Ambassador
Ambassador's Speech
AMBASSADOR SPEECH AT FUNDACION UNIVERSITARIA DEL RIO DE LA PLATA
April 15, 2007
Good evening ladies and gentlemen. It’s a pleasure to be here with you this evening. I wanted to join you because FURP is one of the Embassy’s most valued partner institutions. Even before I arrived in Argentina, people were telling me about the impressive work that you do, and have done for decades, in creating and implementing exchanges between Argentina and the United States, both with the famous “FURPies” and the American Council of Young Political Leaders or ACYPL.
The topic of exchanges is an especially timely one. As you all know, President Bush just completed a trip through the region in which he talked often about the value of exchanges and international educational. It was clear from the President’s words, and the proposals he unveiled, that he believes strongly that a good education is the foundation for creating economic growth, social advancement, and democratic progress. I strongly believe that educators and exchanges build bridges between countries that help relations endure those policy differences that are normal between governments.
We are all students of the world we live in, and today our world is more interdependent than ever before. The challenges we face cannot be addressed by any country acting alone. International education and exchanges promote a free exchange of ideas, allow us to seek joint solutions to problems, and help create lasting partnerships to meet our shared concerns. Through living and studying abroad, we can deepen understanding and strengthen the voices of moderation around the world.
The State Department has been a leader in this field. The predecessor of what is known today as the International Visitor Program began in 1940 when Nelson Rockefeller was named the Coordinator of Commercial and Cultural Affairs for the American Republics.
He initiated the exchange of persons program with Latin America by inviting 130 Latin American journalists to the U.S. Since that time, more than 150,000 International Visitors have traveled under the program, over 200 current and former IVs have achieved the position of chief of state or head of government. Recent or current Western Hemisphere leaders who were IVs include President Lagos of Chile (1988), President Uribe of Colombia (1998), President Maduro of Honduras (1986), President Mejia of the Dominican Republic (1995), President Portillo of Guatemala (1992), and President Mesa of Bolivia, who was twice an IV, in 1979 and 2001. Internationally, such leaders as Tony Blair and Hamid Karzai are alumni of the program.
The Fulbright Program, launched five years later in 1946, has achieved similar success. Since its inception, the United States Government (USG) has spent $2.7 billion on the exchange of over 250,000 Americans and foreign participants. Like the
IV Program, Fulbright boasts an equally impressive list of alumni, including 32 Nobel Prize laureates. Last year alone, the Department spent nearly $15 million on Fulbright academic exchanges in the region, over $1 million in Argentina alone, which funded the exchange of over 1,000 students and scholars.
While the Department's investment is significant, private sector investment is substantially higher. Every year, over half a million foreign students study in the United States. These students constitute a significant cultural and economic resource for our country. Foreign students spend an estimated $13 billion in the U.S. each year and support 100,000 jobs for Americans. Over 3,000 Argentines are currently studying in the U.S. Maintaining these numbers will be a challenge, given the rising cost of higher education in the U.S. This is why we were delighted to hear the President announce additional funds for learning English and the opportunity to study in the United States.
The U.S. Embassy’s support for FURP over three decades comes from our belief that you can play a key role in building mutual trust and a strong foundation for cooperation between our two countries. We also respect your ability to spot rising talent and upcoming leaders. If someone tells us that they are a FURPie,” we know we are talking to someone who deserves to be listened to.
We certainly understand why the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) chose FURP to be their counterpart organization, sending young politicians to the U.S. one year and hosting a group of U.S. political figures in Argentina the next. It is every bit as important for U.S. legislators to have experiences in other countries as it is for Argentines to go to the U.S.
As important as exchanges are, they cannot benefit our countries to their fullest extent unless the participants build on their experiences upon their return. For example, did you know that an Argentine businessman who got his degree in the U.S. now funds a scholarship to send three Argentines a year to study engineering at his alma mater? That’s a perfect example of giving back.
I would like to challenge you all here today to think about how you will use your experience to build stronger ties of friendship between the U.S. and Argentina. Will you write about your experiences in the U.S. for your local paper; or start a website, or host a workshop, or sponsor an American student, or invite a speaker, or act in any number of other ways to deepen mutual understanding and strengthen our bilateral relationship?
One of your own, an ex-FURPie now active in politics, is seeking a way to publicly honor the U.S. teachers brought here in the 19th century by President Sarmiento. She felt it was important to acknowledge in some way the impact her program had on her life and career. Clearly, Sarmiento’s teachers are still bearing the fruit of his extraordinary vision over a century later. They are a good example for all of us to follow in how to give back, how to create our own ripples of change.
International education and exchange programs are not incidental to U.S. foreign policy; they are central to it. They build the relationships on which a successful foreign policy rests. They open people's eyes to what might be. We don't conduct exchanges or support educational reform to remake others in our image; we do it to give people the tools and freedom to make their own,
hopefully good, choices. Ultimately, our support for exchanges and educational reform reflects our inherent idealism, our belief in the power of individuals to shape and transform the world. I hope you share this belief and act in the spirit of Sarmiento make your own history.
Thank you.