LIBG 2004 PRESIDENT’S APPEAL

4^th December 2004

Dear Supporter,

It is a great privilege for me to succeed John, Lord Alderdice of Knock, as the President of the British group of Liberal International. In recent years our programme of activities has expanded and with your generosity this can be sustained.

New this year was co-ordinating a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels where British, Italian German and Dutch liberals were given briefings on security, weapons of mass destruction and Iraq. We continue to assist youth organisations by helping with their subscriptions to the International Federation of Liberal and Radical Youth and assisting attendance at international congresses. Many of today’s leading Liberals cut their teeth this way and it is one of the surest ways of maintaining internationalism as a core issue in Liberal politics.

The Liberal Democrat Party Conference remains one of the showcases for our work in promoting internationalism and encouraging membership. As usual this September we had an Exhibition Stand and ran two Fringe meetings. We drew attention to the appalling situation in Darfur with a petition entitled ‘Darfur is Genocide’ and procured the submission of a corresponding Emergency Resolution that was overwhelmingly passed. Repeating the theme of last year’s Fringe meeting with foreign journalists was again a great success and the Foreign Press Association have now confirmed that they will formally join with us to present this fringe on a regular basis.

Forum meetings have continued to be held at the National Liberal Club and we have had some excellent speakers this year including Her Excellency the Pakistan High Commissioner Dr Maleeha Lodhi who spoke on the role of women in Islamic countries.

Iraq remains high on the political agenda - so does terrorism, and the theme of the Liberal International Congress next May tackles what the Liberal response should be. In Europe the debate on Turkey joining the EU continues. These are among the many issues that we will continue to debate in the forthcoming year. So please come along - and don’t forget our other events, like the annual Diplomats Reception in February.

Please help us to build on our success. Your donation will be used wisely to promote liberal internationalism both generally and within the Liberal Democrat Party. Please make a cheque out today to LIBG and send it to our Treasurer, Dai Liyanage.

With thanks,

The Lord Garden KCB

President LIBG