Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) Marie Royce will travel to Cairo, Egypt, from February 16–21, to strengthen and advance the State Department’s educational and cultural diplomacy efforts with Egypt. Assistant Secretary Royce will meet with the Ministries of Tourism and Antiquities, Higher Education and Scientific Research; Education and Technical Education; Youth and Sports; and Foreign Affairs. She will also meet with other government officials and a delegation of senior leaders from Egyptian universities.

Assistant Secretary Royce will connect with Egyptian ECA exchange program participants and alumni, including those from the J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative, the EducationUSA Competitive College Club, and the Fulbright Program. More than 10,700 Egyptians are alumni of U.S. government-sponsored exchanges, and tens of thousands more Egyptians are graduates of U.S. institutions of higher education. They return as leaders to contribute to strengthened U.S.-Egyptian bilateral relations and solve contemporary challenges.

Assistant Secretary Royce will visit the American Center Cairo, an American Space that serves more than 70,000 Egyptian youth visitors each year. She will also support ECA and U.S. Embassy Cairo’s English language learning projects by visiting the Al Azhar University’s English Language Resource Center and meeting with English Access Microscholarship Program alumni. Assistant Secretary Royce will visit the Bassatine Jewish Cemetery, which is part of the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation that aims to support Egyptian heritage and the legacies of all Egyptian communities.

Assistant Secretary Royce will attend an 80th anniversary celebration of the International Visitor Leadership Program and will meet with the President of the American University in Cairo to take part in festivities for the university’s Centennial celebration.

For further information, contact ECA-Press@state.gov. Follow along on Twitter at @ECA_AS.