After more than 15 years break American House is back in Ukraine. But this time it will be called American Center 2.0. John Tefft, US Ambassador to Ukraine, told The Day about it at the welcoming dinner in honor of the visit of Tara Sonenshine, current US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, to Kyiv. According to Tefft, the American Center will be opened on the former site of the US Embassy, in a building owned by the US government and the land leased by the US Government from the Ukrainian Government for the next 40 years.
In 1998 American houses in all countries were closed and when there was a budget surplus in the US, the reason for this was the assigning them to the USAids. Then the administration decided to rely more on cooperation with NGOs in other countries. What, ultimately, turned out to be a mistake and finally the Administration of the President Obama decided to fix it.
Ms. Sonenshine told The Day that the initiator of the restoring the American House in Ukraine, now in a form of American Center, was the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. According to her, the US Congress allocated 3.4 million dollars to fund the pilot project of the American Center in Kyiv, which will open in summer of 2014. This is the first project of such type implemented by the United States in Europe.
At the ceremony of dismantling of the old wall, which took place on April 11 and symbolized the launch of this project, the Under Secretary of State said that the American Center will join the network of more than 850 “Windows on America” around the world that will focus on establishing personal contacts between Ukrainian and American people. Ms. Sonenshine stressed that the Center has to become the main site in the city, where Americans and Ukrainians will get a chance to meet.
“Today, Ukraine has a network of 29 ‘Windows on America’ which form a single platform for interaction with the 90 percent of Ukrainian people that live outside the capital,” said the Under Secretary of State. “Our new American Center will become a new center of this network that would help us do our work better – tell the American history both in and outside the capital, allowing us to hear the ‘Ukrainian history,’” stressed Ms. Sonenshine.
Meanwhile, the Ambassador said that the center will be equipped with the latest computer technology and software to provide interactive capabilities. The Center will present American films, will organize discussions with prominent figures in art and culture. According to the Ambassador, Department of Foreign Construction of the State Department will be responsible for the implementation of the project. General contractor will be a Canadian company that has already started design work. “However, Ukrainian companies will be engaged and Ukrainian materials will be used for construction works on the Center, which will bring Ukraine new jobs and money,” stressed Mr. Tefft.
