Following successful pilot programs in Ukraine and Uzbekistan in 2003, the Open World Leadership Center has inaugurated 2004 by launching a pilot exchange program with Lithuania. In 2003, Congress authorized the Open World Leadership Center to expand Open World to other countries of the Newly Independent States (NIS) and the Baltic republics.

For the newest pilot program, 40 delegates were chosen from a pool of candidates nominated by prominent Lithuanian and U.S. nongovernmental organizations and by government agencies within the U.S. diplomatic mission in Lithuania. “Civil society” served as the pilot’s main theme.

“As a result of the wonderful cooperation that the Open World Leadership Center received from the U.S. Embassy in Lithuania, led by Ambassador Stephen Mull, we had an excellent group of Lithuanian delegates. We were pleased to welcome the first delegation from the Baltic republic,” said Open World’s Geraldine Otremba.

The delegates — mayors, district administrators, youth activists, newspaper editors and other political and civic leaders — arrived in the United States on February 26. Following an orientation program in Washington, DC, they divided into interest-based groups, each focused on a specific subtheme such as “entrepreneurship,” “nongovernmental organizations,” “mass media,” and “youth issues.”

The delegations were hosted by the Academy for Educational Development, Friendship Force International, and the International Institute of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Graduate School. Participants visited Burlington, VT; Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; Fort Collins, CO; Moorhead, MN; Omaha, NE; and Portland, OR.

Additional coverage of the Open World Lithuania pilot program will be featured in the next issue of Open World In Action.

For additional information, please contact Britta Bjornlund at bbjo@loc.gov or (202) 707-8943.

Published by The PBN Company for the Open World Leadership Center, whose Open World Program has hosted nearly 9,000 citizens from Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan since its inception in 1999. The Center is an independent legislative branch agency that works cooperatively with the U.S. Department of State and other U.S. executive and judicial branch agencies. For additional information, please visit the Open World Leadership Center's website at www.openworld.gov or contact the office at +1 202-707-8943.