02 April 1998
UNIVERSITY WORKSHOP EXPLORES OPPORTUNITIES FOR U.S.-IRAN EXCHANGES
(Columbia program offers exchanges for individuals, organizations) (1300) By Judy Aita USIA Staff Writer New York -- Over one hundred representatives of private agencies, research institutes, American universities, and private industry held a day-long conference April 1 on "working in -- and with -- Iran" at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. The conference was designed to follow up on Iranian President Mohammaed Khatami's call for increased exchanges of scholars, writers, artists and journalists in the United States and Iran, even though Iran continues to refuse to have government-to-government talks with the United States. It was organized by Dr. Gary Sick, a senior research scholar at the university, who was the principal White House aide for Iran during the Iranian Revolution and the taking of American hostages at the U.S. embassy in Teheran in 1979. After the Iranian revolution, most academic institutions, foundations, and non-governmental organizations either terminated or greatly reduced their work with Iraq, Sick said. "Interest in resuming such activities has been growing in recent years, particularly since January when President Khatami called for the exchange of professors writers, scholars, artists, journalists and tourists with the U.S. Khatami's action received a more positive response from the U.S. Government. That was "unthinkable a short time ago," he said. U.S. State Department official Chris Stevens said "it is U.S. policy to encourage people-to-people exchanges with Iranians" and welcomed the recent statement. He noted that American wrestlers, scholars, and even former U.S. policy makers have been well received in Iran recently. The State Department has seen an increase in requests for visas for Iranian visitors sponsored by American organizations and is encouraging and trying to facilitate those requests, Stevens said. As the conference was going on, the State Department was issuing a new travel warning on Iran for Americans. The new warning urges Americans to defer travel to Iran rather than warning against travel. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in Washington April 1 that "we continue to be intrigued by the kind of things President Khatami is doing. I think we need to keep looking very carefully at the signals and signs that are developing and hope to be following up in terms of some of the people-to-people issues." Recently U.S. State Department Spokesman James Rubin said the United States will review Iranian visa applications on a case-by-case basis as expeditiously as possible. For example, Rubin pointed out that the U.S. allowed President Khatami's women's affairs adviser to travel to the U.S. for talks with a U.S. research institution and gave permission to Iranian Ambassador to the U.N. to travel to Los Angeles to give a speech to a private group. Iranian officials accredited to U.N. headquarters in New York are limited to travel within a 25-mile radius of the U.N. The conference, Sick said, was intended to highlight the opportunities for private contacts, the variety of possibilities for exchanges and how to go about such exchanges, especially by networking among groups. Sick is also the author and executive director of "Gulf/2000," an international research project on political, economic and security developments in the Persian Gulf being conducted at the university with support from several foundations. Participants did not discuss the political aspects of the U.S.-Iran relationship, concentrating instead on building and expanding links with nongovernmental issues, universities, medical facilities, health agencies, relief agencies, and tourism. Unofficial contacts between Americans and Iranians have greatly increased in the past few years, conference participants said. Most, including non-Muslim religious organizations, reported friendly and warm receptions from their Iranian counterparts. John Marks, president of Search for Common Ground, which recently worked with USA Wrestling to have a U.S. team participate in an international event in Teheran, said there now seems to be "a significant opening for better U.S.-Iranian relations." Both high visibility and less public non-governmental contacts (often referred to as "Track II" exchanges) "could make a major contribution to helping drain the poison from the relationship and moving the two countries toward eventual reconciliation," Marks said. The Washington-based organization hopes to work with other NGOs to expand political, economic, cultural and sporting exchanges involving distinguished and prominent Iranians, Americans, and Europeans who have diverse views and professional backgrounds. For example, Marks proposed wrestling exhibitions, environmental exchanges, and contacts on medical issues concerning children. The wrestling visit, which took place February 17 to 20, was the first U.S. sporting or cultural presence in Iran since the hostage crisis and it received wide attention in both countries. It was followed a week later by a conference sponsored by Iran's Foreign Ministry research institute. Several American security specialists from research and academic institutions attended. Ambassador Roscoe Suddarth, president of the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., attended that conference and said that "even though Iran and the United States are not talking officially, the Iranians are certainly talking frankly to people when we go out to these conferences." During his recent visit, his first in more than 20 years, Suddarth said he "found firm and full dialogue on all of the major issues that concern the United States with authoritative levels in the Foreign Ministry and elsewhere about terrorism, about weapons of mass destruction, and the peace process." "So we're finding it a very interesting time to be doing analysis and dialoguing with Iran," he said. With no official contacts between Washington and Teheran, "the burden of trying to analyze and have contact falls heavily on NGOs and those of us who are in the policy analysis business." Suddarth added that his institute has been the "victim of the Khatami phenomena: The pace and interest in Iraq has picked up and it has been very, very stimulating." The Middle East Institute is "engaged in a very intensive effort this year to emphasize Iran," he said. The institute is hoping to have high ranking Iranians participate in its annual conference in October and is planning, in cooperation with Georgetown University, a twentieth anniversary assessment of the Iranian revolution in February 1999, and is looking forward to cooperation from Iran as well. Dr. Mahmood Sariolghalam of Teheran, who is a visiting professor at Ohio State University, outlined the academic situation in Iran. He said that studying in the United States "remains the number one priority for masters students" in Iran but because of the vast difficulties involved in traveling to the United States, most have turned to universities in Australia, Canada, and Great Britain. "Do not underestimate the power of exposure (to U.S. universities) for students," Sariolghalam said. Stanley Weiss, chairman of the Business Executives for National Security and the former head of a mining company, said that during his recent visit to Iran he, too, found "enormous warmth" for Americans and "everybody was talking about dialogue. Although U.S. laws still prohibit Americans from conducting business with Iran, Weiss said he looks forward to the day when trade can resume. Others who spoke during the conference were: Lisa Anderson, Dean of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs; Baquer Namazi of the Cairo-based Population Council; Dr. Afsaneh Najmabadi of Barnard College; Seyed Kazem Sajjadpour of the Iranian Mission to the U.N.; Dr. Homayoun Kazemmi of Harvard Medical School; Dr. Jane Schaller, professor of pediatrics at Tufts Fletcher School of diplomacy; John Esposito, director of the Georgetown University Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding; Dr. Ron Mathies, executive director of the Mennonite Central Committee; Maria Dakake, of Princeton University; David Hoffman of Internews; and Ruth Kennison of Distant Horizons.
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