Today, Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia Aigars Kalvitis, met with 11 Latvian scholars, students and teachers who have received the United States Fulbright scholarship, young people who have received financial support through the United States Achievers Program for Bachelor's studies in the US, as well as representatives of the United States Embassy in Latvia.
The Prime Minister congratulated the scholarship recipients on the opportunity to go to the US to study, conduct research and teach at schools. Aigars Kalvitis said these feelings were familiar to him, because in 1995 he himself also won an opportunity to go to study at the University of Wisconsin with the financial support of an exchange program.
The Prime Minister expressed his great satisfaction and joy with the Latvian scholarship recipients, because a year ago, when US President George Bush visited Latvia, his main topic of conversation was ensuring wider opportunities for people from Latvia to study at US universities.
Aigars Kalvitis wished the scholarship recipients to achieve their goals, learn to know the US, which is a beautiful and very welcoming country, and afterwards return to Latvia and use the knowledge gained in the US.
"You are going there to learn and improve, and also to return to Latvia afterwards," Kalvitis said, adding it would be sad if these people remained in America and were lost to Latvia.
The Fulbright awards cover all expenses during the fellow's stay in the United States, as well as round-trip airfare to and from Riga. Students normally study for one or two years, while senior educators travel for either one or two semesters to conduct research or teach at universities in the United States. Teachers go to the United States to teach their subject in an American school for one academic year.