About the Author: Ann Stock serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Today, in the Gambia, alumni of Department of State-sponsored exchange programs will form environmental clubs with 100 under-served youth to create and maintain a seed bank, and plant tree nurseries.

Today in Bangalore, India, Parvati Gubbi, a secondary teacher of science and alumna of the Distinguished Fulbright Awards in Teaching Program, will teach students to practice sustainable lifestyles and, “become champions of change for a cleaner and greener habitat for the future.”

Today, here in the United States, 13 International Visitor Leadership Program participants… more »

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, far right, at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., February 21, 2013. Also pictured, left to right, are Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Nirupama Rao, Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, and U.S. Ambassador to India Nancy J. Powell. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

About the Author: Robert D. Hormats serves as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment.

I recently spoke at the 13th annual Delhi Sustainable Development Summit in New Delhi, India. My remarks focused largely on the importance of creating a good environment for investment in the agricultural sector. I emphasized the particular need to improve food supply chains that connect farmers to markets. Significant additional improvements in food supply chain infrastructure are needed to reduce post-harvest food losses, which are disturbingly high in many parts of the world.

Some important progress already has been made. The Government of India recently took steps to open India’s multi-brand retail sector to encourage foreign direct investment. This investment is critical for India’s overall economic growth prospects as well as the development of India’s food storage and distribution industry. As Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh explained, an organized and efficient… more »

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
February 12, 2013

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announces Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer Barry Larkin and Olympian Natasha Watley will travel as sports envoys to India from February 12-18. Working with Major League Baseball and USA Softball, this trip marks the Department’s first joint baseball and softball program to encourage youth participation in sports.

In New Delhi and Imphal, Larkin and Whatley will lead baseball and softball clinics for underserved youth and their coaches, as well as engage in dialogue on sports and diversity. In both cities, the sports envoys will meet with officials from the Indian Baseball and Softball Associations as well as representatives from NGOs that promote youth sports opportunities. Throughout the exchange, they will speak with local media about how sports encourage in the development of good sportsmanship, leadership, and teamwork skills. MORE

About the Author: Timothy Neely serves as Environment, Science, Technology and Health Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India.

Do you know which country’s constitution promises that a minimum of 60 percent its land area will be maintained as forest for all time? Which country’s government pledges to protect, conserve, and improve the pristine environment and safeguard the biodiversity of the country; prevent pollution and ecological degradation; secure ecologically balanced sustainable development while promoting justifiable economic and social development; and ensure a safe and healthy environment? The answer is the Kingdom of Bhutan, a small Himalayan country located between China and India. Bhutan’s use of a “Gross National Happiness” index to measure progress, rather than GDP, is well-known, but fewer people know of the importance that Bhutan attaches to conserving its natural environment and biodiversity.

The Second Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation held in Thimphu, Bhutan… more »

About the Author: Robert O. Blake serves as the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs.

Last week, I had the pleasure of interacting with over 800 enthusiastic and engaged young people as guest speaker for an educational series on South Asia in Delaware. Connecting with students and other young people is truly one of the best parts of my job, for it gives me the chance to encourage young people’s hope and optimism and their eagerness to make a difference in the world.

Sponsored by the Delaware-Delhi-Lahore Partnership for Peace, students from seven participating high schools in Wilmington gathered at Cab Calloway High School to learn more about India and Pakistan. Although not normally part of their required curriculum, these students were eager to hear about the evolving nature of India-Pakistan ties and the encouraging developments in relations between these neighbors. 

Our discussion focused on a key element in the India-Pakistan relationship:… more »

About the Author: Jessica Levy Kania serves as U.S. Vice Consul in Mumbai, India.

Right in the middle of election season, I moved from Virginia to Mumbai, India, where I work at the U.S. Consulate. Even though, as an absentee voter without access to cable TV, I can watch the debates and read U.S. news online, I sometimes catch myself feeling more like an outside observer than an active participant in the political process — and I believe that many other U.S. citizens living overseas feel the same way.

That is one reason why I was so pleased to bring some U.S. campaign excitement to India by helping to stage a voting party for U.S. citizens. Mumbai’s American Citizen Services Unit transformed our consular waiting hall into a small piece of the United States abroad, with American classics playing on the speakers, popcorn from a theatre-style machine, and a red-white-and-blue balloon arch. Attendees dropped their absentee ballots in a giant, star-spangled… more »

“Sports Show We Have Power”

POSTED BY KELLI DAVIS / OCTOBER 07, 2012

About the Author: Kelli Davis serves as a Program Officer in the SportsUnited Division of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

As the Olympic and Paralympic Games proved this summer, sports have the unique ability to bring people together peacefully.

As part of its Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports Initiative, the U.S. Department of State brought 18 young female athletes and two coaches from India and Pakistan together recently for the first joint India-Pakistan sports exchange program.

Regardless of their country of origin, these athletes and coaches became a team. They shared laughs, started a new conversation with one another, and encouraged each other to excel both on and off the soccer field.

With a focus on peace building, the India-Pakistan soccer exchange also highlights the importance of using sports as a means of empowerment. According… more »

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna in New York, New York on October 1, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]