Dipnote - U.S. Department of State Official Blog

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Arrives in Berlin

2009-11-08T14:53:58+00:00

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Remarks During Trilateral Meeting With Estonia and Latvia

Secretary Clinton arrived at Tegel airport in Berlin, Germany today to take part in the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. During the course of this trip, Secretary Clinton will continue on to Singapore November 10-12 for meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. While there, she will attend the APEC Ministerial Meetings and will hold bilateral meetings with her counterparts from the region. After the first of two stops to Singapore, the Secretary travels to Manila November 12-13 to hold consultations with senior Filipino officials, highlighting the U.S.-Philippines treaty alliance. The Secretary then returns to Singapore, joining U.S. President Barack Obama for the APEC Leaders Meeting.

Twenty Years After—Part 2: The U.S. and the Berlin Wall

2009-11-08T06:13:56+00:00

About the Author: Dr. Peter Kramer serves as a Historian at the U.S. Department of State.

Part 1: The Rise of the Berlin Wall

The original response of the U.S. government was cool. As you know, President John Kennedy was president at the time. Kennedy’s reaction first was, he said, “…It’s a hell of a lot better to have a wall than a war.” It was fairly clear early on that the United States was not willing to go to war over Berlin. Now, if the Soviets had marched into West Berlin, things might have been different. But simply the construction of a wall was not enough to provoke a U.S. military response.

On the other hand, there was a history that the United States had to live up to. In 1953, there was an East German uprising in the city of Berlin and across Germany that was violently put down by what was called a “fraternal intervention” by the Soviet Union. In 1956, the same thing happened in Hungary. And Chancellor, I’m sorry, Mayor Willy Brandt, who was at the time the mayor of the city of Berlin, was very agitated by the lack of a robust U.S. response to the crisis. And so, one of Kennedy’s first actions -- we don’t talk about it a lot or it’s not well remembered -- but, Kennedy appointed Lucius Clay, who was the former military governor for Berlin from 1945 to 1949. This person essentially administered occupied Germany after World War Two. He appointed Clay as an ambassador and sent him to Berlin with Vice President Johnson as goodwill ambassadors.

And then, what followed is from West Germany, Kennedy ordered the Berlin brigade to be relieved. So, there was a movement of troops across the frontier into East Germany on the autobahn to West Berlin to strengthen the garrison there. And this garrison was relieved, I think, steadily until 1967. So, there was a show of force and an attempt to demonstrate that the western powers had rights of access to West Berlin. That was a very important response.

The response we most often associate though, I think, was the political response that Kennedy made in June of 1963 when he traveled personally to Berlin and he stood at the square in front of the town hall of Berlin. It’s often said that he stood in front of the Berlin wall, but that’s not true. He stood in front of the town hall and made his famous speech in which he declared himself in solidarity with the Germans. He said, “All free people of the world looked to Berlin.” And he said, “As a free person, I take pride in the words ‘ich bin ein Berliner.’” (I am of Berlin. I am one of you.) Which was, certainly must be one of the high points of American political rhetoric of all time.

The fall of the Berlin Wall is one of these things; it’s an interesting meeting point of what one would say high politics and politics from below. In the United States, very often, we associate the fall of the Berlin wall with the trip made by President Reagan to Berlin in June of 1987 when Ronald Reagan gave his famous challenge to Mikhail Gorbachev. He said, “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate and tear down this wall.” He made that statement in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

There are two ways to read that statement. One is, it is a challenge. That is, it is standing up to the dictatorship of communism and challenging them to tear down this wall. But you also have to remember that Ronald Reagan in his second term as President was the negotiator. He was someone who was actively working with Mikhail Gorbachev who wanted to bring openness and reform to the Soviet Union and to the Eastern Bloc. One of his famous statements is “glasnost then perestroika.” Reagan was a negotiator. So, one way to tear down this wall is, come and join us; join the open and free world. And so, there are two ways of reading that.

But nonetheless, Reagan’s part in this is not the only part in this. I mean, one of the greatest parts of this story is that governments were in fact behind the people, as it were, behind the curve of the people, I think, on this whole issue. And, the more and more the Eastern Bloc countries, the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc countries, liberalized, the more and more freedoms people wanted to take. And, even in the summer of 1989… You have to remember that in October of 1989, the East German, the German Democratic Republic, East Germany, was celebrating its fortieth anniversary as an establishment, as a state. And so, it was a time when Gorbachev visited the city. There was, there were a lot of ceremonies surrounding that. It was a very important public propaganda opportunity for the East German regime.

So, in the summer of 1989, no one could have imagined that -- despite all of this growing openness in the Eastern Bloc in 1989 -- no one could have imagined that this was going to lead to the collapse of the Berlin Wall or to the opening of borders. You only have to look at what happened, say for example, in China in the summer of 1989 at Tiananmen Square. There was very much a possibility that a popular uprising, a democratic uprising, could very well be met with force as it was in China and, in fact, the way it was Germany right after Gorbachev left in October of 1989. When he left East Germany, there were uprisings across the East that were met with police as counterforce. So, there was no guarantee that this was going to happen. And what eventually happened with the fall of the wall is that East Germans made a declaration that there would be an ability to travel freely between East and West and the people seized that opportunity. The heroes in this story were not necessarily the politicians but were the people themselves who took this opportunity, I think, to express the strength of their convictions, their confidence in the need for democratic reform.

What Lessons Can We Learn From the Fall of the Berlin Wall?

2009-11-07T00:24:04+00:00

November 9 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Secretary Clinton travels to Berlin to represent the United States at the 20th anniversary commemoration and meet with senior German officials. Prior to her trip, Secretary Clinton said, "For Americans, our relationship with Germany is rooted in our commitment to freedom and democracy."

What lessons can we learn from the fall of the Berlin Wall?

Twenty Years After—Part 1: The Rise of the Berlin Wall

2009-11-08T01:15:34+00:00

About the Author: Dr. Peter Kramer serves as a Historian at the U.S. Department of State

Part 2: The U.S. and the Berlin Wall

To talk about the origins of the Berlin Wall, we have to go back to the end of the Second World War. You’d go back to the Yalta conference which was held between President Roosevelt, Premier Stalin, and Prime Minister Churchill in 1945 where the decision was made to divide Germany. There was not going to be an armistice or cease fire the same way there was at the end of the First World War. So Germany would require unconditional surrender and there would be a period of occupation. And so the decision was made at the Treaty of Potsdam later that year to divide Berlin along the lines of the four major powers, the four major allied powers.

Berlin, as a city, lay 110 miles within the borders of East Germany, or of the Soviet zone. It was not East Germany, but the Soviet Zone. And this created a problem because Berlin was then an isolated center of American, French, and British control within the Soviet sector. And so, as tensions rose between the west and the east, Berlin was always a vulnerable spot, a spot requiring the defense of the west. But it was also a place where East Germans could emigrate freely without much problem.

The borders between the two Germanys closed in 1952, but East Germans could still come to East Berlin and walk across the border into West Berlin and gain freedom that way. And between 1952 -- or throughout the 1950’s -- roughly three million Germans, East Germans, did just that. They voted with their feet against the East German regime, so to speak. And they were primarily young people, primarily intellectuals, technicians, engineers, scientists, people who would be valuable to the East German state. And so the situation grew to a crisis. The East German population actually decreased during the 1950’s because of this outward emigration. And so in 1961, the crisis came to a head and on August 13, 1961, the East German government constructed a wall that bisected the city of Berlin.

The Berlin Wall began in 1961 as a simple razor wire divide and the streets were cut off. There was an effort to impede movement obviously between the two halves of the city. And what’s important to remember is that the Berlin Wall constantly was improved by the East German government. That is, it was made more technologically sophisticated. It was increasingly militarized from 1961 to 1989.

Voices of U.S. Diplomacy and the Berlin Wall

2009-11-06T23:55:40+00:00

About the Author: Priscilla Linn is the Senior Curator at the U.S. Diplomacy Center.

The U.S. Diplomacy Center invites you to view the online exhibition Voices of U.S. Diplomacy and the Berlin Wall. This exhibition commemorates the 20 years since the demise of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.

We invite you to share your memories and reflections here of this important date in history and the events in Germany and former communist states over the past two decades.

If the Wall fell before you were born, we are interested in your thoughts about the Wall as part of 20th century history. What is the value of studying the history of the Wall?

Please also let us know what you think of the online exhibition and the diplomatic oral histories you will read and hear, as this marks the first time they have been used in a museum exhibition.

Coral Triangle Initiative Promotes Conservation and Marine Biodiversity

2009-11-05T23:00:14+00:00

About the Authors: Phillip Loosli serves as Environment, Science, Technology and Health Officer at U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur and Kelly Milton serves in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.

Senior officials from the six nations of the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security adopted the Coral Triangle Initiative regional governance structure at the fourth Senior Officials Meeting held October 20-22 in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Senior officials confirmed how the six CTI countries will collectively conserve and manage the world’s epicenter of marine biodiversity as well as established guidelines for establishing a permanent secretariat. Officials also agreed to issue a joint CTI statement to highlight ocean and coastal concerns to be delivered at the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) this December in Copenhagen. These major outcomes and further discussion regarding the location of the permanent secretariat will be presented for endorsement at the Second Ministerial Meeting to occur in Ghizo, the Solomon Islands, from November 18-19, 2009.

The Coral Triangle Initiative constitutes a collaboration of six nations that inhabit the world’s largest concentration of coral reefs and marine biodiversity, which includes the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, and Papua New Guinea. This 5.7 million square km. area of ocean and islands supports the livelihood for 120 million people and food for many more. The area is threatened by over- and destructive fishing, land- and sea-based pollution, and climate change. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono initiated the Coral Triangle Initiative on the sidelines of the December 2007 Bali UNFCCC climate change talks. The Heads of State from the six Coral Triangle countries formally endorsed the implementation of the CTI Regional Plan of Action at the 2009 CTI Summit in Manado, Indonesia, this past May.

Mozambique: U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Opens New Opportunities

2009-11-05T18:01:48+00:00

About the Author: John Zak is a Grants Program Coordinator at the U.S. Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique.

Mozambique’s landmine problem was once one of the most severe in the world, with a legacy of landmines and explosive remnants of war from decades of conflict. Since 1993, the United States has provided more than $47 million of assistance in Mozambique to safely clear areas of landmines and unexploded ordnance, helping safeguard communities and demonstrating America’s commitment to peace and stability in Mozambique.

Our latest $2 million grant will fund survey and clearance teams from The HALO Trust, a United Kingdom-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) and leading U.S. humanitarian demining partner. These HALO teams ─ staffed largely by local Mozambican demining technicians ─ will survey all villages across six districts of Maputo Province as well as conduct re-survey and clearance of priority minefields in Maputo, Manica and Tete.

In all, tens of thousands of landmines were laid in Mozambique during its 1964-1975 fight for independence and throughout the civil war that followed. All factions used mines to defend provincial and district towns, roads, airstrips, key bridges, power supply infrastructure and military posts. Although the civil war ended in the early 1990s, landmines and unexploded ordnance continue to claim lives and hinder development.

Newly cleared lands mean new opportunities to continue rebuilding Mozambique through economic development and building new communities, farms, and businesses. But landmines are more than a physical threat ─ they are also a powerful symbol of the violence and instability of Mozambique’s past. When we remove landmines, we also help Mozambique remove the vestiges of the past and move toward a new era of peace and stability.

After more than 17 years of foreign assistance funding demining activities, the number of known and suspect hazardous areas has been significantly reduced with help from the U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action program, a joint effort by the Department of State, Department of Defense, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services who work together to reduce risks in nearly 50 post conflict countries around the world.

From Angola, to Afghanistan, to Sri Lanka, U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action has delivered more than $1.3 billion in aid, making the United States the world’s leading contributor to post-conflict efforts to help countries remove these explosive remnants of war. Projects funded under the U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action program include:

• Mine clearance projects by 63 partner organizations such as The HALO Trust;
• Mine-risk education to help area residents avoid injury by identifying potential hazards;
• Research and development into new demining technologies;
• Training local demining technicians in affected countries; and
• Supporting rehabilitation programs serving those injured by landmines and unexploded munitions.

U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action has contributed to significant reductions in casualties from mines and explosive remnants of war, and is one of many ways the United States is demonstrating its commitment to peace and stability in Mozambique and the wider region.

We look forward to a time when all Mozambicans are free to walk on their land without the fear of explosives. The United States supports the aspirations of Mozambicans who wish to make their hopes for a more peaceful, more stable, and more democratic Mozambique a reality.

Global Partnerships Advance Cairo’s “New Beginning”

2009-11-05T16:11:37+00:00

About the Author: Farah Pandith serves as the Special Representative to Muslim Communities.

On Tuesday, almost exactly five months after the President’s speech in Cairo announcing a “New Beginning” with Muslims around the world, Secretary Clinton spoke in Marrakesh at the Forum for the Future and reiterated the U.S. commitment to a "New Beginning." Standing before leaders from the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) region, as well as from the G-8 countries, the Secretary highlighted some of the actions we are taking to move beyond words -- actions we are taking to create partnerships, and through those, opportunity.

Through the Civil Society 2.0 initiative, we will help grassroots organizations use digital technology to tell their stories, build their membership and support bases, and connect to their community of peers around the world. Technology provides us with enormous opportunities to narrow the gaps and create understanding between people of different cultures, races, ethnicities and faiths. Connecting people together is one way we can help empower civil society at the grassroots level.

Secretary Clinton also announced the upcoming President’s Entrepreneurship Summit, which will take place early next year. The Entrepreneurship Summit will focus on the positives things young Muslim entrepreneurs are doing around the world through their creative ideas and passion for action. It addresses a need I’ve been hearing from young leaders around the world. The Summit will not only highlight amazing entrepreneurs but will help social, business, and technology entrepreneurs scale up their efforts. In so doing, they will impact their communities in big and small ways. Jobs and income are important benefits of successful entrepreneurship, but it goes beyond that: Entrepreneurs have the power to transform their lives and the lives of others around them. I hope you will go to www.entrepreneurship.gov/summit to learn more about the Summit, share your ideas, and nominate delegates!

I can tell you that the initiatives the Secretary has outlined directly respond to what I have heard in my own meetings with civil society leaders and, particularly, young people. I just returned from Kuwait, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia myself. The most encouraging thing about meeting with young people in these three societies was their energy and their own desire to make a difference. I met a young woman in Kuwait who writes a blog about what it feels like to grow up in Kuwait in 2009, having recently returned to her country after several years away. She was passionate about the future and the importance of sharing information. I met a young social entrepreneur in Jeddah who started a green campaign called GreenJeddah. She and her peers were seized with this issue and wanted to educate their community about recycling. I met a young man in Baghdad who started a tech company and wanted to do more to build networks of young people to share feedback and experiences. We need to enable and empower them. This is exactly what we are trying to do with the initiatives Secretary Clinton announced.

As the Secretary said, “it is results, not rhetoric, that matter in the end.” While listening and learning from each other are key first steps, true change will only come from building partnerships. When we work together, whether in government, academia, a non-profit organization, or as entrepreneurs, we each bring a unique perspective. Harnessing these different perspectives towards partnerships for action enables us to work together for the common good.

“Ask U.S.”: Engaging on Sudan Strategy

2009-11-04T19:20:42+00:00

About the Author: Major General (Ret) Scott Gration serves as the President’s Special Envoy to Sudan.

On October 19, Secretary Clinton, accompanied by Ambassador Rice and myself, released the Obama Administration’s new comprehensive strategy to confront the serious and urgent situation in Sudan. As mentioned in my past blog post, the strategy focuses on three major areas: ending the conflict in Darfur, implementing the North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), and ensuring that Sudan does not become a safe haven for terrorists.

This approach involves engaging with all stakeholders, in and out of Sudan, and calls for addressing the myriad set of issues facing Sudan in a coordinated and comprehensive way, based on verifiable progress on the ground.

Today, we continue this engagement and conversation in a new and unique way.

The Sudan advocacy community is extremely active and deeply committed to raising critical awareness about the situation in Sudan. The Obama Administration is eager to continue an active dialogue with the advocacy community, and as such the White House and the State Department are partnering with the Save Darfur Coalition and STAND, the student-led division of Genocide Intervention Network, to launch “Ask U.S.”

“Ask U.S.” is an effort to reach out to the advocacy communities and to solicit questions on the U.S. Sudan policy from activists deeply and passionately engaged on this critical issue. As part of the “Ask U.S.” campaign, the Save Darfur Coalition and STAND will collect questions from their members over the course of this week and weekend. Next Tuesday, November 10, leaders from these organizations will come to the White House and, in a live streamed video event, will pose selected questions to myself and Samantha Power, NSC Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs.

I would like to invite you to join the conversation and to watch the live stream at 3:00 p.m. EST, Tuesday, November 10. Through the State Department page on Facebook you can watch as members of the advocacy community have their questions posed to us, and I also encourage you to participate by inviting your friends and family on Facebook to join in the chat as this conversation unfolds.

We look forward to opening up this dialogue, listening and learning and ultimately building ways that we can work together to support the Sudanese people in their quest for peace, security and prosperity.

The advocacy community has had a major impact by raising awareness about the situation in Sudan. By maintaining an open conversation and working together, we can make a real difference with real progress for the Sudanese people.

We hope you will join us.

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Outlines New Relationship With Muslim Communities Around the World

2009-11-03T15:07:59+00:00

Trip Information Page | Interactive Travel Map | Text the Secretary

Today, Secretary Clinton delivered remarks at the Forum for the Future in Marrakech, Morocco. The Secretary said:

"Five months ago in Cairo, President Obama called for a new beginning between the United States and Muslim communities around the world – a relationship that is comprehensive rather than focused on a few political and security issues, a relationship based on partnership between people as well as government, and a relationship that lasts for the long term. Those were some of the important words that President Obama spoke in Cairo, and his speech generated a great deal of enthusiasm around the world. Many people heard his call and asked, what can we do; what can you, the United States do; how will President Obama’s vision bear out in a new approach to U.S. policy; and how will that new approach translate into meaningful changes in people’s everyday lives?

As President Obama and I believe, it is results, not rhetoric, that matter in the end. Economic empowerment, education, healthcare, access to energy and to credit, these are the basics that all communities need to thrive. And the United States seeks to pursue these common aspirations through concrete actions. We know that true progress comes from within a society and cannot be imposed from the outside, and we know that change does not happen overnight. So we will not focus our energies on one-time projects, but we will seek to work with all of you in government and in civil society to try to build local capacity and empower local organizations and individuals to create sustainable change.

I have asked our Embassy to engage with local communities to solicit ideas for how the United States could be a better partner. I also appointed the first-ever U.S. Special Representative to Muslim Communities. The ideas we have heard have helped to shape our plan. Farah Pandith, our new Special Representative, is traveling widely and listening and coming back and expressing the concerns that she has heard from those who are living and working for a better life.

Now, we are focused on three broad areas where we believe U.S. support can make a difference. The first comes from the work and research that has been done over many years. When you ask people in all countries in this region or anywhere in the world what is the biggest concern you have and what do you want to see that happens differently in the future, the answer overwhelmingly is 'I want a better job. I want rising income. I want to give my family, especially my children, more opportunities.' It cuts across every society no matter where that society is.

I often say that while talent is universal, opportunity is not. And so we are committed to building ladders of opportunity to help develop the enormous talents that reside in the people of this region. Early next year, the President will host an entrepreneurship summit in Washington to convene people focused on creating small businesses, expanding their businesses, taking the talent that they have and translating it into income generations to assist their families.

We have launched a website for this summit. It is www.entrepreneurship.gov/summit. And I invite you to submit the names for delegates that could possibly benefit from coming to this summit, and please provide your comments on topics for the agenda. Because this summit is part of a broader effort to expand support for entrepreneurship in the region, including by establishing new business development centers. It is also my hope that together, we can launch a virtual entrepreneur network that connects the range of people engaged in such activities in the region and even beyond.

There are so many good ideas that die because the conditions are not right for bringing those ideas to market. There are so many people who work so hard every day that they can’t realize the benefits of that hard work to the extent that they should. Now we already, as you know, give billions of dollars in ongoing direct aid programs in this region, ranging from a community’s livelihood program in Yemen to a youth employment program in Jordan to our work here in Morocco.

We have invested $700 million in Morocco through a Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact. And this is an approach that we are working on that grows and has a partnership between our government and the government of people of a country – in this case, Morocco – where we say we’re not here to tell you what you need from us; we’re here to ask you what we can do to help you realize your own goals. In this case, we are supporting to two agricultural sectors – fruit tree farms and small-scale fisheries – as well as artisan craft and strengthening financial services and enterprise support. Over and over, we hear from small and medium-sized businesses that cannot get the financial assistance, they can’t get the technical support that would grow their business. So working with the Government of Morocco, we are hoping to really help to see blossom a lot more economic activity at the lower level that will then, from the bottom up, build prosperity.

Our second area will be advancing science and technology, something that we have heard from many of you, to help create jobs and to meet global challenges. It’s not something you don’t know; it is your history. But it was the Islamic world that led the way in science and medicine. It was the Islamic world that paved the way for much of the technology and science that we now take for granted. And now we face global challenges. How do we address water issues? How do we solve the climate crisis? How do we eradicate disease? Well, we want to look to your societies and we want to help Muslim majority communities develop the capacity to meet economic, social and ecological challenges through science, technology, and innovation.

The State Department has established a science envoys program, and I’m pleased to announce today that the first envoys will be three of America’s leading scientists: Dr. Bruce Alberts, a former president of our National Academy of Sciences; Dr. Elias Zerhouni, a former director of our National Institutes of Health; and Dr. Ahmed Zewail, the Nobel Prize-winning chemist. Each of these men has agreed to travel to North Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia to fulfill President Obama’s mandate to foster scientific and technological collaboration. The State Department will also expand positions for environment, science, technology, and health officers at our embassies. To finance these solutions, the United States Overseas Private Investment Corporation known as OPIC is launching a technology and innovation fund.

Our third area of engagement is education. Last week, I announced our support for a new program for higher education in Pakistan. We have also begun a program to support partnership between U.S. community colleges and institutions in Muslim communities to share knowledge and to train students for good jobs. We are expanding our scholarship opportunities, particularly for underserved secondary school students. One of our most successful education programs is called Access. It provides English language instructions to bright students in poor communities. I am personally committed to this program, and I look for ways to provide additional support, because I have seen firsthand its power.

Earlier this year, I visited an Access classroom in Ramallah. I walked into an enthusiastic discussion of Women’s History Month. These were students who did not come from educated families, but they were students with the same ambition and motivation that we heard described by our colleague, the Palestinian foreign minister, about his own son. We want to create more opportunities for students like these to fulfill their God-given potential.

And this points to a related priority – the empowerment of women. I have said, as some of you know, for many years, and President Obama said it in Cairo, no country can achieve true progress or fulfill its own potential when half of its people are left behind. When little girls are not given the same opportunities for education, we have no idea what we are losing out on because they’re not going to be able to contribute to the growth and the development of their countries.

The United States has named our first-ever Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, Ambassador Melanne Verveer. We strongly support the call made at last year’s Forum for the Future for the creation of a regional gender institute to help advance women’s empowerment across the board politically, economically, educationally, legally, socially, and culturally. And we look forward to working with other governments and civil societies to launch this initiative soon. And we will provide initial funding to make it a priority.

We seek to support civil society efforts worldwide because we believe that civil society helps to make communities more prosperous and stable. It helps to drive economic growth that benefits the greatest number of people. And it pushes political institutions to be agile and responsive to the people they serve. So the United States is launching an initiative called Civil Society 2.0. This organized effort will provide new technologies to civil society organizations. We will send experts in digital technology and communications to help build capacity.

Now, these are some of the ways that the United States is pursuing President Obama’s vision for a new relationship. Our work is based on empowering individuals rather than promoting ideologies; listening and embracing others’ ideas rather than simply imposing our own; and pursuing partnerships that are sustainable and broad-based. We believe that despite our differences, there is so much more that unites us. Fathers and mothers everywhere want safety and opportunity for their daughters and sons. People everywhere want to have a role in the decisions that affect them, to express their needs to their leaders to be heard, and to help chart their own futures." Full Text

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton To Amplify Message of Partnership and Respect

2009-11-03T01:38:05+00:00

Trip Information Page | Interactive Travel Map | Text the Secretary

Secretary Clinton is currently traveling in Morocco and will address the Forum for the Future. During remarks with Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi-Fihri this morning, the Secretary said, "...The foreign minister and I had a very productive conversation about a range of issues, including our shared goal of strengthening stability and prosperity throughout North Africa and the Middle East. I’m looking forward to participating tomorrow in the Forum for the Future, and I look forward also to working with the foreign minister on the issues that come from this forum.

The Forum for the Future is a gathering dedicated to creating the broadest possible network of partnerships in pursuit of common goals. It brings together not only government ministers, but representatives from civil society. And I am grateful too that we will work on the important issues confronting us – from regional security, economic development, religious tolerance, social reforms – because none of these goals can be accomplished through laws or governments alone. They require a broad coalition of likeminded people who translate laws into lasting change.

...So, Minister, I have come to Morocco to echo and amplify President Obama’s message of partnership and respect, and we will work together to advance our shared goals of security, prosperity, and opportunity. Much of what you have done can serve as a model for other nations, and I believe that this model can benefit people not only here in Morocco, but those who care about increasing the opportunities for a better life for all people. Thank you, sir." Full Text

Sudan: Instruments of Peace

2009-11-03T00:00:24+00:00

About the Author: Major General (Ret) Scott Gration serves as the President’s Special Envoy to Sudan.

I am currently in Sudan, where I am visiting Juba and Khartoum to hold discussions with representatives from the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). Together, we are working to move forward on the outstanding issues of Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) implementation. It’s a difficult and lengthy process, but failure is not an option – both the national elections and the referendum on self-determination in Southern Sudan are only months, not years, away.

Besides holding meetings and discussions, I also had the chance to speak on All Saints Day (November 1st) at the All Saints Cathedral in Rejaf, Southern Sudan. I used the opportunity to share a bit about my background and to give a message of hope and peace to those in attendance. Peace, justice, and reconciliation require us all to work together toward to the same goal – this message is so important, and I tried to convey its urgency.

The only way we will able to achieve stability and a lasting peace in Sudan is by working to involve all those who have a stake in the process. This is why it is essential that we work to resolve the differences surrounding the national elections and the referendum. It is why it is critical that we ensure that the process is fair and credible and that the will of the people, as expressed through the national elections and the referendum, is respected.

Below you will find a condensed version of the remarks I delivered to the congregation in the All Saints Cathedral in Rejaf, Southern Sudan. As always, I want to thank you for your continued interest, Scott.

Remarks at All Saints Day, All Saints Cathedral
Rejaf, Southern Sudan
Sunday, November 1, 2009

I feel so very much at home in Africa. My parents came to Africa in 1952 as missionary teachers, and I lived in Africa in Congo, Uganda, and Kenya for almost twenty years in my youth. I lived for a long period in northeast Congo until severe conflict broke out following independence. The fighting and the violence forced my family and me to flee the country for safety.

After fleeing Congo in 1964, we became refugees. We lost all of our possessions, and we escaped with just our lives. My parents were forced to establish a new home; we had to start again. I still remember the pain and loss of that difficult experience, but it has helped me to understand in a very small way the suffering, pain, and loss many of you have experienced here in Sudan for decades.

In 1979, I went back to Uganda as Idi Amin was leaving and President Binaisa was coming to power. The Ugandan people had suffered so much, and I heard terrible stories of pain and loss. As I stand here in this church today, I am reminded of the shocking story one woman shared with me of how she escaped from a burning Catholic church that had been lit on fire by Idi Amin’s soldiers as the congregation worshipped inside.

The church has been instrumental in promoting reconciliation and restoration across Africa—not only in Uganda, but in places like South Africa and Congo. The church as a whole, and each one of you as individuals, can continue to play an instrumental role in bringing reconciliation and peace to Sudan.

Let us remember the prayer that Saint Francis of Assisi offered 800 years ago, "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, where there is hatred, pardon; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy." Be an instrument of peace. Register to vote, express your will, and do this in peace and for peace. Spread love, forgiveness, faith, hope, light, and joy as you register to vote and as you work to bring stability to this very special land. Thank you very much.

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Encourages Use of New Media Communications in Pakistan

2009-11-02T19:23:44+00:00

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About the Author: Ashley Bommer is Special Advisor to Special Representative to Afghanistan & Pakistan Richard Holbrooke. She previously worked on the “Text SWAT” initiative whereby donations of $5 were made to UNHCR for refugees in the Swat Valley by sending an SMS on a personal cell phone.

Pakistan, the world's second largest Muslim nation, is often viewed in America as a land infiltrated by extremists and has even been labeled by Newsweek as "The World's Most Dangerous Nation." Whereas I have grown to love this country and its people: spirited shopkeepers along the cobbled streets; women conversing over chai tea; hungry diners huddled over steaming clay pots of chicken handy; the calming sound of morning prayer.

But living in Pakistan is not easy. The suffering of the citizens of Pakistan is often overlooked. The people live in fear of terror. Last week, a bomb ripped through the middle of downtown Peshawar. Merely two years ago, I strolled through Peshawar's bazaars and bobbed in and out of rug shops. I can't help but ask how the situation has changed so radically in such a short time. Today, the entire city of Peshawar is on lockdown. You can't get anywhere from anywhere, and the shops are blackened shut.

And on top of the constant security threats, there is poverty, joblessness, and desperation. There is little opportunity for youth. The boy from South Waziristan does not know where he can get a job. The farmer in Dera Ismael Khan cannot purchase fertilizer for his crop. The student can't get a loan. And the tourism operator in Gilgit desperately waits at the internet cafe to see if he can email friends to drum up business.

Something is broken. People want help. They want an alternative to the terrorism and hopelessness. Despite the United States longstanding relationship with Pakistan it is clear: Government to government and military to military ties do not always translate directly to the people. The people here do not think of America, and the American people, as a long term ally and friend.

Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went to Pakistan to help change this misperception. She responded to the negative perception of the United States with an American style vigor and demonstrated her committment to 21st century statecraft by engaging not just with the government but also with the Pakistani people. She met the government and military officials, but reached beyond normal channels to emphasize a new connection with the people of Pakistan in boisterous townhalls and forums with student groups, businessmen, and civil society leaders. She engaged women, tribal elders and Pakistani talk show hosts and senior editors. She spoke of her commitment to working with the people of Pakistan as partners, that her priority is “first and foremost, listening and consulting with one another.” Secretary Clinton set out the basis of American engagement “by underscoring the fact that I am here because the Obama Administration and I personally am committed to Pakistan and to the Pakistani people.” She spoke of a “broader partnership, one that we hope will improve the lives of people in both our nations in many ways, so that more people can develop their talents and make the most of their God-given potential.” She confronted the negative image of America and championed a new page: country to country, people to people.

But what really was amazing is that she did this while also bringing a new technology and communication forum to this country of 170 million people. At Government College in Lahore, she announced support from the United States for the first free Pakistani mobile phone-based social network, known as Humari Awaz (“Our Voice”). She declared that the United States would fund the first 24 million text messages for people to communicate directly with one another in what she noted is “a service you can use on your cell phone to distribute news stories, to invite people to an event, to share your thoughts and opinions, to report problems that you see, to call for actions to solve those problems.” With more than 95.5 million mobile phone users, many of whom are youngsters, the mobile platform have enabled immense opportunity for wide range of community strengthening and social uplift applications like the one that was launched today.

The Director of Wireless at the Ministry of Information and Technology, summed it up in an email earlier this week. "Social Connection can transform society," he wrote, "and in Pakistan there is immense opportunity for using technology to deploy citizen centric services, that can help bring about socio economic change for the Pakistani people. Active involvement of Pakistani stakeholders both in the public and private sectors will be crucial to achieve optimal results."

Leveraging the immensely popular SMS medium, the Humari Awaz network will allow Pakistanis, many of whom do not have access to computers or the internet, to participate in the freedom of social networking and communications on infinitely diverse themes and subject of their choice using their mobile phones. In addition to linking friends and families, the network will be able to provide those interested in any issue at all to connect: from the rural farmers and sellers. to wholesalers and their retail outlets, with instant industry related information regarding prices, new orders, weather and road conditions or news.

As I finish this post and get ready for tomorrow, I hear Saima Mohseni, leading correspondent for Dawn News, Pakistan's first English language news channel on television, say, "It's a media charm offensive ...the U.S. Secretary of State's three day visit to Pakistan has taken the country's tv screens and radio airwaves by storm. Her team's organised more coverage than we've ever seen before for a top U.S. official." And then I smile as she picks up her phone and introduces Humari Awaz and discusses that for the first time Pakistanis have the chance to engage with the Secretary and each other by texting the words HELP or MADAD to 7111.

In the first day of service over 20,000 texts were sent using the “Our Voice” platform: 703 user ids were created, 1,360 followers linked up, and 2,363 updates were posted. Over the first weekend, 1,564 keywords were registered, followers reached 7,012, and total SMS sent has reached 232,947.

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Meets With Senior Officials in Jerusalem

2009-10-31T23:53:35+00:00

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Secretary Clinton recently visited Jerusalem to meet with senior officials. During a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she stated:

"Thank you so much, Prime Minister. It is a great personal pleasure for me to be back in Jerusalem and a great honor to be here as Secretary of State once again. ... I appreciate the very positive words about the need to get back into a negotiation that would be in the best interests of Israel and Israel’s security, as well as create a state for the Palestinian people. Both President Obama and I are committed to a comprehensive peace agreement because we do believe that it holds out the best promise for the security and future of Israel, and for the aspirations of the Palestinians. ...I’m very much eager to begin those discussions. Full Text

A View From the Middle East: Ambassador Rice Visits Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Iraq

2009-10-30T20:39:21+00:00

About the Author: Carolyn Vadino serves as Deputy Spokeswoman at the United States Mission to the United Nations in New York.

On October 18, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice traveled to Jerusalem on behalf of the Obama Administration to deliver a speech to the Israeli Presidential Conference, hosted by President Shimon Peres. She also spent time traveling in the region, meeting with key leaders and making important stops along the way.

In Israel, Ambassador Rice met with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. In the Palestinian Territories, she met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Fayyad and PLO General Secretary Yaser Abed Rabbo.

She stopped at the historic Yad Vashem Memorial, where she laid a wreath in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

Ambassador Rice also visited Jalazoun Camp in Ramallah, where she spoke with students at the UNRWA Girls School, visited the Jalazoun health clinic, funded by the U.S. Government; and toured a USAID emergency jobs program in Bir Zeit.

She also held a roundtable discussion with Palestinian civil society and business leaders and a discussion at Exalt Technologies focused on the information technology industry.

Ambassador Rice visited Iraq, holding meetings with Iraqi leaders such as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani. Other highlights of her travel include meetings with the leadership of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq and a meeting with Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. She concluded her trip with a tour of the site of the August 19 terrorist bombing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and expressed America's condolences for those killed in the attack.

U.S. Supports Refugees in the Congo and Kenya

2009-10-30T19:18:03+00:00

About the Author: Eric P. Schwartz serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration.

During our October 12-23 trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Kenya, I was reminded of both the challenges and opportunities we face in preventing and responding to humanitarian crises. In the DRC, I looked at protection efforts in the east, where an ongoing humanitarian crisis has had devastating effects on the civilian population, nearly two million of whom are displaced in the region. I visited camps in North and South Kivu as well as a village to which a number of people displaced by years of conflict have recently returned. Those returns, involving more than 60,000 people, were an enormous challenge for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, as many if not most returnees were forced out of camps with little protection and assistance in returning home. As UNHCR’s single largest contributor, the U.S. government is working assiduously with the refugee agency to improve the protection provided to IDPs in the Congo. I also used my visit to underscore our government's strong commitment to preventing and responding to gender-based violence, a message Secretary Clinton emphasized during her trip to the region in August.

In Kenya, I visited the Kakuma Camp in the northwest and the Dadaab camps in the northeast, meeting with refugees and listening to their concerns. I had meetings in Nairobi with senior Kenyan security and immigration officials, as well as with representatives from international organizations and NGOs. In Dadaab, the camps built for 90,000 people are now holding more than three times that number, making this the largest refugee camp in the world. The Obama Administration and UNHCR are discussing with the Government of Kenya ways to resolve this problem. The U.S. goal is to ensure provision of much needed additional space to allow Somali refugees to live in a safer and more humane setting.

I saw evidence of much suffering and despair on this visit. But I also witnessed many pockets of grace and tranquility which were both inspiring and invigorating. In Kenya, for example, I had a long conversation with about 15 unaccompanied minor refugee girls and young women who were being assisted by Heshima Kenya, an NGO supported by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM). All of them have faced extraordinary challenges, and many have been subjected to unimaginable horrors. Some of the girls visit Heshima’s center daily for education, training and a range of other activities, and some live at the center’s safe house full-time. During my visit, I could feel the sense of compassion in the environment. One young Congolese woman, who happened to be wearing an Obama hat, used her time to speak with me not to describe her prior experiences or to tell me of the counseling, education and training she was receiving. Rather, with great joy, she recounted to me the simple new pleasures of her life: sleeping in a bed at night, waking up and eating breakfast, going to class, eating lunch, and on and on. It was heartwarming to see that this small, U.S. government-supported organization was helping to provide this young woman (and others) with what should be the birthright of everyone.

Travel Diary: Secretary Hillary Clinton’s Visit to Pakistan

2009-10-30T13:45:32+00:00

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About the Author: Anne W. Patterson serves as the U.S. Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

During her three day visit to Pakistan, Secretary Clinton’s vision of people to people diplomacy and her support for Pakistan’s democratic institutions was clearly portrayed through her interactions with the government and civil society.

In her first trip to Pakistan as secretary of state, Secretary Clinton gracefully coupled her protocol duties of meeting with government leaders with a large number of social and cultural activities including town halls held Islamabad and Lahore, meetings with civil society leaders (including women and Pashtun elders), interviews with Pakistani journalists and visits to some of Pakistan’s renowned religious and cultural sites.

The Secretary's visit to Pakistan will be remembered as one marking her strong desire to combine America’s support for Pakistan’s efforts to combat terrorism with strong support for Pakistan’s reestablished democratic government. In meetings and public events, the Secretary reiterated America’s desire to have a broad and deep partnership with Pakistan based on mutual respect and trust.

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Meets With Students and Business Leaders in Lahore, Pakistan

2009-10-30T01:11:19+00:00

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Today Secretary Clinton visited Bari Imam, the shrine to Shah Abdul Latif Kazmi, conducted a town hall meeting with university students and met with Pakistani business leaders in Lahore, Pakistan. During the town hall meeting with university students, Secretary Clinton stated:

"We are all interconnected and interdependent, whether we like it or not, and we are confronted by people who seek to divide communities, dismantle democracies, provoke fear, and stifle progress. They represent defeat, isolation, and instability. So therefore, we have to respond with an even stronger commitment to build a brighter future together for the people of Pakistan, the United States, and the world.

This is a pivotal moment, but I am confident that we can and will succeed by building upon the talents and strengths of our people. The United States is grateful for the ties that already connect us, and we look forward to broadening and deepening those ties and this relationship. And we are proud to stand with you to work together to meet the challenges of this extraordinary time."

Sudan: Peace, Justice, and Reconciliation

2009-10-29T21:34:17+00:00

About the Author: Major General (Ret) Scott Gration serves as the President’s Special Envoy to Sudan.

Today marks the release of the much-anticipated report by the African Union’s (AU) High Level Panel on Darfur. The Panel, led by former President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, was convened earlier this year to examine the situation in Darfur and to come up with recommendations to address issues of accountability, combating impunity, and bringing about healing and reconciliation for the people of Darfur. I am attending a special session of AU Peace and Security Council in Abuja, Nigeria, where a number of African heads of state are reviewing the Panel’s findings.

We welcome the release of this report and applaud the efforts of the AU, President Mbeki, and his panel of experts. We will study the Panel’s results and recommendations closely. It is critical that we begin laying the groundwork for peace, justice, and reconciliation in Sudan. As articulated in the United States policy on Sudan, accountability for the genocide and atrocities in Darfur is fundamental and necessary for reconciliation and lasting peace. As such, we will continue to work with the AU, Darfuri armed movements, Darfuri civil society, the Government of Sudan, and the international community to address these critical issues and to bring peace, justice, and reconciliation to Sudan. We will also continue to be supportive of finding a way forward that is deemed credible and unbiased by the standards of international justice and that enjoys the confidence of the people of Darfur.

Thank you for your continued interest, Scott.

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Meets With Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi

2009-10-28T22:06:17+00:00

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Secretary Clinton is currently traveling in Pakistan. During a meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Secretary Clinton remarked, "...For me, this is a personal privilege, as well as a high honor, representing President Obama and our government, because today, the people of Pakistan and the United States face shared challenges. And we are poised to benefit from shared opportunities. This is a critical moment. And the United States seeks to turn the page to a new partnership with not only the government, but the people of a democratic Pakistan.

We hope to build a strong relationship based on mutual respect and mutual shared responsibility. I am confident that if we listen to one another, we consult, we work closely together, we will succeed. Because while we may disagree from time to time, as friends and partners do, we are bound together by common interests and common values that are stronger than any of our differences. There are many areas where our nations already work together. Now, we seek to deepen those efforts and find additional opportunities for partnership. Again, not just government to government, but in the private sector, in universities, in nongovernmental organizations, civil society groups, religious institutions, and of course, and most importantly, people to people, which is the kind of diplomacy that I think has the longest benefit."

My Trip to Areas Affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army

2009-10-28T19:09:19+00:00

About the Author: James Liddle serves as a Desk Officer in the U.S. Department of State's Africa Bureau and recently returned from a temporary duty assignment to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, September 23 to October 10, 2009.

The below blog details my trip to northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda to explore the international community’s effort to find a lasting solution to the crisis caused by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). I am a Desk Officer in the Africa Bureau at the Department of State covering Uganda, where the LRA originated. This trip was part of my annual trip to the region to familiarize myself and meet with staff of the U.S. Embassies, government representatives, non-government organizations, and others I work with from Washington.

September 23 and 24 2009 – Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

My colleagues and I (I was traveling with Nicole from our Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Bureau and Benson, from our Humanitarian Information Unit) arrived in the city after dark, at about 8:00 in the evening. The first impression of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) comes just as you exit the airplane. There’s a certain organic smell, caused mostly, I would guess, by the many open fires around the city. The heat, high humidity and cloudy sky (it rained just after our arrival) gave the air a heavy, smoky feel that is instantly recognizable.

There is a long road from the airport to the city center. The sheer force of humanity is one of the first images that grabs you when you exit the airport. There are no traffic lights or cross-walks. In their place, there is a sort of collective understanding between the mass of pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, buses, lorries and trucks. No one seems to be speeding, yet nothing is overly slow. The crowds move in and out and flow around one another in a sort of organized chaos. Everyone seems calm, everything is normal. We pass by thousands of images; flickering candles over tables selling all types of foods and goods; children and adults moving in and out of buildings and side streets: trucks filled to the brim with humanity, on one the front door is bent and ajar; brief glimpses of a family or group of friends sitting around a table. An entire world passes by in our hour drive to the hotel.

I’m in Kinshasa as part of a three-week fact-finding mission on the conflict with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which has terrorized the people of northern Uganda and—more recently—DRC, southern Sudan and the CAR for the past several years. We will be traveling to Kinshasa, Goma, Bunia, and Dungu in DRC and Kampala and Gulu in Uganda. Kinshasa, DRC’s capital, is also headquarters for the Mission of the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), the largest UN peacekeeping mission in the world. Over the next several days we will meet with UN officials and our colleagues at the Embassy. From here, we will fly across the country to the city of Goma in the eastern DRC. It’s my first time in Kinshasa and I have always dreamed of visiting the capital of this country that has such a rich history marked by tragedy.

We are staying in a hotel in the center of Kinshasa and we’ll head to the Embassy around 8:00 in the morning. The hotel is somewhat typical in that it has a funny feel of out-of-place luxury. It feels a bit isolating and I’ve never grown completely comfortable with being able to buy beer and a good meal in a country where much of the population lives on less than one dollar a day. There are several people waiting outside the front door selling newspapers, maps, shoe shines and other small goods, trying to get the attention of the wealthy visitors inside the hotel.

One of the best aspects of my job has been to have the chance to get to know and meet with many people who have overcome tremendous challenges and returned to serve their countries in some capacity. I’m looking forward to meeting many of these people on this trip.

The Embassy in Kinshasa stands out in comparison to some of our other Embassies in the region, mostly because it is not one of the “New Embassy Compounds” (NECs) that have been built since the attacks on our Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Unfortunately, high walls and tight security checks are a requirement for doing our work in many parts of the world. The NECs are generally large, modern and well-protected whereas the older Embassies tend to be older and less fortified. Nevertheless, I was impressed by the level of security.

We held a meeting at the MONUC headquarters, which are down the street from the Embassy. It was a strange experience because while walking down the street, you suddenly come across rows of barbed wire and a well guarded entrance that makes you feel as though you have entered a war zone, including a fully armed guard post with a soldier in blue beret, with machine gun at the ready.

Our stay in Kinshasa is short since our most important meetings will be in northeastern DRC, where the fight against the LRA is taking place, and in Uganda where the LRA originated. Nevertheless, the briefings and meetings we received were extremely helpful. As a temporary visitor to the capital on this trip, I am deeply cognizant of the burden we place on the small staff at the Embassy. Beyond basic logistical support, our visit required that the Political Section identify and set up meetings with the most appropriate people for us to speak with. I’m glad we’re not staying too long, so the Embassy officers can get on with their work without having to take care of us.

September 25, 26 and 27, 2009 – Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo

Our flight today was not your traditional commercial flight experience since we were flying to Goma on a UN airplane, one of the regularly scheduled flights by MONUC.

The airplane was in relatively good condition and run by a Canadian crew. It was painted all white with a simple UN in black letters on the side. We had a bit of technical trouble with the brakes of the airplane, which made us turnaround and disembark once before takeoff, but soon we were off to Goma. The flight itself was uneventful and we soon found ourselves in the middle of the continent, having flown the entire latitudinal distance of DRC.

We landed on an airstrip that is somewhat infamous, since the last quarter of it was covered by volcanic rock after an eruption several years ago. A large commercial airplane that was cut off from the rest of the airport sits rusting on the far side of the lava field. Goma itself sits on Lake Kivu, one of the “great lakes” of central Africa. The scenery is lush, beautiful, and green. The picturesque lake, the verdant flora and harsh-looking volcanic rock gives the city what I can only describe as an organic, natural feel.

We were picked up by a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) driver and brought to the “American House” near the border with Rwanda, close to the center of Goma. This is a relatively new house that the U.S. government maintains to ensure a presence in eastern Congo and provide a place for the numerous U.S. Government visitors to stay. It sits on the lake and is a beautiful setting to hold meetings. There is a balcony facing the lake where you can sit and do work while the breeze from the lake keeps you cool. The only downside is that the house is directly under the flight path for arriving flights, so the sound of landing airplanes can at times be a bit much. Nevertheless, the setting is beautiful.

We are here for the weekend and over the next few days we will meet with a number of NGOs and UN representatives. Goma is a hub in the region and will be our jumping off point to the cities of Bunia and then Dungu, in LRA-affected territory. Goma itself has not been directly affected by the LRA, but instead has been the epicenter of eastern DRC’s other conflicts, particularly those involving Laurent Nkunda’s CNDP (which recently was integrated into the Congolese army as part of a peace agreement) and the FDLR, whose leadership includes members of the former Rwandan armed forces and others who took part in the 1994 genocide. As a result, for some time the city has been home to a number of humanitarian NGOs as well as a large MONUC base. The city itself was directly threatened in 2008, although today it feels secure and calm. However, high walls and barbed wire are still found throughout the city, including at the entrance to the American House where my colleagues and I are staying.

We must fly through Goma to get to Bunia and Dungu, but we also held several meetings with UN and NGO actors that proved extremely useful in understanding the situation farther north. Although it was a weekend, we had no difficulty scheduling meetings. The people who work here are dedicated and work in difficult, sometimes dangerous situations. I am very impressed by the work they do to help the people of this region. I often found myself wishing I could stay longer and do more to help.

September 28, 2009 – Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo

Today we began our trip north from Goma. Although I’m a bit sad to leave (the location in many ways was idyllic) I’m also looking forward to getting closer to the areas that are the focus of our trip to the region. We flew on an older Russian (Ukrainian?) plane first to Entebbe near Kampala, Uganda, and then after a quick transfer we flew in the same plane on to Bunia. The airplane was clearly older than the plane we had taken to Goma and the instructions were in Russian, but the flight was smooth.

Our arrival in Bunia was different than that of Goma. The city was smaller and the landing strip was controlled by MONUC. There are no paved roads and the overall feel of the place was much more rural. The housing seemed to be a mix of concrete blocks and mud brick. As we approached the town from the landing strip, many of the buildings turned out to be offices of various NGOs and UN Agencies. As the capital of Ituri district, Bunia hosts many NGO and UN offices due to the conflicts that raged here in past years. Though linked with the current instability in the Kivus, these conflicts involved different armed groups and appear to be largely on the wane.

Before we arrived, a UN official who we were able to talk to on the phone recommended a hotel close to their offices. During the afternoon we held meetings with some of the NGOs and UN officials in the city. That night we ate outdoors with some of the UN agencies in the region at a local Indian restaurant. It was an exciting experience, having dinner with aid workers in one of the most conflict-prone regions in the world.

Before our dinner, my travel colleagues and I had the chance to sit on the balcony of our hotel and relax a bit. There is something about the sunsets in this region that are hard to capture. Near the equator the sun sets very quickly – it will be 6:00 and feel as though it will be light for hours more and suddenly, thirty minutes later, you realize it has become pitch dark. Nevertheless, the sunsets seem more intense and orange than I have I see anywhere else.

September 29, 30, and October 1, 2009 – Dungu, Democratic Republic of Congo

The next morning we began our trip to the airport expecting another quick flight to Dungu. Instead we found out we would be flying by helicopter, an Mi-17 run by a Bangladeshi contingent, two of whom were doing some pre-flight maintenance when we pulled up on the tarmac. We had to wear headphones over our ears to muffle the sound of the engine and blades. Still it was comfortable enough for me to grab some sleep.

It was fascinating flying over this part of northeastern Congo because it drove home so clearly the point of how remote an area we were about to enter. For as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but what appeared to be old growth rain forest. We flew for almost two hours in the helicopter (the ride was surprisingly smooth) and after the first fifteen minutes, leaving the Bunia area, we hardly passed a road or village. We flew below the clouds for most of the trip and could see rain storms in the distance and the trees below.

At our arrival it was raining and the entire area around the airstrip had turned to mud, which combined with the white tents of the MONUC airbase and World Food Program center, the sand bags and barbed wire, left the feeling that we were at a forward operating base rather than a rural airport.

Dungu itself is not large; the main street is little more than several houses along a dirt street. A UNICEF driver picked us up and drove us to the base where we were sleeping. It took us about thirty minutes to travel 8 kilometers on a dirt road that at times had forest on both sides up to the road. All along the road we passed civilians and FARDC (Congolese military) soldiers armed with AK-47s.

The UNICEF 4x4 took us to a base that held the Moroccan soldiers that make up the bulk of the MONUC forces in the region. Inside the base was a large UNICEF tent that they allowed us to sleep in. It held about 15 beds. Showers were to be by bucket. Food was locally prepared.

The site of the base was stranger than fiction in a way, almost like a movie set. The base was made up of tents in the courtyard of a giant brick European “castle” that clearly was abandoned and had fallen into a state of disrepair.

We heard conflicting stories about this mysterious castle—either a Greek business man had built it over a hundred years ago, or, more romantically although less likely, a Belgian colonial administrator went crazy and stole money intended for a local hydroelectric dam to build himself the bizarre structure.

I shared my tent with several UN workers, mostly from other African countries. They were all extremely welcoming and willing to talk and even help me with getting my bed sheets and water. UNICEF was particularly helpful in this regard. They made sure we had food, a car and whatever else was needed for our trip. This was a clear theme throughout our forty-eight hour stay in Dungu – everyone was welcoming and willing to help and was excited to talk about the work they were doing. We are particularly in the debt of UNICEF for the help they provided us on this trip.

Our meetings with the UN agencies and NGOs in Dungu were the most useful for understanding the challenges posed by the LRA and the complicated political situation in Congo, particularly to the local populations who have endured literally decades of abuse caused by instability and incursions by several rebel groups. Unfortunately for these people, the LRA is only the latest chapter in a long, devastating history.

A word about the dedication of the UN and NGO workers we met : these are some of the most impressive people I have ever met in my entire life. One man we met (who was only 28 years old) had headed an office of over 50 for nearly two years. Others had been there in various roles taking risks to help the people in the region. Each one we met, I feel certain; can be credited with saving lives. I view them as real heroes. Seeing people dedicate their lives to making a difference in the world is deeply humbling.

Eventually it came time for us to leave Dungu, although I can say I could have stayed a lot longer. For some reason I’m more comfortable outside of the capital, working with people “on the ground.” I want to stay and help them and feel almost bad that I’ve popped in for a couple of days and asked some questions only to leave as quickly as I arrived.

One set of “meetings” deserves special note. We made a point to visit the local hospital, where we heard there were several victims of LRA attacks receiving treatment. There we met a 17 year old boy who had been shot in the side during an attack. In soft-spoken French, he recounted how his village was attacked by long-haired men wearing uniforms speaking a language he didn’t understand. They took an unknown number of children and killed two of his friends. Another boy recounted how he had been attacked while walking along the road by eight men. He was shot in the leg and barely survived. One of the most insidious aspects of the conflict the LRA is waging in this area is the random nature of their targeting of civilians. The local populations must feel almost hunted. It is not an ideological conflict, but a war targeting innocent civilians.

October 2-7, 2009 – Kampala, Uganda

After several days of staying in tents in northeastern Congo, it was a relief to be in Kampala. The hotel is relaxed and we had our first day off of the trip over the weekend. It was a chance to get a bit of the dirt out of our shoes and clean some of our clothes.

We are in Kampala to meet with the Embassy staff, political figures, civil society and the NGO community. The LRA and the ongoing conflict feel very far away. Our meetings focus on the political context to the conflict and we are meeting with a variety of actors in the government and civil society to better understand the complex political situation here.

Additionally, we are in Kampala a mere three weeks after riots that started when the Buganda traditional king was denied access by the government to an area north of Kampala. The ensuing riots left more than twenty killed. Despite the recent tension, though, the city feels calm and business appears to be continuing as usual. After our meetings here we will travel to the north of Uganda to the city of Gulu, where the LRA finds its roots.

October 7-9 – Gulu, Uganda

One of the folks I’m traveling with served in Uganda three years ago and is for the first time seeing Gulu since then. She is amazed by the progress the city has made since the LRA was forced out of the area in 2006. This is my first visit to Gulu and the city appears like any thriving central African city to me. There are several billboards lining the street advertising cell phones, banks, and other businesses. Traffic is relatively light, but there are cars on the streets. Stores, restaurants and bars on each side of the main street appear open for business and several new buildings are being built.

This stands in stark contrast to what I had read about Gulu. Just a few years ago this city was the center of operations against the LRA and was under constant threat. Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps surrounded the city and held tens of thousands. Today the camps are slowly closing down and hold only several thousand remaining people who are in most cases unable to return home despite the peace in the region. It’s fascinating to consider the changes to this city in just a few years and the difference peace and security can make to development.

Of our many meetings during this last phase of the trip we took time to visit one of the remaining IDP camps. Although much smaller than at it’s height, it was still moving to see and meet people who were living in these camps and imagine what they had been through.

Our visit to Gulu was relatively short, only two days, but it was nice to end the trip on a more positive note. The city is moving forward and it is really striking what a difference simple security can make toward development.

October 10-11 – Conclusion and return home

The return trip is a long two flights, nearly twenty-four hours of travel door to door. I’m jet lagged and tired, and slept on and off for nearly two days. It’s disorientating to come back to work after three weeks on the road. I learned a tremendous amount about the struggles of the people in northeastern Congo and the progress in northern Uganda.

If you’d like more information about the Lord’s Resistance Army or the plight of the people of northern Uganda, one book I picked up on my way out called “Aboke Girls” is recommended. The book tells the story of a kidnapping by the LRA of 30 girls from a school in Northern Uganda and the efforts of the Head Mistress to get the girls back. I read this book on the flight home (it’s a quick read at only 160 pages) and it was a good way to reflect on the trip I had taken and all of the work the international community is trying to do to protect the people of the areas affected by the LRA. The book details the horrors these girls and other abductees faced during their ordeal. It is impossible to come from this trip and feel anything but great urgency to continue the work to find a lasting solution to the LRA.

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Arrives in Islamabad, Pakistan

2009-10-28T13:28:37+00:00

Trip Information Page | Interactive Travel Map | Text the Secretary

Secretary Clinton is currently traveling in Pakistan to continue efforts to create a comprehensive relationship with Pakistan that covers a whole range of issues that are important to the people of Pakistan, important to the people of the United States, and to the greater region. During her flight en route to Pakistan, Secretary Clinton described the trip by saying, "...While I am in Pakistan, I will be having a number of official meetings with not only the president, the prime minister, and the foreign minister, but other ministers in the government, members of parliament of a number of parties, as well as meeting with the opposition, the Sharifs. I will also be doing a lot of public diplomacy and engagement and doing events with students, with women, with Pashtun elders, going to pay respect to some of the cultural places of significance in Pakistan. So it’s going to be a very, very broad survey of everything we are doing and some of the announcements that I will be making on the trip to further demonstrate that we want a long-term relationship with Pakistan. We believe we have a lot in common. We have areas of disagreement, obviously. We’re trying to narrow those and expand common ground that we both can take over together.

So it’s going to be a very intensive trip. We’ll be hitting the ground and immediately going into meetings. I’ll be going to Lahore the next day, back to Islamabad, so we’re going to have a very, very busy schedule. So with that, let me just throw it over to all of you."

Running for Food

2009-10-26T17:32:37+00:00

About the Author: Lillian deValcourt-Ayala serves as a Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome, Italy.

We were not as fast as Carl Lewis in the Olympics nor did our team place first in 4th Run for Food this weekend, but runners from our three U.S. embassies in Rome got involved and showed our commitment. That’s the difference we all can make in the real life race against hunger.

The UN’s largest technical agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), commemorated World Food Day on October 16 to refocus world attention on the need to achieve food security, even in times of crisis. This year five new FAO Goodwill Ambassadors including Carl Lewis joined the effort, lending their star power to bring an end to wide-spread suffering.

At this time of year FAO honors one of America’s great anti-hunger champions, George McGovern, through a lecture series established in his name. Our U.S. Mission has the honor to organize the participation of distinguished McGovern lectors like NYU’s Dr. Marion Nestle who spoke this year on the future of food.

What about the future of food? In the United States, there is a growing awareness about the importance of knowing our farmers, knowing our food, and improving our diets – not only for ourselves as individuals and for our families and communities, but also for our planet and in support of the world’s hungry. As Ertharin Cousin, U.S. Ambassador the UN Agencies in Rome, told an international audience gathered for the McGovern lecture, “In times of crisis we have a window of opportunity to re-examine not only our ways of doing business, and the structure of our institutions and our food systems, but also our personal relationship with food.”

So as our American team rounded Circus Maximus, we showed the flag of our country and with feet pounding the pavement acknowledged that our future depends on hunger awareness and personal action.

U.S. Committed to Strong Partnership With China on Energy and Environment

2009-10-26T17:26:15+00:00

About the Author: Sumreen Mirza serves as a Policy Officer in the U.S. Department of State's Bureau Oceans, International Environment and Scientific Affairs.

The U.S. and China met this week in Beijing to review progress achieved in the second year of the U.S.-China Ten Year Framework (TYF) on Energy and Environment Cooperation. This framework encompasses action plans for collaboration on five existing priorities: clean, efficient and secure electricity production and transmission, clean water, clean air, clean and efficient transportation, and conservation of wetland ecosystems and nature reserves. In addition to identifying new activities under existing action plans, the Joint Working Group made significant progress in finalizing a draft action plan for energy efficiency collaboration. Read more about the TYF and the MOU on US-China Cooperation on Climate Change, Energy and Environment.

Alongside policy and technology cooperation, the Ten Year Framework also focuses on practical collaboration through joint projects known as ecopartnerships. The first seven ecopartnerships were established in December 2008 and involve the pairings of cities, ports, companies, research laboratories and academic institutions from both the U.S. and China . The delegates met with the Chinese partners and learned first-hand how ecopartnerships can become successful incubators for policy testing, technology demonstration, and subnational government capacity building on issues within our six areas of cooperation. Both sides are developing and implementing ways to strengthen the program. In the coming year, the Joint Working Group will develop guiding principles for selecting additional ecopartnerships. Read more about ecopartnerships.

The U.S. delegation to Beijing was comprised of 22 members representing the Department of State, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce, Trade Development Agency, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Agency for International Development.

Secretary Clinton Releases 2009 International Religious Freedom Report

2009-10-26T17:10:56+00:00

Secretary Clinton recently provided remarks during the release of the 2009 International Religious Freedom Report. She stated, "The right to profess, practice, and promote one’s religious beliefs is a founding principle of our nation. In fact, many of our earliest settlers came because they wanted the freedom to practice their own religion without a state interfering or oppressing that practice. It is the first liberty mentioned in our Bill of Rights, and it is a freedom guaranteed to all people in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

I want to underscore that, because this is not just an American value. This was agreed to be a universal value. Religious freedom provides a cornerstone for every healthy society. It empowers faith-based service. It fosters tolerance and respect among different communities. And it allows nations that uphold it to become more stable, secure and prosperous. As President Obama said in Cairo, freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. These facts underlie our commitment to the cause of religious freedom. That’s why we make the issue of religious freedom a priority in our diplomacy, and this annual report is the centerpiece of our efforts." Full Text | Video

Historians Meet at The Hague To Discuss Transparency and Technology

2009-10-26T16:35:00+00:00

About the Author: Joseph Wicentowski serves as a Historian in the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Public Affairs.

A little known fact is that the United States was the first country to systematically publish its foreign policy documents, starting in 1861. In the years since that first volume of the Foreign Relations of the United States series was published, the Department's Office of the Historian has published over 450 books, totaling in the tens of thousands of archival documents, with thousands more released each year. One by one, other countries established their own official diplomatic document series, and in 1991, the editors of these series from around the world decided that it would be very useful to meet to share the results of their labor and discuss issues of common concern. Last week, the latest such conference -- the 10^th International Conference of Editors of Diplomatic Documents -- was held in The Hague in the Netherlands, with over 25 countries in attendance.

Three of my colleagues and I served as the U.S. delegation to the conference this year, and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting our counterparts from other countries. The attendees were a fascinating group, made up of historians, archivists, and ambassadors. I learned that some countries, like ours, have historical offices or archives within their foreign ministries, while some countries delegate the task of editing official documents to independent institutions. No other country has a law like ours mandating the production and standards of the Foreign Relations series (Pub. L. 102-138, title I, Sec. 198(a), Oct. 28, 1991), but delegates from all countries were equally dedicated to the principle that releasing these documents is a valuable public service. At a time when the idea of "transparency" and "open government data" are motivating governments around the world to release records faster and in more accessible forms, offices like mine and those of my counterparts overseas can thrive, because our fundamental goal is to inform citizens about the foreign policy decisions and actions that our governments have taken.

It was an exciting conference also for the historical content and the methodological insights we shared with each other. Each conference has a historical theme selected by the host country, and this year's theme -- international development aid -- was chosen by our hosts at the Institute of Netherlands History, who recently completed a major multi-volume study on the history of Dutch development aid. My colleague, Kristin Ahlberg, presented a paper on the evolution of U.S. food policy, focusing particularly on the Johnson Administration, and her findings dovetailed well with presentations from an interdisciplinary group of scholars of foreign aid from France, India, Germany, the Netherlands, and Tanzania.

The second theme running through the conference was how best to use digital technology and the world wide web to improve how we edit and publish diplomatic documents online. We have all long recognized the huge potential of the web for making government data accessible, but there are several key challenges for historians and editors in online publishing. For example, one of our traditional tools isn't easily adaptable to the web: the humble footnote. Footnotes are a key tool for annotating primary source documents and helping the reader put them in context, but they are surprisingly difficult to make usable online. Also, the web finally allows us to distribute scanned images of the original primary source documents, but search engines aren't able to penetrate the images to search the text well. Finally, how can we both publish online and in print, and not get too bogged down by publishing in multiple formats?

Given all the concern the delegates shared about these issues, I was happy to share the solutions to each of these issues that my office has recently developed. Using newly refined standards and technologies (namely, TEI, XQuery, and native XML databases such as eXist), we can now serve up footnotes and scanned images, publish online and in print, and make it all fully searchable. Our counterparts were eager to discuss our innovations, and we were happy to share our expertise. Perhaps it is fitting that the U.S., which started the first diplomatic history documents series in the 19^th century, is still plowing new ground in promoting government transparency and international cooperation into the 21^st century.

United Nations Day

2009-10-24T16:21:23+00:00

About the Author: Kurtis Cooper is a Press and Public Diplomacy Officer for the Bureau of International Organization Affairs.

October 24, 2009 marked United Nations Day, the anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations (UN) Charter on October 24, 1945. It has been celebrated as UN Day since 1948.

The United States and the United Nations marked the occasion in a number of ways. U.S. President Barack Obama issued a Proclamation earlier this week. Additionally, Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs Esther Brimmer held a number of talks about the unheralded benefits of the United Nations in both Los Angeles and San Fransisco, the UN's birthplace.

She also took a few minutes to discuss the benefits of membership in UN multilateral organizations during her last visit to UN headquarters.

Stories Help Sell the Foreign Service Exam

2009-10-21T18:03:08+00:00

About the Author: Paul Mayer serves as the Consular Section Chief at the U.S. Consulate General in Montréal, Canada.

In the end, it was the stories that they liked the best.

In mid-September, when my colleague Tracy and I walked over to McGill University to talk with American students about the Foreign Service Exam and life as a Foreign Service Officer, we weren’t sure what we would find. We knew that American students who were brave enough to “study abroad” (the Academy maintains that Canada is, in fact, a foreign country… ref. poutine, curling, and Celine Dion) would probably already be thinking of America’s role in an increasingly complex world. We also knew that students at one of North America’s most prestigious universities would come prepared with good questions. Fortunately, no one asked me to explain the Kyoto Protocol.

We arrived at McGill and walked by a crowded classroom, not wanting to disturb the lecturer, only to find that the students were actually waiting for us. Cha-ching! After we introduced ourselves and discussed the mechanics of registering for and taking the Foreign Service Exam, Tracy and I gave a brief summary of our job experiences and started sharing some reflections on Foreign Service life. Neither of us could recall sipping sherry and exchanging witty bon mots with Cabinet ministers. Rather, as a Human Rights officer in a poor, sub-Saharan African country, Tracy had seen and heard some truly ghastly stories. Less than two years after joining the State Department, she was the person who was writing them up for inclusion in the annual Human Rights Report.

For me, ten years after having been a first-responder consular officer at a horrible plane crash in Southeast Asia, it didn’t take much to remember or articulate the sense of obligation I felt toward the American citizens who had been killed, and to the families they left behind. It will take much for me to forget the scenes or feelings or smells of that day, though. To be fair, I also remember clearly another heavy burden placed on my shoulders when I agreed to be a judge at a national beauty pageant in a Scandinavian country. Foreign Service Officers serve their country in many different ways.

Neither of these stories are classic feel-good recruiting tales, but I’m pretty sure that the 60-70 McGill students packed into the room would have been suspicious if they thought they were being sold a bill of goods. When Tracy and I were asked to share more stories from our diplomatic assignments, we both smiled and thought, “Where do we begin?” I suppose you could say we were successful, because after 90 minutes, at least two-thirds of these busy, multi-tasking, iPhone wielding students were still in the room.

Montréal is one of the sites for the written Foreign Service Exam, and before we started the outreach program, organized by our Public Diplomacy Section, every one of our limited testing slots was already filled up. Following our meeting at McGill, and a second one at neighboring Concordia University, we opened up more testing slots, and we were pleased to see that they filled up, too. We can’t be sure if there was a direct correlation with our visits and the stories we’d shared, but we’d like to believe there was. The only definitive proof may come when a future FSO candidate expresses a desire to specialize in beauty pageant judging...

Partners in Peace: U.S. Initiative Trains and Equips Nearly 87,000 Peacekeepers

2009-10-21T17:16:50+00:00

About the author: Jennifer Pulliam is a program manager for the Global Peace Operations Initiative in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.

We’ve received a lot of questions on our recent Dipnote posting on U.S. efforts to train and equip foreign troops to serve in international peacekeeping missions under our Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI), a few of which I’d like to share with you today.

What does GPOI do? How long has it been in operation?

Established in 2004, GPOI is a U.S. program primarily designed to assist with training and equipping military units deploying to peacekeeping operations. Through GPOI, we currently provide training to 56 partner countries around the world, about half of which are located in Africa. Among other accomplishments, we've trained nearly 87,000 troops to date, a high percentage of which have deployed to UN and regional peacekeeping missions.

“UN peacekeeping can deliver important results by protecting civilians, helping to rebuild security, and advancing peace around the world,” President Obama said September 24 when he and Secretary Clinton and U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice recognized the importance of peacekeeping in an event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“Over the last ten years, the demands on peacekeeping have grown, and operations have become more complex. It is in all of our interests to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these efforts,” Obama said. GPOI is part of this effort to ensure that we have sufficient numbers of well-trained peacekeepers available to respond to these needs and help create conditions for post-conflict recovery remain a priority.

What kind of training and equipment do you provide under GPOI?

The training we provide through GPOI depends on the requirements and requests of the participating partner country. Supported training spans a wide range of tasks, to include soldier skills relevant to peacekeeping operations, staff training for personnel who will work in mission headquarters, or courses for military observers in peacekeeping missions. As for equipment, it also depends on the requirements and requests of the participating country but can include a wide range of non-lethal equipment, such as uniforms, tents, generators, vehicles, etc.

Does GPOI provide support to regional organizations?

Through various support activities, GPOI seeks to enhance the capacity of regional and sub-regional organizations to train for, plan, deploy, manage, and sustain peacekeeping operations. In Africa, for example, we work very closely with the African Union and regional bodies such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to provide staff training and equipment such as communications gear and information technology, as well as supporting multinational peacekeeping exercises. GPOI has also funded training and the provision of equipment for African Union troops that are currently deployed in Somalia.

How are GPOI programs linked to capacity building activities in other G8 countries?

GPOI program managers coordinate closely with G8 and other international contributors to coordinate efforts and promote complementarities among the many ongoing capacity building initiatives. In particular, participation in an annual G8++ Global Peace Support Operations Capacity Building Clearinghouse is designed to enhance cooperation and avoid redundancies to maximize program outcomes. Through GPOI, the United States also partners with other G8 countries. For example, the United States and Italy have partnered to operate an international “train the trainer” center for stability police units that deploy to peacekeeping missions.

Does GPOI support Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) also operating on the ground in post-conflict countries?

NGOs also play a critical role in peace processes and are particularly essential for providing humanitarian assistance and rebuilding post-conflict societies. In general, GPOI doesn't provide assistance directly to NGOs, as our program is focused on enhancing the capabilities of military peacekeepers. But our programs often do include training for military troops to help them more effectively work with NGOs in a peacekeeping environment.

What are some of the challenges facing peacekeepers?

In terms of the troops we train, primary problems are often related to resource constraints and shortfalls ─ for example, often partner countries lack the equipment they need to train and deploy their troops. With respect to troops deployed to peacekeeping missions, they are often working in very difficult conditions ─ for example, poor infrastructure and insecure environments ─ that complicate their efforts to carry out their missions.

Overall, do you consider the program a success?

We do! The global demand for peacekeeping forces has increased substantially since the 1990s. The UN now has about 116,000 peacekeepers deployed around the world and expects this trend to continue. There are still significant gaps in international peacekeeping capabilities, and we are working hard with our partner countries to address these issues.

A Comprehensive Strategy for Sudan

2009-10-19T18:08:46+00:00

About the Author: Major General (Ret.) Scott Gration currently serves as the President’s Special Envoy to Sudan.

This morning Secretary Clinton announced the results of this Administration’s Sudan policy review, accompanied by Ambassador Rice and myself. The strategy is the result of months of serious and extensive deliberations and considerations of the complex challenges by the most senior levels of this Administration. It provides the integrated and comprehensive approach that the issues in Sudan require, and it is focused on achieving verifiable progress on the ground.

This strategy includes three primary strategic objectives: first, a definitive end to conflict, gross human rights abuses, and genocide in Darfur; second, implementation of the North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that results in a peaceful post-2011 Sudan, or an orderly path toward two separate and viable states at peace with each other; and third, ensuring that Sudan does not provide a safe haven for international terrorists.

To achieve these objectives, we are committed to using all levers of American influence. Fundamental to our approach is a policy of broad, deep engagement for lasting change on the ground . That includes engagement with the National Congress Party (NCP), the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Darfuri armed movements and civil society, as well as countries in the region and the broader international community.

Crucial to these efforts will be a frank dialog with the Government of Sudan about what needs to be accomplished, how the bilateral relationship can improve with verifiable improvements in conditions on the ground, and how strong pressures will be exerted on Sudan if conditions remain the same or worsen.

The situation is urgent. Time is short. Failure is not an option. The United States is committed to working for a sustainable, lasting peace in Darfur and full implementation of the North-South CPA. We are focused on verifiable progress on the ground. If you want to read more information about our new comprehensive strategy for Sudan, I encourage you to read Secretary President Obama’s statement Clinton’s remarks, and the public strategy document.

I thank you for your support, and encourage you to remain committed and involved on this critical issue. Thank you, Scott.

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Returns From Europe

2009-10-17T00:21:22+00:00

Interactive Travel Map | Text the Secretary Answers

About the Author: Ian Kelly serves as U.S. Department of State Spokesman.

We’re finally back home after a whirl-wind trip across Europe.

We started in Zurich, where Secretary Clinton and her counterparts from France, Russia, and the EU helped bring Turkey and Armenia together to agree to begin the process of normalizing relations. There are a lot of difficult, complex issues that have to worked out, but we are very pleased that the protocols were signed -- the Washington Post called it “a potentially historic deal” -- and now the parties can move on to the next phase of seeking ratification by their respective parliaments.

Next up was London, where Secretary Clinton, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband stressed their determination to stand together in the effort to build a global architecture of cooperation, and to develop the partnerships that are needed to meet today’s global challenges.

We left the United Kingdom for Ireland. In Dublin, the Secretary reaffirmed the strong partnership between our two nations, and thanked Ireland for pledging to commit 20 percent of its foreign assistance by 2012 to eradicating hunger around the world.

We headed north to Belfast, where Secretary Clinton addressed a full session of the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont and talked with business leaders about the investment opportunities created by peace. She reaffirmed the unwavering support of the United States for Northern Ireland’s peace process.

Finally, we traveled to Russia. In Moscow, Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister Lavrov reviewed progress in the Binational Presidential Commission. This is a framework established in July which help us look closely at how we can pursue practical, concrete results on issues ranging from nuclear security and energy efficiency to scientific cooperation, economic growth, and even sports. The Secretary also met with President Medvedev. Before leaving Russia, we visited Kazan, in Tartarstan. We were all impressed not only by the Kremlin built by Ivan the Terrible, but by the region’s high level of religious tolerance and interfaith understanding, as well as economic progress and stability.

Then it was back across the Atlantic, heading home. Another successful trip in the books.

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Unveils Walt Whitman Statue ...In Moscow

2009-10-16T22:51:22+00:00

Interactive Travel Map | Text the Secretary Answers

On October 14, Secretary Clinton helped unveil a statue of the American poet Walt Whitman at Moscow State University in Russia. The Whitman statue was conceived as a companion to a statue of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin that was placed on the campus of The George Washington University (GWU) in 1999. Both the University and the Pushkin statue are just a few blocks away from the U.S. Department of State headquarters in Washington, DC. To learn more about the impact of this kind of cultural exchanges, DipNote Bloggers spoke with GWU’s Professor Peter Rollberg.

DipNote Bloggers: Do cultural exchanges like this help foster international understanding and cooperation?

Professor Rollberg: The Pushkin monument is a symbol of the varied, continuing efforts to promote a better cultural understanding between the United States and Russia. It is also an inspiration for the many people who notice it on our campus, stop by, sit on one of the benches, and read the inscription. Many GWU freshmen who are unfamiliar with Pushkin and his legacy ask about Pushkin and are fascinated by the story of his short but rich life, his struggle for values such as honor and freedom, and his enormous output as a poet, prose author, and playwright. Of particular interest is Pushkin's African heritage of which he was proud: his great grandfather was an Abyssinian prince. On various occasions, I also have emphasized that Pushkin was a diplomat, too: his first job was at the Russian Department of State.

DipNote Bloggers: Do U.S. universities such as GWU benefit from links to international institutions and cultures?

Professor Rollberg: Here at GWU, my colleagues and I share in the conviction that a person cannot claim to be genuinely educated without exposure to foreign cultures, be it through literature, film, or music. Regardless of their major, students should develop a perceptiveness toward other nations and their cultural values, a respect for their great writers and artists. This perceptiveness will make their future dealings with foreign business people, diplomats and other representatives more trustful and mutually enriching.

DipNote Bloggers: Has the Pushkin statue become a fixture of the GWU campus over the last ten years?

Professor Rollberg: At the time of the monument's dedication, I chaired our Slavic Department and remember distinctly what a joy it was for faculty and students to welcome this statue to our campus, how much encouragement it gave our efforts to promote Russian language and literature here at GWU. The Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, was present, as was Ambassador Strobe Talbot and many other dignitaries. In my experience, the GWU student body has accepted the statue as one of our most distinct intellectual landmarks. We all are proud of it.

Peter Rollberg is Professor of Slavic Languages, Film Studies and International Affairs at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. His main field of interest is Russian literature and film.

AYM 2009: Viral Change, Growing the Movement

2009-10-16T22:32:22+00:00

About the Authors: Suzanne Hall, Public Diplomacy Advisor for Canada and Mexico in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and Tina Huang, U.S. Department of State Intern, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Office of Public Diplomacy.

What makes change? What can we do now? As citizens around the world tune in on live stream and Twitter, young leaders at the 2009 Alliance for Youth Movements are brainstorming the strategies of movement building against drug violence.

This second day of Summit activities focuses on movement building with panel discussions and breakout discussions among global changemakers on creating sustainable anti-violence initiatives via viral change. In a recorded video message, Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton conveyed to AYM 2009 participants in Mexico City, “You come from different cultures and countries and speak different languages. But you all share a common commitment to engaging with the world, to using every tool at your disposal to bring people together to solve problems. And that makes you the kind of leaders we need as we work to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the 21st century."

This morning, a lively panel discussion on building sustainable movements featured successful movement builders Felice Gorordo and Veronica Nur Valdés of Raices de Esperanza, Janessa Goldbeck of the Genocide Intervention Network, and Oscar Morales of Un Millón de Voces Contra Las FARC. Janessa Goldbeck, in sharing her own movement building experiences, said “Do something in your community that has an impact, then you can increase the impact."

Later in the day, Summit participants had the opportunity to look at case studies of viral change and movement building with Shubham Kanodia in the project of In Memory of All Those Who Died in the 26th-27th November Mumbai Massacre. Scott Heiferman, Founder of Meetup.com reflected “a leader inspires others to be a leader on their own and enables others to be powerful. They spark people to connect with each other and to be creative. That is the magic piece of sustainability.” Other speaker highlights included Natalia Morari of ThinkMoldova who shared her experiences about building Moldova’s Twitterrevolution and Sarah Cliffe, Special Representative/Director of the World Development Report 2011 on Conflict and Fragility.

Wrapping up two days of jam-packed discussions and exchanges in ideas and success stories, Jason Liebman, CEO, Howcast and David Nassar, Blue State Digital and new Executive Director of Alliance for Youth Movements, gave the closing remarks. And the movement continues.

International Counter Piracy Effort Confronts Criminals on the High Seas

2009-10-16T16:25:27+00:00

About the Author: Dave Foran is a Foreign Service Officer active in counterpiracy issues in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.

Piracy is a crime. It raises the cost of bringing goods and humanitarian aid into East Africa. While there are instances of piracy in many parts of the world, the majority of today’s pirate attacks are in the Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin, one of the world’s busiest seaways, crossed by more than 20,000 vessels a year. It raises the cost of bringing goods and humanitarian aid into East Africa. It endangers seafarers and fishermen trying to make a living. This area is the focus of U.S. and international counter-piracy efforts.

People often ask me, “why not just take military action against the pirates’ coastal havens like Lieutenant Stephen Decatur did on the 19th Century Barbary Coast?” It seems like the easy answer to some. It’s not. Pirates are intermingled in local communities. The dramatic April 12 rescue of Maersk Alabama Captain Richard Phillips aside, striking pirates, even if we are sure they are pirates, risks harm to innocents. As for targeting the “mother-ships” that service the pirates’ raiding skiffs at sea, these are generally pirated vessels that often have crew members as hostages.

The United States Government's role in this international partnership against piracy in the Horn of Africa is consistent with our traditional interest in ensuring freedom of navigation, safety of mariners, and protection of American citizens. The State Department works closely with its partners across the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration on our piracy policies.

The nice thing is that we don't have to fight alone. The United States has joined 44 other countries in the international effort to fight piracy off of Somalia through the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, along with eight international organizations (the African Union, the Arab League, the European Union, INTERPOL, the International Maritime Organization, NATO, the UN Secretariat, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime), and two major maritime industry groups, BIMCO and INTERTANKO, who take part as observers.

Piracy is perhaps the most well-recognized universal crime under international law and most states have domestic laws criminalizing acts of piracy. The Contact Group has successfully built on these basic elements to encourage international coordination among naval patrols, promote shipping self-protection measures, arrange for the prosecution of suspected pirates, and build the capacity of countries victimized by piracy to interdict and prosecute these maritime criminals.

There's more to do, but the Contact Group has already made significant progress. It’s been less than a year since we formed the Contact Group, but we’ve have seen the success rate of pirate attacks go from upwards of 60 percent in 2007 to less than 25 percent today. Moving forward, the United States encourages our international partners to join us in adopting four straightforward priorities:

Implement best management practices in commercial fleets to minimize their vulnerability to pirate attacks;

Discourage ransom payments to pirates;

Prosecute pirates in national courts when national ships and crews are attacked; and

Support capacity building programs to help countries in the region better prevent pirate attacks and to prosecute pirates and their enablers.

Piracy, like any other criminal enterprise, exists to make money for its perpetrators. The payment of ransoms attracts additional pirate acts, and is a major challenge to curbing piracy. One of the issues we are working on is trying to determine where the proceeds of ransom payments to pirates are going. We know that upwards of $50 million in ransom has been paid over the past few years. It is equally clear that the twenty-year old pirates are not pocketing all that money. We need to get a better handle on who are the people financing and enabling pirates.

Ultimately, the solution to piracy is on the ground in Somalia. Somali pirates are taking advantage of the country’s instability and its 1,500-mile coastline. In this respect, piracy is no different than another familiar criminal enterprise, drug trafficking. Drug traffickers take advantage of locals where they can grow drugs and move them to a market. They are taking advantage of the lack of rule of law in a large area to carry-out their criminal enterprise. International efforts against piracy are treating a symptom of Somali instability.

In addition to counterpiracy, the United States is also committed to parallel international efforts to stabilize Somalia, including through support to its internationally-recognized Transitional Federal Government (TFG). The foreign terrorist organization al-Shabaab represents a significant threat to the TFG and to the people of Somalia for the instability and destruction it brings to bear. If successful, stabilizing Somalia will go a long way towards helping to root out piracy. This will be a long and difficult process, but I believe we have a chance at succeeding,

World Food Day 2009

2009-10-16T15:43:57+00:00

Secretary Clinton recently provided a statement recognizing World Food Day October 16, 2009:

"On World Food Day, we join with others to reaffirm our commitment to work to combat one of today’s most critical issues—global hunger. More than one billion people—one sixth of the world’s population—suffer from chronic hunger. This year there are an estimated 105 million more people who are chronically hungry than last year. The world has taken notice. Now we must take action." Full Text | Global Food Security Page

Remarks With U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

Secretary Clinton Delivers Video Message for Alliance of Youth Movements Summit

2009-10-16T13:03:22+00:00

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recorded a video message for participants of the Alliance of Youth Movements Summit in Mexico City, Mexico October 16, 2009. Here is an excerpt from her remarks:

"You come from different cultures and countries and speak different languages. But you all share a common commitment to engaging with the world, to using every tool at your disposal to bring people together to solve problems. And that makes you the kind of leaders we need as we work to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the 21st century."

Read the Secretary's full remarks.

Spotlight on Change Agents: AYM 2009

2009-10-15T21:11:22+00:00

For Oscar Morales, Founder of Un Millon Voces Contra Las FARC in Colombia, a peaceful challenge against crime and violence is only a sms away. One text, one click, one million mobilized in a collective voice for positive change. From cellphones to virtual communities, young leaders are creating onramps for millions of citizens to engage against narco-violence in their backyards, cities and nations. And this is only the beginning. From October 14th to 16th, over 100 young leaders, entrepreneurs, policy makers and academics from over 20 countries spanning from Lebanon to Brazil to Sri Lanka gather in Mexico City for the 2009 Alliance for Youth Movements (AYM) Summit to explore ways to advance grassroots movements seeking positive social change through 21st century technology and tools.

This morning, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual, U.S. Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero and Mexican Secretary of Government Fernando Francisco Gómez Mont Urueta ushered the opening day of the AYM 2009 Summit addressing young leaders working to end violence throughout Latin America and around the world. Katie Dowd, State Department New Media Advisor, commented, “I hope these young leaders can empower this generation and generations to come to continue testing the boundaries of technology to effect social change.” Following the opening remarks, Alejandro Marti of SOS Mexico and Elias Kuri of Iluminemos Mexico took the podium and shared their success stories as pioneers of citizen participation and mobilization for peace and security in Mexico. Lee Brenner of Fast Forward Group added, “Bringing together some of the leaders and innovators in social media and social change is inspiring, and it helps develop the creative juices that can make real change!”

Today’s events featured a plethora of panel discussions on new media technologies to amplify the cause, the role of 21st Century women leaders, social media and good governance, and social media as a tool to promote human rights. Panelists included young leaders and entrepreneurs who have become the global agents in the technological pathways toward peace-building and social change. For Rodrigo Nogueira of Viva Favela, an AYM delegate from Brazil reaching out to kids living in the favelas (slums), “Last night and today, I have met people from around the world who all share the same passion. I thought I was alone. AYM offers the chance to empower people to produce changes in real life, not virtually.”

AYM 2009 is sponsored by Causecast.org, Facebook, Gen Next, Google, Hi5, Howcast Media, MTV, MySpace, PepsiCo, Univision Interactive Media, Inc., the U.S. Department of State, WordPress.com and YouTube.

You can watch the live streaming video as key speakers at the AYM Summit address some of the pressing issues of today and answer your questions. Follow participants and speakers throughout the day on Twitter with #aym09. Log on and join in. More updates to come.

Travel Diary: Secretary of State Visits Kazan, Crossroads of East and West

2009-10-14T17:06:32+00:00

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About the Author: Special Representative Farah Pandith is the Special Representative to Muslim Communities.

On Wednesday, Secretary Clinton visited the ancient Kazan Kremlin in the Republic of Tatarstan, the center of Muslim education, culture and faith in Russia. She met with local officials and held discussions with religious leaders to learn more about Kazan’s experience in fostering mutual respect and promoting interfaith understanding.

With large Muslim and Orthodox Christian communities, Kazan is a model of ethnic and religious diversity and a powerful example of mutual respect among people of different backgrounds and faiths. It is home to the Russian Islamic University, the Kul Sharif Mosque, the largest in Eastern Europe, and also a 16th Century Annunciation Cathedral. The Kazan Kremlin was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible (1547-1584), and the fortress is built on an ancient site that dates from the Muslim period of the Golden Horde in the 13th Century. Legend has it that the last queen of Kazan leapt to her death from the Suyumbika Tower as Moscow’s forces retook Kazan. Today this region has become one of the most developed areas in Russia, and the Tatarstan government claims the lead in the number and diversity of religious organizations in Russia.
Many people do not realize just how diverse Muslim communities around the world are. According to a report published last week by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, about one-fifth of the world’s Muslims live as religious minorities in their home countries. Russia, for example, is home to almost 16.5 million Muslims.

I spent the past week traveling through Nigeria and Kazakhstan meeting with civil society leaders, students, government leaders, journalists, and scholars. Both Nigeria and Kazakhstan are home to historic Muslim communities and a tradition of respect for religious diversity. (Muslims make up about half the population in each country.) Just this week in Astana, Kazakhstan, I saw an inter-faith center that is home to the "world’s religions," symbolizing the importance Kazakhstan places on mutual respect. Last week in Kano, Nigeria, where Islam has been part of the community since the 1400s, the people I spoke with talked about their excitement that America recognizes how critical it is that we learn from each other. In almost every meeting, we talked about the importance of building mutual respect for each other regardless of faith, ethnicity, or background. Without respect and partnership, we can’t build a strong future or inspire the next generation to work together.

The Secretary’s visit to Kazan helped highlight this important point: people of different faiths and ethnicities can cherish their heritage and still live and learn together to build a thriving economy and a bright future.

Travel Diary: Russians and Americans—So Far Apart, Yet So Alike

2009-10-14T12:33:22+00:00

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Secretary Clinton recently provided remarks at the unveiling of the Walt Whitman Monument in Moscow. The Secretary said:

"I think that both the mayor and Minister Lavrov and Jim Symington have very well said the significance of the placement of this statue here today of Walt Whitman. It is reciprocal for the statue 10 years ago of Alexander Pushkin that was placed on the campus of The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., very close to the White House and the State Department.

I agree with Minister Lavrov that just as Pushkin and Whitman reset poetry, we are resetting our relationship for the 21st century. And that relationship is not just between our two governments, but most importantly, it is between the Russians and American people. Whitman recognized that we have so much in common, and if I could, I just want to draw your attention to the quote that was chosen that is on the base of the sculpture. And here is what it says: “You Russians and we Americans, so far apart from each other, so seemingly different, and yet in ways that are most important, our countries are so alike.”

Read the Secretary's full remarks or more about her trip to Europe.

Read the previous Travel Diary entry.

“Tech.Del” to Mexico: Engaging Youth, Transforming Communities

2009-10-14T09:51:22+00:00

About the Authors: Suzanne Hall, Public Diplomacy Advisor for Canada and Mexico in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and Tina Huang, U.S. Department of State Intern, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Office of Public Diplomacy.

Picture this: a thriving community arts center in the heart one of Mexico City’s at-risk neighborhoods; a peaceful, neutral space for young people to heal, learn and grow; and arts and communication classes inviting students to connect, express and rebuild. In Iztapalapa, Mexico City—a working-class borough home to over 1.8 million Mexicans—this is not merely a vision, but a nine-year-old reality. Since 2000, Fabric de Artes de Oriente (FARO de Oriente) has become a grand-scale community center offering youth of all ages creative alternatives in the form of visual arts, dance, theater, music and radio. On October 14, 2009, representatives from U.S. new media and telecommunications firms as well as the policy making and academic communities took an in-depth look at FARO de Oriente as a model for how arts and technology can equip Mexican citizens, and especially youth, with a better awareness for the positive, constructive alternatives that exist amidst their struggle against narco-violence. This team of leaders and scholars are part of the second State-sponsored “Tech.Del” to dialogue about the role of new media and technology in helping Mexican citizens more effectively engage against drug cartels.

Kicking off the October “Tech.Del,” Ambassador Pascual welcomed the delegation and honored guests yesterday evening at his Mexico City residence. Throughout the evening, media and telecommunications pioneers and student leaders across Mexico joined the “Tech.Del” in conversations about citizen and youth engagement via new media innovations. Roberta Jacobson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Mexico and Canada remarked, "We are excited and grateful to be partners with a group of young American entrepreneurs who have offered their time and expertise to Mexican citizens and groups peacefully challenging organized crime to connect and amplify their voices and reject of drug violence."

Early this morning, the “Tech.Del” continued their discussions on media and technology with a series of high level meetings with Rafael Fernandez de Castro, Presidential Advisor to President Calderon on International Affairs and Competitiveness along with key Mexican officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of Government, Office of the Presidency, Mexican Institute of Youth, and General Secretary of the Center for Investigation and National Security. The focus of the discussions was on ways in which media innovations can enhance citizen awareness and build cultural peace. Jason Liebman, CEO of Howcast and member of “Tech.Del” commented about the challenges of social media adoption, “It has been surprising to learn how prohibitive access to the internet and SMS is for Mexican citizens. The costs on the ground in Mexico are three to five times more than in the U.S.” Another member, James Eberhard, CEO of Mobil Accord said, "We're seeing lots of challenges. It's clear that we need to find a Mexican leader that can mobilize the youth who are hungry for direction."

The delegation’s visit to FARO de Oriente later in the day marked one of the major highlights of the trip. Meeting the staff and students of this busy community center, which serves over 150,000 youth annually, the “Tech.Del” listened to the stories of struggle and triumph that community members faced and how art and technology have been a part of their healing and empowerment as residents of Iztapalapa. Follow the “Tech.Del” visit on Twitter @farodeoriente.

After the visit to Iztapalapa, an afternoon of meetings followed with key industry leaders and stakeholders including a lunch meeting with founders of bourgeoning new media tools against crime and violence, directors of internet and telecommunications firms and Mexican scholars on human rights and civic engagement. Also, stay up-to-date with “Tech.Del” throughout the day on Twitter using the #mextech hashtag.

Following the day-long “Tech.Del” meetings, members of the delegation will join other world leaders and youth activists for the second annual Alliance for Youth Movement conference. Stay tuned for more updates.

Travel Diary: Secetary Clinton Tours Boeing Design Center in Moscow

2009-10-13T23:03:22+00:00

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Secretary Clinton recently provided remarks following a tour of the Boeing Design Center in Moscow. The Secretary said:

"I’m excited about the new Dreamliner. I can’t wait to see it in action for myself. But we also can maybe celebrate some of the less tangible results of this partnership. The engineers who work here – 1,400 of them – not only to help drive technological progress, but they promote shared prosperity for each of our nations, and indeed for the world as a whole. The contributions go way beyond building and improving Boeing aircraft. It really fosters collaboration that ranges from joint ventures, some of which are explained in the promotional material, as well as the titanium-focused work that has been done here. Russia produces the titanium for these airliners....

But these knowledge-based jobs, particularly in a country like Russia which has such a highly educated population, and particularly in the sciences and engineering, really in the STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering, mathematics – it’s just a treasure trove of potential for the Russian economy. I’ve heard President Medvedev talk about how he wants to see the Russian economy become more knowledge-based. The commodities are a great engine for the economy, but I think he’s really looking to the future when he talks about more knowledge-based jobs like those that we see here. It does provide a win-win. The bi-national commission that we’ve set up is looking for win-wins. We just don’t think that zero-sum politics works in the 21st century. We’re too interconnected, we’re too interdependent. So we’re going to see a lot of cooperation that comes out of a better understanding and appreciation of what each of our countries can contribute."

Read the Secretary's full remarks or more about her trip to Europe.

Read the previous Travel Diary entry.

Travel Diary: U.S. Stands Firmly by Side of Russian Civil Society Leaders

2009-10-13T21:46:22+00:00

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Secretary Clinton recently provided remarks during a reception for civil society leaders in Moscow. The Secretary said:

"We believe that Russians yearn for ...rights, just as Americans and people around the world. I have been encouraged by President Medvedev’s statements towards a more open society and his stated commitment to combat corruption and strengthen the rule of law. He has also acknowledged that Russia’s prosperity is dependent upon responsible governance, because stable economic development is impossible without accountable, transparent governance.

We believe that innovation and entrepreneurship can only thrive in an open society where knowledge and ideas are exchanged as freely as goods and capital. Just as competition in the marketplace fuels growth and better products, political competition produces more accountable governance and better political solutions.

These are causes that many of you have championed for years, and they are vitally important to Russia’s future. A society cannot be truly open when those who stand up and speak out are murdered and people cannot trust the rule of law when killers act with impunity. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 18 journalists have been killed in Russia since 2000 in retaliation for their work. But in only one case have the killers been convicted. When violence like this goes unpunished in any society, it’s undermining the rule of law, chills public discourse, which is, after all, the lifeblood of an open society, and it diminishes the public’s confidence and trust in their own government."

Read the Secretary's full remarks or more about her trip to Europe.

Read the previous Travel Diary entry.

Travel Diary: Transforming the U.S.-Russian Relationship

2009-10-13T20:16:40+00:00

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Today, Secretary Clinton met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. The Secretary said:

"I want to start by thanking Minister Lavrov for hosting me in Moscow today, along with my delegation. We have had a very productive and comprehensive set of discussions. This follows on the work that we began over the last many months to transform the relationship between our two countries, to find common ground wherever we can, to further mutual respect and mutual interests, without in any way accepting the fact that there are not differences between us, because there are. But to talk about those differences, to share them openly, we think is also an important part of this new aspect to our relationship.

Just three days ago, Sergey and I were in Zurich working together to bring about the signing of the historic protocols between Armenia and Turkey regarding normalization of relations. Both of our countries strongly support this process, and it’s another example of how we are working together.

We believe that the framework that has been established that was announced by our two presidents during the summit here in Moscow in July is extremely important. We have agreed to discuss a broad range of important matters in these 16 working groups, which, as Sergey has said, have begun their important consultations. We know that this takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. It requires building trust and confidence between us. But I am very convinced that this is important for each of our nations and our people, and indeed, the world."

Read the Secretary's full remarks or more about her trip to Europe.

Read the previous Travel Diary entry.

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Visits Dublin’s Grafton Street

2009-10-13T17:36:40+00:00

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About the Author: Meghan O'Toole serves as Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Dublin.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took time to stroll through one of Dublin’s most iconic streets on Sunday, accompanied by Ambassador and Mrs. Rooney. Dublin shoppers along the pedestrian corridor of Grafton Street were surprised to see Secretary Clinton arrive fresh from her meetings with Taoiseach Brian Cowen and President Mary McAleese.

The Secretary posed for pictures with families and some fellow Americans who were visiting Dublin. “We’re from New Jersey!” one couple shouted before the Secretary smiled and gave them enthusiastic thumbs up. The crowd moved with the Secretary towards Bewley’s Café where she ordered a coffee to go. The cafe buzzed with delighted customers who had just settled in for an uneventful cup of coffee before heading off into the crisp evening. The second story window seats at Bewley’s proved to be the ideal spot for people watching when the Secretary and her entourage gathered below. Customers old and young pressed their faces to the glass, and seemed unsure whether to run downstairs and join the crowd or stay seated upstairs for the birds eye view.

The Secretary then walked up Grafton Street and turned off on Harry Street for a stop at McDaid’s pub, a favorite haunt for many Irish literary figures. The busy pub welcomed the Secretary with a surprised and enthusiastic ovation. As she sipped a half pint of Harp Lager, Secretary Clinton spoke with renowned Irish broadcaster George Hook of Newstalk Radio’s "The Right Hook," and discussed world issues from the global economy to the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Young mothers held their children above the crowds outside of McDaid’s and one told her son to “look for the lady in the yellow scarf!” The crowd shifted back to South Anne Street where Secretary Clinton warmly thanked Ambassador and Mrs. Rooney. Onlookers continued to cheer and snap pictures on their cell phones as the lady in the yellow scarf, Secretary Clinton, departed for Dublin Airport and concluded her first official visit as Secretary of State to Ireland.

Read more about the Secretary's trip to Europe or the previous and next Travel Diary entries.

Travel Diary: A New Start

2009-10-13T14:48:40+00:00

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About the Author: Ellen O. Tauscher serves as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.

On Sunday, I flew to Moscow to join Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and hold discussions with our Russian counterparts on the full range of arms control, nonproliferation, and missile defense issues, including a new strategic arms reduction treaty to replace the current START Treaty.

For almost fifteen years, START, which expires on December 5, 2009, has substantially reduced Cold War nuclear forces, institutionalized predictability into our nuclear relationship with Russia, and allowed both sides to monitor and verify each other’s nuclear forces.

Without a new treaty, these advantages would be lost.

President Obama and President Medvedev directed negotiators to work out a legally binding and effectively verifiable agreement that would reduce delivery vehicles and warheads to levels below those contained in the START Treaty and the 2002 Moscow Treaty – before December 5.

A new START Treaty would enhance our national security and maintain a level of transparency in the strategic environment between the United States and Russia. Moreover, reducing our arsenals would in turn reduce the likelihood that nuclear warheads and technology would fall into the wrong hands. After all, the United States and Russia possess about 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.

Achieving this objective would be another important milestone in nuclear disarmament. President Obama and Secretary Clinton regard a new START Treaty as a down payment for future reductions, and we hope those talks would begin immediately following ratification. We will continue to further our engagement with our friends and allies, as the United States leads the global effort in arms control once again.

In his remarks in the Rose Garden after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama reiterated his ambitious nuclear disarmament goal – to achieve the peace and security of a world free of nuclear weapons. A new START Treaty is the first step in that direction.

Read more about the Secretary's trip to Europe or the previous and next Travel Diary entries.

Travel Diary: Trade, Investment Linkages Benefit U.S., Northern Ireland

2009-10-12T17:42:40+00:00

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About the Author: Declan Kelly serves as U.S. Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland.

I am thrilled to tell you about my visit to Belfast, Northern Ireland today with Secretary Clinton. This is a particularly exciting time to be back in Belfast, as Northern Ireland stands at an important crossroads. Since May 2007, the Northern Ireland Executive has been reinstated under the process of devolution, which is a transfer of various executive powers to authorities in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is in a position to take control of its economic future, and has come a long way since The Troubles. As you can imagine, political and economic security are inexorably linked here. The investment climate will improve now as it did following the Good Friday Agreement and the cease-fires of the 1990’s, when the United States alone invested over $1 billion and created over 20,000 jobs. Maintaining the momentum of peace is absolutely critical to continued economic success.

This morning, the Secretary addressed the Northern Ireland Assembly at the Stormont, where she commended the people of Northern Ireland on their progress towards a lasting peace. Later, she joined a business roundtable discussion with Northern Ireland and American business leaders that I organized as Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland, a position to which I was appointed last month by Secretary Clinton. As the Economic Envoy, I am working to enhance trade and investment linkages between the U.S. and Northern Ireland – to the mutual benefit of all involved.

President Obama’s proposed Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth, outlined at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh last month, shows the United States Government’s commitment to improving economic opportunities all over the world. The world is facing the greatest economic challenges since the 1930’s, and we must all work together to overcome them. Northern Ireland, while it has suffered along with us, has faster growth than the U.K. average in employment, property prices, and foreign investment. There is much room for fruitful economic collaboration between the United States and Northern Ireland, and it is my job to see that it happens.

Today’s discussion, held at the beautiful campus of Queens University Belfast, was very fruitful. Movers and shakers from the business, entrepreneurial, and government sectors were chosen as counterparts to the working group formed during the Clinton Global Initiative last month. Today these two groups came together and got the ball rolling on mutually beneficial ideas and initiatives, particularly in the fields of higher education and technology. The goal is to improve Northern Ireland’s economic competitiveness, while benefitting the United States at the same time. Together, we will move forward on the road to economic recovery, and here in Northern Ireland – to peace and stability as well.

Read more about the Secretary's trip to Europe, her remarks following the business working group meeting at Queens University, or the previous and next Travel Diary entries.

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Addresses Full Session of Northern Ireland Assembly

2009-10-12T16:57:40+00:00

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Today, Secretary Clinton spoke before a full session of the Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast. The Secretary said:

"We meet at an important time in the history of Northern Ireland. In the 11 years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, you have traveled a long way together on the road to peace. Groups have laid down their weapons. Empty streets are now bustling with activity. And here, in this chamber, men and women who were once sworn enemies work side by side to secure the achievements of recent years, and to deliver a stable, prosperous future for the people you represent.

These accomplishments are remarkable, and a credit to you and to all those who have worked for peace, not only the leaders here at Stormont, but also Westminster and Leinster House. But most importantly, to the thousands of ordinary citizens, mothers and fathers, whose determination to end the Troubles made them fervent activists for peace.

At this time, we can recognize you have traveled a great distance. But you do not need me to tell you that your journey is not yet over. The promise of the Good Friday Agreement and the St. Andrews Agreement is not yet fully realized. And Northern Ireland is now facing a new challenge with the global economic downturn, which threatens some of the gains that you have made in the past decade.

The value of peace is not only the absence of violence. It is also the presence of new opportunities for investment and jobs, for education and health care, and political participation. So it is critical, in this moment of economic turmoil, to protect the progress you have already achieved, and to build upon it, to ensure that your people continue to enjoy the rewards of peace, and to embrace it for the long term.

Since this assembly was restored two-and-a-half years ago, this devolution has enabled you to work together to enact sensible, necessary reforms on everything from health to housing to environmental safety. No one ever said it was going to be easy. Of course it is difficult. It is the nature of democracy. It is not easy in any legislature, as I know from experience, under the best of circumstances. But in these circumstances, the work you have done is all the more extraordinary.

So, please know that the Obama administration and the United States is committed to helping you finish your journey to put far behind you the long years of division and conflict, to build confidence and trust across all communities and political parties, and to honor the hopes and sacrifices of your people by making whole and permanent Northern Ireland's emerging peace.

Now, we know what it means to be supportive. And we also know what it means to meddle. And I want to be clear that when it comes to the important issue of devolution, of policing and justice, that is a decision for this assembly to make. But as a true friend -- and I thank the Speaker for his kind comments -- my hope is that you will achieve what you have set out to do, to complete the process of devolution. And I am confident that, together, you can go forward and harness the exciting, human, and economic potential that Northern Ireland has to offer.

I know there has been considerable effort in recent weeks to address concerns, and work toward a resolution during this important period. There have been many moments in Northern Ireland's peace journey when progress seemed difficult, when every route forward was blocked, and there seemed to be nowhere to go. But you have always found a way to do what you believed was right for the people of Northern Ireland. As Scripture urges us, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

And today, Northern Ireland stands as an example to the world of how even the staunchest adversaries can overcome differences to work together for the common and greater good. So, I encourage you to move forward now with that same spirit of unstoppable grit and resolve. And I pledge that the United States will be behind you all the way, as you work toward peace and stability that lasts."

Read the Secretary's full remarks, her joint press statements with First Minister Robinson and Deputy First Minister McGuinness or more about her trip to Europe.

Read the previous or next Travel Diary entry.

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Meets With the Taoiseach

2009-10-12T00:54:40+00:00

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Today, Secretary Clinton met with Irish Prime Minister, or Taoiseach, Brian Cowen at Farmleigh House in Dublin. The Secretary said:

"Taoiseach, thank you so much. And it’s wonderful to be back here in Dublin. I wish to congratulate your government on the resounding vote in the Lisbon treaty referendum, and also to thank you for the kind words about President Obama. I know our commitment to working with like-minded friends, such as Ireland, means that we’ll be seeing a lot of each other and consulting often about what more we can do to provide the conditions for peace, security, and prosperity.

I just came, of course, from a day yesterday in Geneva where the hard work of diplomacy and multilateral engagement was on display to try to work on another difficult conflict, but I think that’s what diplomacy and international relations calls for today. But there is no greater joy than to come back to Ireland to be in Dublin today. I said to Brian, I wish we could just sort of take a day off, wander around this beautiful park and enjoy some of the hospitality that I have experienced before. Bill and I feel such a special connection to Ireland and, of course, we are not alone – millions of Americans feel the same.

But it’s not only ties of family and culture and history and heritage. It is because we have built a strong partnership. Our diplomats and our aid workers collaborate together to resolve conflicts, fight hunger, poverty and disease, our businesses invest in trade to create new jobs and wider prosperity, education, innovation, and productivity have made Ireland a great place to do business, and Americans have leapt at the opportunity. At the end of last year, U.S. foreign direct investment in Ireland ran into the tens of billions of dollars per year.

Now, we know that we’ve had some challenging economic times. That has been apparent, both here in Ireland, the United States, and really around the globe. As we grapple with this global economic downturn, we are aware of the difficulties that people are suffering, people who are losing jobs, people who are unable to pursue their dreams. But Ireland has moved aggressively to stabilize its financial markets, to jumpstart its economy. And we will continue to work with our Irish friends because they understand that we live in an interconnected and interdependent world. It has been a hallmark of Ireland’s history. The Irish may have gone into the world as exiles and immigrants, but they also (inaudible) poets and speechmakers as entrepreneurs and innovators, and we see that still today.

I want to thank the Government of Ireland for your pledge to commit 20 percent of your foreign assistance by 2012 to eradicating hunger around the world, with the aim of cutting that number of hungry in half by 2015. As a people whose history is scarred by famine, the Irish understand that this is an extraordinary global challenge that requires a commitment of that measure.

I was very pleased that Minister Power participated in our hunger summit at the UN during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Ireland, truly does, punch above its weight on the big issues of the day from climate change to nonproliferation. Irish peacekeepers have saved lives and provided crucial stability in troubled lands from Kosovo to Liberia to East Timor. And we are grateful for their service and their sacrifice.

Here in Phoenix Park, whose name symbolizes renewal, I am absolutely in accord with former President Kennedy, that Irish future is as promising as your past is proud. And it is a future that we will share together. I will leave here to go to Belfast to continue work that our countries have done together, that I have been very committed to for a number of years, in which the people of the north, as well as the entire island, have made so much progress on together.

So thank you again, for welcoming me here."

Read the Secretary's full remarks with the Taoiseach or more about her trip to Europe.

Read the previous or next Travel Diary entry.

Travel Diary: U.S., U.K. Working To Advance Shared Values

2009-10-11T18:59:40+00:00

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Today, Secretary Clinton met with U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband at Carlton Gardens in London. Following their meeting, Secretary Clinton said:

"[F]irst, let me just underscore how grateful I am for this opportunity to reaffirm the historic importance of the special relationship between our two countries. I have many fond memories of this beautiful city from visits over the years. And I remember well something that one of my personal heroines, Eleanor Roosevelt, said back in 1942, when she had come to visit both American and British troops, including her own son. And she spoke of that special bond that is formed between nations when their ideals and objectives coincide. That is still the case today. And both our ideals and our objectives on a broad range of challenges and opportunities that we see in the world give us the chance to continue to forge a better future for the people of our two countries.

The international agenda is broad and deep. And the United States and the United Kingdom are partners, working to advance our shared values on every front, from rebuilding the world economy, to combating climate change and fighting hunger, to facing down the threats of nuclear proliferation and violent extremism, to helping advance a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. We stand shoulder to shoulder in the effort to build a global architecture of cooperation, and to develop the partnerships that are needed to meet these global challenges.

So, as the foreign secretary said, we have had a wide ranging discussion today, but we have had many such discussions over the last nine months, my tenure as Secretary of State.

British leadership was pivotal in the run up to the historic Security Council session chaired by President Obama that unanimously adopted Resolution 1887, and committed us to work toward a world without nuclear weapons. British leadership is important to the P5 Plus 1 process, as we work together to press the world's great concerns about Iran's nuclear programs.

We agree that the P5 Plus 1 meeting in Geneva was a constructive beginning. But it must be followed by action. Words are not enough. And we are speaking with a single voice, and delivering a clear message to Iran: The international community will not wait indefinitely for evidence that Iran is prepared to live up to its international obligations.

We also had an opportunity to discuss the ongoing review of our overall efforts, both civilian and military, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I again expressed my admiration for the incredible courage and commitment of the British troops who are serving in Afghanistan. We are deeply grateful for their service, and we honor their sacrifice. And both of our nations are committed to the cause in Afghanistan.

We understand how difficult this is, but we have no doubt that we must be both committed, and demonstrate leadership necessary to achieve our goals. At the same time, we are working to support the democratically elected government of Pakistan in its efforts to confront violent extremism, and to assist the people whose lives have been disrupted by that conflict. We want to help the Pakistani people and their government improve in the delivery of services. We share the same goals for the region that is affected by so much violent extremism, mainly, a peaceful and prosperous future for the people who live there.

And finally, as the foreign secretary said, we discussed the peace process in Northern Ireland, where I will be traveling later today. This remains an issue of great importance for both of our countries, and we are committed to seeing the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement, and a lasting peace in Northern Ireland that brings the benefits of peace to the people.

We always have a full agenda. We never have enough time to discuss everything that is on our minds. But it is a personal pleasure for me to be working with Secretary Miliband. So I thank you again for hosting me today, and I look forward to the work ahead."

Following Secretary Clinton's remarks, she and Foreign Secretary Miliband spoke with the press about Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. Read their full remarks or more about Secretary Clinton's trip to Europe.

Read the previous or next Travel Diary entry.

Travel Diary: Armenia and Turkey Sign Protocols

2009-10-11T14:40:40+00:00

Interactive Travel Map | Text the Secretary Answers

Yesterday, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu signed protocols to establish diplomatic ties and to reopen the border between their two countries. Secretary Clinton said:

"We had a good night in Zurich, watching the signing of the protocols between Turkey and Armenia. And now the process continues. We, obviously, are committed to doing everything we can to build on the milestone that was reached today, but it's challenging. And there is a lot of very difficult, complex issues that have to continually be discussed and worked out. But I am very pleased that we were able to get the protocols signed, and now we move on to the next phase of this."

Following the signing, the Armenians and Turks will submit the protocols to their respective parliaments for approval. For more information, the Secretary gave a readout of the ceremony while she was en route to London and a senior State Department official provided background in advance of the Secretary's trip to Europe.

Read the previous or next Travel Diary entry.

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Departs for Europe

2009-10-10T03:05:40+00:00

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About the Author: Ian Kelly serves as U.S. Department of State Spokesman.

The U.S. Air Force Boeing 757 that carries Secretaries of State on their travels has just taxied down the runway, and we are officially on our way to Zurich, London, Dublin, Belfast, Moscow and Kazan.

The Secretary’s first stop will be Zurich, where she will attend the signing of two protocols between the governments of Turkey and Armenia. These signings are a historic step for both Turkey and Armenia towards normalization of their relations. The Secretary has been closely engaged with the parties to move this along, and we will remain prepared to work closely with both governments in support of this process.

Secretary Clinton will then travel to London, where she will discuss a range of bilateral and transatlantic issues, including Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with senior U.K. officials. From London, she will travel to Ireland and Northern Ireland for the first time as Secretary of State.

During her visit to Dublin, she will meet with senior Irish leaders and reaffirm our strong commitment to and ties with Ireland. In Belfast, the Secretary will highlight our continuing commitment to political progress and economic development in Northern Ireland. The Secretary recently named a new Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly, and this reinforces U.S. commitment, along with our international partners, to ensure Northern Ireland’s economic recovery.

The Secretary will then travel to Moscow, where she’ll hold a series of meetings with Russian officials, including President Medvedev and Foreign Minister Lavrov. They’ll review progress and provide further guidance to our negotiators on a successor agreement to START. Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister Lavrov are the coordinators of a Bilateral Presidential Commission, established last July in Moscow. Together, they will review the progress of the commission’s various working groups.

These consultations are an integral part of our renewed partnership with Russia, one that we believe is already yielding results, from progress on a successor agreement to START to Russia’s agreement to allow the United States to transport military personnel and equipment across Russia in support of NATO-led operations in Afghanistan.

In my previous job, I served as Director of Russian Affairs here at the State Department, so I’m very much looking forward to returning to Russia with the Secretary. I’ve been to Moscow many times, but to really understand a country, one has to travel outside its capital city. I think this is particularly true of such a large country as Russia, if one wants to understand its rich vibrancy and diversity.

So, finally, the Secretary will travel to Kazan, a historic city and the capital of Tatarstan. I’ve never been to Kazan, but I know that it will show that the Russian Federation is a country comprised of many constituent parts. Many different ethnic and faith groups are represented in Kazan. The Secretary will hold discussion with local officials to learn more about Kazan’s experience in fostering tolerance and interfaith dialogue. She will solicit advice from religious leaders, young Muslims, participants in U.S. exchange programs, and civil society representatives on how to apply the lessons from their experience in other societies.

We’ll keep you posted on the Secretary’s travels here on DipNote, as well as on state.gov and Twitter. You can also follow her trip on our interactive travel map, featuring the Secretary’s latest video, photos and remarks. As you follow along, text the Secretary your questions about her travel. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas: The Collective Power of Women Drives Economic Growth

2009-10-09T21:51:40+00:00

About the Author: Irene Marr serves in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues.

This week, women from across North and South America — from Manitoba, Canada, to Santiago, Chile — gathered in Washington, DC, to participate in the first Pathways to Prosperity Women Entrepreneurs’ Conference, held from October 7 to 9. They met with Secretary Clinton, the inspiration for this conference, in the State Department’s Treaty Room. In her remarks, the Secretary discussed how empowering women was integral to progress, prosperity, and peace in every country, and praised the women for having the courage and commitment to work for a better future. This conference featured dynamic, innovative, and interactive programs linking early career entrepreneurs with more seasoned businesswomen. They are developing mentoring relationships and laying the foundation for an ongoing, sustainable businesswomen’s network, with the support of four women leaders from government and the private sector who are serving as Pathways Envoys. As one envoy noted, it is time to realize the untapped potential of the “collective power of women.”

In May 2009, Secretary Clinton relaunched the U.S. commitment to the Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas Initiative in El Salvador, with a new emphasis on advancing social justice and expanding the benefits of trade, open markets, and economic opportunity for all people in the region, especially groups that traditionally have been marginalized. From learning how to strike a work-family life balance while also generating income, to learning innovative approaches to branding, supply chains, quality control, marketing, and responding to customer feedback, the women received practical skills and knowledge to grow their businesses and experienced a rich and productive exchange and the benefit of “lessons without borders.” Expert panelists from the private sector, non-governmental organization community, and financial institutions conducted workshops on access to markets, finance, technology, and training in leadership skills. They also had the chance to showcase their products and services at an “expo” held at the conference, met with a variety of industry experts, and visited two local businesses run by women. One woman from Mexico reflected that although she felt that she was not at the same educational or experience level as most of the others, “we are all learning from this conference.” She left the conference inspired and committed to taking the lessons learned back to her community.

High-level State Department officials also played a prominent role in raising the profile of women’s economic empowerment. Ambassador Craig Kelly, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, energized the group on opening night as the keynote speaker, giving a succinct overview of the new Pathways vision and underscoring the importance of including women as we move forward toward greater security, economic strength, and regional partnerships. Anne-Marie Slaughter, Director of Policy and Planning, made a special connection with the audience in her remarks about how we in this hemisphere need to work together toward common goals and ideals, stressing the reality that we are “all citizens of the Americas.” Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer inspired the participants with her moving speech, which highlighted the importance of networking, mentoring, and “paying it forward,” in paving the ways to prosperity. She also shared some stories of her travels to Latin America in the 1990s with then-First Lady Hillary Clinton, when she saw firsthand how women with entrepreneurial spirit and aspirations were able to use small grants to transform their lives and those of their children. Under Secretary of Democracy and Global Affairs Mario Otero, who was born in Bolivia, closed the conference with words of encouragement, and highlighted the importance of access to opportunity and financial inclusion.

As I listened to women tell their personal stories, and watched them make new connections with other entrepreneurs, I could feel that there was true momentum building for a network that will extend well beyond the conference. These women were not only inspired by the speakers and moved by their meeting with the Secretary, they were also discovering the power of collective action. It was great to be part of this experience.

U.S. Seeks To Increase Capable, Willing, Democratic States

2009-10-09T20:53:40+00:00

Yesterday, Ambassador Susan Rice delivered remarks at Howard University. Ambassador Rice said:

"Today our world — the world you will inherit — is more interconnected than at any point in human history. Increasingly, we rise or fall together. If Somalia is forsaken, violent extremists can find their way to our soil. If horrific violence in Guinea or the Democratic Republic of Congo is left to rage on unchecked, all of our consciences are shamed. If disease festers anywhere, pandemics can affect us everywhere. We face an extraordinary array of transnational security challenges that cross borders as freely as a storm. By definition, they cannot be tackled by any one country alone, even one as powerful as our own.

But just as our perils are shared, so too are our opportunities. To seize these opportunities, the United States needs to help grow the ranks of capable, democratic states — states that can deliver on both their responsibilities to the international community and to their own people. Capable states are those that control their territory, govern justly, provide security and essential services, protect their citizens’ rights, and offer their people hope for a better future. When a country cannot — or will not — perform these core functions, when a nation is wracked by war, when a state becomes a shell, its people suffer immediately. But over the longer term, a fragile state can also incubate global trouble that can spread far beyond its borders.

It is not enough simply to build up the corps of capable, democratic states. We need states with both the capacity and the will to tackle common challenges. As we have been reminded in recent years, we cannot take that will for granted, even among our closest allies. If we want others to help combat the threats that concern us most, then we must help others combat the challenges that threaten them most. For many nations, these are first and foremost the things that afflict human beings in their daily lives: corruption, repression, conflict, hunger, poverty, disease, and the lack of education and opportunity.

When the United States joins with others to confront these challenges, it’s not charity. It’s not even barter. In today’s world, more than ever, what is good for others is often good for us too. When we manifest our commitment to tackling the threats that menace so many other nations; when we invest in helping protect the lives of others; and when we recognize that national security is no longer a zero-sum game, then we increase other countries’ will to cooperate on the issues most vital to us.

We build that will by demonstrating responsible leadership. We build will by setting a tone of decency and mutual respect rather than condescension and contempt. We build will by abiding by the rules we expect others to follow. We build will by pursuing pragmatic, principled policies and explaining them with intelligence and candor. And in the broadest sense, we build will when others can see their future as aligned with ours.

A fundamental imperative of U.S. national security in the 21st century is thus clear: we need to maximize the number of states with both the capacity and the will to tackle a new generation of transnational security challenges. We need a modern edifice of cooperation, built upon the foundation of responsible American leadership, with the bricks of state capacity and the beams of political will."

Read the Ambassador's full remarks here.