Embassy News and Events

Celebrating the Arrival of AMIDEAST in Oman

Ambassador Grappo (right) and Ambassador Kattouf speak to guests at the AMIDEAST reception.

On Monday, May 9, The U.S. Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission, Alfred F. Fonteneau, was a guest at a ceremony featuring the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Oman’s Ministry of Education and U.S. educational organization AMIDEAST. The MOU, signed by Oman’s Minister of Education Yahya bin Sa'ud Al-Sulaimi and AMIDEAST President Amb. Theodore Kattouf, establishes AMIDEAST as the first permanent resident international organization in the Sultanate. The opens the way for the opening of AMIDEAST offices in Muscat and even greater cooperation between the Embassy and AMIDEAST, which currently administers a range of U.S. exchange programs in Oman, including the Fulbright Foreign Student and the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programs.

AMIDEAST works to strengthen mutual understanding and cooperation between Americans and the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa. Every year, AMIDEAST provides English language and professional skills training, educational advising, and testing services to hundreds of thousands of students and professionals in the Middle East and North Africa; supports numerous institutional development projects in the region; and administers educational exchange programs. Founded in 1951, AMIDEAST is headquartered in Washington, DC with a network of field offices in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, West Bank/Gaza, and Yemen. The organization hopes to have its Muscat offices open before the start of the fall 2007 academic year.

On Tuesday, May 8, U.S. Ambassador Gary A. Grappo hosted a reception in honor of Amb. Kattouf and AMIDEAST, attended by leaders from many of Oman’s private colleges and universities, officials of the Ministries of Education, Higher Education, and Foreign Affairs, and representatives of other U.S. program partner organizations.