[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 81 (Friday, June 19, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S6722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CONGRESS-BUNDESTAG YOUTH EXCHANGE PROGRAM

 Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, it is my pleasure today to recall 
that fifteen years ago, the U.S. Congress and the Bundestag of the 
Federal Republic of Germany resolved to establish and co-sponsor the 
Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program (CBYX). This decision was in 
recognition of the long-standing ties of friendship between the peoples 
of Germany and the United States, in particular the special sense of 
partnership that existed, and still exists, between our two 
legislatures, and the importance of continuing to build and strengthen 
that relationship.
  Our common aim was to make a lasting and substantial contribution to 
the peace of the world by making it possible for young people from our 
two countries, regardless of their means, to spend a school year 
abroad, learning about the other country's culture and way of life 
through extended first-hand experience. We recognized then, and we 
should reaffirm now, that this kind and quality of people-to-people 
exchange is crucial to building and maintaining understanding between 
nations.
  Since June of 1983, over 11,000 young people from Germany and the 
U.S. have participated in this exchange. Perhaps more importantly, 
German and American families have hosted these 11,000 participants, 
taking them into their homes and communities, forming enduring 
friendships, and nurturing their ability to see the world through 
another's eyes. The earliest of these participants are mature adults 
now, many of them assuming positions of leadership in their 
communities, their horizons forever broadened in their youth by their 
experience in the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange.
  Citizens like these are the foundation upon which the close 
partnership between Germany and the U.S. ultimately rests. As we look 
forward to even greater unity among the nations of a Europe that will 
soon include countries once separated by the Iron Curtain and we 
recognize the leading role that Germany plays in that process, the 
importance of this partnership is abundantly clear. The success of the 
CBYX program over the past fifteen years forms one of the essential 
elements of this bond, and we should do whatever we can to ensure the 
program's future.
  Threfore, on the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of this 
remarkable program, I extend very special greetings on behalf of the 
United States Senate to our fellow legislators in the German Bundestag. 
I sincerely hope that the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program 
continues to strengthen the deep ties of friendship and understanding 
between our two peoples.

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