Good morning, and welcome everyone.  I’d like to offer a special welcome and thank you to the Honorable Premier, Dr. Brown, for taking the time to be here today. I also wish to welcome Mr. Butler, the Honorable Minister of Social Rehabilitation.

President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have stated repeatedly that public diplomacy is the job of every Ambassador, every Consul General and every Foreign Service Officer around the world.  It is a priority for me and it is a priority for the American Consulate here in Bermuda.

One way in which the American Consulate fulfills its public diplomacy mandate is through participation in the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program.  This is a program designed to build mutual understanding between the United States and the global community through the exchange of ideas among leaders or potential leaders in key fields.  Engaging in global partnerships presents a golden opportunity to see beyond our borders and learn from each other.

I am delighted to announce that for the second year in a row, the American Consulate successfully advocated with the State Department to fund a Voluntary Visitor exchange project. This hard-won endorsement resulted from the outstanding success of last year’s first Bermuda VolVis exchange.

Last month, with the generous support of local American sponsors Aon and US Airways, the Consulate sent its second team of five Bermuda Voluntary Visitors on a ten-day learning trip to the United States.  The focus of this second VolVis project was healthy families and healthy children, a natural progression from last year’s youth development exchange.

The Healthy Families/Healthy Children Team traveled to Washington DC, Rochester, Baltimore and Orlando to meet with the leaders of successful child and family development programs in those cities.  Mrs. Kennette Robinson, Bermuda’s Director of the Department of Child and Family Services, served as team leader for the group, whom she will introduce a little later.  They will be available for questions following their formal presentation.

The VolVis team visited more than 15 model programs on their four-city tour, including programs specializing in healthy communities, parenting, fatherhood, juvenile justice, social services for youth and school-based youth development.  Their itinerary was organized and funded by the Department of State. 

The American Consulate is pleased to have partnered with Bermuda yet again in the Voluntary Visitor Exchange Program and we look forward to further collaboration in 2007 and the years to come. We are considering several alternatives for next year’s US-Bermuda exchange, building on the lessons learned from the Healthy Family Initiative as well as last year’s Voluntary Visitor Youth Development Exchange.  

Before I turn it over to Minister Butler, I would like to take this opportunity to present certificates of appreciation to:

·        AON (Candace Franklin) and
·        US Airways (Joyce Ming)