Official Announcement of the Participants of the 2006 edition of the Youth Ambassadors Program

Well, I am particularly honored to have a chance to be here with all of you. I just had a chance to have a little conversation with some of the young ambassadors who had a chance to visit the United States over the past couple of years and it just reinforces in my mind what a tremendous idea this is and how much of the way of thanks we owe to all of you who've played a part in making this happen.

You know, the United States and Brazil have some things that are very similar. We are both big democracies; we are continental-sized countries; we share the Americas — North and South. But of course there are also large differences in terms of culture, and history, and experiences. And when I had a chance to talk to some of the young ambassadors, I just came away again with the sense that, in the world that’s evolving, their experience over a couple of weeks time is life changing. And for all of you who participate in this — the Embassy people who make this run; those, I know, in the state governments who have helped with the federal government to help identify the young ambassadors; those of you who help make this work financially — we owe you a special thanks, and I hope you share the sense that I do that changing lives in this fashion is the best thing that any of us can try to contribute.

And I will also say that there were a couple of features of this program that were particularly striking to me. One -- all the young ambassadors that I talked to came back not only with an experience, but with a sense of giving something to their community. And this is, again, a wonderful effect in that all of you who are contributing to this are giving something to the larger community. And the young ambassadors come back — in the sense of whether community actions, teaching history, other things — they have the same sense about something larger than themselves. And that is a tremendous gift to have provided.

The other thing about this program that I find particularly appealing, coming from the midwest in the United States, is that it is not just only oriented it towards Washington — or California, Ambassador — it recognizes that the United States is a very, very big diverse place and it gives them opportunity to visit whether it be Alabama, or whether it be Indiana, or whether it be Illinois, or Nebraska. Now, where I grew up in Illinois we used to say that the United States actually starts to the west of the Appalachians, which is our mountain range on the East Coast, and so it has a certain view about the heartland of America. But, since I've lived on the East Coast for the past 25 years, I suppose I have to adjust that. But, you know, when I look at the map (which was up here) of Brazil, you have the same sense. And maybe this is again where there is a two-way process in this. You know, for people like me, you come to Brasília, you go to São Paulo, you may go to Rio, but Brazil is a much more rich country than that. And so, both of us can have a sense of learning from the sense of what it’s like to have a continent-sized country.

So, I really appreciate the fact that I had the chance of meet with all of you. I asked them who the American they would most like to meet — living or dead — and came up with some interesting answers in combination. I told them in a cross-cultural sense that I cross-tabulated this with the answers I got when I asked the question in China. And I would say that Brazilian group has a good sense of history, law, politics, but as we noted, the Chinese were focused heavily on some of the economic aspects, particularly in the software industry, since a lot of them liked Bill Gates. But it may reflect the fact that when I was in China, his book had just come out.

But, again, I appreciate, Ambassador, for you including me in this. It is a tremendous program. And I want to thank all the people that make it happen, because I know there is a tremendous amount of effort and just feel — as I am sure each of you do that has a chance to talk to the people who take part in this — that it is a wonderful commitment and I thank everyone for doing it.