Javier Solana joins Brookings

Politico (Link) - Laura Rozen (February 9, 2010)

Washington will have an important new resource as it moves into the tough pressure stage of its Iran policy.

The top European nuclear negotiator with Iran for the past several years, Javier Solana, is joining the Brookings Institution as a distinguished senior fellow.

Solana, former NATO Secretary General and EU high rep for foreign and security policy, will advise Brookings� Foreign Policy program, headed by Martin Indyk, and the Global Economy and Development program, headed by former UNDP chief Kemal Dervish.

�We are extremely pleased to have Dr. Solana with us,� a Brookings hand writes. . . .

�We are deeply honored that Dr. Solana has agreed to join Brookings and look forward to benefiting from his vast experience dealing with the world�s most critical challenges,� Brookings� President Strobe Talbott said in a subsequent statement. �With his many years of outstanding service as Europe�s leading diplomat and as leader of NATO ... he has been a major figure on the world stage who has showed extraordinary leadership on such international crises as the Yugoslav and Kosovo Wars and the efforts to bring peace to the Middle East and curb Iran�s nuclear program.�

Solana will be based in Spain and travel frequently to Washington.