Peace Corps Mongolia Director Darlene Grant’s Remarks on Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Peace Corps Agreement with Mongolian Government

DARLENE GRANT: Thank you Foreign Minister, we appreciate your support.

On August 2, 1990, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker III, and Foreign Minister Ts. Gombosuren signed the Peace Corps Country Agreement.

I am sure that when Secretary Baker signed that agreement that he was thinking of the words of former President, John F. Kennedy, when he said “The future is not a gift. It is an achievement.”  Peace Corps was President Kennedy’s dream.

And on this day, I am proud to say that this dream of sending America’s best and brightest university graduates to Mongolia to volunteer for two years to live in the same communities, eat the same food, ride in the same makers and trains, struggle through the same winters is still alive.

President Kennedy also said that the partnership is a process that grows stronger each year as we develop ourselves and devote ourselves to common tasks.

We at Peace Corps – staff, volunteers, and our new interns hope that this partnership lasts another 25 years or longer.

Za, mash ih bayarlalaa.