| Media Note Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC January 18, 2007 Assistant Secretary for Oceans, Environment and Science Claudia A. McMurray Leading Delegation Visiting the U.S. Antarctic ProgramClaudia A. McMurray, Assistant Secretary for Oceans, Environment and Science; United States Ambassador to New Zealand, Bill McCormick; and Glyn Davies, Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, are visiting Antarctica January 18-26, 2007. They will join a New Zealand delegation led by Prime Minister Helen Clark and including Sir Edmund Hillary, who led the New Zealand contingent of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition that established the Amundsen-Scott Base in 1957. The delegations will be hosted at U.S. facilities in Antarctica by Dr. Arden Bement, Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation. The visit coincides with the 50th anniversary of United States-New Zealand cooperation in Antarctica and follows a series of bilateral meetings in Wellington January 15-17 that addressed a wide range of environmental issues of mutual interest to the United States and New Zealand. During her visit to Antarctica, Assistant Secretary McMurray will review a range of scientific research activities conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Antarctic Program and to hold discussions with selected research scientists. Additionally, she will be briefed on logistic operations and familiarize herself with the infrastructure that supports Antarctic research, including the Crary Science and Engineering Laboratory at McMurdo Station and the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, currently under construction. The Department of State coordinates U.S. policy on Antarctica. The National Science Foundation, as the manager of the U.S. Antarctic Program, coordinates all federally funded research on the continent and operates year-round U.S. facilities at McMurdo, Amundsen-Scott South Pole and Palmer stations. The U.S. Antarctic Program supports scientific research in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean and advances the United States goals of supporting the Antarctic Treaty, fostering cooperative research with other nations, protecting the Antarctic environment, and conserving living resources. Additional information about U.S. Antarctic policy is available at http://www.state.gov/g/oes/ocns/c6528.htm. Information about the U.S. Antarctic Program is available at http://www.usap.gov/index.cfm 2007/040
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