The
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) International Visitor Leadership Program
brings participants to the United States from all over the world each year to meet and confer with their professional counterparts and to gain a greater understanding of the cultural and political influences in U.S. society. The objective of the program is to increase mutual understanding through carefully crafted programs that respond to the visitors' professional interests and support the foreign policy goals of the Department of State and U.S. embassies. The visitors, who are current or potential leaders in government, politics, the media, education, business and trade, non-governmental organizations, student groups, the arts and other fields, are selected by U.S. embassy officials abroad. More than 220 current and former Heads of State and many other distinguished world leaders in government, the private and non-profit sectors have participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program. Hamid Karzai, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, Anwar Sadat and Indira Gandhi all visited the United States on International Visitor programs.
The Department of State directs the program in cooperation with a wide range of non-profit organizations operating under cooperative agreements with the Department of State. The program relies on the commitment and skills of 96 community-based organizations across the country. These organizations are known collectively as "Councils for International Visitors (CIVs)," associated under the umbrella organization of the
National Council for International Visitors
located in Washington, DC. The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs' International Visitor Leadership Program operates under authority of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 (Fulbright-Hays Act).
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