A diary for 2002
Jan 3rd 2002
From The Economist print edition
January
Europe's single currency rolls out in physical form in 12 countries. National currencies remain usable for up to eight weeks.
Spain takes over the EU presidency for six months.
Mexico, Cameroon, Guinea, Bulgaria and, controversially, Syria join the UN Security Council for two years.
Parliamentary elections take place in the Gambia and Lesotho.
The World Economic Forum goes off-piste, meeting in New York rather than the Swiss ski resort of Davos. A rival, the World Social Forum, meets in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
February
Salt Lake City, the state capital of Utah, hosts the Winter Olympic Games.
Costa Rica holds a general election. Laos elects a new National Assembly.
The Chinese Year of the Horse comes out of the starting gate.
March
Parliamentary elections take place in Colombia, Ukraine, Chad, and the Bahamas. Zimbabwe holds a presidential election. Hong Kong's chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, is likely to be re-elected by the grace of Beijing, despite his unpopularity.
Alliance-shy Switzerland holds a referendum on UN membership.
The EU holds a summit in Barcelona to build on the Lisbon agenda intended to make Europe the world's most competitive economy by 2010. Some hope.
Commonwealth heads of government meet in Australia, an event postponed last year after September 11th.
The UN holds its first summit on finance for development in Monterrey, Mexico. The World Bank, IMF and World Trade Organisation are among the expected participants.
April
Hungary goes to the polls in a parliamentary election.
Election fever in France, with the first round of the presidential vote. The second round takes place in May. Whoever wins will serve for five years rather than seven.
May
Colombia holds a presidential election. Sierra Leone does the same if civil war does not re-erupt. The Dutch also hold a general election.
EU and Latin American representatives meet in Madrid. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development meets in Bucharest.
June
France holds two rounds of voting for a new National Assembly. Bolivia holds a presidential and parliamentary vote. The Czech Republic, Algeria and Papua New Guinea hold parliamentary polls. And Ireland should have held a general election and a second referendum on the Treaty of Nice by now.
Hoping for a quieter time than in Genoa last year, the leaders of the G8 countries barricade themselves into Kananaskis, in the mountains of Canada's Alberta province, for their annual summit.
Britain celebrates Queen Elizabeth's golden jubilee.
A summit in Seville rounds off Spain's six-month tenure of the EU presidency. Denmark takes over.
July
International goodwill comes to the north of England as Manchester plays host to the 17th Commonwealth Games.
Puerto Rico marks 50 years as a commonwealth of the United States. Egypt celebrates the 50th anniversary of a revolution that eventually brought Gamal Abdul Nasser to power.
August
The 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley's supposed death is marked by a tribute week in Memphis, Tennessee.
Japan commemorates its 3m dead in the second world war. The attendance of the prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, at the Yasukuni shrine, where convicted war criminals are among those honoured, may again prove controversial.
September
Bosnians elect their three-person presidency. Parliamentary elections are set to take place in Sweden and Slovakia.
Germany goes to the polls. At present, pollsters fancy the chances of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his Social Democrats to win again.
Russia holds its first census since the break-up of the Soviet Union.
The Chinese Communist Party holds its 16th five-yearly congress. Jiang Zemin is expected to step down as secretary-general.
Mike Moore steps down as head of the WTO. He is due to be replaced by Supachai Panitchpakdi, a former deputy prime minister of Thailand.
A UN conference on sustainable-development, a follow-up to the 1992 Rio summit, is held in Johannesburg.
October
Presidential and parliamentary elections in Ecuador, and in Brazil, where Fernando Henrique Cardoso, having served two terms as president, is barred from standing again.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation countries meet in Mexico.
The IMF and World Bank hold their annual meetings in Washington, DC.
World Space Week sees an earthbound get-together of the World Space Congress in Houston, Texas.
November
The United States elects a new House of Representatives, a third of the Senate and 36 state governors.
A presidential election takes place in Slovenia; Morocco holds a parliamentary one.
NATO meets to discuss, among other things, whether to take in more countries to the east.
December
South Korea holds a presidential election.
Greece takes over the EU's six-month presidency from Denmark.
Compiled with help from Future Events News Service fens.hubcom.net fensnews/IndexFrameset.htm and Advance Media Information amiplan.com
Copyright © 2002 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.
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