Americans plan exchanges

Press, 13 June 1986, Page 26

Americans plan exchanges

NZPA-Reuter Washington Two private American organisations have announced plans for political and cultural exchanges with the Soviet Union, including a musical starring Soviet and American children and the first American tour by a Soviet rock band. The joint United StatesSoviet staging of the British musical, “Peace Child,” and the 12-city tour by the pop group Stas Namin were announced by the Peace Child Foundation, formed in 1981 to promote United States-Soviet ties. The musical, to be performed in the Soviet Union and the United States from August to October, will be the first to star Soviet and American children: 12 from each country. The play tells how the children find they can be friends and persuade

their leaders to follow their example. Stas Namin will tour in September and October. The Chautauqua Institute, which organises public policy discussions, announced that 220 Americans would spend five days in September at the city of Lielupe, on the Baltic Sea. The team will be led by Jack Matlock, Ronald Reagan’s Soviet affairs adviser, and will include the former National Security Adviser, Robert McFarlane, the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr Jeane Kirkpatrick, a jazz musican, Grover Washington, and a violinist, Eugene Foder. Public . debates on United States-Soviet relations and the nuclear arms race would be a feature of their stay, the institute said.