AMBASSADOR GALT: Good evening, everyone. It’s wonderful to see you all here. And I understand there are some Colorado reps in here your midst. Fabulous.
I understand there is an alumni event tonight, and I’m actually excited to hear that there is an alumni event. That means you all have successfully recruited Mongolians, so great to see that.
It’s a pleasure to welcome all of you, the college representatives, and our colleagues from EducationUSA, representatives from the Ministry, and from other educational organizations including our very own International School of Ulaanbaatar where my son and many other children of my embassy colleagues are very happily ensconced.
I’m honored to open this reception for the second EducationUSA College fair here in Ulaanbaatar. And I’m pleased to hear that the college fair that you all have held these last few days was very well-attended, and attracted some positive attention.
Thanks to Chris, I have recently launched on Twitter, so I hope my tweet about your fair helped to generate a little bit of buzz. I’m new in Mongolia, and I’m also new to Twitter, so hopefully, it generates some positive buzz.
Thank you to the team for organizing such a great event, and I’m standing between you and your dinner, so I just want to say a couple of things.
Globally, the State Department and U.S. Embassies around the world support more than 450 advising centers like the Education Advising Resource Center here in UB. And these organizations help us enormously because they make available information about studying in the United States.
They try to demystify the process for students, and they publicize information from great schools like yours. So I’m thrilled that so many U.S. college representatives made the long journey to Mongolia, and I hear that a good number of you also went outside UB.
Thank you for extending your reach across this vast country.
Last year’s fair, I gathered there were only six universities’ representatives represented.
I’m thrilled this year, there are 27. So, to me, that’s good news. That’s a good sign.
We look forward to more growth in the future. I also understand that there are some secondary school counselors here tonight.
Thank you to those of you who help support secondary school students who are thinking about studying in the United States.
Before I came to Mongolia, I heard a lot about the strong interest among Mongolian students who are studying in the U.S. And in fact, I was just saying that I have a colleague in my embassy whose son is attending my alma mater.
So there are very close connections between the United States and Mongolia, and I think that’s fabulous. And education plays a very important role in that.
Last year, we saw a little over six percent increase in the number of Mongolian students coming to the United States.
We’re thrilled to see that growth. And hopefully, with the great work that you’ve been doing in the fair this week; we will see even more growth in the coming year.
One of my goals as Ambassador is to help grow the next generation of democratic leaders for Mongolia and with Mongolia.
And to me, studying in the United States is an important piece of that growth of that next generation. So thank you for everything you do to contribute to my goal of growing the next generation of leaders here in Mongolia.
International experience, we all know, enhances knowledge, teaches new cultures, new languages, and helps develop young people into global citizens.
So again, thank you for your contributions and that effort.
Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you for coming to Mongolia.
And I look forward to walking around and chatting with folks.
And then, I will leave you to what looks like a fabulous dinner.
Thank you very much.
