Posted by DipNote Bloggers on Jul 24, 2008 - 11:25 AM
![Secretary of State on Columbia [State Department image]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0724_rice_bh_m.jpg)
In any partnership, the coin of the realm is trust and responsibility -- in other words, saying what you mean and doing what you say. In the dramatic rescue on July 2 of 15 hostages, including three Americans, held captive for many years by guerrillas and terrorists, deep in the Colombian jungles, we saw a powerful reminder that the United States has no better partner in South America than the government and people of Colombia.
Colombia's leaders, especially President Uribe, had promised us that our three abducted citizens would be treated no differently than the many Colombian men and women who shared their fate. Colombia never wavered in this promise, and never cut any side deals with the guerrillas…
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Posted by DipNote Bloggers on Jul 18, 2008 - 04:44 PM
![Oil refinery is silhouetted against the setting sun April 24, 2008 in El Dorado, Kansas. [AP]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0718_oil4_bh_m.jpg)
How will America's diplomatic leverage be affected by the economic rise of others?
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Posted by Sean McCormack on Jul 23, 2008 - 08:41 PM
![Six-Party talks officials meet at ASEAN regional forum in Singapore July 23, 2008. [AP photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0723_asean2_bh_m.jpg)
Behind the Scenes: Secretary Rice Attending ASEAN Meeting in Singapore
About the Author: Sean McCormack serves as Department Spokesman and Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.
OK, a day of diplomacy in the books. After a non-stop series of bilats (diplo-speak for "bilaterals," meaning meetings between the foreign ministers and staffs of two countries) listed in my earlier…
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Posted by Sean McCormack on Jul 23, 2008 - 08:37 AM
![ASEAN meeting in Singapore. [AP]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0723_asean_bh_m.jpg)
Sean McCormack: Away From the Podium
About the Author: Sean McCormack serves as Department Spokesman and Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.
We are here in Singapore at the Shangri-La Hotel for the annual ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting. In the past, the meeting was perhaps most well known to the public for the skits or performances in which foreign ministers (and their delegations) performed acts of…
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Posted by DipNote Bloggers on Jul 21, 2008 - 03:08 PM
![Participants gather during the AGOA forum in Washington, DC July 15, 2008. [State Dept. photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0721_agoa_bh_m.jpg)
About the Authors: Lynn Butler and Kari Jaksa, summer interns at the U.S. Department of State, report on their experiences during the ministerial events of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum.
Most articles you will read concerning the Seventh AGOA Forum will be filled with facts and figures. As interns in the Bureau of African Affairs and volunteers at the forum, we had the opportunity to see a more human side of US-Africa trade relations.
For those of you new to the acronym "AGOA,"…
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