Mr. Minister
Mr. Mora, Director of the Carlos Antonio Lopez Scholarship Office
Ing. Luis Lima, President of CONACYT
Senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Santiago Garcia – President of the Fulbright Association:
It is a pleasure to be here to add a new and exciting chapter in the history of the Fulbright Program in Paraguay. Fulbright is the star program of Educational Exchange of the US Government. The program was established in 1946 by a great American senator, J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. The purpose was to build lasting bonds between the United States of America and the international community, supporting the development of better and brighter thinkers around the world.
Since the beginning of the program in Paraguay, 200 Paraguayans have received a Fulbright scholarship in fields ranging from computer programming, jazz music, to business administration. But the Fulbright experience goes beyond the classroom. Paraguay has been blessed with a very active and innovative Fulbright alumni association that upholds the spirit of the Fulbright program of citizen participation by creating initiatives such as the Techauka Science and Education Fairs aimed at youth from all Paraguayan communities.
We are delighted that the Fulbright-Carlos Antonio López program will increase the number of Paraguayans “Fulbrighters” significantly, offering fifteen (15) new scholarships each year for candidates in the areas of Science and Education. In addition, Fulbright-CAL will offer pre-academic training in English to help students with lower levels of English achieve their dream of studying at universities in the United States of America. This means that Fulbright-CAL can help to realize the mission of the Carlos Antonio López Scholarship – designed to make it possible for a greater number of Paraguayan students to take their postgraduate studies abroad.
Mr. Minister, Engineer Lima and senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – thank you and your teams for supporting this excellent new initiative that will make the ties between our peoples even stronger.
