About the Author: Tom Weinz served as the dedicated Foreign Service Liaison Officer for Pacific Partnership 2010 and Pacific Partnership 2011. He now serves as the dedicated Foreign Service Officer for Pacific Partnership 2012.
“Prepare in calm to respond in crisis.” This was the motto chosen by Pacific Partnership 2012 (PP12) Commodore Jim Morgan as 200 participants gathered in San Diego on January 30 and 31 for the Mid-Planning Conference (MPC) for PP12. All four host nations -- Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Cambodia -- sent high-level delegations, as did many of our partner nations, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, and Thailand.
Pacific Partnership, created in response to the terrible tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people in 2004, will carry out its seventh annual mission from May to September of this year. The program was developed by the U.S. Navy, but has become a demonstrable example of the “whole of government” approach to American policy in the Pacific, including participation by the Department of State, USAID, NOAA, and… more »
Food security representatives from around the world are gathering here at the Department of State today to finish a two-day meeting of the signatories of the L'Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI). In 2009 at the G-8 Summit, global leaders, including President Obama, endorsed the L'Aquila Joint Statement on Global Food Security, agreeing to "to act with the scale and urgency needed to achieve sustainable global food security."
This marked a turning point for international efforts to achieve food security worldwide. Leaders committed to a take a comprehensive approach to ensure food security, coordinate effectively, support country-owned processes and plans, engage multilateral… more »
On February 3-5, 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is on travel to Germany and Bulgaria. In Germany, Secretary Clinton will participate in the 48th Munich Security Conference. This annual event brings together global leaders to discuss common security challenges. In her address to the Conference, the Secretary will reaffirm the fundamental importance of the transatlantic relationship and Europe's role as an essential partner in addressing global security challenges. While in Munich… more »
About the Author: Hannah Rosenthal serves as U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.
The weather in Paris today reflected the mood in UNESCO's conference room -- gloomy with a chance of sunshine. For just as the clouds were heavy, so too was the discussion of Holocaust education and how genocide and hatred still exist despite the global effort to teach the lessons of the Holocaust. And just as the sun poked through at the end of the day, so did the optimism that great minds can come together and tackle this problem.
Just last week, on January 27, the world remembered the victims of the Holocaust on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This week, while still remembering the victims, we sat down to discuss how to make "Never Again" a reality.
The morning started with a welcoming address from Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO. She highlighted the point that as the world becomes more interconnected and a new global history begins… more »
About the Author: Barbara De Rosa-Joynt serves as Division Chief for BioDiversity in the Office of Ecology and Conservation.
World Wetlands Day is here! Join us in congratulating our Wetlands Photo Celebration fan favorites -- with images and photographers from around the globe. We have four categories of favorites within our wetlands and tourism theme: plants, landscape, tourists, and wildlife. In the slideshow, you'll see a silt village in Ghana, a gorgeous river in West Virginia, a diver in the coastal wetlands of Mexico, and a beautiful damselfly in Cambodia. Also, many thanks to all of our wetlands tourists and photographers for the hundreds of photo submissions. You can learn more about our World Wetlands Day Photo celebration on our Flickr page. We salute the world's wetlands for their beauty and many critical benefits to humankind. Happy World Wetlands Day 2012! more »
DipNote is the official blog of the U.S. Department of State —a place to share stories, discuss experiences, and inspire new ideas on the important foreign policy issues of the day. more »
Across the eastern Horn of Africa, more than 11 million people -- a number greater than the populations of Houston and New York City combined -- are now in need of emergency assistance to survive. Learn more about the current crisis, including how you can help.
Secretary Clinton (Feb. 13): "It's important for us to be focused on what we can do to help the emerging democracies such as Tunisia, such as Egypt, such as Libya and others, and also to stay focused on the great needs of Syria." more »
Deputy Secretary Nides (Feb. 13): "State and USAID account for just 1 percent of the federal budget. ... Today, I want to explain how we use that 1 percent to make the outsized contribution to America's prosperity, security, and leadership." More on more »
![A Micronesian boy holds onto Project HOPE volunteer, Andrew Siler's hand, while Able Seaman Thomas Pearson of Royal Australian Navy, Lt. Michael Bloir, and Project HOPE volunteer Hanna Taylor puts four sticks in a Micronesian boy's leg at Nanpei medical civic action project site for Pacific Partnership 2011 in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, on July 9, 2011. Pacific Partnership 2011 visited the islands of Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the Federated States of Micronesia. [Photo By Kristopher Radder]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0203_pacific_partnership_m.jpg)
![A woman dries crop at a paddy field in Burha Mayong, east of Gauhati, India, May 26, 2011. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0203_woman_agriculture_m.jpg)
![Secretary Clinton boards plane in Beirut, Lebanon, April 26, 2009. [State Department Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_0716_clinton_departs_m.jpg)
![Samuel Pisar, right, a Polish-born Holocaust survivor and international lawyer, author and human rights activist, is made UNESCO Honorary Ambassador and Special Envoy for Holocaust Education by UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, in Paris, Jan. 27, 2012. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0202_holocaust_unesco_education_m.jpg)
