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Basque President and Delegation Visit the United States President José Antonio Ardanza Garro, Lehendakari of the Government of the Basque Autonomous Community (Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa and Alava), paid a historic visit to the United States between March 15 and March 23. The presidential party, which consisted of 22 persons (counting security personnel and members of the European press corps) included President and Mrs. Ardanza (Gloria Urtiaga Unda); Joseba Arregui, Minister of Culture; Juan Ignacio Intxaurraga, Director of Protocol and Foreign Affairs; José Luis Zubizarreta, Deputy Chief of Staff and Joseba Intxaurraga, Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Culture. The visit began in Boise, Idaho where the Basque delegation was received by Governor Cecil D. Andrus and Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa. President Ardanza gave an address to both houses of the Idaho legislature. The delegation met with several leaders in the Boise business community to explore possible bilateral economic cooperation. There were a series of official welcoming ceremonies at the Idaho State Capitol, Boise State University and the Boise Basque Center. Other events included a visit to the Basque section of the Morris Hill Cemetary, the laying of a wreath on the grave of U.S. Senator Frank Church, longtime friend of Idaho Basques, and the planting of a sapling of the Tree of Guernica at the new Boise Basque Museum. On March 19, the presidential party flew to Carson City, Nevada where it toured the Nevada State Capitol and met with Secretary of State Frankie Sue Del Papa and other officials. President Ardanza and Governor Richard H. Bryan signed an agreement pledging the peoples of Euskadi and Nevada to deepen their mutual understanding and cultural ties. After a private lunch hosted by UNR regent Jo Ann Sheerin, the presidential party traveled to Reno where it toured the Basque Studies Program of the University of Nevada. In a private ceremony, Minister of Culture Joseba Arregui and Mark H. Dawson, Chancellor of the University of Nevada System, signed an agreement committing the University of Nevada and institutions in the Basque Country to closer collaboration in the future. They then signed a separate agreement under which the Basque Government is to provide to the Basque Studies Program an annual visiting professorship that will enable a scholar from a Basque institution to spend the academic year in residence with the Basque Studies Program. The Basque Government will provide to the Basque Studies Library collection at UNR copies of all publications and videos produced by its several agencies. Scholarships will be provided to permit two Basque students to study at UNR annually and two students of Basque-American descent to study at institutions in the Basque Country. Finally, the Basque Government will facilitate publication of the Basque-English dictionary and a Basque grammar currently under contract with the Basque Book Series of the University of Nevada Press. The subsidy will total $20,000. In announcing the agreements at a public ceremony following the signing, President Ardanza noted that the Basque Government has a special affinity for the Basque Studies Program due to the fact that twenty years ago one American institution became committed to Basque Studies while it was impossible to pursue them in the Basque Country itself due to the repression of the Franco dictatorship. President Ardanza was made an honorary citizen of Reno by Mayor Peter Sferrazza and was given the University's presidential medal by Chancellor Dawson. There was then a ceremony inaugurating the National Monument to the Basque Sheepherder to be constructed at Rancho San Rafael Park in the Reno area. Sculptor Nestor Basterrechea was presented with the prize for having submitted the winning design. Robert Laxalt presented a model of the monument to President Ardanza. On behalf of the Basque Government, President Ardanza presented the monument committee with a $10,000 donation to inaugurate the fundraising effort. He then gave an address in Basque urging support for the project. That evening the presidential party was invited to a dinner hosted by the Zazpiak Bat Reno Basque Club. The next day the Basque delegation flew to San Francisco where President Ardanza addressed the assembled delegates of the annual meeting of NABO (North American Basque Organizations, Inc.). There followed a visit with San Francisco mayor Art Agnos and a public reception at the San Francisco Basque Center. March 20 the presidential party flew to Washington, D.C. On Monday President Ardanza spent half the day in meetings at the U.S. Department of State, arranged by William Boddie, Assistant Secretary of State for Western European Affairs. Mr. Boddie also hosted a lunch at which President Ardanza met the new American Consul General for Bilbao. That evening former U.S. Senator Paul Laxalt hosted a reception for the presidential party that was attended by senior members of the White House staff, the English and Spanish ambassadors, fifteen members of the U.S. Congress and other Washington dignitaries. March 22 President Ardanza met with President Reagan in the Oval Office. President Reagan spoke of his admiration for the Basques of the American West. President Ardanza presented him with a makhila on behalf of the Basque people. President Ardanza's party then met with the Idaho congressional delegation at a meeting hosted by Senator James McClure. They also met with Nevada Senator Chic Hecht and Congressman Bilbray. The day's activities included additional meetings with Senator Claiborne Pell (Rhode Island), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Dr. Blitz, the Associate Director of the United States Information Agency; and William Verity, Secretary of Commerce and staff of that department's International Trade Administration. Before departing for Europe the following day, President Ardanza held a press conference at the National Press Club. The Spanish ambassador hosted a lunch for the party at the Spanish embassy. President Ardanza and his staff were wonderful representatives and ambassadors of Euskadi in the United States. Special credit is due the many persons who worked for weeks in advance to make the visit a success. These include Martin Minaberry of San Francisco and Carmelo Urza of Reno, each charged with local arrangements in his area. Worthy of particular mention are the efforts of Roy Eiguren, who directed local arrangements in the Boise area while serving as national chairman of the host committee. Zorionak denari! |
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