Departments and Offices
Cultural Affairs Section
The Cultural Affairs Office manages a broad range of activities promoting professional, academic, and cultural relations between the people of Pakistan and the United States, and it represents the American Embassy vis-a-vis the Government of Pakistan in official business related to education and culture. The office is led by the Cultural Affairs Officer, sometimes called the Cultural Attache. The office provides funding for and administrative support to the bi-national Fulbright Commission, established in 1950 as the U.S. Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP). As of 2006, the U.S.-Pakistani Student Fulbright Program is, in terms of funding, the largest worldwide.
Like the cultural missions of other countries, the Cultural Office also sponsors activities in traditional areas, such as the performing and visual arts and literature, although with increasing reliance on private sector support.
Beyond the arts, the Cultural Affairs Office supports a wide range of professional exchange and speaker programs through which Pakistanis and Americans can exchange ideas and experiences on a diverse range of issues, ranging from economics and trade to political and international security, from environmental protection and AIDS prevention to democracy and human rights. The American speakers who come to Pakistan include government officials, scholars, journalists, business and labor leaders, among others; they offer lectures, seminars and workshops both on the premises of the U.S. Embassy and at cooperating institutions around Pakistan. A number of the Cultural Affairs programs send Pakistanis to the United States. This International Visitor Program invites current and potential foreign leaders to the United States to engage in a short but intensive round of professional meetings and consultations with their American counterparts. Such Pak-American dialogue may also take place via live, interactive exchanges on the DVC or via other electronic programs at the U.S. Embassy.