HARTFORD – State Senator Andrew Roraback (R-Goshen), Deputy Minority Leader Pro Tempore and Minority Caucus Chairman of the Connecticut State Senate, returned Sunday from a seven-day leadership seminar in the Middle-East hosted by the Aspen-Rodel Fellowships in Public Leadership Program.

Senator Roraback was in Cairo, Egypt from February 24 through February 26, and Amman, Jordan on February 27. He then traveled to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ramallah from February 28 through March 1.

Senator Roraback met with government officials, journalists, business leaders and diplomats, and toured several cultural and historical sites in the region, including the Pyramids at Giza and the Old City Tunnel. While in Amman, Senator Roraback met with Queen Rania Al-Abdullah and refugees who have fled Iraq and are now living in Jordan. (Attached, please find Senator Roraback’s complete itinerary.)

“I am grateful to be a part of this Fellowship, which is committed to overcoming political and cultural differences to find solutions to the global policy challenges we all share,” said Senator Roraback. “There is no substitute for first-hand experience. I hope this seminar has instilled in each of us a better understanding of the problems facing this sensitive part of our world.”

In 2006, Senator Roraback was one of 24 public officials (12 Republicans and 12 Democrats) from across the United States selected for the Aspen-Rodel Fellowship following an eight-month search involving input from more than 1,400 business, political, and civic leaders. (Attached, please find a list of the 20 Fellows attending the Seminar in Egypt, Israel and Jordan.)

The selection process involved looking for young officials who had not only earned reputations for thoughtfulness and intelligence, but who had also been recognized for their commitment to putting the nation's interest ahead of partisan considerations and their ability to remain focused on the ideals that had led them into public service in the first place.

The Fellowship is funded entirely by the Rodel Charitable Foundation. For additional information concerning the Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellowships in Public Leadership, please contact the program’s assistant director, Ms. Gia Regan, at 202-736-2525 or at gia.regan@aspeninstitute.org. More information on Rodel Fellows and the program can be found at www.aspeninstitute.org/rodel.

The Aspen Institute, founded in 1950, is an international nonprofit dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue. Through seminars, policy programs, conferences and leadership development initiatives, the Institute and its international partners seek to promote nonpartisan inquiry and an appreciation for timeless values. The Institute is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Its international network includes partner Aspen Institutes in Berlin, Rome, Lyon, Tokyo, and New Delhi, and leadership programs in Africa and Central America.

Seminar in the Middle East ¨ February 23–March 2, 2008

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE AND AGENDA

Saturday, February 23: New York

• 11:50 pm Depart New York
• 5:10 pm Arrive Tel Aviv

Sunday, February 24: Cairo, Egypt

• 7:45 pm Depart Tel Aviv for Cairo, Egypt
• 9:20 pm Arrive Cairo, Egypt

Monday, February 25: Cairo, Egypt

• 8:00 am Breakfast briefing with Stuart Jones, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy,
Cairo (Grand Hyatt Hotel)
• 10:00 am Meeting with HE Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmad Abul Gheit
• 11:30 am Meeting with HE Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Aboul Naga
• 1:00 pm Lunch Meeting with Dr. Osama Al-Ghazali al Harb, Leader of the
Democratic Front Party
• 3:00 pm Visit the Egyptian National Museum
• 7:15 pm Depart Hotel for Dinner at the home of Stuart Jones, Deputy Chief of
Mission, US Embassy Cairo

Tuesday, February 26: Cairo, Egypt

• 8:00 am Trip to the Pyramids at Giza
• 10:15 am Meeting with Ministry of Defense officials
• 1:00 pm Meeting with Ahmed Kamal Aboulmagd, Vice Chairman, Egyptian
National Council for Human Rights
• 3:00 pm Meeting and late lunch with the Board of the Ibn Khaldun Center,
Home of Mr. Hassan el-Sawaf, New Cairo
• 6:15 pm Meeting with Hisham Qassem, al Masry al-Youm newspaper, Home of
Mr. Hassan el-Sawaf, New Cairo
• 8:00 pm Transfer to the Airport
• 10:00 pm Depart Cairo for Amman, Jordan

Wednesday, February 27: Amman, Jordan

• 8:00am Breakfast
• 9:30 am Meeting w/Iraqi Refugees, United Nations High Commission for Refugees
• 12:30 pm Lunch meeting with Young Arab Leaders
• 2:30 pm Depart Jordan via Allenby Bridge
• 4:30 pm Arrive King David Hotel
• 7:30 pm Dinner at King David Hotel with MK Tzachi Hanegbi, Kadima Party
• 9:00 pm Old City Tunnel Tour with Dr. Dan Bahat, Chief Archaeologist of Jerusalem,
Israel Antiquities Authority

Thursday, February 28: Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel

• 9:30 am Breakfast meeting with Aluf Benn Haaretz Newspaper
• 11:00 am Meeting with Aaron Abramovich, Director-General of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• 1:00 pm Lunch w/Michael Oren Shalem Center
• 4:00 pm Depart for Tel Aviv
• 5:30 pm Meeting with Stanley Fischer, Governor of the Bank of Israel
• 7:30pm Dinner in Tel Aviv with Uzi Arad, former director of Intelligence, Mossad,
and Avishay Braverman, Labor Party

Friday, February 29: Jerusalem and Tel Aviv

• 7:30 am Breakfast
• 10:00 am Visit to a Settlement (tentative)
• 12:30 pm Lunch
• 1:00 pm Briefing with the UN Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs
for the Palestinian Territories
• 3:00 pm Meeting with Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, President of al-Quds University (tentative)
• 8:00 pm Dinner meeting with Steven Erlanger, New York Times Jerusalem
bureau chief, American Colony Hotel (tentative)

Saturday, March 1: Jerusalem and Ramallah

• 8:00 am Breakfast
• 10:00 am Depart Jerusalem for Ramallah, SECURITY PERMITTING
• 11:00 am Meetings with representatives of the Palestinian Authority (TBD)
• 1:00 pm Meetings with Palestinian Negotiating team (tentative)
• 1:00 pm Meetings with representatives of the Fatah faction (tentative)
• 4:00 pm Return to Jerusalem

Sunday, March 2

1:00 am Depart Tel Aviv for New York

ASPEN-RODEL FELLOWSHIPS IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP
SEMINAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST
February 23 – March 2, 2008

Andre Bauer, Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
Laura Brod, Minnesota House of Representatives
Adolfo Carrion, Bronx Borough President
John Chiang, California State Controller
Jeff Cloud, Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner
Eric Garcetti, President of the Los Angeles City Council
Kamala Harris, District Attorney, City and County of San Francisco
Jon Husted, Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives
Dianne Jones, Former Texas Circuit Court Judge
Brian Krolicki, Lieutenant Governor of Nevada
Rob McKenna, Attorney General of Washington State
Sean Parnell, Lieutenant Governor of Alaska
Andrew Roraback, Connecticut State Senate
Deborah Ross, North Carolina House of Representatives
Gregory Stanton, Phoenix (Arizona) City Council
Ron Thornburgh, Kansas Secretary of State

William Budinger, Rodel Foundations
Steven Cook, Council on Foreign Relations
Mickey Edwards, Former U.S. Congressman, Oklahoma
Gia Regan, The Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellowships