Ambassador
Ambassador Event
AMBASSADOR WAYNE VISITS SAN JUAN AND MENDOZA
June 12-13, 2008
Ambassador Wayne visited the provinces of San Juan and Mendoza on June 12-13. During his first visit to San Juan, the Ambassador held fruitful meetings with government authorities, members of civil society and representatives of U.S. firms based in the province. Ambassador Wayne made his fourth visit to the city of Mendoza on June 13 to present certificates to students who have received Sarmiento-Mann scholarships from the Embassy to study English, and held a very fruitful and pleasant meeting with Governor Celso Jaque.
SAN JUAN
During the meetings with the Governor, Vice-Governor and members of the San Juan provincial cabinet, Ambassador Wayne talked about current opportunities to enhance trade between the province of San Juan and the United States; mainly in the agricultural sector such as concentrated fruit juices and in tourism and mining. Ambassador Wayne visited the provincial legislature and talked with a group of legislators with whom he shared the importance of fostering exchanges among congressmen as a way of strengthening democratic institutions. Ambassador Wayne thanked Governor José Luis Gioja, Vice-Governor Rubén Uñac and National Deputy Ruperto Godoy for the invitation and their hospitality as well as City Mayor Marcelo Lima.
Ambassador Wayne expressed his admiration for former Governor of San Juan and former President of Argentina Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. The main scholarship program of the U.S. Embassy is called “Sarmiento-Mann”, in honor of the father of education in Argentina and his good American friend Horace Mann —founder of the U.S. public education system.
Ambassador Wayne visited “Sarah Chamberlain Eccleston” kindergarten, named in honor of one of the American teachers summoned by Sarmiento to strengthen his education plan. Following this visit, the Ambassador toured the “Museo Casa Natal de Sarmiento” accompanied by Museum Director Beatriz Oviedo de Coria.
During the visit, the Ambassador also highlighted the work carried out in the province by WalMart and Clorox, two socially-committed U.S. companies. Ambassador also visited two soup kitchens in the outskirts of the city where Walmart and Clorox work closely with the community to help those most in need. Soup kitchen “Our Lady of Fatima” feeds more than 120 children with the support from Walmart and Caritas. Clorox, in turn, helps “Villa Pueyrredon” soup kitchen where another 120 kids are fed daily and carry out reading activities under a joint effort of the company and “Fundación Leer”. Ambassador Wayne and Vice-Governor Uñac visited Ischigualasto Park or “Moon Valley” and were received by Trustee of the non-departmental public body of the park, Juan Carlos Salica and Mayor of Valle Fertil Francisco Elizondo.
MENDOZA
During his visit to Mendoza, Ambassador Wayne and Governor Jaque shared the importance of cultural and education exchanges to enhance mutual understanding between Argentina and the United States. The Governor told the Ambassador about his expectations for the province’s participation in the Americas Competitiveness Forum to be held in June in the city of Atlanta.
Prior to the meeting with the Governor, Ambassador Wayne presented certificates to students who have been studying English at Binational Centre AMICANA for two years thanks to the Sarmiento-Mann scholarship. Jointly with AMICANA´s President Avelino Prieto and the teaching staff of the institute, the Ambassador announced that this scholarship will be extended to 1,000 secondary students from across the country next year.
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