![A shipment of flowers was the first commercial shipment from Colombia to the United States under the Free Trade Agreement between the countries, May 14, 2012. [U.S. Embassy photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0515_colombia_roses_m.jpg)
More: White House Blog | International Trade Administration Blog | U.S.-Colombia Trade Agreement
One and a half million Colombian flowers were sent to the United States on May 14 as the first shipment under the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, which goes into force today. The United States is the largest market… more »
Posted under: Western Hemisphere
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![Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson delivers remarks at the 42nd Conference on the Americas at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., May 8, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0508_jacobson_ascoa_m.jpg)
Economic recovery, at home, in Europe, across the globe, seems to be on everyone's minds these days. In the United States, the engine to power our economic recovery is fueled by human and physical resources right here in our own hemisphere. No one knows this better than the Council of the Americas. Since its founding in 1965, the Council's approximately 200 members account for a large percentage of U.S. investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. Their investment is linked by a shared belief that free markets and private enterprise, coupled with strong democratic governance, offer the most effective means to achieve regional economic growth and prosperity.
Yesterday, when we addressed the Council at their annual conference,… more »
Posted under: Western Hemisphere
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![Delegates at the 21st Session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna, Austria, April 27, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0501_justice_usun_viena_m.jpg)
Combating violence against migrants and migrant smuggling, setting minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners, and ensuring access to legal aid -- these are among the challenges that the international community addressed last week in Vienna, Austria, where approximately 800 delegates representing 111 countries and 38 nongovernmental organizations gathered for the 21st session of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (also known as the CCPCJ or Crime Commission).
Led by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau… more »
Posted under: Policy
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![Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer meets with Colombian woman entrepreneurs alongside the launch of WEAmericas. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0423_verveer_weamerica1_m.jpg)
From warm and walled Cartagena to temperate and sprawling Bogota, Colombia is a country whose 46 million people represent the very definition of a nation redefining itself. I recently had the opportunity to spend a few days in Colombia, where Secretary Clinton launched WEAmericas, a new initiative focused on women entrepreneurs -- one of the greatest drivers of economic growth. I also visited Bogota, where I spoke with government and civil society leaders on the global scourge of gender-based violence (GBV) and how we can better collaborate to prevent, respond to and address this issue.
More than 50 years of internal armed conflict has had a devastating impact on many of Colombia's women. Nearly 80 percent of those displaced by the conflict are women and children. Only a small number… more »
Posted under: Western Hemisphere
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We are about two thirds of the way through the United States' April Presidency of the UN Security Council. It has been quite a month. Syria, North Korea, Sudan and South Sudan, Mali, Guinea-Bissau -- the Council has been working furiously on a broad range of issues spanning the entire globe.
However, as Ambassador Rice has repeatedly… more »
Posted under: Behind the Scenes
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![Heads of State attend the opening ceremony of the sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, April 14, 2012. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0414_sota_colombia_m.jpg)
More: Trip Page | Interactive Travel Map | White House Blog -- President Obama at the Summit of the Americas
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton accompanied President Barack Obama for the Sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia from April 13-15. There, the U.S. delegation met with democratically-elected heads of state and government from throughout the Hemisphere to strengthen ties, expand… more »
Posted under: Western Hemisphere
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![U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird place a friendly bet between their two NHL teams, the New York Rangers and the Ottawa Senators, who are playing in the first round of the 2012 NHL Eastern Conference Playoffs, after their bilateral meeting during the G-8 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Washington, D.C., on April 12, 2012. [Photo by Keegan Bursaw of Embassy Canada in Washington]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0413_clinton_baird_m.jpg)
This week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hosted her counterparts for the G-8 Foreign Ministers Meeting at the Blair House in Washington, D.C. During the two-day meeting, the Foreign Ministers discussed a range of country-specific, regional, and transnational topics.
Secretary Clinton also had a chance to hold a series of bilateral meetings with her counterparts, including Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird. During their meeting, Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister Baird underscored that they share a lot in common -- except for whom they are supporting in the upcoming NHL playoffs. In this photo, Foreign Minister Baird presents Secretary… more »
Posted under: Photo of the Week
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![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)
More: Trip Page | Interactive Travel Map
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Colombia, Brazil, and Belgium from April 13 to April 19. Secretary Clinton will accompany President Obama for the Sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia from April 13-15. There, the U.S. delegation will meet with democratically-elected heads of state and government from throughout the Hemisphere to strengthen ties, expand partnerships, and continue progress in economic growth, social inclusion, and citizen security.
The Secretary will then travel to Brasilia,… more »
Posted under: Behind the Scenes
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![Panamanian National Police stand in formation during their change in command ceremony in Panama City, Panama on September 2, 2004. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0313_panama_police_m.jpg)
Cockroaches always scurry to the dark when discovered. Experts offer this analogy for why we see shifts in drug trafficking when one country or region successfully resists penetration by illegal trafficking networks. After some successes against these networks in Colombia and Mexico, Central America is seeing an increase in crime and violence which sadly inflicts unwanted pain and suffering on the people of the region. Narcotics traffickers seek to subvert or neutralize a country's judicial and security institutions to make the environment more conducive to their criminal activities. The U.S. government's Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) is working to shore up institutions and restore citizen security through programs aimed at improving the police, lawyers,… more »
Posted under: Western Hemisphere
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![Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama pose for a photo with the 2012 International Women of Courage Awards Ceremony winners: the Honorable Maryam Durani, Kandahar Provincial Council Member (Afghanistan); Major Pricilla de Oliveira Azevedo, police officer, Rio de Janeiro Military Police (Brazil); Zin Mar Aung, political activist and NGO co-founder (Burma); Jineth Bedoya Lima, investigative journalist (Colombia); Hana Elhebshi, architect and political activist (Libya); Aneesa Ahmed, gender-based violence (GBV) activist and former Deputy Minister of Women's Affairs (Maldives); Shad Begum, human rights activist and founder/executive director of Anjuman Behbood-e-Khawateen Talah (the Union of Women's Welfare) (Pakistan); Samar Badawi, political activist (Saudi Arabia); Hawa Abdallah Mohammed Salih, human rights activist (Sudan); and the Honorable Safak Pavey, Member of Parliament (Turkey), at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on March 8, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0309_IWOC_m.jpg)
This week's "Photo of the Week" comes to us from Michael Gross, who serves as the official photographer at the U.S. Department of State. In this photograph, Gross captures Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama with the 2012 International Women of Courage Award winners: Maryam Durani, Kandahar Provincial Council Member (Afghanistan); Major Pricilla de Oliveira Azevedo, police officer, Rio de Janeiro Military Police (Brazil); Zin Mar Aung, political activist and NGO co-founder (Burma); Jineth Bedoya Lima, investigative journalist (Colombia); Hana Elhebshi, architect and political activist (Libya); Aneesa Ahmed, gender-based violence (GBV) activist and former Deputy Minister of Women's Affairs (Maldives); Shad Begum, human rights activist and founder/executive director of Anjuman Behbood-e-Khawateen Talah (the Union of Women's Welfare) (Pakistan);… more »
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May 23: The State Department, through its office of the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), is pleased to announce $1.5 million in funding to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to support open governance and political participation in the Middle East and North Africa. more »
May 23: Today, Russia was invited to join the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) at a ceremony hosted by its parent body, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. ã more »