I stepped onto South American soil for the first time to participate in TechCamp Lima, the tenth such TechCamp. TechCamps are the pillar of Secretary Clinton's Civil Society 2.0 initiative and organized and run by the Secretary's Innovation team and the Office of eDiplomacy in close collaboration with local embassies.
Perched cliff-side, bustling Lima crouches over the Pacific teeming with a third of Peru's population. An incredibly diverse country, Peruvians point out its three major regions: coast, sierra, and jungle, each with starkly contrasting histories and culture. The NGOs participating in TechCamp Lima work in many sectors. However, they share the broader goal of bridging Peru's differences… more »
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 »
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 »
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 »
Olá from Washington, D.C.! We're home again after a busy and exciting trip to Brasilia and São Paulo.
Tuesday was the first-annual meeting of the Open Government Partnership, whose member countries contain a quarter of the world's population. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Rousseff of Brazil, President Kikwete of Tanzania, and Prime Minister Gilauri of Georgia all spoke on the impact that government transparency and openness can make on the global community. More than 800 representatives from over 60 countries and more than 200 civil society organizations were in attendance.
Later, I met with members of the Brazilian… more »
Each month, the U.S. Department of State honors an alumnus from one of our academic, cultural, sports, and professional exchanges in more than 160 countries. All of us at the U.S. Embassy in Nassau are so pleased that the Department of State selected Ms. Christine Campbell as April's State Alumni Member of the Month in recognition of her leadership and commitment to public service. Last night, we had an opportunity to applaud Ms. Campbell at a reception hosted by U.S. Charge d'Affaires John Dinkelman for all State exchange program alumni in The Bahamas.
Throughout her career, Ms. Campbell has been a central force in the prevention of drug abuse,… more »
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Brasilia, Brazil April 16-17, 2012. On April 16, the Secretary led the U.S. delegation for the third U.S.-Brazil Global Partnership Dialogue. She also met with Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, business leaders, and U.S. Embassy Brasilia staff and their families. In remarks with the Foreign… more »
Yesterday's Global Partnership Dialogue marked the culmination of a great deal of work by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), as well as many other parts of the State Department.
My day was centered on meetings of the Education Working Group, which I led alongside Minister George Torquato Firmeza, the Director of the Cultural Division at Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We were both excited to discuss new and developing avenues of cooperation and encouraged by the progress our delegations made.
People-to-people exchange programs dominated the Education Working Group conversation. President Obama and President Rousseff have made academic and research collaboration a priority between the… more »
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 »
On April 9, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomed Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to Washington, D.C. Presidents Obama and Rousseff discussed a broad range of bilateral, regional, and multilateral issues, including global economic growth, the situation in the Middle East, and progress the two countries have made as co-chairs of the Open Government Partnership. The Presidents reviewed the progress made under the three presidential dialogues launched during President Obama's March 2011 visit to Brazil -- the Economic and Financial Dialogue, the Strategic Energy Dialogue, and the Global Partnership Dialogue. The Leaders also announced a new presidential-level Defense Cooperation Dialogue, as well as met with the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum to continue efforts to… more »
May 24: Secretary Clinton and Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner will release the 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices at 10:30 a.m. 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 »
![Technologists and representatives of NGOs pose for a group photo at the end of the second day of TechCamp Lima. [U.S. Embassy Lima/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0518_techcamp_lima_m.jpg)
![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)
![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)
![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)
![Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Ann Stock meets with students at Centro Paula Souza in Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 18, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0421_ann_stock_brazil_m.jpg)
![Christine Campbell delivers remarks at the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, The Bahamas, April 18, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0419_campbell_bahamas_m.jpg)
![A girl hands several drawings to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil, April 16, 2012. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0417_clinton_brazil_m.jpg)
![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)
![President Barack Obama and President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil deliver statements to the press in the Oval Office, April 9, 2012. [Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0410_us_brazil_1_m.jpg)
