US Embassy launches ‘Inside the Embassy’ Online

The US Embassy said yesterday it has launched the first instalment of its new interactive program ‘Inside the Embassy’ to engage with the people of Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Every month the US will allow visitors to its Facebook page access to a different section of the US Mission and in January US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives Patricia Butenis fielded questions submitted online.

Ambassador Butenis answered five questions on the Voice of America, Embassy outreach, English training and higher education, democratic values and entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka.

Responding to a question on education the Ambassador explained, “This year, the Embassy and the Ministry launched a program to provide 10,000 free licenses for university students to use Englishtown, the world’s largest online English language learning program. We also bring in English language teachers at universities to help with teacher training and curriculum development.”  

Answering a question on Egypt, the Ambassador also shared American democratic principles, stating, “Democracy is not just about elections – it is also about basic rights to freedom of expression, association, religion and assembly. It’s not whether a particular party wins or loses; our concern is whether democracy is strengthened or weakened.”

The initiative started with a video message from Ambassador Butenis on 9 December 2011, welcoming users on the US Embassy’s Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/usembassycolombosl) to submit questions on its wall, to its twitter handle @USEmbSL or using twitter hash tag #AskUSEmbSL.  Visitors will get the chance to ask any question they have about other sections of the Embassy each month, and in January the consular section will take questions on visas and american citizen services.

The transcript of the Ambassador’s response is available in English, Sinhala and Tamil on the Embassy website: http://srilanka.usembassy.gov/