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Media Note

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
For Immediate Release February 7, 2005
2005/147

National Council for International Visitors Annual Meeting, February 9-12

Representatives from more than ninety communities across the United States who work on local programming for the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) will convene in Washington, D.C. this week. The representatives will be in Washington for the National Council for International Visitors (NCIV) annual meeting, February 9-12. Centered on the theme "Public Diplomacy, Citizen Diplomacy, Power for Positive Change," attendees will discuss their work with foreign professionals in their local communities. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Patricia de Stacy Harrison will deliver the conference keynote address.

The NCIV network, which includes program agencies and 95 community-based organizations, will focus on its important role in furthering America's foreign policy goals "one handshake at a time," in partnership with the IVLP. The national meeting is an opportunity for program partners to deepen their understanding of U.S. public diplomacy and U.S. foreign policy, strengthen International Visitor Leadership programming skills, discuss best practices, and meet some of the thousands of dedicated individuals promoting citizen diplomacy across the country. Managed by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), the IVLP brings foreign leaders, specialists, and scholars to the United States for professional programs, interaction with professional counterparts, cultural activities and home hospitality. The program's alumni include such distinguished leaders as Tony Blair, Hamid Karzai, Anwar Sadat, Indira Gandhi, and F.W. deKlerk.

International Visitor Leadership Program alumni Dov Keren-Ya’ar (Israel) and Michio Hayashi (Japan) will attend the national meeting as guest participants. Keren-Ya’ar, who is currently with the Weizmann Institute of Science, came to the United States in 1981, and Hayashi, currently with the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbum, came in 1999.

Currently 166 International Visitor Leadership Program participants are in the United States on IVLP projects. The 4700 visitors who travel to the United States annually through the IVLP are among the more than 30,000 annual exchanges managed by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. For more information about this conference, or other ECA exchanges, please contact Adam Meier, (202) 203-7026.

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