Ambassador
Ambassador's Speech
AMBASSADOR WAYNE’S REMARKS AT UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S CLUB
November 20, 2007
First of all, I want to thank President Sue Littleton, Program Chair, Elena Manzitti de Lopez, and the staff and members of the University Women’s Club, for their kind invitation. For over 60 years, the UWC has played an important role in supporting cultural and educational activities in Argentina. As the world grows ever smaller, the need for inter-cultural communication grows ever larger. So I applaud your activities and encourage your work in building mutual understanding.
I will talk today about the importance of international education and exchanges in strengthening mutual understanding. It so happens that this week is the 8th anniversary of International Education Week, which aims to highlight the central role education and exchanges play in building stronger links between the US and countries throughout the world.
International exchanges and education promote the free flow of ideas that allows us to understand each other. They help create lasting partnerships to meet global concerns and work toward shared solutions. Argentines who have visited or studied in the US – as well as students from the US who have studied here – return home with a broader understanding, a new way of looking at things and, importantly, they carry with them the seed of some possible future activity which could help bring our two countries closer. This is foreign policy at a personal level, and it is the kind of activity, which builds bridges that last long past particular ambassadors, governments or presidents. In fact, this person-to-person diplomacy helps nations overcome serious policy differences and chips away at the stereotypes and ignorance that too often leave publics at odds with each other.
Let me take a couple of minutes to review current Argentine-U.S. relations, so that you will have a clearer picture of how education and exchanges fit in.
Overall, bilateral relations are positive, and they cover a wide range of areas. For example, our law enforcement agencies work together extremely well in combating drug trafficking, and the threat of terrorism and trafficking in persons, among other issues. We are working together closely in science and technology, on stopping nuclear proliferation and on sharing best practices in justice reform. Argentina is a key-partner in the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, which is critical to the hemisphere’s efforts to restore democracy and provide a measure of stability there.
Our commercial ties are vibrant. There are almost 500 US companies here, and they employ around 150,000 Argentines. Moreover, these companies are very active in carrying out Corporate Social Responsibility projects that are improving the lives of thousands of Argentine citizens.
And tourism is booming. Last year around 275,000 Americans visited Argentina and just over 210,000 Argentines traveled to the US.
We look forward to deepening this relationship. As you all know, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was elected President of Argentina last month. President Bush subsequently called to congratulate her and expressed our desire to work productively together. The call was very positive and we are very much looking forward to working with the new government to explore ways to build even stronger ties between our countries.
While we are moving in a positive direction, the US still faces challenges in Argentina, perhaps the biggest of which is putting a dent in the high levels of anti-Americanism here. This critical view of the U.S. has many causes and roots, and such views don’t change overnight. But, we are working hard to show Argentines the real America, and not just the one that may come across on the news every night or in Hollywood films.
This is where international education and exchanges can play a transformative role. It is my strong belief that building stronger people-to-people ties is the best way to ensure healthy bilateral relations over the long term, between practically any set of countries. It is the ties between people that endure and that help us work through the differences that naturally occur between governments. Governments have to work at this too, but the people to people ties can serve as a solid foundation which supports the corrective work of diplomats and leaders.
So we are working very hard to build those connections by promoting educational and cultural exchanges. Young people are a special audience for these opportunities. They learn quickly and, in my experience, bond quite easily with young people from other countries. So we are looking to create opportunities for Argentina’s youth to get a deeper understanding of the United States, while at the same time, to get some of the additional knowledge and skills they need to succeed in our “globalized” world.
We are increasing the funds for youth programming. These programs include exchanges, study tours, attendance at regional youth conferences, scholarships, donations of computers, internet connections, grants to NGOs and gifts of children’s books to libraries.
The Youth Ambassadors Program is a great example. Last year 5 Argentine students were chosen from among 200 public school applicants from all across the country. They visited the US for 2 weeks, spending one week in Washington DC and another week in a home stay with a family in Seattle. In Washington they were received at the White House by Laura Bush and visited with US Supreme Court Justices, along with other young people from this region.
In addition, we sent five Argentine students to attend the National Youth Science Camp, and another three to participate in the Free Enterprise Leadership Challenge program in North Carolina to learn business and leadership skills. The numbers are small, but we hope the multiplier effects will be great.
We haven’t forgotten the importance of teachers: less than 2 years ago, we launched a Teacher Ambassador Program. Since then, we’ve sent 33 secondary school English teachers to Austin, Texas, to learn about US history, society and culture as well as to improve their English teaching skills. These teachers pass on what they learned to their students and to other teachers. We also believe that learning English helps open doors to better understanding as well as a good future for the student.
We have begun to offer Sarmiento-Mann Scholarships, named after the Argentine president and his friend, the US educator Horace Mann. These grants enable excellent Argentine students in difficult economic circumstances to study English at our binational centers in Salta, Mendoza, Buenos Aires, Parana, Cordoba and San Rafael.
In addition, the Embassy provides materials and training to 16 binational centers (BNCs) throughout Argentina where some 20,000 students study English. In this way, we are not only giving these students a key tool to compete in the global economy, but also helping less privileged students find new opportunity.
The flagship of our educational exchange programs is the Fulbright program. Since 1946, the US Government has spent some $2.7 billion on the exchange of 250,000 American and foreign participants in the Fulbright program. In Argentina, Fulbright is a shared investment with approximately 41% of the funding coming from Argentine sources and 59% provided by the US. Fulbright celebrated its 50th Anniversary here last year. In that last half century nearly 5,000 Americans and Argentines have participated in these exchanges. We are proud that, of the Argentine Fulbright grantees, 51% were women and 64% came from the provinces.
The Embassy also supports 17 educational advising centers throughout Argentina, many housed in BNCs, which help students who want to study in the US find just the right circumstances. Many are going. Our Consular Section issued nearly 7,000 student visas in 2007, and last year our advising centers counseled almost 46,000 students about study in the US.
Just two weeks ago I announced that the Embassy this year was doubling to 10 the number of grants for the Youth Ambassador Program. Since that announcement, we have had nearly 700 applications downloaded from our website.
I am also pleased today to take advantage of my appearance here to announce that the Embassy this year will double to 120 the number of Sarmiento-Mann English-learning scholarships.
We are demonstrating a strong commitment to investing in Argentine youth. But we have and need many partners. The US Government relies on the commitment of nearly 100 community-based organizations across the United States, many thousands of volunteers, and 1,500 private-public partnerships to conduct our exchanges. In addition to the cost sharing with other governments, there is significant private sector investment in education and exchanges. These US companies are being good corporate citizens. They know that their investment is returned both for their businesses and for mutual understanding.
Some of these companies are well-known names like Intel and Microsoft; others are less well known. For example, in the last several years, Bravo Energy has been working with Fundacion Dr. Abdala, which runs a school in Santa Fe. The school has a bilingual program where 23 high school students have been learning English. Bravo Energy is sponsoring these 23 students and five adults to travel to the US in January, where they will attend schools, learn about our culture, and practice their English with new friends.
The Embassy is helping support this program by paying some transportation and visa costs, but the rest is thanks to the efforts of Bravo Energy. There are important returns for all of us that will be multiplied as these young people return from the US with a real connection to our people and our values.
There clearly is a lot going on in the area of international education and exchanges. We have achieved much, but there is much more to do. The new Open Doors 2007 Report from the Institute of International Education on student flows into the US shows the challenge. While the report shows a strong increase in international enrollments in the US, over the last 2 years, there has been a decline in Argentine student enrollment in US colleges and universities (with only about 2,800 Argentine students enrolled). Fortunately, US students are coming to Argentina in ever-greater numbers.
Nevertheless, we want to encourage more Argentines to study in the US, both for the good education offered and for the positive impact on keeping the bilateral relationship vibrant and healthy.
I am optimistic that our efforts to address this issue can be successful. And I am optimistic that we can put a dent in the negative sentiment about the US and keep our relationship moving in a positive direction.
But, of course, we need ideas and partners, so I leave you today with this request: if you have suggestions about areas where the Embassy can possibly make a difference or about partners we should work with, please share them with us. Together, we can do great things.
Thank you.