Established in 1967 by the sons and daughters of Thomas J. Watson, the Thomas J. Watson Meetings Program brings high-ranking U.S. and foreign government officials to the Council. Meetings with foreign or U.S. leaders of cabinet and higher rank are funded by this program.
Thomas J. Watson was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1923 to 1956. He joined CTR (Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co.) as general manager in 1914, and became its president the following year. In 1924, CTR changed its name to International Business Machines (IBM) In 1937, he was named president of the International Chamber of Commerce. In 1949, Mr. Watson became Chairman of IBM, a position he held until his death in 1956.
2005-2006 |
| Abdullah Abdullah |
| Saud al-Faisal |
| Hajim Al-Hasani |
| Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani |
| Joseph Biden |
| Ahmad Chalabi |
| Vicente Fox Quesada |
| Alberto Gonzalez |
| Ferenc Gyurcsany |
| John Kerry |
| Olusegun Obasanjo |
| Kapil Sibal |
| K. Natwar Singh |
| Javier Solana |
| Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono |
| Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero |
2004-2005 |
| Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani |
| Ahmed Aboul Gheit |
| Thierry Breton |
| Mustafa Ismail |
| Mikhail Kasyanov |
| Lee Kuan Yew |
| Pervez Musharraf |
| Olusegun Obasanjo |
| Tassos Papadopoulos |
| Donald Rumsfeld |
| Mikhail Saakashvili |
| Jaap de Hoop Scheffer |
| Peter J. Schoomaker |
2003-2004 |
| Recep Tayyip Erdogan |
| Hamid Karzai |
| Nestor Kirchner |
| Luis Inacio Lula de Silva |
| Pervez Musharraf |
| Olusegun Obasanjo |
| Shimon Peres |
| Alejandro Toledo |
| Hosyar Zebari |
2002-2003 |
| Ahmed Maher el Sayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arab Republic of Egypt |
| Jeremy Greenstock and Jean-David Levitte, Permanent Representatives of the United Kingdom and France to the United Nations |
| Xanana Gusmao, President of East Timor, and Jose Horta, Foreign Minister of East Timor |
| Stephen J. Hadley, Deputy National Security Advisor, United States |
| Hamid Karzai, President, Afghanistan |
| Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan |
| Taher Masri, The Arab League; Abdul ilah Khatib, former Foreign Minister of Jordan; and Mustafa B. Hamarneh, University of Jordan |
| John Shalikashvili and John Vessey, former Chairmen, the Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| Javier Solana, Secretary General, Council of the European Union |
| Alvaro Uribe, President, Republic of Colombia |
| Paul Wolfowitz, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense |
| Dov S. Zakheim, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense |
2001-2002 |
| Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Permanent Representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt to |
| the United Nations |
| William J. Clinton, former President of the United States |
| Albert Gore, former Vice President of the United States |
| Hamid Karzai, President, Afghanistan |
| Ruud F.M. Lubbers, UN High Commissioner for Refugees |
| Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President, Republic of the Philippines |
| Pervez Musharraf, President, Islamic Republic of Pakistan |
| Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister of Israel |
| Romano Prodi, President, European Commission |
| Charles Schumer, United States Senator (D-NY) |
2000-2001 |
| Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State |
| Yassir Arafat, President, Palestinian National Authority |
| Samuel R. Berger, former U.S. National Security Advisor |
| Jorge Castaneda; Minister of Foreign Affairs, United Mexican States |
| Chen Shui-bian, President, Republic of China |
| Warren Christopher, former U.S. Secretary of State |
| Milo Djukanovic, President of Montenegro |
| Hugo Chavez Frias, President, Republic of Venezuela |
| William H. Frist, United States Senator (R-TN) |
| Alberto Fujimori, President, Republic of Peru |
| Mikhail S. Gorbachev, former President, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics |
| Henry A. Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State |
| Vojislav Kostunica, President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia |
| Lee Kuan Yew, Senior Minister, Republic of Singapore |
| Festus Mogae, President, Republic of Botswana |
| Pedro Sampaio Malan, Minister of Finance, Federal Republic of Brazil |
| Pervez Musharraf, Chief Executive, Islamic Republic of Pakistan |
| Olusegun Obasanjo, President, Federal Republic of Nigeria |
| Sadako Ogata, UN High Commissioner for Refugees |
| Andres Pastrana, President, Republic of Colombia |
| Shimon Peres, Minister of Foreign Affairs, State of Israel |
| Felipe Perez Roque, Foreign Minister, Republic of Cuba |
| Jorge Sampaio, President, Portuguese Republic |
| Brent Scowcroft, forrmer U.S. National Security Advisor |
| Ariel Sharon, Chairman, Likud Party, State of Israel |
| George P. Shultz, former U.S. Secretary of State |
| Jean-Claude Trichet, Governor, Bank of France |
| K. H. Abdurrahman Wahid, President, Republic of Indonesia |
| Jiang Zemin, President, People's Republic of China |
| Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia |
1999-2000 |
| Martti Ahtisaari, President, Republic of Finland |
| Mahathir bin Mohamad, Prime Minister, Malaysia |
| Yassir Arafat, President, Palestinian National Authority |
| Charlene Barshefsky, U.S. Trade Representative |
| Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President, Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria |
| Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, United Kingdon |
| Harold Brown, former U.S. Secretary of Defense |
| Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General, WHO and former Prime Minister of Norway |
| Jose Alberto Bustamante, Prime Minister, Peru |
| Michel Camdessus, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund |
| Victor Chernomyrdin, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation |
| Antoly Chubais, former Finance Minister and First Deputy Prime Minister, Russian Federation |
| Wesley K. Clark, Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander-in-Chief, U.S. European Command |
| Herman Cohen, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs |
| William S. Cohen, U.S. Secretary of Defense |
| Chester A. Crocker, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs |
| William J. Crowe, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| Fernando de la R ú a, President, Republic of Argentina |
| Aleksander Dimitrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Macedonia |
| Joschka Fischer, Vice Chancellor and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Germany |
| Lee Hoi-Chang, President, Grand Nationalist Party, Republic of Korea |
| Richard C. Holbrooke, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations |
| Igor S. Ivanov, Foreign Minsiter, Russian Federation |
| David C. Jones, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| Luiz Felipe Lampreia, Foreign Minister, Brazil |
| Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister, Republic of Singapore |
| Frank Loy, Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs |
| John Major, Member of Parliament and former Prime Minster, United Kingdom |
| Robert S. McNamara, former U.S. Secretary of Defense |
| Rexhep Meidani, President of Albania |
| Richard Moose, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs |
| Paek Nam-Sun, Foreign Minister, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea |
| Boris Nemstov, Deputy Speaker, Russian Duma |
| William J. Perry, former U.S. Secretary of Defense |
| Colin L. Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| William B. Richardson, U.S. Secretary of Energy |
| Donna E. Shalala, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services |
| John M. Shalikashvili, former Chairman, The Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| Jaswant Singh, Minister of External Affairs, Republic of India |
| Lawrence H. Summers, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury |
| Jean-Claude Trichet, Governor, Banque de France |
| John W. Vessey, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| Caspar W. Weinberger, former U.S. Secretary of Defense |
1998-99 |
| Madeleine K. Albright, U.S. Secretary of State |
| Sartaz Aziz, Foreign Minister, Pakistan |
| Charlene Barshefsky, U.S. Trade Representative |
| Sir Leon Brittan, Vice President, European Commission |
| Ismail Cem, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Turkey |
| Glafcos Clerides, President, Republic of Cyprus |
| Emil Constantinescu, President, Romania |
| Hugo Chavez Frias, President, Venezuela |
| Rosario Green, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mexico |
| Abdullah bin Hussein, King, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan |
| Bob Kerrey, Member, U.S. Senate (D-Neb.) |
| Luiz Felipe Lampreia, Minister of Foreign Relations, Brazil |
| Janos Martonyi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Hungary |
| John McCain, Member, U.S. Senate (R-Ariz.) |
| Paskal Milo, Foreign Minister, Republic of Albania |
| Andres Pastrana, President, Colombia |
| Renato Ruggiero, Director-General, World Trade Organization |
| Charles E. Schumer, Member, U.S. Senate (D-NY) |
| Costas Simitis, Prime Minister, Greece |
| Javier Solana, Secretary General, NATO |
1997-98 |
| Madeleine K Albright, U.S. Secretary of State |
| Madeleine K Albright, U.S. Secretary of State, 75 th Anniversary |
| Samuel R. Berger, Assistant to President Clinton for National Security Affairs |
| Joseph R. Biden, Jr., United States Senator, (D-Delaware) |
| Joachim Bitterlich, Foreign Policy and Security Advisor to the Chancellor, Federal Republic of Germany |
| Ismail Cem, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Turkey |
| Nabil Elaraby, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the U.N.; Sergey V. Lavrov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the U.N.; Sir John Weston, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the U.N. |
| Richard Gephardt, Democratic Leader, U.S. House of Representatives |
| Dore Gold, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations |
| I.K. Gujral, Prime Minister, India |
| Nizar Hamdoon, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Iraq |
| Rev. Jesse Jackson, President & CEO, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; Special Envoy for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa, U.S. Department of State |
| Gohar Ayub Khan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan |
| Klaus Kinkel, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs and Federal Vice-Chancellor, Germany |
| Thomas F McLarty, Counselor to the President, Special Envoy for the Americas |
| Amre Mahmoud Moussa, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arab Republic of Egypt |
| Thomas Pickering, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, U.S. Department of State |
| Ernesto Samper Pizano, President of Columbia |
| Bill Richardson, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations |
| Felix Rohatyn, U.S. Ambassador to France |
| Stanley O. Roth, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State |
| Robert Rubin, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury |
| Hun Sen, Cambodia |
| Gen. Henry H. Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of Defense |
| Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry, France |
| George Tenet, Director of Central Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency |
| Chee Hwa Tung, Chief Executive, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China |
| Jiang Zemin, President, People’s Republic of China |
1996-97 |
| Ali Alatas, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Indonesia |
| Yasir Arafat, President, Palestinian National Authority |
| James A. Baker III, former U.S. Secretary of State |
| Boris Berezovsky, Deputy Secretary, Security Council of the Russian Federation |
| Michel Camdessus, Managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Board, International Monetary Fund |
| Richard Danzig, Under Secretary of the Navy, Department of Defense |
| Lynn E. Davis, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, U.S. Department of State |
| Maurice R. Greenberg, Chairman and CEO, American International Group |
| I.K. Gujral, Minister of External Affairs, Republic of India |
| Abdullah Gul, Minister of State, Republic of Turkey |
| Ryutaro Hashimoto, Prime Minister, Japan |
| Richard Hu, Minister of Finance, Republic of Singapore |
| Razali Ismail, President, 51st U.N. General Assembly; Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the United Nations |
| Alija Izetbegovic, President, Chair of the Presidency of Bosnia Herzegovina |
| Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State; Samuel Berger, Acting Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; William P. Rogers, former U.S. Secretary of State; Cyrus Vance, former U.S. Secretary of State; Alexander Haig, former U.S. Secretary of State; and Li Daoyu, Ambassador of China to the United States |
| Henry A. Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State |
| Sandra J. Kristoff, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asian Affairs, National Security Council |
| Luiz Felipe Lampreia, Minister of External Relations, Federal Republic of Brazil |
| Martin C.M. Lee, Chairman of the Democratic Party, Hong Kong |
| Emmanuel Fritz Longchamp, Foreign Minister, Republic of Haiti |
| Richard G. Lugar, Member, U.S. Senate (R-Ind.) |
| Graça Machel, Expert of the U.N. Secretary General, U.N. Study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children |
| Barry R. McCaffrey, USA (Ret.), Director, Office of the National Drug Control Policy; Mathea Falco, President, Drug Strategies |
| Sam Nujoma, President, Republic of Namibia |
| Ichiro Ozawa, Leader of the New Frontier Party, Japan |
| Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister, State of Israel |
| Yevgeny M. Primakov, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Russian Federation |
| Malcolm Rifkind, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, United Kingdom |
| Dennis B. Ross, Special Middle East Coordinator, U.S. Department of State |
| John M.Shalikashvili, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Department of Defense |
| Natan Sharansky, Minister of Trade and Industry, State of Israel |
| John J. Sheehan, Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic; Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Command |
| John P. White, Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense |
| Shirley V.T. Brittain Williams, Member, British House of Lords |
| James D. Wolfensohn, President, The World Bank |
| Ernesto Ponce de León Zedillo, President, Mexico |
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