Secretary of State John Kerry will deliver remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony for the United States Diplomacy Center (USDC) at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, September 3, in the Harry S Truman Building’s George Marshall Conference Center.

Former Secretaries of State Henry A. Kissinger, James A. Baker III, Madeleine K. Albright, Colin L. Powell, and Hillary Rodham Clinton will join him in making brief remarks. A symbolic groundbreaking for the new USDC Pavilion will follow the speaking portion of the program and will take place at the construction site.

The USDC (http://diplomacy.state.gov), a state-of-the-art museum and education center, will dedicate 40,000 square feet to bringing the story of American diplomacy to life.

The Center will invite visitors to explore the impact of diplomacy through interactive exhibits, compelling artifacts, hands-on education programs, diplomatic simulations, and the expertise of foreign affairs specialists. Education will be at the core of the Center’s work, drawing on the experiences of our diplomats through case studies and as the basis for interactive simulations.

The remarks are open to the press.

Pre-set time for video cameras: 11:00 a.m. from the 21^st Street Entrance.
Final access time for journalists and still photographers: 11:30 a.m. from the 21^st Street Entrance.

The remarks will be streamed live on 2009-2017.state.gov. Follow @StateDept, @StateDeptLive, @JohnKerry, @DiplomacyCenter for tweets from the event using the hashtag #USDC. For further information on the U.S. Diplomacy Center, please click here.

Media representatives may attend this event upon presentation of one of the following: (1) A U.S. Government-issued identification card (Department of State, White House, Congress, Department of Defense or Foreign Press Center), (2) a media-issued photo identification card, or (3) a letter from their employer on letterhead verifying their employment as a journalist, accompanied by an official photo identification card (driver's license, passport).

For further information from the Department of State, please contact the Office of Press Relations at (202) 647-2492.