Iraqi Visitors in Washington, DC, Focus on Democracy and Civil Society

The U.S. Department of State welcomes a group of Iraqis to the United States for a ten-day International Visitor program on democracy, beginning Friday, March 12. The delegation, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, consists of six men and two women and is lead by Sayyed Farqat Al Qizwini, President of the University for Humanitarian, Scientific and Religious Studies in southern Iraq.

Members of the delegation have been active in promoting democracy and democratic institutions in Iraq. On Monday, March 8, 2004, the Regional Democracy Center opened with more than 3,000 Iraqis in attendance. This Center was founded by Qizwini and will provide a place for sheikhs, tribal leaders, community leaders, men, women, and students to promote democracy throughout south central Iraq, an area that includes 12 million people. During the Saddam Hussein regime, Qizwini also promoted an underground democracy movement, and since the liberation of Iraq, Qizwini has formed the Democratic Iraqi Gathering, which includes thousands of supporters.

Other delegation members include the dean of the University for Humanitarian, Scientific and Religious Studies, a newspaper editor from Baghdad, a pediatrician from Diwaniyah, a small business owner from Ramadi, a farmer from Hilla, and two individuals who work with the Coalition Provisional Authority regional office in Hilla. They will meet with government officials, members of Congress, think tanks, and NGOs in the United States. They also will visit Charlottesville, Virginia, to tour Monticello.

This group of Iraqis is part of an ongoing series of exchanges with Iraq that has resumed in recent months, including the first group of Iraqi Fulbrighters in more than 14 years, a performance in Washington by the Iraq National Symphony Orchestra, and a group of Iraqi Museum Specialists. The 4,500 visitors who travel to the United States annually through the International Visitor Program are among the more than 30,000 annual exchanges managed by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

For more information about this exchange program or other ECA exchanges, please telephone Jennifer Foley, (202) 647-1233 or Catherine Stearns (202) 203-5107.

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