Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to Inaugurate Arkansas Passport Center June 14, 2007 – Hot Springs, Arkansas

Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Maura Harty and Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe will participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Arkansas Passport Center (APC) in Hot Springs, Arkansas, located at 191 Office Park Drive, Hot Springs, Arkansas. Also attending this formal opening of the facility will be members of the Arkansas Congressional delegation, state and local government officials, and representatives of the contractor Stanley, Inc. The ceremony will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 14.

Ambassador Harty and Governor Beebe will give remarks on the launching of the Department of State's largest passport production facility, establishing a partnership with the State of Arkansas and the City of Hot Springs.

The new mega-processing center opened March 27, and has produced more than 130,000 passports to date. The Department broke ground on the Arkansas Processing Center in 2006 in anticipation of the passport demand from the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. At full capacity, planned by the end of 2007, the Center will produce more than 10 million passports per year and will be the Department's largest passport production facility.

The event is open for press coverage. Also, a media-only tour will begin at 9:00 a.m. at the APC main entrance, for photography of the facility and background briefings from State Department, Arkansas government, and Stanley representatives. Final access for all press for the ceremony is at 10:15 a.m., at the APC main entrance.

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

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