Ambassador Godec makes his farewell speech at a fabulous 4th of July Party
Tunis - July 4, 2009. “As we leave, our hearts and our hopes are with you. We will never forget you. And we will continue to do all we can to build bridges between our countries.” With this great and moving statement, Ambassador Robert F. Godec closed his farewell speech to a distinguished audience attending the 4th of July reception held at the U.S. Embassy in Tunis.
More than 1200 Tunisians, American citizens and foreign diplomats accredited to Tunisia joined Ambassador Godec and the embassy staff to celebrate the 233rd birthday of the United States of America held in the gorgeous US. Embassy’s garden. Ambassador’s Godec took the opportunity to say goodbye to the many Tunisian friends he has known and worked with over his three-year mandate as U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia. The Tunisian Government was represented by State Minister Abdelaziz Ben Dhia and Minister of Transport Abderrahim Zouari as well as by Minister Hadj Glai, Minister Basti and Minister Mamoghli. The Speaker of the Hous Foued Mbazzah and the Chair of the Tunisian American Caucus Tijani Haddad, accompanied by all members of the Caucus also responded to Ambassador Godec's invitation. The guests of honor this year were members of a U.S. Congressional Delegation chaired by Representative Adam Schiff (California), and including Representatives Stearns (Florida), Oritz (Texas), Green (Texas) and Manzullo (Illinois).
The event started by a presentation of flags carried out by the U.S. Marines Detachment followed by the splendid singing of the national anthems performed by Zine Haddad, a renowned Tunisian singer, and U.S. diplomat, Nora Dempsey, and Andrea Saddam. A US military band, the Navigators, entertained the audience with Jazz throughout the rest of the evening.
In his speech, Ambassador Godec reminded the embassy’s guests about the close and excellent ties linking Tunisia with the United States of America spanning over two hundred years. He stressed the importance of reinforcing common values in order to take up “challenges we face together including extremism, the menace of a pandemic, the challenge of an economic crisis, or the threat of global warming.” Ambassador Godec added that “President Obama made clear the American commitment to work with Arab and Islamic countries on common challenges” and that we will “succeed, if we embrace our common humanity, work together and share our progress.”
Both Ambassador Godec’s speech and the event were well received by Tunisian and non Tunisian guests, as one Academic said: “the 4th of July party represents a unique opportunity to meet with people from all walks of life that you can hardly see elsewhere”. A Tunisian famous editorialist added “This year’s party is very special, as we got to wish farewell to a truly well appreciated Ambassador, who has done much to bring our countries closer together.”
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