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October 29, 2008

Ambassador Teresita Schaffer To Lecture on India and the United States, Nov. 13

The relationship between the United States and India and its likely evolution in the next decade is the topic of a lecture at the Library of Congress by Ambassador Teresita Schaffer, holder of the Henry Alfred Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the John W. Kluge Center.

Schaffer will present "India and the United States – Reinventing Partnership" at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, in Room 119 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Library’s Kluge Center, the lecture is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are needed.

Schaffer will discuss whether the relationship between the United States and India is a "natural alliance" or a marriage of convenience. She will examine whether these two giant democracies can adapt an international partnership to fit their interests, ideals and different foreign policy styles.

Since 1998, following a 30-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, Schaffer has been director of the South Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She has devoted most of her career to issues concerning international economics and South Asia.

From 1989 to 1992, she served as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia, the senior South Asia position in the department at that time; from 1992 to 1995, she was the U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka; and from 1995 to 1997, she served as director of the Foreign Service Institute. Her earlier posts included Tel Aviv, Islamabad, New Delhi, and Dhaka, as well as a tour as director of the Office of International Trade in the State Department. She spent a year as a consultant on business issues relating to South Asia, after retiring from the Foreign Service.

Her many publications include: "Kashmir: The Economics of Peace Building" (2005); "Pakistan’s Future and U.S. Policy Options" (2004); "Kashmir: Fifty Years of Running in Place" in the book "Grasping the Nettle" (2005); "Rising India and U.S. Policy Options in Asia" (2002); and reports on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India.

The Kissinger Chair was created through the generosity of friends of former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, to honor him and to emphasize the importance of foreign affairs. The Kissinger Chair offers outstanding thinkers and practitioners a unique opportunity to pursue advanced research in the largest and most international collection of library materials in the world. Previous chair holders include Aaron Friedberg, Klaus Larres, Lanxin Xiang, Melvyn Leffler, James Goldgeier, Charles Kupchan, and William R. Smyser.

Through a generous endowment from John W. Kluge, the Library of Congress established the Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the world's best thinkers to stimulate and energize one another to distill wisdom from the Library's rich resources and to interact with policymakers in Washington. For more information about the Kluge Center, visit www.loc.gov/kluge/.

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PR 08-201
10/29/08
ISSN 0731-3527

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