Letter from Gianni Letta

English Translation:

The Under Secretary of State
Office of the Prime Minister
UCD/1246
Rome, November 17, 2009

Dear President,

I have kept following with great attention the situation of the Advanced Placement Program (APP), which I believe is a crucial program to promote Italian language and culture in the United States.

Our Ambassador in the US has indicated that the annual amount of 700,000 Euros (about a million dollars) would be necessary to restart the program. As you know, the current phase of the financial crisis calls for a strict fiscal discipline and makes funds not so easily available in the framework of the new budget.

Besides the well-known budget difficulties, I should note that the request of an integral financing of the program by the Italian Government does not comply with the original “spirit” of the 2003 agreement, when the funds to start the APP program were equally divided between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and three principal Italian American organizations (NIAF, OSIA, UNICO).

I believe that the principal associations who represent the Italian cultural and ethnical heritage in the US have to continue, together with the Italian Government, to guarantee support to the Program, co-funding it. Only a coordinated operation of matching funds, in fact, can allow the APP to survive now that the global economy is showing signs of recovery.

Therefore, I deem it appropriate that, according to the original “spirit” of the 2003 agreement, the Italian Government provides 50% of the requiredy funding, demonstrating its political and financial commitment to the APP, with a contribution of $500,000 per year. The presence of the Italian Government in the APP should now trigger the matching funds operation, from American organizations and private citizens.

A heartfelt thank you and warm regards,

[signed]

Gianni Letta

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Mr. Louis Tallarini
President, Columbus Citizens Foundation
Member of the Executive Committee of the
Italian Language Foundation
New York, United States

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