Recent Press Releases and News Items
October 13, 2008
Media Contact:
Diane Larche'
Larche' Communications LLC
404 273-3227
diane@larchecommunications.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UKRAINIAN LEADERS EXAMINE
CITY GOVERNMENTAL PLANNING IN
ATLANTA
October 13, 2008: Atlanta — Five Ukrainian Leaders participating in the Open World Program will spend October 17, 2008 – October 25, 2008, in Atlanta, Georgia examining City Governmental Planning. The League of Women Voters Atlanta-Fulton County will host a Delegation from the Ukraine. Managed by the independent Open World Leadership Center at the Library of Congress, Open World is designed to enhance understanding and capabilities for cooperation between the United States and the countries of Eurasia and the Baltic States by developing a network of leaders in the region who have gained significant, firsthand exposure to America’s democratic, accountable government and free-market system.
While here in Atlanta, the Delegates will tour the Capitol, meet with the City of Atlanta, City of Sandy Springs, the Georgia Public Service Commission, Fulton County Courthouse, Montgomery Watson Harza, and learn about city planning, best practices, multinational corporation’s operational impact on city government, and array of business strategies as well as cultural exchanges. This global civic outreach program is important as globalization is being continuously cultivated for a better tomorrow. Developing global communal unions as an effort to build bonds of universal partnerships is the wave of the Millennium; LWVAF is excited to be involved with wonderful Global Diplomacy Initiative sponsored by Open World and LWVUS.
The visiting Delegates are Anatoliy Fedorchuk, Mayor, Boryspil City Council; Oleksandr Kozak, Mayor, Bar City Council, Vinnytska Region; Taras Pustovit, Mayor, Ostroh City Council; Yuriy Shutyak, Mayor, Nova Odessa City Council; Oleksandr Us, Village Head, Dykanka Village Council. Olga Vorona from Lutsk, Volynska Oblast, Ukraine accompanies them as a facilitator.
In Atlanta, Georgia, the Open World Delegation is scheduled to:
Tour:
CNN, Aquarium, World of Cocoa-Cola, High Museum
Patriotic Museum, ESPN, Botanical Garden, Piedmont Park, World of Coca-Cola
King Center
Meet with Agencies and companies which include:
Montgomery Watson Harza, City of Atlanta, Georgia Public Service Commission, Fulton County Courthouse, Georgia State University
Special Thanks to our Participants:
Mayor Shirley Franklin, City of Atlanta; Greg Pridgeon, Chief of Staff of City of Atlanta; Lisa Borders, President of Atlanta City Council; Mayor Eva Galambos, City of Sandy Springs; Commissioner Chuck Eaton, Chair of Georgia Public Service Commission; Commissioner Robert Baker, Georgia Public Service Commission; Anne Tucker Nees, Staff Attorney of Fulton County Courthouse; Raymond Hutchinson, Vice-President of Montgomery Watson Harza; and Heather Ridgeway, Secretary of State/Capitol City Tours.
Home stays will allow the Open World delegates to experience American family life. They will also take part in several cultural and community activities, including bowling, shopping, The Underground, CNN Center, and closing with an early Thanksgiving Dinner with the host families.
The Open World Leadership Center has awarded a grant to the League of Women Voters Atlanta-Fulton County to administer this and similar exchanges in 2008.
The U.S. Congress established Open World in 1999 to enhance understanding and capabilities for cooperation between the United States and Russia. In 2003, Congress made all post-Soviet states eligible for the program. Thanks to Open World, some 12,000 current and future Eurasian leaders have experienced American civil society and have been exposed to new ideas and practices that they can adapt for use in their own work. Open World also promotes partnerships and continued communications between delegates and their American hosts and professional counterparts. Open World currently operates exchanges for political and civic leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
For more information, please contact Montrelle Caldwell at 678/779-8123 (cell), 404/817-7263 (wk), 678/320-0398 (hm), and montrelle7@yahoo.com or George Felcyn at 202-466-6210. For more information on Open World, please visit http://www.openworld.gov. Media contact: Diane Larche' 404 273-3227, diane@larchecommunications.com
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