This week's "Photo of the Week" shows U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's signature in the guestbook at the Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata, India, on May 6, 2012. Secretary Clinton visited Kolkata during her recent travel to China, Bangladesh, and India.
While in India, Secretary Clinton also met with Indian External Affairs Minister Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna in New Delhi, where she said, "It's always a pleasure to be back in Delhi and to reaffirm what President Obama has called one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century. The United States and India are two great democracies with common values and increasingly convergent interests."
On May 7-8, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to India, making stops in Kolkata and New Delhi. While in India, Secretary Clinton met with state officials and other civil society organization representatives and spoke with Embassy New Delhi staff. She also met with Indian Government officials to review progress in the strategic partnership, looking forward to the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue to be held in Washington, D.C. on June 13 and… more »
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is on travel to China, Bangladesh, and India, departing Washington, D.C. on April 30.
In Beijing May 3-4, Secretary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner will join their Chinese co-chairs, Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, for the fourth joint meeting of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED). As with earlier S&EDs, this year's event will be a "whole-of-government" dialogue that brings together cabinet members and agency heads, as well as other… more »
The Asia-Pacific is home to half the world's population, more than half the world's GDP and nearly half of its trade. It is home to key allies and emerging powers. It is also home to booming middle classes and growing economic opportunities and is a region experiencing reductions in poverty without parallel in human history.
I recently traveled to the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, where I saw firsthand how, in the words of Secretary Clinton, "It's becoming increasingly clear that in the 21st century, the world's strategic and economic center of gravity will be the Asia-Pacific."
While this region is experiencing many gains, there are also many challenges, including arms proliferation, piracy, trafficking and smuggling, natural disasters and regional tensions between powerful countries. A top priority for our Bureau's engagement with partners… more »
About the Authors: Victoria Holt serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, and Annie Pforzheimer serves as Director for UN Peacekeeping in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs.
In countries recovering from war, it is normal to see UN blue helmeted military units -- they're big, obvious, and a reassuring presence.
But in Liberia, where President Johnson-Sirleaf was re-elected to a second term, that reassuring presence should be the uniform of a Liberian police officer -- with a blue helmet backing them up.
A long-term peace, I was reminded during my visit to Liberia in mid-March, doesn't come from soldiers, but… more »
About the Authors: Mark Templer serves as Science and Technology Officer and Noopur Singh serves as a Science and Technology Specialist at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India.
Indian officials cited U.S. science diplomacy as a reason why the 99th Indian Science Congress (ISC) chose to focus on women in science. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh emphasized the crucial role of science in India's development to the nearly 20,000 energized attendees, which included several Nobel laureates. India's Ambassador to the United States Nirupama Rao enthusiastically launched India's first Women Science Congress as a concurrent event.
In a striking parallel to Secretary Clinton's declaration that women's rights is essential to our national security, Ambassador… more »
Over the last decade, nearly one million Indian students were granted visas to study in the United States. Every one of them appeared before an American visa officer for an interview. If you have applied for a U.S. visa, you too have come face-to-face with one of us. Have you ever wondered who the visa officers are that will approve or deny your visa?
When I was a child, I did not dream of becoming a visa officer when I grew up. Even as a young adult, first majoring in literature and then taking up teaching, it did not occur to me that I would one day sit on a high stool behind a glass window at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and adjudicate visas. But for the last nine months, I have been doing just that -- almost 100 interviews a day.
I mention this by way of reminding you that visa officers are people too. We come from a variety of backgrounds. We once… more »
Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with 14 basketball coaches from India as they kicked off their Basketball Sports Visitor Program, a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs' (ECA) SportsUnited Division. These visitors, who coach predominately 8-16 year olds, are in the United States for 11 days to take part in basketball workshops with American athletes, participate in a Special Olympics clinic, and engage in activities focused on team building and youth development. The program also includes discussions on conflict resolution, sports fitness, and sports psychology. The group spent five days in Washington, D.C., where they had a "behind the scenes" tour of the Capitol, traveled to Mount St. Mary's University to observe a college basketball… more »
This week's "Photo of the Week" was taken by U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs' employee Beth Payne for the "Serving Abroad…Through Their Eyes" exhibition. The photograph shows a group of children playing soccer in the shadow of the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, India. The U.S. Department of State has a strong commitment to engaging young people worldwide and to using people-to-people diplomacy as a means to create opportunities for greater understanding, including using sports as a means of empowerment.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently named NBA Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the State Department's Cultural Ambassador. This week, Abdul-Jabbar kicked off his service in Salvador, Brazil,… more »
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 »
![U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signs the guestbook at the Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata, India, on May 6, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/potw_india_victoria_hall_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)
![Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro is greeted by naval officials during his visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on February 15, 2012 [U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0425_shapiro_m.jpg)
![United Nation's peacekeeping policewomen, from India, arrive at the airport in Monrovia, Liberia, Jan. 30, 2007. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0411_unmil_liberia_m.jpg)
![Commander Sunita Williams, an Indian-American astronaut, speaks via video conference with girls in New Delhi, India, September 2011. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0407_women_science_india_m.jpg)
![Student watches a screen in Bangalore, India on July 7, 2011. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0321_india_student_m.jpg)
![Basketball coaches from India stand outside the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., February 24, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0224_india_coaches_m.jpg)
![Children play soccer in the shadow of the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, India. [Photo by Beth Payne/U.S. Department of State]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0125_potw_west_bengal_edit_m.jpg)
