Over the years, Meridian and its team of exchange program specialists have played a vital role in international exchanges. During the mid-1960s, programs were arranged for leaders of newly independent African countries, a sensitive task at a time when the U.S. was in the midst of desegregation. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, Meridian was at the forefront of efforts to develop special programs for visitors from the Newly Independent States. Initially, these exchanges, funded under the Freedom Support Act of 1993, were designed and arranged exclusively by Meridian.
Meridian’s experience, flexibility and expertise have made it the flagship among the non-profit organizations in Washington that partner with the State Department on the IVLP. Meridian continues to adapt quickly and effectively to major shifts in public diplomacy priorities, such as the increased emphasis on exchanges with the Middle East and South and Central Asia. After 9/11, Meridian was asked to organize some of the first exchanges for visitors from Afghanistan and Iraq, and has continued to handle the State Department’s most sensitive programs from these and other regions. Most recently, Meridian successfully carried out the newest special projects to emerge, such as the Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists, an initiative on breast cancer awareness, a large multi-regional project on volunteerism and another one which commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps.
In the course of more than six decades of experience, Meridian (and its predecessor organizations) has arranged programs for more than 100 former and current heads of state, as well as leaders from many other fields, as well. Among others, they include German Chancellors Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt, Tanzania's President Julius K. Nyerere, British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, French Presidents Giscard D'Estaing and Nicolas Sarkozy, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and South African President Frederick W. de Klerk.
Please Click here for a closer look at some of the distinguished international visitors whose programs have been designed by Meridian over the years.
