1.This Act may be cited as the
Ambassador’s Fund for Strategic
Exchanges Act of 2009
.
2.Congress makes the following
findings:
(1)The United States
has a strategic national interest in improving its image around the world,
given the historically low levels of public opinion toward the United States in
many countries.
(2)International
exchange programs have been proven to be one of the most beneficial and
cost-effective means by which to promote mutual understanding between citizens
of the United States and citizens of other countries and to advance United
States national interests through closer working partnerships with leaders
around the world.
(3)Prominent world
leaders during recent decades, such as Tony Blair and Anwar Sadat, have
deepened their friendship and openness to the United States through
international exchanges, and many persons who previously had highly
anti-American opinions have changed their views after participating in exchange
programs organized by the United States Government.
(4)United States
exchange programs, such as the International Visitors Program, make a
tremendous impact in the lives of those individuals who participate and
consistently are ranked by public diplomacy experts as some of the most
effective public diplomacy programs.
(5)The International
Visitors Program of the United States Department of State organizes exchange
programs for anticipated future leaders in their countries who travel to the
United States for programs generally of three weeks, and it produces very
positive results among its target audience.
(6)Another key target
audience for United States exchanges is not addressed by the International
Visitors Program; this group includes current political, economic, and civil
society leaders, often from less privileged backgrounds, who have not traveled
to the United States previously.
(7)Such persons
currently in leadership positions in their countries are often unable to leave
their jobs for a period of three weeks, given the press of their
responsibilities, and United States embassies administering exchange programs
not infrequently find that identified candidates for International Visitor
Program exchanges decline participation because of this fact.
(8)A
number of United States embassies, including the embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, have
piloted country-specific, embassy-initiated exchange programs targeted to such
groups of current leaders who have never traveled to the United States. These
programs generally last from 5-7 program days and bring together 8-10
participants from a country who work on similar issues but have not worked with
each other before. Some of these programs have been coordinated with the
Voluntary Visitors Division of the International Visitors Office in the Bureau
of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the Department of State.
(9)Such programs have
proven highly effective in having an immediate impact on current leaders
working in key sectors and in helping advance United States interests such as
greater democratization, observance of human rights, economic reform and
poverty alleviation, empowerment of women and girls, and improved cooperation
with the United States in confronting threats from organized crime,
narco-trafficking, and terrorist groups. These programs also promote greater
cooperation across sectors, agencies, and regions within a country, given the
shared experience the exchange visitors have together during their trip to the
United States.
(10)A key element of
the success of these pilot exchanges is that they are conceived and developed
in individual embassies overseas, keyed to specific interests of the United
States in each country.
(11)However, these
pilot exchanges currently have not been replicated widely within the Department
of State, being confined to only a few United States embassies around the
world, because there are no Department-wide programmatic guidelines or central
funding for these exchange programs.
3.Ambassador’s fund
for strategic exchanges
(a)The Secretary of
State shall establish in the Voluntary Visitors Division of the Office of
International Visitors in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs a
program to conduct public diplomacy exchanges, to be known as the
Ambassador’s Fund for Strategic Exchanges
, to bring political,
economic, civil society, and other leaders to the United States for short-term
exchange visits in order to advance key United States strategic goals.
(b)Under
the program established pursuant to subsection (a), each United States embassy
and the Office of International Visitors shall coordinate to develop the
short-term exchange visits described in such subsection.
(c)The short-term exchange visits shall be for groups of up
to between eight and ten participants, and shall be for visits of five to eight
days.
(d)The key United States strategic goals referred to in
subsection (a) may include the following, as determined by the individual
United States embassy and the Office of International Visitors:
(1)Strengthening
democracy and human rights.
(2)Advancing the rule
of law.
(3)Strengthening
cooperation in the fight against terrorism, organized crime, and drug
trafficking.
(4)Reducing poverty
and promoting economic reform.
(5)Empowering women
and girls.
(6)Broadening
political and economic participation to include traditionally excluded
groups.
(7)Other embassy and
Office of International Visitors-identified priority purposes.
(e)The Bureau of Educational and Cultural
Affairs shall solicit proposals from United States embassies for short-term
exchange visits and select among them on a competitive basis.
(f)
(1)In accordance with
paragraphs (2) and (3), as appropriate, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural
Affairs and the United States embassies shall engage in cost-sharing in
carrying out the short-term exchange visits.
(2)Bureau of
Educational and Cultural AffairsFrom amounts authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this Act pursuant to section 4 and from amounts made
available for the regular program budget of the Voluntary Visitors Division,
such sums as may be necessary are authorized to be appropriated to the Bureau
of Educational and Cultural Affairs to carry out the short-term exchange
visits. Such visits shall be treated in the same manner as Voluntary Visitor
trips are treated.
(3)
(A)From amounts
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act and from amounts made
available for the public diplomacy budgets of United States embassies, such
sums as may be necessary are authorized to be appropriated to such embassies to
carry out the short-term exchange visits. Allowable expenses associated with
such visits include airfares, pre-departure expenses, and such other expenses
as are needed to allow individuals to travel to the United States to
participate in such visits.
(B)Nothing in this section may be construed as imposing
any restrictions, such as restrictions included in the Foreign Affairs Manual
of the Department of State, on the ability of United States embassies to pay
for airfares of individuals participating in the short-term exchange
visits.
4.Authorization of
appropriations
(a)There are authorized
to be appropriated to the Secretary of State such sums as may be necessary to
carry out this Act.
(b)In addition to
amounts authorized to be appropriated pursuant to subsection (a), there are
authorized to be appropriated $1,500,000 to the International Visitors Program
for Professional and Cultural Exchanges for short-term exchange visits
conducted under the auspices of the Ambassador’s Fund for Strategic Exchanges.
Such amounts shall be administered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural
Affairs.