The American University 

Washington-DC 5/27/06

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

It’s an honor to be here today as part of this celebration, and to speak to such a distinguished audience.  

I would like to thank Mr Ali Khemili and the Tunisian Community Center for inviting me here today, to this lovely event. Ali, we appreciate your leadership and the tremendous effort you put into this Center and bringing us together.

Congratulations to our star Oussama Mellouli for all of his accomplishments, and for tonight’s award.  I know I speak for many of us, Oussama, when I say that you have inspired us by your discipline, dedication and talent.

I’d like to express how delighted I am to be in the presence of Ambassador Nejib Hachana, who has been a wonderful friend of the UGA-Tunisia partnership.   Mr Ambassador it’s a pleasure to see you again and we look forward to your next visit to Georgia.

I am particularly pleased to be given the privilege to talk about the the UGA-Tunisia Partnership tonight, because it represents many of the ideas and principles of the Tunisian Community Center.  

With events such as tonight’s Hafla, we promote ideas of community building, of  co-operation and exchange, of culture and excellence, of new relationships and bringing more sunshine and warmth into our lives…and Tunisia’s sun has been warming up Georgia for the last 3 1/2 years.  

In a nutshell, the UGA Tunisia Partnership aims to create opportunities and see them through for GA and Tunisia-- to get together and engage in initiatives, programs, and projects that are mutually beneficial to each other’s education systems at all levels: elementary, high school and university.

With the ultimate goal of connecting the education system (which is where most of a nation’s human capital is) with its environment, so that it is no longer the isolated ivory tower, but rather a powerful agent of social and economic development.

We want to do all of this in a way that is thoughtful, holistic, that allows us to be equal partners, and that capitalizes on the best of both worlds.

I have prepared a brief  PowerPoint presentation to go over some of the highlights of our partnership….you know how academicians are…they transform everything into a power point…….but I promise there won’t be a test when I’m through.

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Presentation

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The importance of partnerships and exchanges between Tunisia and The United States cannot be overstated.   I know it is considered cliché to talk of building bridges between cultures, but that is really what we are doing, both through education, and by simply gathering together and celebrating the Tunisian American community.