November 1, 2007

Ambassador Goldberg Inaugurates U.S. Virtual Presence Post in Cochabamba

Today, U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia Philip Goldberg inaugurated the Virtual Presence Post website in Cochabamba.

U.S. Ambassador Goldberg gives remarks at the official launch o the U.S. Virtual Presence Post in Cochabamba. Photo U.S. Embassy

Virtual Presence Posts are a new outreach method of U.S. diplomacy designed to bring together all the information about the official activities of the United States in a particular city, allowing the Embassy to strengthen the connections with important cities outside of the capital. This new website is exclusively dedicated to Cochabamba.

Virtual Presence Posts combine a website with a City Team.   During the launching ceremony, Ambassador Goldberg introduced the members of the Cochabamba City Team, which includes Mission employees who work to serve the people of Cochabamba and to implement U.S. cooperation programs in that department, such as Consular Agent Bill Scarborough and Peace Corps Director Javier Garza. He also introduced other U.S. Embassy officers who are based in La Paz but travel frequently to Cochabamba.

“These individuals, and many other employees of our Mission, implement outstanding programs in Cochabamba, programs that make a difference in the lives of Cochabambinos,” said Ambassador Goldberg.

The Cochabamba VPP City Team poses for a photo on the day of the launch (from left to right):  NAS officer Reginald Tillery, USAID officer Leslie Marbury, Cochabamba Consular Agent William Scarborough, US Ambassador Philip Goldberg, Peace Corps Director Javier Garza, Webmaster Juan Carlos Lopez, and VPP Principal Officer Tovan McDaniel.

Among the programs the U.S. Ambassador highlighted are those of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which help promote health, education, economic development, and environmental projects in the Department of Cochabamba; the Narcotics Affairs Section’s programs, that operates in coordination with the Government of Bolivia to promote a drug-free  Bolivian society; the educational exchange programs of the Embassy’s Public Affairs Section, as well as its book donations to municipal libraries and the grants the Section provides to the Centro Boliviano Americano so that deserving students receive scholarships to study English; and the programs conducted by the Peace Corps’ volunteers, who work with the government and private volunteer organizations on projects in agriculture, natural resource management, integrated education, micro-enterprise and small business development, community tourism development, and water and sanitation projects.

The new website can be visited at: http://cochabamba.usvpp.gov

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