As the sun set over the Bosporus, three generations of American jazz greats ranging from Wayne Shorter to Branford Marsalis to Esperanza Spalding came together at the home of U.S. Consul General Scott Kilner for a prelude celebration of UNESCO International Jazz Day. Observed in over 196 countries on April 30 of each year, International Jazz Day acknowledges the unifying power of jazz, the musical art form born in America and enjoyed worldwide. This year, Istanbul serves as the host city of International Jazz Day; a nod to the musical legacy of Ahmet and Nesih Ertugun, the founders of Atlantic Records, who as the adolescent sons of the Turkish Ambassador to Washington, used jazz concerts at the Turkish Embassy to break down the color line in the nation's capital.

Jazz music knows no class, ...

[view whole blog post ]

The United States and Mexico share many similar interests and concerns. We are also at a very special state in our economic relationship. President Obama has called it a moment of opportunity. Others have said this is Mexico's moment.

Having personally worked with Mexico in the private sector for almost three decades and now at the U.S. Department of State, I am thrilled by the Obama Administration's focus on deepening and elevating our already close cooperation on economic issues. Mexico, a major regional power that actively engages on global economic issues, offers huge possibilities for increased economic cooperation. It is in both our interests to increase economic integration among the NAFTA partners in order to make our economies more competitive.

[view whole blog post ]

Wildlife trafficking is a crime that spans the globe, giving criminals billions of dollars in illegal proceeds, driving endangered species closer toward extinction, and fueling corruption. Now the international community has new tools to fight this crime. The UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ, or UN Crime Commission) in Vienna overwhelmingly adopted a resolution on April 26, jointly introduced by the United States and Peru, to classify wildlife trafficking as a "serious crime" as defined by the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime. The resolution is a recognition on the part of Member States that law enforcement is an essential component in combating wildlife trafficking. The resolution helps unlock international law enforcement cooperation, provided ...

[view whole blog post ]

President Obama today welcomed His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan to the White House, where the two leaders once again discussed the very urgent issues impacting that country, and the rest of the world.

President Obama met with the Jordanian leader last month on his trip to the Middle East, and this afternoon he thanked the King for his "extraordinary" hospitality, and praised his efforts to foster democratization, entrepreneurship and economic development inside Jordan. In remarks to the press before their bilateral meeting, the President said that he believes Jordan can be an "extraordinary model for effective governance in the region."

[view whole blog post ]

The announcement of a major reform to U.S. food aid in President Obama's proposed 2014 budget has spawned considerable reaction, both praise and criticism.

From my perspective as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations agencies that provide food assistance and promote agricultural development, it is a welcome development long in the making. We live in a rapidly evolving world, one which requires us to evaluate and innovate constantly in order to respond effectively and efficiently to humanitarian crisis and those who need our help.

[view whole blog post ]

In a public school in Ukraine, the State Department's longtime efforts to support the human rights, dignity, and inclusion of all people was in clear evidence.

Located in the Kyiv district of Obolon, School #168 is the only school in the area where physically disabled children are integrated into regular classrooms. With help from State Department funding, the school offers intensive English language training, and integrates American culture and civic engagement as part of its enhancement activities.

[view whole blog post ]

Today, April 26, marks World Intellectual Property Day. Although this commemoration might go unnoticed by many, it's worthwhile to imagine for a moment what life would be like without innovation or the inventions innovators produce. Thomas Hobbes famously quipped that humanity without social structure would be "solitary, poor, brutish, nasty and short." The same can be said about humanity without innovation.

April 26 was chosen as the date for World Intellectual Property Day, because it coincides with the founding of the World Intellectual Property Organization, otherwise known as WIPO, in 1970. For this year's celebration, WIPO has chosen to focus on "Creativity and the Next Generation."

[view whole blog post ]

On April 25, we celebrate Girls in ICT Day, established by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in 2010 to inspire girls to consider a career in technology. Women are half the world's population and half the world's talent, but there's a persistent gender gap in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) field.

As a first tour economic officer with a Ph.D. in Computer Science, I'm thrilled to be able to use my background to contribute to the ITU program celebrating International Girls in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Today, I taught 27 girls of ages between 13 and 17 the basics of programming in python, an intuitive, but powerful programming language that is widely used by software companies, research scientists, engineers, and universities. My goal... ...

[view whole blog post ]

Anglican Bishop Dinis Sengulane's message isn't exactly what one might expect from a typical religious leader. Then again, Bishop Sengulane, who has presided over Mozambique's Lebombo Diocese since 1976, is not a typical leader, religious or otherwise. The large cross that hangs from a chain around his neck is fashioned from components of disassembled weapons surrendered by combatants after the Mozambique civil war, a prolonged conflict that he and other religious leaders played an integral role in bringing to an end in the mid-1990s.

Today, Bishop Sengulane is fighting to bring an end to another destructive force in his nation: malaria. The disease steals 650,000 lives around the world each year, devastating entire communities and undermining opportunities for prosperity and growth -- and ...

[view whole blog post ]

More: Photos From the Trip

Following a busy Tuesday at NATO, Secretary of State John Kerry continued to meet with foreign leaders in Brussels today. Secretary Kerry began this morning with "an expansive conservation" with Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, before he met with Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze and then held a dialogue with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. His meetings covered an extensive range of topics, from the importance of trade negotiations to security... more »

[view whole blog post ]