Letters & Speeches
Remarks made by the Ambassador Butenis at the ceremony for unveiling of new DVC equipments.
October 23, 2009, American Corner, Kandy
I am delighted to be here today to celebrate the installation of this new digital video conferencing equipment. This is my first visit to Kandy, one of Sri Lanka's education and religious centers-but I am certain it will not be my last. I look forward to visiting the Temple of the Tooth, to seeing the university here, to looking at your art collections, and to walking around your wonderful botanical gardens. And I will make sure I make at least one trip to your world famous perahera in the summer.
I would like to thank our hosts here at the D.S. Senanayaka Public Library, where our American Corner has been located since 2004. This is one of only three American Corners in all of Sri Lanka. It provides access to current and reliable information about the United States though its collections of books, periodicals, videos and DVD's.
The equipment we have just installed will enable us to connect the American Center in Colombo with the American Corner here in Kandy. We have another American Corner in Oluvil that will have similar equipment soon. By means of this technology, you here in Kandy will be able to see and hear the speakers we bring to Colombo and even to ask them questions in person via the magic of modern information technology. We can even connect Colombo and Kandy to sites in the United States, so that a U.S. expert on a topic can deliver a presentation directly to you without making a long and expensive trip around the world. This is one example of the benefits of globalization.
In the past six months alone we have run over 20 DVC's on a wide variety of subjects including education, ecotourism, nuclear energy, blogging, and biodiversity. One recent program connected a specialist in Florida with a group of young farmers from Hambantota interested in new developments in tropical agriculture. Another program linked an expert in new media from Arizona with bloggers and journalism students in Sri Lanka.
Activities like these help knowledge spread around the world. They also strengthen the bonds of friendship between the United States and Sri Lanka. Moreover, the technology allows for dialogue. I hope that in listening to and talking to one another the citizens of both our countries might grow closer in knowledge and mutual respect. Not every American will be as lucky as I to travel to Kandy and see it in person. Nor will every Sri Lankan get the opportunity to see the White House or the Grand Canyon. But through the American Corner and its new DVC system, we can see and talk to one another from the other side of the globe.