Press Releases 2009

TIMOTHY ROEMER’S FIRST VISIT TO KOLKATA
U.S. AMBASSADOR TO MEET WITH CHIEF MINISTER, OTHERS, OCTOBER 13-14

October 8, 2009

Kolkata – Mr. Timothy J. Roemer, U.S. Ambassador to India, will be in Kolkata for a two-day visit beginning October 13.  This will be Mr. Roemer’s first visit to the city after he assumed charge in August as the 21st U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of India.  During his stay, the Ambassador will meet West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM).  He will address a press conference at the American Center on October 14 before he returns to New Delhi.  

Ambassador Roemer will visit the ancestral home of Rabindranath Tagore at Jorasanko.  He will meet with the Chief Minister in Writers’ Building in the afternoon.  On October 14, Ambassador Roemer will visit Mother House, the final resting place of Mother Teresa.  Afterwards, he will visit Shishu Bhavan, where children and other needy people receive a daily meal that is funded in part through the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) food aid program.  At the Great Hall WSA English Medium School in Kidderpore the Ambassador will distribute certificates for the English Language Microscholarship Program to 100 students.  Ambassador Roemer’s visit will conclude with a press conference.

Timothy J. Roemer was nominated by President Barack Obama as the U.S. Ambassador to India on May 27, 2009.  Prior to his nomination, he was the President of the Center for National Policy (CNP) in Washington, D.C., a moderate think-tank dedicated to sparking bipartisan dialogue and actively encouraging solutions to America’s most important national security challenges.
 
From 1991 to 2003 Mr. Roemer represented the 3rd District of Indiana for six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.  He was also a member of the 9/11 Commission, as well as the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Proliferation and Terrorism.
 
Ambassador Roemer holds a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego, and a M.A. and PhD. in American Government from the University of Notre Dame.  He and his wife Sally have four children.  His interests include basketball, coaching his children in sports, reading history and biographies, and collecting first-edition books.