US Department of State: Engaging the Community on Foreign Affairs

Officials from the U.S. Department of State participate in a discussion with Haitian-Americans and members of the NGO community to discuss reconstruction and recovery efforts six months after the earthquake. Speakers: -Patrick Gaspard, Director, White House Office of Political Affairs -Julissa Reynoso, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Caribbean and Central American Affairs, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State -Jerome Oetgen, Public Affairs Counselor, Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Join the following U.S. Department of State Officials for a discussion on Jamaica and neighboring Caribbean countries: Julissa Reynoso, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Caribbean and Central American Affairs, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State Gonzalo Gallegos, Director of the Office of Caribbean Affairs, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State Robert Boncy, Regional Desk Officer, Office of Caribbean Affairs, Bureau for Latin America & the Caribbean, U.S. Agency for International Development The U.S. Department of State will host a conference call with members of the Caribbean Diaspora and the NGO community. Listen live here!

Students participating in the National Student Leadership Conference visited the U.S. Department of State for a briefing. William Burke-White, member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff addressed the students on U.S. foreign policy priorities. Dr. Burke-White is on leave from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he teaches international law and human rights and writes on international law and international relations.

On April 28, 2010, the Office of Public Liaison hosted a town hall meeting for NGO representatives, business leaders, and academic officials to discuss the White House Entrepreneurship Summit, which took place April 26-27 in Washington, DC. In addition to the in-person audience students and faculty from Babson College, Duke University, and the University of Central Florida participated in the discussion via video conference. This show features the audio from a panel discussion on cultivating grassroots partnerships. Panelists included Shelly Porges from the Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs, Robert Lalka from the Office of Global Partnership Initiatives, and Ari Alexander from USAID’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

On April 28, 2010, the Office of Public Liaison hosted a town hall meeting for NGO representatives, business leaders, and academic officials to discuss the White House Entrepreneurship Summit, which took place April 26-27 in Washington, DC. In addition to the in-person audience students and faculty from Babson College, Duke University, and the University of Central Florida participated in the discussion via video conference. The town hall featured remarks by Special Representative to Muslim Communities Farah Pandith and Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference Rashad Hussain, as well as E-Summit delegate Asim Siddiqui, a community organizer from the UK. Each emphasized the importance of U.S. engagement with Muslim communities and working together to build entrepreneurial partnerships. In his June 2009 Cairo speech, President Obama announced that the U.S. would host a Summit on Entrepreneurship to identify how we can strengthen ties between business leaders, foundations, and entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world. Co-hosted by the Departments of Commerce and State, the Summit brought together more than 275 participants from over 50 countries. The Summit highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship as a way of building relationships that lead to greater opportunity at home and abroad. A panel discussion followed this portion of the town hall, and is also available on our Blog Talk Radio station.

On April 23, 2010 members of the U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association visited the State Department in conjunction with their 19th biannual Washington Seminar. While at the State Department, Association members listened to a panel session on a range of issues covering the U.S.-China relationship. Julie Hutto, Economic Officer, Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs delivered remarks describing the broad overview of U.S.-China relations. Thomas Hamm, Public Diplomacy Coordinator, Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs discussed people-to-people exchanges between the United States and China. Peter Secor Chief, Energy and Natural Resources Division in the Energy Office, focused on economic issues impacting the U.S.-China relationship, particularly issues related to energy. And the final panel member, David Meale, Foreign Affairs Officer, Office of Monetary Affairs, highlighted finance issues impacting the U.S.-China Relationship. As one of the first U.S. organizations to participate in exchange programs with China when such programs began in the 1970s, group members were well informed and very interested in all aspects of U.S.-Chinese relations. The audio of the briefing is available here.

Kyle Scott, Director, Office of Russian Affairs, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, will discuss the United States' relationship with, and its foreign policy toward Russia. Tune in on Friday, April 16, 2010 at 1:00pmET to listen live!

On April 5, 2010, students from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland visited the State Department during a one-day trip to Washington, D.C. as part of a Politics of Development course. David Bame, Middle East Affairs specialist, discussed State Department priority issues with the students, including Smart Power, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Mr. Bame’s remarks are available on Blog Talk Radio. Listen to the discussion here.

Dan Krittenbrink, Director of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs at the US Department of State participated in the 2010 Great Decision Lecture series hosted by the Williamsburg League of Women Voters. Tune in for the conclusion of the show later this week.

On Monday, March 29, 2010, the U.S. Department of State will host a video conference discussion with members of the Haitian Diaspora from Boston, Miami,New York, and Washington, DC. Arturo Valenzuela, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, will give a status update on the U.S. Government’s response to the 2010 Haitian Earthquake disaster. We will stream the discussion live via blog talk radio. Tune in on Monday, March 29th at 4:00pmET to listen to the discussion. Note: We will not accept questions from callers on blog talk radio for this conversation on Haiti. However, we hope to host future episodes on Foreign Policy topics that interest you and hope to allow questions via blog talk radio then.