the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service, and Mr. Alekperov will receive the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship at a dinner to benefit the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute.

The two honorees are outstanding leaders in the worlds of business and diplomacy and represent the importance of strong relations between the United States and the Russian Federation.

Thomas Pickering holds the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the U.S. Foreign Service. His career, which spanned five decades, includes ambassadorships to the Russian Federation, India, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. From 1989 to 1992, he served as Ambassador and Representative to the United Nations. He also served as Executive Secretary of the Department of State and Special Assistant to Secretaries William P. Rogers and Henry A. Kissinger from 1973 to 1974.

Vagit Alekperov, the first Russian citizen to receive the Woodrow Wilson Award, began his career in the oil industry at the age of 18, attending the Azerbaijan Institute of Oil and Chemistry. He quickly established himself as an industry expert and assumed increasingly responsible positions, eventually becoming deputy, first deputy, and then acting minister of oil and energy for the Soviet Union. Alekperov founded LUKOIL in 1991, and it has grown to become one of the world's largest vertically integrated oil companies and currently ranks second in the world in terms of proven reserves. LUKOIL is the most diversified Russian oil company and, as evidenced by its joint venture with ConocoPhillips, is at the forefront of those companies that are building strong commercial ties between Russia and the United States.

When: Thursday, May 26, 2005; 6:30 p.m.

Where: The Park Hyatt; 24th at M St., NW; Washington, D.C.

Honorary Chairman
The Honorable Yuri V. Ushakov
Russian Federation Ambassador to the United States

Chairman
James J. Mulva
ConocoPhillips

Co-Chairmen
Len Blavatnik
Access Industries

James C. Langdon, Jr.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP

The Kennan Institute and the Woodrow Wilson Center would like to thank the following sponsors who have already generously committed their support for the dinner honoring Ambassador Pickering and Mr. Alekperov.

National Sponsors
Access Industries
Citigroup
Renova, Inc.

Patrons
ConocoPhillips
Credit Suisse First Boston
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Societe Generale
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Benefactors
Compass Advisers, LLP
Fluor Corporation
PetroAlliance Services Company, Ltd.

Sponsors
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
DuPont
Lehman Brothers
Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP

For information on purchasing a seat or table at the dinner, please contact Joseph Dresen at dresenjo@wwic.si.edu or (202) 691-4245.

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The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is the living; national memorial to President Wilson established by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. It is a nonpartisan institution, supported by public and private funds, engaged in the study of national and world affairs. The Center establishes and maintains a neutral forum for free, open, and informed dialogue. The President and Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center is Lee H. Hamilton, who served as a member of Congress for 34 years and most recently served as vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission.

The Kennan Institute bridges the divide between the world of ideas and the world of public affairs by bringing scholars and governmental specialists together to discuss political, social and economic issues affecting Russia and other successor states to the Soviet Union, seeking always to place these issues within their historical context.