International Visitor Leadership Program

The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) is a professional exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The mission of IVLP is to offer current and emerging international leaders the opportunity to experience the richness and diversity of American political, economic, social and cultural life through carefully designed exchanges that reflect participants’ professional interests and the public diplomacy objectives of the United States government.^[peacock prose]

The exchange brings up to 5,000 professional emerging leaders from around the world to the United States each year for programs of up to three weeks. The program is nomination only by staff at U.S. Embassies.[1]

History

In 1940, Nelson Rockefeller was named the Coordinator of Commercial and Cultural Affairs for the American Republics. He initiated the exchange of persons program with Latin America, inviting 130 Latin American journalists to the United States and recognized as the first exchange under what would become the IVLP. In 1948 representative Karl E. Mundt and Senator H. Alexander Smith marshaled the Informational and Educational Exchange Act, also known as the Smith-Mundt Act which was passed by the 80th United States Congress and approved by President Harry S. Truman. During a time when Americans grew increasingly concerned about Soviet propaganda, the purpose of the Smith-Mundt was "to promote a better understanding of the United States in other countries, and to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries" though educational and cultural exchanges. From this legislation birthed the Foreign Leaders Program, which was eventually consolidated into the International Visitor Program (IVP) in 1952. In 2004, the IVP was renamed the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).[2][3]

Goals

The purpose of the IVLP is to:

1. cultivate lasting relationships between current and emerging professionals around the world and their American counterparts
2. provides opportunities for foreign opinion makers to gain firsthand knowledge about U.S. society, culture and politics[4]

Notable alumni

The following tables list the 338 current and former chiefs of state and heads of government who have participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program.

East Asia and Pacific

Country	Name	Highest Position	Year Participated
Australia	Julia Gillard	Prime Minister	2006
	Quentin Bryce	Governor General	1978
	Paul Keating	Prime Minister	1977
	William Hayden	Governor General	1970
	Malcolm Fraser	Prime Minister	1964
	Gough Whitlam	Prime Minister	1964
Cook Islands	Terepai Maoate	Prime Minister	1987
Federated States of Micronesia	Tosiwo Nakayama	President	1961
Fiji	Kamisese Mara	Acting President	1964
	Penaia Ganilau	President	1963
	George Cakobau	Governor General	1964
Indonesia	Megawati Sukarnoputri	President	1989
	Abdurrahman Wahid	President	1979
Japan	Naoto Kan	Prime Minister	1981, 1980
	Yukio Hatoyama	Prime Minister	1988
	Morihiro Hosokawa	Prime Minister	1980
	Toshiki Kaifu	Prime Minister	2000, 1962
Malaysia	Mahathir Mohamad	Prime Minister	1973
	Abdul Razak Hussein	Prime Minister	1963, 1953
Mongolia	Nambaryn Enkhbayar	President	1994
New Zealand	Helen Clark	Prime Minister	1998
	Jenny Shipley	Prime Minister	1989
	David Lange	Prime Minister	1983
	Norman Kirk	Prime Minister	1971, 1962
	Rob Muldoon	Prime Minister	1965
	Wallace E. Rowling	Prime Minister	1967
	Jack Marshall	Prime Minister	1958
Palau	Lazarus Salii	President	1968
Papua New Guinea	Ignatius Kilage	Governor-General	1976
	Michael Somare	Prime Minister	1971
Philippines	Gloria Macapagal Arroyo	President	1964
	Sara Duterte	Vice President	2020
Samoa	Vaai Kolone	Prime Minister	1981
Singapore	Wee Kim Wee	President	1964
	Devan Nair	President	1979
South Korea	Kim Dae-jung	President	1965
	Kim Yong-sam	President	1964
	Han Seung-soo	Prime Minister	1977
	Hyun Seung-jong	Acting Prime Minister	1971
	Lee Yung-duk	Prime Minister	1966
	Kim Sang-hyup	Prime Minister	1970, 1960
	Nam Duck-woo	Prime Minister	1975
	Chung Il-kwon	Prime Minister	1971
	Lee Han-key	Prime Minister	1972
	Choi Doo-sun	Prime Minister	1950
Taiwan	Ma Ying-jeou	President	2003, 1971
	Chen Shui-bian	President	1990
Thailand	Chuan Leekpai	Prime Minister	1971
Tonga	Taufa'ahau Tupou IV	King	1964
	Fatafehi Tu'ipelehake	Prime Minister	1968
Vanuatu	Walter Lini	Prime Minister	1976

Europe

Country/Region	Name	Highest Position	Year Participated
Albania	Bashkim Fino	Prime Minister	1996, 1995
Austria	Heinz Fischer	President	1964
	Alfred Gusenbauer	Chancellor	1987
	Wolfgang Schüssel	Chancellor	1984, 1971
	Franz Vranitzky	Chancellor	1975
	Bruno Kreisky	Chancellor	1958
	Fred Sinowatz	Chancellor	1965
Belgium	Yves Leterme	Prime Minister	1983
	Guy Verhofstadt	Prime Minister	1983
	Wilfried Martens	Prime Minister	1971
	Leo Tindemans	Prime Minister	1967
	Mark Eyskens	Prime Minister	1984
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Predrag Puharić	Mayor of Sarajevo
Bulgaria	Sergei Stanishev	Prime Minister	2004
	Zhan Videnov	Prime Minister	1992
	Philip Dimitrov	Prime Minister	1990
Croatia	Zoran Milanović	Prime Minister	1996
	Ivo Josipović	President	2002
	Ivica Racan	Prime Minister	1998
	Zlatko Tomčić	President	1998
Cyprus	Tassos Papadopoulos	President	1968
Czech Republic	Petr Nečas	Prime Minister	1999, 1994
Denmark	Lars Løkke Rasmussen	Prime Minister	1989
	Anders Fogh Rasmussen	Prime Minister	1982
	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen	Prime Minister	1985
Estonia	Juhan Parts	Prime Minister	2005, 1992
Finland	Sauli Niinistö	President	1992
	Tarja Halonen	President	1983
	Jyrki Katainen	Prime Minister	2003
	Matti Vanhanen	Prime Minister	1993
	Paavo Lipponen	Prime Minister	1974
	Esko Aho	Prime Minister	1979
	Harri Holkeri	Prime Minister	1970
	Anneli Tuulikki Jaatteenmaki	Prime Minister	1995
France	Nicolas Sarkozy	President	1985
	François Fillon	Prime Minister	1984
	Lionel Jospin	Prime Minister	1977
	Alain Juppé	Prime Minister	1978
	Raymond Barre	Prime Minister	1965
	Pierre Bérégovoy	Prime Minister	1977
	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing	President	1956
	Jacques Chaban-Delmas	Prime Minister	1961
	Michel Debré	Prime Minister	1956
Georgia	Mikheil Saakashvili	President	1999
	Zurab Noghaideli	Prime Minister	1997
	Zurab Zhvania	Prime Minister	1997
Germany	Joachim Gauck	President	1993
	Christian Wulff	President	2000
	Gerhard Schröder	Chancellor	1981
	Richard von Weizsäcker	President	1978
	Walter Scheel	President	1951
	Karl Carstens	President	1950
	Kurt Georg Kiesinger	Chancellor	1954
	Willy Brandt	Chancellor	1954
	Helmut Schmidt	Chancellor	1956
Greece	Konstandinos Karamanlis	Prime Minister	1995
	Constantine Mitsotakis	Prime Minister	1959
	Constantine Karamanlis	President	1951
	Constantine Tsatsos	President	1952
	George Rallis	Prime Minister	1958, 1953
Hungary	Gyula Horn	Prime Minister	1981
	József Antall	Prime Minister	1989
Iceland	Geir Haarde	Prime Minister	1985
	David Oddsson	Prime Minister	1983
	Thorsteinn Palsson	Prime Minister	1984
	Kristjan Eldjarn	President	1957
Ireland	Enda Kenny	Prime Minister	1989
	Mary Robinson	President	1976
	John Bruton	Prime Minister	1980
Italy	Oscar Luigi Scalfaro	President	1960
	Francesco Cossiga	President	1966
	Giuseppe Saragat	President	1963
	Mario Monti	Prime Minister	1981
	Romano Prodi	Prime Minister	1979
	Giovanni Goria	Prime Minister	1981
	Giovanni Spadolini	Prime Minister	1952
	Arnaldo Forlani	Prime Minister	1960
Kosovo	Fatmir Sejdiu	President	2003
	Bajram Kosumi	Prime Minister	2001
	Bajram Rexhepi	Prime Minister	2000
Lithuania	Dalia Grybauskaitė	President	1994
	Gediminas Kirkilas	President	2002, 1993
	Arturas Paulauskas	President	1992
Luxembourg	Jacques Santer	Prime Minister	1973
Macedonia	Nikola Gruevski	Prime Minister	2000
	Boris Trajkovski	President	1996
	Ljubco Georgievski	Prime Minister	1996
Malta	Joseph Muscat	Prime Minister	1984
	Edward Fenech Adami	President	1974, 1975
	Guido De Marco	President	1973
	Lawrence Gonzi	Prime Minister	1990
	Ugo Mifsud Bonnici	President	1971
	Dominic Mintoff	Prime Minister	1965
Moldova	Nicolae Timofti	President	2005
	Petru Lucinschi	President	1995
Montenegro	Igor Lukšić	Prime Minister	1999
The Netherlands	Jan Peter Balkenende	Prime Minister	1985
	Willem Kok	Prime Minister	1978
	Joop den Uyl	Prime Minister	1953, 1979
Norway	Erna Solberg	Prime Minister	1996
	Jens Stoltenberg	Prime Minister	1988
	Thorbjorn Jagland	Prime Minister	1982
	Kjell Magne Bondevik	Prime Minister	1971
	Jan P. Syse	Prime Minister	1978
	Kare Willoch	Prime Minister	1979
Poland	Beata Szydło	Prime Minister	2004
	Bronislaw Komorowski	President	2006
	Donald Tusk	Prime Minister	1995
	Hanna Suchocka	Prime Minister	1988
	Mieczysław Rakowski	Prime Minister	1978
	Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz	Prime Minister	2000
	Aleksander Kwasniewski	President	1994
Portugal	Aníbal Cavaco Silva	President	1978
	Jorge Sampaio	President	1965
	Mario Alberto Soares	President	1976
	António Guterres	Prime Minister	1978
	Francisco Pinto Balsemao	Prime Minister	1965
Romania	Victor Ciorbea	Prime Minister	1995
Slovenia	Borut Pahor	Prime Minister	1991
	Janez Drnovšek	President	1988
Spain	Eduardo Madina	Deputy
Sweden	Fredrik Reinfeldt	Prime Minister	2002
	Carl Bildt	Prime Minister	1973
Switzerland	Moritz Leuenberger	President	1993
	Andri Silberschmidt	National Councilor	2019
Turkey	Abdullah Gul	President	1995
	Suleyman Demirel	President	1957
Ukraine	Leonid Kuchma	President	1994
	Leonid Kravchuk	President
United Kingdom	Gordon Brown	Prime Minister	1992, 1984
	Tony Blair	Prime Minister	1992, 1986
	Margaret Thatcher	Prime Minister	1967
	Edward Heath	Prime Minister	1953
	Humza Yousaf	First Minister of Scotland	2008

North Africa, Near East, South Asia and Central Asia

Country	Name	Highest Position	Year Participated
Afghanistan	Hamid Karzai	President	1987
Bangladesh	Fakhruddin Ahmed	Chief Advisor	1977
Bhutan	Jigme Thinley	Prime Minister	1987
	Khandu Wangchuk	Prime Minister	1993
Egypt	Anwar Sadat	President	1968
	Ahmed Nazif	Prime Minister	1990
	Ahmad Fuad Mohieddin	Prime Minister	1977
India	Pratibha Patil	President	1999, 1986
	Narendra Modi	Prime Minister	1993
	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Prime Minister	1960
	Indira Gandhi	Prime Minister	1961
	Morarji Desai	Prime Minister	1962
	Ayesha Rubina	Social Worker	2012
	Natarajan Velayutham	Advocate & Social Worker	2024
Arun Daniel Yellamaty	Founder Youngistaan Foundation	2022
Israel	Moshe Katzav	President	1980
	Ehud Olmert	Prime Minister	1978
Jordan	Adnan Badran	Prime Minister	1977
	Faisal al-Fayez	Prime Minister	1988
	Abdelsalam al-Majali	Prime Minister	1969
Kyrgyzstan	Kurmanbek Bakiyev	President	2004
Lebanon	Amin Gemayel	President	1979, 1972
	Elias Sarkis	President	1971
	Zaven Kouyoumdjian	Media Personality	2006
Morocco	Azzedine Laraki	Prime Minister	1986
	Maati Bouabid	Prime Minister	1965, 1961
Nepal	Krishna Prasad Bhattarai	Prime Minister	1993
	Sher Bahadur Deuba	Prime Minister
Pakistan	Ghulam Ishaq Khan	President	1949
	Sheikh Mujibur Rahman	Future Prime Minister of Bangladesh	1952
Sri Lanka	Mahinda Rajapakse	President	1989
	Ranil Wickremesinghe	Prime Minister	1988, 1981
	Ratnasiri Wickremanayake	Prime Minister	1975
	Ranasinghe Premadasa	President	1966
Tunisia	Mohamed Mzali	Prime Minister	1964
Qatar	Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani	Prime Minister	1989

Sub-Saharan Africa

Country	Name	Highest Position	Year Participated
Benin	Nicephore Soglo	President	1997
Botswana	Festus G. Mogae	President	1976
	Quett Masire	President	1975
Burkina Faso	Roch Marc Christian Kaboré	President	1999, 1986
Central African Republic	Andre-Dieudonne Kolingba	President	1966
Chad	Youssouf Saleh Abbas	Prime Minister	1999
	Nagoum Yamassoum	Prime Minister	1992
Côte d'Ivoire	Laurent Gbagbo	President	1993
	Daniel Kablan Duncan	Prime Minister	1974
Ghana	John Kufuor	President	Late 1960s
Guinea	Alpha Condé	President	1962
	Lamine Sidimé	Prime Minister	1992
Kenya	Mwai Kibaki	President	1999
	Daniel arap Moi	President	1969
Lesotho	'Mamohato Seeiso	Queen	1993
Madagascar	Didier Ratsiraka	President	1973
	Philibert Tsiranana	President	1964
Malawi	Joyce Banda	President	1989
	Bakili Muluzi	President	1980
Mali	Alpha Oumar Konaré	President	1978
Mauritius	Anerood Jugnauth	President	1981
	Navinchandra Ramgoolam	Prime Minister	1986
	Karl Offmann	President	1985
	Veerasamy Ringadoo	Governor General	1982
	Dayendranath Burrenchobay	Governor General	1969
Mozambique	Armando Guebuza	President	1987
	Pascoal Mocumbi	Prime Minister	1986
Namibia	Nahas Angula	Prime Minister	1996
Niger	Seyni Oumarou	Prime Minister	1990
	Hama Amadou	Prime Minister	1986
Nigeria	Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme	Vice President
Rwanda	Sylvestre Nsanzimana	Prime Minister	1986
South Africa	Frederik Willem de Klerk	President	1976
Senegal	Mame Madior Boye	Prime Minister	1975
Seychelles	France-Albert René	President	1967
Swaziland	Obed Dlamini	Prime Minister	1986
Tanzania	Julius Nyerere	President	1960
Togo	Faure Gnassingbé	President	2001
	Yawovi Agboyibo	Prime Minister	1997
	Edem Kodjo	Prime Minister	1972
	Joseph Kokou Koffigoh	Prime Minister	1990
Uganda	Amama Mbabazi	Prime Minister	2011
Zambia	Kebby Musokotwane	Prime Minister	1979
Zimbabwe	Morgan Tsvangirai	Prime Minister	1989

Western Hemisphere

Country	Name	Highest Position	Year Participated
Argentina	Fernando de la Rúa	President	1966
	Raúl Alfonsín	President	1981
Barbados	Owen Arthur	Prime Minister	1988
	Lloyd Erskine Sandiford	Prime Minister	1975
	Tom Adams	Prime Minister	1973
Belize	Said Musa	Prime Minister	1995
Bolivia	Carlos Mesa	President	2002, 1979
Brazil	Dilma Rousseff	President	1992
	José Sarney	President	1964
Canada	Edward Schreyer	Governor General	1978
Chile	Ricardo Lagos	President	1988
	Marco Antonio Díaz	Mayor	2021
Colombia	Álvaro Uribe	President	1998
	Ernesto Samper	President	1985
	César Gaviria	President	1982
	Belisario Betancur	President	1952
	Julio César Turbay Ayala	President	1977
Costa Rica	Óscar Arias	Prime Minister	1971
Dominica	Nicholas Liverpool	President	1985
	Eugenia Charles	Prime Minister	1995
	Patrick John	Prime Minister	1979
Dominican Republic	Danilo Medina	President	1991
	Hipólito Mejía	President	1995
	Salvador Jorge Blanco	President	1979
Ecuador	Gustavo Noboa	President	1960
	Jamil Mahuad	President	1985
	Rosalía Arteaga	President	1993
	Rodrigo Borja	President	1962
El Salvador	Armando Calderón Sol	President	1986
	Alfredo Cristiani	President	1986
Grenada	Paul Scoon	Governor General	1972
Guyana	Hamilton Green	Prime Minister	1967
	Ptolemy Reid	President	1966
Guatemala	Vinicio Cerezo	President	1976
	Alfonso Portillo	President	1992
	Álvaro Arzú	President	1982
	Ramiro de León Carpio	President	1988
Haiti	Jacques-Édouard Alexis	Prime Minister	1983
	Ertha Pascal-Trouillot	President	1980
	Leslie Manigat	President	1959
Honduras	Ricardo Maduro	President	1986
	Carlos Roberto Reina	President	1993
	Rafael Leonardo Callejas	President	1986
	José Azcona del Hoyo	President	1985
Jamaica	Portia Simpson-Miller	Prime Minister	1981
	Howard Cooke	Governor General	1981
	Donald Sangster	Prime Minister	1960
Mexico	Felipe Calderón	President	1992
Paraguay	Nicanor Duarte	President	1989
Peru	Jorge Del Castillo	Prime Minister	1988
	Beatriz Merino	Prime Minister	1997
	Vladimiro Montesinos	Intelligence chief	1976[5]
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Denzil Douglas	Prime Minister	1990
	Simeon Daniel	Premier	1980
	Lee Moore	Premier	1972
Saint Lucia	Stephenson King	Prime Minister	1985
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	James Fitz-Allen Mitchell	Prime Minister	1973
Suriname	Ronald Venetiaan	President	1981
	Ramsewak Shankar	President	1978
Trinidad and Tobago	George Richards	President	1986
	Kamla Persad-Bissessar	Prime Minister	1998
	Patrick Manning	Prime Minister	1988
	Basdeo Panday	Prime Minister	1978
	Michael Williams	President	1988
Uruguay	Tabaré Vázquez	President	1993
	Washington Beltrán	President	1976
	Julio María Sanguinetti	President	1984
	Luis Alberto Lacalle	President	1968
Venezuela	Rafael Caldera	President	1962
	Luis Herrera Campins	President	1967

Agencies involved

The IVLP functions through a cooperative agreement with several National Program Agencies and Global Ties U.S., comprising organizations in 45 states, that arrange the itineraries for IVLP exchange participants.[6]

• CRDF Global
• Cultural Vistas
• FHI360
• Institute of International Education
• Meridian International Center
• Mississippi Consortium for International Development
• American Councils for International Education
• World Learning

References

1. "IVLP Fact Sheet, U.S. Department of State" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-25. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
2. "Program History - International Visitor Leadership Program". Retrieved 2013-09-24.
3. "How do you spot a future world leader?, Jon Kelly, BBC News Magazine". Retrieved 2013-09-24.
4. "International Visitor Leadership Program". Retrieved 2013-09-24.
5. "Vladimiro Montesinos - The Declassified Record". George Washington University. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
6. "Implementing Partnerships". Retrieved 2013-09-24.

External links

• IVLP Overview
• Global Ties U.S.