Nasser Arrabyee participates in the US foreign policy

Ashwaq Arrabyee 07/03/2010

The author of this blog, Nasser Arrabyee, left Sana'a Sunday for a two-week visit to US for participating in the foreign policy program, which was organized by US State Department.

The program, which comes within the International Visitor Program, will shed the light on the role of media in US foreign policy and will take place in three States, Washington DC, New York, and in the city of Tampa, State of Florida.

During the five days in Washington, the participants, from all over the Middle East, will meet congressional representatives at the Capitol Hill, officials from both the US State Department, and the Pentagon.

The officials will brief the participants on the US federalism, role of journalists in US society, freedom of press and the foreign policy towards the Middle East.

While in New York, the participants will visit the major media outlets such as the New York Times and ABS, and others where they will meet with foreign policy experts and journalists from all parties and trends.

The participants will also meet with professors at the Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism for discussing the use of new media as a means of increasing awareness of international affairs.

The Committee to Protect Journalists will also host the participants for briefing them on its role in addressing violence towards journalists in the region.

In Tampa, Florida, the participants will visit mid-sized media outlets such as the St Petersburg Times, one of the major newspapers in Tampa Bay, and La Ga Ceta, which comes out in English, Spanish and Italian.

The participants will meet with the former Florida Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, as well as local journalist and NGO representatives.


At the end of the program, the participants will attend a final evaluation meeting with representatives from the Meridian International Center and US State Department.