U.S. Speaker and Specialist Program for India
The U.S. Speaker and Specialist Program for India sponsored by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi is jointly implemented since fall 2013 with Meridian International Center. The program is designed to connect U.S. experts with Indian audiences and institutions; to promote a better understanding of U.S. strategic priorities, policies and institutions; and to discuss the political, economic, social, and cultural context from which they arise. The program offers an opportunity for the participating U.S experts to travel individually to the country for a professional program designed by the U.S embassy in New Delhi and the other U.S. Consulates in India. Starting in 2020, the project will also send a number of speaker to Bhutan to engage with relevant audiences in that country as well. These experts engage over the course of their visit with a wide array of audiences through lectures, workshops, and seminars, through round-tables and panel discussions, and through one-on-one meetings with their Indian counterparts. A key component of the visit is engagement with both local and national media as well as India social media representatives to further the message of their program.
Over the past seven years, Meridian has sent to India over 45 American experts who have addressed a multitude of topics from climate change and cyber security to clean energy and intellectual propriety rights, from immigration and counter terrorism to trade and regional economic relations, from countering disinformation and energy and trade across the Indo-Pacific to disaster management, and from skills development to U.S. foreign policy.
