The Fulbright Program is perhaps best-known for the one-of-a-kind international experience it offers participants. But for foreign students in the United States, the classroom is only one piece of the program. The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs hosts an annual series of enrichment seminars for groups of first-year Fulbright foreign students.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton accompanied President Barack Obama for the Sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia from April 13-15. There, the U.S. delegation met with democratically-elected heads of state and government from throughout the Hemisphere to strengthen ties, expand… more »
Last month, I traveled to Beijing and Xi'an with Matt McMahon, the Fulbright Chief for East Asia. It was the first time I had been to China, and I was excited to see firsthand Fulbright and other Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs exchange programs at work. Overall, we shared an informative and enlightening week with insightful and generous hosts, and we're proud of the work that ECA and its program participants are doing there.
We arrived in a snowy Beijing and met with officials from the Chinese Ministry of Education and later representatives from Hanban, a Teachers of Critical Languages Program partner. With the upcoming Consultation… more »
Kris Balderston, Special Representative for Global Partnerships, will hold a conversation with Kirsty Jenkinson, Director, Markets & Enterprise Program, World Resources Institute on "Investing with Impact: Building Partnerships for a Better Tomorrow." The conversation will highlight how government and business are working together to promote lasting change and innovation around the globe. The discussion will be moderated by Cheryl Benton, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, and will be available for on demand… more »
This week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hosted her counterparts for the G-8 Foreign Ministers Meeting at the Blair House in Washington, D.C. During the two-day meeting, the Foreign Ministers discussed a range of country-specific, regional, and transnational topics.
Secretary Clinton also had a chance to hold a series of bilateral meetings with her counterparts, including Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird. During their meeting, Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister Baird underscored that they share a lot in common -- except for whom they are supporting in the upcoming NHL playoffs. In this photo, Foreign Minister Baird presents Secretary… more »
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Colombia, Brazil, and Belgium from April 13 to April 19. Secretary Clinton will accompany President Obama for the Sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia from April 13-15. There, the U.S. delegation will meet with democratically-elected heads of state and government from throughout the Hemisphere to strengthen ties, expand partnerships, and continue progress in economic growth, social inclusion, and citizen security.
The Secretary will then travel to Brasilia,… more »
On April 11-12, 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hosted her G-8 counterparts for the G-8 Foreign Ministers Meeting at the Blair House in Washington, D.C. During the opening plenary on April 11, Secretary Clinton said:
"I greatly appreciate this opportunity to discuss in person the many global issues that require joint leadership from the G-8 nations. The events of this past year, even of just this past week, affirm the continued need for comprehensive international cooperation, and the G-8 is an essential forum for that."
Harnessing the energy and talents of youth, "Teen Teach" is a unique public diplomacy program run by our embassy in Kabul that trains Afghan teenagers to teach English. It began last summer and reached more than a thousand young learners in Afghanistan during that time period.
"'Teen Teach' gives these bright, enthusiastic teenagers the opportunity to pass along their knowledge of English to younger children," Ambassador David Pearce says in a documentary that U.S. Embassy Kabul put together to spotlight the program. "The program not only provides these children with an education that stresses the rich cultural heritage of Afghanistan, but it also helps to open their eyes to the wider world, and -- in so doing… more »
About the Authors: Victoria Holt serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, and Annie Pforzheimer serves as Director for UN Peacekeeping in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs.
In countries recovering from war, it is normal to see UN blue helmeted military units -- they're big, obvious, and a reassuring presence.
But in Liberia, where President Johnson-Sirleaf was re-elected to a second term, that reassuring presence should be the uniform of a Liberian police officer -- with a blue helmet backing them up.
A long-term peace, I was reminded during my visit to Liberia in mid-March, doesn't come from soldiers, but… more »
On April 9, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomed Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to Washington, D.C. Presidents Obama and Rousseff discussed a broad range of bilateral, regional, and multilateral issues, including global economic growth, the situation in the Middle East, and progress the two countries have made as co-chairs of the Open Government Partnership. The Presidents reviewed the progress made under the three presidential dialogues launched during President Obama's March 2011 visit to Brazil -- the Economic and Financial Dialogue, the Strategic Energy Dialogue, and the Global Partnership Dialogue. The Leaders also announced a new presidential-level Defense Cooperation Dialogue, as well as met with the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum to continue efforts to… more »
May 24: Secretary Clinton and Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner will release the 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices at 10:30 a.m. more »
May 23: The State Department, through its office of the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), is pleased to announce $1.5 million in funding to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to support open governance and political participation in the Middle East and North Africa. more »
![Fulbright students engage in a mock presidential debate at the enrichment seminar in Denver, CO, March 11, 2012. [Photo courtesy of Antonio Tahhan, Fulbright Alumni Ambassador]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0416_fulbright_enrichment_m.jpg)
![Heads of State attend the opening ceremony of the sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, April 14, 2012. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0414_sota_colombia_m.jpg)
![School children bundled up in winter clothing inside their classroom at a school in a Beijing suburb, China, Nov. 12, 2009. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0414_students_china_m.jpg)
![U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird place a friendly bet between their two NHL teams, the New York Rangers and the Ottawa Senators, who are playing in the first round of the 2012 NHL Eastern Conference Playoffs, after their bilateral meeting during the G-8 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Washington, D.C., on April 12, 2012. [Photo by Keegan Bursaw of Embassy Canada in Washington]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0413_clinton_baird_m.jpg)
![Secretary Clinton boards plane in Beirut, Lebanon, April 26, 2009. [State Department Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_0716_clinton_departs_m.jpg)
![Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses the G8 foreign ministers at the start of a working session at Blair House in Washington, April 11, 2012. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0412_g8_ministerial_m.jpg)
![Students participate in an English language lesson as part of the Teen Teach program in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 2011. The image is from a documentary filmed by Afghan youths about the Teen Teach program, which is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan. [State Department image/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0412_teen_teach_afghanistan_m.jpg)
![United Nation's peacekeeping policewomen, from India, arrive at the airport in Monrovia, Liberia, Jan. 30, 2007. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0411_unmil_liberia_m.jpg)
![President Barack Obama and President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil deliver statements to the press in the Oval Office, April 9, 2012. [Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0410_us_brazil_1_m.jpg)
