The American University of Iraq-Baghdad (AUIB) was honored to receive Ambassador Steven H. Fagin, Chargé d’Affaires at the United States’ Embassy in Baghdad, who addressed a host of AUIB students who gathered at the university’s American Space auditorium. Ambassador Fagin announced that he and AUIB President, Dr. Bradley J. Cook, signed a Memorandum of Understanding where “both institutions recommitted to their American Space program partnership,” securing additional resources and programming to the latter for another year.
Ambassador Fagin engaged the students in a lively discussion, answering their questions on current affairs, drawing from his wide experience in the region, as he had recently served as his country’s Ambassador to Yemen, and prior to that as Deputy Chief of Mission in Baghdad, Consul General in Erbil, and Director of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Iranian Affairs.
“The United States believes in Iraq’s young people,” and the American Spaces program of the U.S. Department of State “brings the U.S. to you,” said Ambassador Fagin, presenting his country as “a premier partner” in business, education, and innovation. He spoke of the program’s objective “to share the United States’ entrepreneurial spirit with the world,” but also “to connect future leaders with the U.S.”. The visiting diplomat touched on the policy goals shared by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al‑Zaidi during the latter’s recent Washington visit, “to build a sovereign, secure, and prosperous Iraq,” maintaining that AUIB’s American Space contributes to the realization of these goals through education and fostering entrepreneurship, envisioning the university’s graduates working at the various U.S. businesses that are operating or soon to operate in Iraq.
Ambassador Fagin commended the remarkable work done by AUIB’s American Space during the period of celebrations of the United States’ 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, highlighting the event organized on Constitution Day. He also commended the partnership between AUIB and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on The Rafidain Scholarship Program which covers the entirety of tuition fees, aiming “to nurture the talent, ambition, and potential of Iraq’s next generation of leaders.”
