http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/index/ en U.S. Department of State 2009-11-20T23:01:01+00:00 About the Author: James Warlick serves as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs.

It’s a particularly exciting time at the Department of State, with the wave of energy and initiative brought by a new Administration, a new Secretary of State, and a new Ambassador to the UN.

In the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, we’ve been working closely with Secretary Clinton and her new team, including Ambassador Susan Rice, to emphasize America’s commitment to multilateral diplomacy and revitalizing American leadership at the United Nations.

That’s one of the reasons why, on Friday, I took a quick trip to Paris to meet with my counterparts from the other two members of the so-called P3, France and the United Kingdom. Like the United States, France and the U.K. are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (thus the P in P3), and we share with them and the other Security Council members the weighty responsibility of addressing challenges of international peace and security.

While in Paris, I had productive discussions on a number of pressing concerns, including piracy and lawlessness in Somalia, violence in the Sudan and continuing concern about Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities. We also discussed ways that we could make more effective UN efforts regarding peacekeeping and human rights.

Our European allies, both those in the P3, as well as others, will be valuable partners as we work toward our shared goals of addressing global challenges. Secretary Clinton has already met with or spoken to many of her counterparts from Europe and around the world, including hosting both French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

There are many issues before us, but with the collective efforts of our many partners, the United States and the United Nations can help advance our shared goals of eliminating poverty, disease and hunger, protecting the environment, and furthering democracy and respect for human rights. In addition, we look forward to strengthening ties to regional groups, the Non-aligned Movement, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and others.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/stronger_together/ 2009-02-09T18:41:36+00:00