Virtual Embassy
Ambassador William R. Brownfield - Text
I’d like to welcome you to the embassy web page.
The point of this web page is to provide you all with information and answer any questions you might have about what this embassy and what this mission does here in Colombia and the U.S.-Colombia bilateral relationship.
An embassy is part of the government and obviously a big part of our job is to deal with the government of Colombia. But embassies work directly with the people as well.
In this particular presentation I want to talk to you about some of our programs and some of the policies that are particularly important between Colombia and the United States—policies and programs that I hope will be of interest to you.
Visas: Every year this embassy processes more than 100,000 visas for the United States. Some are for pleasure, some are for business. Here in this video, you will be able to hear from some of our visa experts, and I hope have most of your questions answered in terms of what you need to do, what the law and the rules require. Some of you, in fact may also be American citizens who want to work in or live in or visit Colombia. And in this video, you’ll get information on that process, as well.
A few months ago, the United States held its presidential and congressional election. Colombia holds its next presidential election in the year 2010. Our two systems are very similar, but they also have a lot of differences between them. If you click on this video, you will hear from some of our elections experts who can both tell you how the two systems are similar, and give you some guidance as well in terms of the differences.
Have you heard about the Free Trade Agreement proposed between Colombia and the United States? In this video, you will have an opportunity hear from some of our economic experts. They can tell you where the FTA is right now and give you some sense as to where it’s headed.
Have you heard about Plan Colombia? U.S. support for Plan Colombia has reached nearly seven billion dollars over the last nine years. And I tell you, it’s a lot more than just drug eradication. It’s also about Human Rights and Humanitarian assistance, economic and social development. It’s about security and counter terrorism. Here, in this video, you’ll have a much clearer sense of exactly what Plan Colombia is and what is the nature of U.S. support for Plan Colombia.
We have a video that gives you a good deal of information on academic and cultural exchange. And may I tell you, I’m very proud of the fact that we offer scholarships in literally dozens of areas, dozens of academic specialties, directed at specific communities and specific regions around Colombia. If you want more information on these sorts of scholarships and this sort of exchange, click on this video.
Business issues? By all means, in the year 2008, Colombia and the United States had more than 23 billion dollars of trade and business exchange. Here in this video, you’ll find information about buying and selling products both in the United States and in Colombia.
Do you have suggestions? Do you have questions on how we could make this site better? Or in fact issues that you find covered here? You’ll find as you scroll down on this site, a place where you can offer those suggestions and ask those questions. We want to make this site as useful and as effective for all of you as we possibly can.
Over the last year and a half I have met, probably with thousands of Colombians as I have travelled around the country, held meetings and visited different organizations, schools, businesses, projects, communities and programs. I hope to meet many thousands more in the months ahead as we continue to travel around the country. But meanwhile, I love to think that we’re interacting with all of you through these videos on this webpage.
Thanks very much and I look forward to seeing you elsewhere around Colombia.