2005 End of the Year Report's Highlights
In our second year of existence following are some of the highlights of the Office of public Diplomacy for Middle Eastern and MEPI affairs:
- This office was honorably mentioned in the April 2005 Government Accountability Office Report to the House Committee on Appropriations, concerning interagency coordination efforts in the area of communications and public diplomacy.
- More than 90 Middle Eastern Community newspapers, magazines and Arab national media representatives covered our activities, re-published stories from Front Lines and received our snap shot emails from our Middle Eastern Missions. Gave interviews to Arab print media on the President's Middle East policies and development initiatives.
- Our office Director, Mr. Walid Maalouf received and organized internal meetings for delegations such as the Free Muslim Coalition, the US Arab Chamber of Commerce and the Lebanese Chamber of Commerce and many others.
- Mr. Maalouf participated in major Middle Eastern American conventions and conferences, such as the American Federation of Ramallah Palestine in New York and Kentucky, the National Apostolate of Maronites in San Diego, and the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce in Michigan.
- We conducted outreach to American universities and colleges through keynote speeches and panel discussions, such as the participation at the Maxwell School for Citizenship and Public Administration at Syracuse University.
- We received NGO leaders from the broader Middle East as well as officials from embassies. Maintained an information stream with national and international leaders from embassies, UN missions, media, academia, NGO, and community leaders on a monthly basis through mailings of Front Lines, press releases and magazines that we produce regarding democracy and disaster relief.
- Informed our interagency colleagues of our efforts through email announcements and conferences, such as the presentation by Her Excellency Dr. Rima Khalaf Hunaidi from the United Nations on the Arab Human Development Series.
It has been a great year and we hope we are making a difference in relaying to the Middle Eastern American community and the people of the region the message of President George W. Bush. We look forward to continuing our support for the efforts of the Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice and USAID Administrator Mr. Andrew Natsios.
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