Successful public diplomacy requires leadership, imagination, resourcefulness, and determination. The Public Diplomacy Alumni Association (PDAA, formerly USIA Alumni Association) recognizes outstanding achievement by individuals and teams at overseas posts and at State Department headquarters that display these qualities, among others.

Fundamentally, this relationship between the world’s largest and the world’s oldest democracy is very sound. It is not only being carried out on a government-to-government level, but a business level, a cultural level, a professional level, a people-to-people level. So I am very confident that this relationship will only get deeper and broader as time goes by.

Recognizing the role coaches play in empowering women and girls through sports, the U.S. Department of State announced today a soccer exchange program that will bring 11 Egyptian soccer coaches to the United States May 9-21, 2012, to work alongside their American counterparts.

The State Department has announced some much-awaited changes to the Summer Work Travel Program, made after a review process stemming from revelations that some international students had been exploited during their participation.