Section: CAPITAL REGION
Page: B5

Friday, September 20, 1996

ALBANY-TULA GROUP PLANS FUND-RAISER

Wharton to speak on foreign policy at a breakfast in Colonie

CAILIN BROWN Staff writer

COLONIE -- Clifton Wharton, former chancellor of State University of New York and more recently past deputy secretary of the State Department, will discuss ``Reflections on U.S. Foreign Policy: The Asia Connection'' at a fund-raiser for the Albany-Tula Alliance.

Wharton will speak at a breakfast Wednesday at the Marriott Hotel on Wolf Road. The program, co-sponsored by the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, will begin at 7:30 a.m. Wharton will speak from 8 to 9 a.m.

The Albany-Tula Alliance is a sister city affiliation between New York's capital city and the Russian city of about the same size.

Participants, including professors and students, are involved in educational exchanges between the two cities. Albany is helping Tula with a managed care project and a clinic is expected to open there in the spring, according to alliance chairwoman Charlotte Buchanan. Two scientists from Tula are expected to begin work soon on a collaborative project at Albany Medical Center Hospital.

Business people have visited here, and there have been numerous cultural exchanges between the two cities, including children's arts exhibits and a puppet theater.

Two students from the University at Albany are expected to visit Tula soon to teach English as a second language and three more business people from Tula are coming here.

While some of the programs are paid for through a business intern training program through the U.S. Department of Commerce, Buchanan said the exchange programs need other funds to underwrite costs.

``I think that efforts of the Albany-Tula Alliance helping to bring a small part of Russia into the global economy also benefits residents of Capital Region in learning about another culture, and exploring opportunities for commercial and economic development,'' Buchanan said.

The cost of the breakfast is $35, $25 of which is tax-deductible.

Checks should be made to the Albany Tula Alliance, c/o the Albany Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, 540 Broadway, Albany, 12207. Reservations may be made by contacting the chamber at 434-1214.

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