Department of State To Announce International Education Program at Earth Day Event

John F. Turner, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, will announce an international education program called "Two Bays, One World" at an Earth Day event, Thursday, April 22, 2004.

Scheduled for the fall of 2004, "Two Bays, One World" will offer middle school students at participating public schools in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. a special two-month curriculum comparing and contrasting the Chesapeake Bay and the Bay of Bengal from environmental, social, and economic perspectives.  Students will benefit from expert lectures, field trips, and interactive dialogues with students in Bangladesh.

Press is invited to attend the on-the-record, on-camera announcement Thursday, April 22, 2004 from 10:15 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. in the State Department's Treaty Room.

His Excellency, Mr. Syed Hasan Ahmad, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the U.S., and Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, Paula Dobriansky will also make remarks at the event.  Students and teachers from Washington, D.C.'s Bertie Backus Middle School as well as representatives from "Two Bays, One World" partners including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation; the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; the Conservation Fund; Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. public schools will attend.

Pick-up time will be 9:45 a.m. from the 23rd Street Entrance.

Media representatives who plan to attend must present one of the following press credentials:  (1) a U.S. Government-issued identification card (Department of State, White House, Congress, Department of Defense or Foreign Press Center), (2) a media-issued photo identification card, or (3) a letter from their employer on letterhead verifying their employment as a journalist, accompanied by an official photo identification (driver's license or passport).

For further information, please contact Megan Sowards, Bureau of International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, U.S. Department of State at (202) 647-1169.

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