The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) is administered by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs and is their signature professional exchange program. The pupose of IVLP is to build a bridge of mutual understanding between nations that supports the foreign policy goals of the United states and that reflects the professional interest’s of the participants. Participants in the program are either established or potential opinion makers in their country of origin. The International Visitors are selected by American Embassies overseas who travel to the U.S. to meet their American counterparts and to acquaint themselves with the socio-political, ethnic, cultural and economic diversity of this country. Former IVLP alumni include President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the U.K. and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.