Inaugural Event of the Maghreb Center Speaker Series at Georgetown University and Ramadan Iftar

His Excellency Nejib Hachana, Tunisian Ambassador to the U.S. on 210 years of Tunisian-American relations

Inaugural Event of the Maghreb Center Speaker Series at Georgetown University and Ramadan Iftar. Second photo from top: the document being presented to the Ambassador is a copy from the National Archives of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States and Tunisia signed in Tunis in 1797. In the right of the photo is the minaret of the Kairouan mosque built in the late 700s and the oldest minaret in the world still standing.

This special inaugural lecture and Ramadan iftar with traditional holiday foods will take place close to sundown on September 19, 2007. We are honored that His Excellency Nejib Hachana will give a presentation on the evolution of U.S.-Tunisian assistance and cooperation from its apogee or “Golden Age” in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s to the period of relative “developmental” disengagement symbolized by the departure of USAID and Peace Corps in the 1990’s and continuing into the new century. He will invite discussion on what this evolution has meant to Tunisians and Americans and what innovations could be introduced into future relations.

The inaugural Iftar will include a cultural program and will coincide with the 210th anniversary of U.S.-Tunisian relations, which we will commemorate with a look back at the Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed in Tunis on August 27, 1797 and at other “Barbary States” treaties promulgated after Washington’s famous Farewell Address. We hope to see you at this unique, historic event.

This lecture series is made possible with the generous support of the Moroccan American Cultural Center.