YOUTH PLAYERS SELECTED FOR ‘BASKETBALL WITHOUT BORDERS’

Kraft Foods International and Milka Chocolate Team Up with United Nations

(Reissued as received.)

VIENNA, 13 June (UN Information Service) –- Fifty boys aged 12-14 from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Slovenia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have been chosen for “Basketball without Borders” (“Kosarka bez granica”), a basketball camp to take place in Treviso, Italy, from 29 June to 2 July.

Nine National Basketball Association (NBA) players, led by veterans Vlade Divac of the Sacramento Kings, a native of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and Toni Kukoc of the Atlanta Hawks, a native of Croatia, will conduct the basketball camp.  Benetton, which owns the Treviso basketball team in the Italian league, is a co-sponsor of the camp and will host the players at La Ghirada, their basketball facilities north of Venice.

Kraft Foods International and Milka Chocolate also announced they will join the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) and the NBA as co-sponsors of “Basketball without Borders”.

“As the largest chocolate brand in Europe, Milka is very excited to be a co-sponsor of ‘Basketball without Borders’”, said Ramon Weidinger, General Manager of Kraft Foods South-East Europe Development Markets.  “As Milka celebrates its 100^th birthday this year, we are pleased to be associated with an event that unifies children from all countries of the former Yugoslavia.”

“We are very pleased that Kraft Foods International recognizes the importance of working with the public sector to build bridges of hope to the next generation”, said UNDCP Executive Director Pino Arlacchi.

Other NBA players participating in the camp include:  Zan Tabak (Croatia) and Bruno Sundov (Croatia) of the Indiana Pacers; Peja Stojakovic (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) of the Sacramento Kings; Alex Radojevic (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) of the Denver Nuggets; Rasho Nesterovic (Slovenia) of the Minnesota Timberwolves; and Dalibor Bagaric (Croatia) and Dragan Tarlac (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) of the Chicago Bulls.  LA Clippers assistant coach Igor Kokoskov (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), European basketball players Vrbica Stefanov (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and Nenad Markovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) also will help conduct the camp.

The young players will be outfitted by Champion, with footwear provided by Nike.  Other co-sponsors of the event include:  blu, one of Italy’s major telephone service providers, Spalding, Ciba Textiles of Austria, Gatorade, Austrian Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, ICN Pharmaceuticals, Algida and Tahoe Trading LLC.

For more information, please contact:  Zach Messitte, United Nations,

e-mail: messitte@un.org, telephone: (212) 963-2710; and Helen Wong, NBA,

e-mail: hwong@nba.com, telephone: (212) 407-8299.

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