Diplomatic Connections Winter 2010

QUARTERLY BUSINESS • WINTER 2010

Unique Coverage of Events Worldwide

Morgan Freeman promotes Canadian produced film Meryl Streep visits UN on International Women’s Day South African DCM Moloto on upcoming World Cup

FRONT COVER PHOTOS Nelson Mandela ~ FIFA 2010 World Cup Host Announcement, World Trade Centre, Zurich, Switzerland - former South African President Nelson Mandela celebrates with the trophy after the announcement that South Africa will host the 2010 World Cup on May 15th, 2004; Charlize Theron ~ Draw Master Jerome Valcke and Charlize Theron during the 2010 Soccer World Cup Final Draw at the CTICC on December 4th, 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa; David Beckham at the Final Draw; Morgan Freeman and Canadian Ambassador Doer at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., February, 2010; Meryl Streep at the United Nations on International Women’s Day, March, 2010.

INSIDE FRONT COVER PENINSULA CHICAGO INSIDE BACK COVER ELYSIAN HOTEL IN CHICAGO BACK COVER GROVE DENTAL CLINIC

Amtrak 21 Belgium, Secretary Shinseki 50 British School of Washington 51 Canada, Interview with Ambassador Doer 24 Canada, Toronto Maple Leafs & Washington Capitals 102 Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, how to donate 23 Concordia Hotel 81 Czech Republic 54 Dentist, Dr. Tarek Mogharbel 83 Elysian Hotel in Chicago 126 Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts 9, 87 & 125 Germany, Transatlantic Climate Bridge 96 Haiti, Interview with Ambassador Joseph 12 Hay Adams 4, 5 & 26 International Women’s Day, Meryl Streep 98 International Women’s Day, Secretary Solis 34 Italy, Giro d’Italia 38 Jim Coleman Cadillac 100 Journey to Mecca 112 Kuwait, National Day 92 McLean Furniture Gallery 6 Metro Montessori 21 & 42 Morgan Freeman, Canadian Embassy 44 Nicolas Cage, UNODC Goodwill Ambassador 58 Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center 73 & 99 Saudi Arabian Airlines 108 & 121 Sofitel Chicago Water Tower 32, 41 & 64 South Africa, Interview with DCM Moloto 66 Sri Lanka at the World Bank 60 The Fairfax at Embassy Row 10 & 37 The Jockey Club 37 United Nations, Creative Global Forum in LA 90 United Nations Foundation 34 U.S. Sedan Service 8 & 89 Volkswagen 94 Waldorf Astoria 1 & 59 Waldorf Towers 1 & 59 Washington Hospital Center 85 Wings Jets 106 World Cup 66

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DIPLOMATIC CONNECTIONS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Dawn Parker Assistant to the Editor Amy Kachelries ADVERTISING EXECUTIVES Hiam Awad and Paula Morrison ART DIRECTOR Larry Smith CHIEF DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT James Winship, PhD To contact an advertising executive CALL: 202.536.4810 FAX: 202.370.6882 EMAIL: dparker@diplomaticconnections.com Diplomatic Connections Website Design & Development IMS (Inquiry Management Systems) 304 Park Avenue South, 11th Floor New York, NY 10010 TOLL FREE: 877.467.8721 X701 Website: www.ims.com Marc Highbloom, Vice President marc@ims.ca Laura West, Project Manager lwest@ims.ca Contributing Photographers Paula Morrison, Matthew Lehner, Sherry Cooper, Tony Powell, Christophe Avril To order photos from the events go to: www.diplomaticconnections.com Send any name or address changes in writing to: Diplomatic Connections 4410 Massachusetts Avenue / Suite 200 Washington, DC 20016 Diplomatic Connections Quarterly Business is published Quarterly Diplomatic Connections does not endorse any of the goods and services offered herein this publication.

Copyright 2008 by Diplomatic Connections All rights reserved.

Cover photos: Nelson Mandela, Charlize Theron & David Beckham 2010 FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee South Africa Morgan Freeman and Ambassador Doer Diplomatic Connections Christophe Avril Meryl Streep at the United Nations UN Photo/Mark Garten

Dear Readers, Diplomatic Connections Winter, 2010 issue should be called the “Sports and Entertainment” edition as it’s packed with International Sports events as well as articles on how celebrities are collaborating with Diplomats on a global level.

As always, we’ve featured our advertisers because the magazine would not be funded without their valued presence. Many fine establishments and corporations have made an important decision to support the Diplomatic Community via our publication. The merchants and service providers presented here within are representing their companies in a capacity to do business with the Diplomatic and International Arena. They have postured themselves in a significant way that facilitates international commerce and trade. Many of these professionals will be attending our upcoming Diplomatic Connections Diplomat Appreciation Reception being held on May 12th at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C., the “legendary Pennsylvania Avenue luxury retreat in prestigious Georgetown” so that Diplomats and Staff Representatives can have an opportunity to get acquainted with these representatives who encompass a variety of industries. This prestigious Diplomatic Connections Reception provides a proper platform for an exclusive introduction to perhaps conduct future business in the international market. SAVE THE DATE ~ May 12th!

We look forward to seeing you there and covering this wonderful event in our Summer, 2010 upcoming issue.

We’d also like to remind you that your opinion matter to us; thus, we are looking to you, the Diplomat, for the type of articles and advertisements your Embassy would like to see featured and to read about. Diplomatic Connections is continuously seeking your professional recommendations for advertisements from your domestic and international business partners. Therefore, any business introductions to further pursue future funding of the magazine would be greatly appreciated. We welcome and invite you to contact us with your submissions and ideas to: dparker@diplomaticconnections.com Sincerely, Dawn Parker Founder and Publisher

Diplomatic Connections now has Online Classifieds for FREE. There is NO CHARGE for Diplomats and Staff Representatives to post items on the Diplomatic Connections website.

To post your classifieds simply go to: www.diplomaticconnections.com Realizing that there is a great need for an Online Classifieds site because of the transitional lifestyle of a diplomat, we’ve made it easy for you, the Diplomat and Staff Representative, to buy and/or sell directly on the Diplomatic Connections website.

ONLINE CLASSIFIEDS POST YOUR FREE ONLINE CLASSIFIEDS! VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.DiplomaticConnections.com

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View of the White House and Washington, DC from the rooftop of the Hay Adams Hotel View of a guestroom at the Hay Adams Hotel overlooking the White House

MCLEAN FURNITURE GALLERY ELEVATES HOME FURNISHING TO AN ART FORM www.mcleanfurniture.com McLean Furniture Gallery's infinite design possibilities and fine furniture options are best described as truly the “stuff that dreams are made of” to quote now- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. As Senator, Mrs. Clinton then wrote this line to Mrs. Tehmina Khan, the President of McLean Furniture Gallery ("the Gallery") in a July, 2000 letter. Today, the ultimate attestation to the Gallery's presence in the Washington, DC area is simply the fact that it has beat out its competition by continuing to thrive during difficult economic times. Founded in 1984, the Gallery is celebrating its 26th year by garnering exclusive licenses to sell several upscale furniture lines to its customers. The Exclusive, sole distributorship this side of New York is a proud position for manufacturers with a global reputation. Housed in their own shopping center the new Fairfax location encompassing nearly 44,000 square feet, is a state of the art building designed by Leo Daly. Customers are able to view approximately 100 different furniture brands in the largest resource room in the Metropolitan Area.

"Catering to different tastes" has been the mantra of the founder and President, Tehmina’s perception was to be a “unique” resource. Never wanting to be categorized as a simply traditional furniture store, Tehmina and her design team have expanded the breadth of home furnishings by including eclectic, contemporary, neo-classic and Franco-Italian, traditional and classic styles to the discerning elite. Not to be outdone by any other showroom, the Gallery has consistently kept its prices down by scaling down on overhead and offering customers a variety of price-points. Also, delivery and installation costs are amazingly low compared to the competition. In house designing includes field visits, auto-cad presentation, 3D sketch and their fabric resource from UK, Italy and the Best of American Fabric makers is outstanding.

Globalization has also benefitted the home furnishings business; along with traditional classic American brands such as Henkel-Harris, Century, EJ Victor, Hickory White, Maitland Smith, Christopher Guy, Francesco Molon, Bernhardt, and others, customers can also peruse classic and famous Italian lines such as Francesco Molon and Rho Mobili. Francesco Molon, the creators of exquisite empire and contemporary Italian furniture made in Venice, Italy. Makers of the finest walnut heritage collection. Francesco Molon supplier of fine furniture to a long list of Heads of State, 150 five and six star Hotels around the world, has selected the Gallery as their exclusive distributor in the Metropolitan area. This is really a "one stop shop" -- our home furnishings, is a turnkey operation, says Tehmina.

Corporate or Residential projects include custom draperies, area rugs, lighting, artwork, fine china and accessories. And, like every successful Washington DC business, the Gallery counts the diplomatic community amongst its favorite clients, innumerable Residences, multiple clubs including Fort Myer and Fort McNair and over 40,000 private homes to boast of and most importantly dozens of Interior design firms that use our resource exclusively. MFG runs a corporate and furniture leasing business for multiple corporations sustaining accounts and Embassies.

Recently has had the honor of designing and furnishing the newly-refurbished historical Wyoming residence of the Libyan Ambassador, in Washington DC, New York and Englewood New Jersey. "This was a project close to my heart", says Tehmina. "Working with the Embassy of Libya was a completely professional and lovely experience, as our design team brought beautiful properties to life", she added. Every job is unique the Kennedy Warren, Canadian project, Brunei, Malaysian projects, Josephine and Quarters Seven are unforgettable experiences.

We are a DC institution, and my team shows the same enthusiasm for locating a hard to find piece as it does for our corporate or embassy clients" says Tehmina. "We pride ourselves on being able to work within a budget and making dreams come true within that budget, be it big or small."

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Beginnings

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Building a New Haiti: Protecting People, Treasuring the Past, Re-Imagining the Future

A Conversation with H.E. Raymond Alcide Joseph, Ambassador of Haiti to the United States Dr. James A. Winship for Diplomatic Connections The earthquake that struck Haiti’s capital, Port-auPrince, on January 12, 2010 was a natural disaster.

The consequences of that event represent a human tragedy. By theatrical tradition a tragedy is a situation in which the hero suffers a reversal of fortune attributable to a mistake made earlier, the consequences of which could not be fully foreseen. In Haiti’s case the earthquake itself was the result of the tectonic movement of the plates that constitute the earth’s mantle. Port au Prince is built near the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault. This is not Haiti’s first earthquake, nor is it likely to be the last. As if this seismic instability were not enough, Haiti is also economically vulnerable to hurricanes.

Natural disaster will be a part of Haiti’s life. Human tragedy, however, is just that . . . human. The catastrophic damage and disruption of the earthquake, if not preventable, could have been limited if human beings had been better able to take into account nature’s inevitable challenges. To be sure, raw economics and basic human needs often make it difficult to pursue the course of logic and reason and easier still to deny the insights of science. However, it is nevertheless true that thoughtful urban planning conscious of its surroundings, stronger building codes and serious enforcement of them would have saved lives. How much difference might it have made if Haiti had been not only profitably but equitably integrated into the global economy instead of being exploited for its resources – natural and human?

By definition tragedy is based on human suffering and should evoke human emotions generating feelings of sympathy and pathos. The human toll from the earthquake and its aftermath is enormous – an estimated 270,000 lives lost, 300,000 injured

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Ambassador Joseph being interviewed by Dr. James Winship of Diplomatic Connections.

and more than one million people homeless. There has been an emotional, caring and generous governmental and public response to the needs of the people of Haiti. The relief agencies and governments have pledged nearly $2 billion, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have appealed to the American people, telethons have entertained us and dramatized the need for our individual gifts. Lionel Richie and a host of music’s biggest stars have rerecorded “We Are the World” to acknowledge the 25th anniversary of the song that he and Michael Jackson wrote together, complete with updated lyrics and rap verses, as a response to Haiti’s enormous need.

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, Haiti’s plight dominated the media. Network anchors and reporters made their way to Port au Prince so that they could report live from the center of the devastation. Their stories of individual suffering - survivors rescued from collapsed buildings, the injured in need of world-class medical attention and families displaced from their homes - touched our hearts. Nevertheless, events of the world move on despite Haiti’s long-term need. The Haitian people are displaced from our television screens by the blizzards of the century, the Vancouver Winter Olympics, events in Iraq and Afghanistan, continuing global recession and the “March Madness” that wraps up the college basketball season. As time goes by and a sluggish economy revives only slowly “donor fatigue” sets in. The media’s insatiable appetite for breaking news and its distaste for long-term follow-through push Haiti from the headlines to the occasional feature story.

The public’s attention span wanes, and Haiti’s plight fades from our emotional radars in a mass of fresher news, the ground clutter of the world’s latest trouble spot and the static of people’s daily lives.

One man, however, has the job not only of representing Haiti’s interests in Washington but of making certain that Haiti 14

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is not forgotten. Ambassador Raymond Alcide Joseph voices Haiti’s needs, remembers his country’s revolutionary past, projects a fresh vision of Haiti’s possibilities, offers the Haitian people a vision of a more prosperous future and persistently reminds them that a new Haiti is their responsibility. Ambassador Joseph is quick to recall Haiti’s revolutionary past when Toussaint L’Ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines led a slave uprising against French colonization. Haiti, Ambassador Joseph reminds his listeners, is the second-oldest republic in the Western Hemisphere after the United States. And, it was Haiti that sheltered Simon Bolivar as he sought to spread revolutions of independence throughout South America.

Ambassador Joseph has a quick smile, a ready laugh and a gleam in his eye. He is a peaceful, patient and persistent revolutionary who spent much of his life in political opposition to the repressive regime of the Duvaliers, “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” (1957-1986). He founded his first newspaper in Haiti at the age of nineteen and has used his pen and his voice via radio to challenge the authoritarian Duvalier regime and others who betrayed democracy in his country. “I’ve never felt any personal anger, no. I felt disturbed about the machine in my country, the things that were being done in my country. But I decided to fight it, and fight it with dignity and not with weapons of mass destruction. And eventually that has won more people over. ” Ambassador Joseph’s office is striking because of the Haitian paintings hung on the walls – all of them depicting women and children engaged in aspects of daily life. He attributes the selection of art and photos to his wife, Lola Poisson-Joseph, herself an artist and health care advocate who founded the Children and Families Global Development Fund. The only exception to the paintings is a large photo of the African-American dancer, choreographer and social anthropologist, Katherine Dunham, who spent substantial periods of her life in Haiti studying dance and other aspects of Haitian culture. The choice of Dunham’s portrait is revealing, not only because of her commitment to the Haitian people but because of her unique understanding of what has been called Haiti’s danced culture, where dance is defined as “the greatest gift – the gift of one’s own being.”

Ambassador Raymond Joseph gives his country that greatest gift everyday as he communicates Haiti’s needs and its possibilities to the international community. He is a dancer who touches the world’s heart, who speaks as a voice of conscience and

compassion, and who gives his people hope.

Diplomatic Connections: It has been almost three months since the earthquake. Can you help us understand what your country’s short term needs are now and what its long term needs will be?

Ambassador Joseph: I’ve said this before, and it’s like a refrain for me. I see in this tragedy and catastrophe, a silver lining.

There is now an unusual opportunity for the capital of Haiti – Port au Prince – to rebuild itself in a different and more thoughtful, consciously planned way. The capital had become a sprawling monstrosity of a city with over two million people whereas it was built for only 50,000 in the 18th century.

Port au Prince was an ecological catastrophe waiting to happen. What politicians and city planners could not do, the forces of nature did in less than a minute. Now that Port au Prince has been flattened, the search and rescue mission completed, and the population sheltered in temporary housing, I hope that careful thought can go into the long-term rebuilding of the country. Port au Prince should be rebuilt on a much smaller scale with new modern cities built outside of the capital

in order to decentralize the population. These new cities should be built with factories and industries to provide the jobs that will encourage people to live and work there and to discourage people from streaming back into the new Port au Prince.

Diplomatic Connections: What about the government institutions themselves? We’ve seen obviously the photos of the physical damage that has been done, but what about the functional damage? What progress is being made toward restoring the parliament and government agencies, restoring the presidency to operation, restoring the courts and the legal system?

Ambassador Joseph: In the initial stage, on Tuesday the 12th of January, the buildings were flattened; all the major ministries were gone. I had to be the face of the government, and that’s why people saw so much of me on television in those first days after the earthquake. But now the government is back in place.

Every morning at seven o’clock the Minister of Interior starts the meetings going. By eight o’clock the Prime Minister is there, sometimes the President. So the government is functioning again. The justice system was up and functioning again quickly as demonstrated by the case of the ten Baptist missionaries from Continued to page 20 H.E. Raymond Alcide Joseph, Ambassador of Haiti to the United States

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UN Photo/Sophia Paris

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

An engineer with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) removes portraits of SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon and MINUSTAH’s leadership, left hanging on an office wall in the ruins of his Mission’s headquarters in Port-au-Prince.

Children eat a meal distributed by Bolivian UN peacekeepers in Cité Soleil, Haiti, after a powerful earthquake left food shortages in the area.

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

A man attempts to put out a fire in a rubble-filled street of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

A man walks through the ruins of downtown Port-auPrince, left ravaged by Haiti’s earthquake.

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

Brazilian peacekeepers from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) distribute water and food in Portau-Prince, Haiti.

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UN Photo/Marco Dormino

Brazilian peacekeepers from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) distribute water and food in Port-auPrince, Haiti.

UN Photo/Sophia Paris

Haitians employed through the “Cash for Work” programme sweep dust and debris in the streets of Carrefour-Feuilles, an area of Port-au-Prince.

“Cash for Work” was launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake as a bid to give work to the many Haitians left homeless, jobless, or both, and stimulate the nation’s fragile economy.

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

Haitians collect spilled beans after an emergency relief food distribution in Port-au-Prince.

A man walks past mountains of rubble in downtown Port-au-Prince, left behind by Haiti’s powerful earthquake.

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

Haitians live in makeshift camps erected on Port-au-Prince’s golf course in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake.

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

A man throws water on a fire engulfing stores in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Ever since the earthquake, fires have been a frequent occurrence in the capital city.

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

A young victim of the powerful earthquake that shook Port-au-Prince receives medical treatment at an ad-hoc clinic installed at the United Nations Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH)’s logistics base in the Haitian capital.

UN Photo/Logan Abassi

A man in earthquake-stricken Jacmel, Haiti, sits on the rubble of what was once his home.

A member of a United States Search and Rescue team searches for survivors outside the area where a bank previously stood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Even dogs were looking to be rescued.

UN Photo/Logan Abassi

UN Photo/Logan Abassi

Children in the town of Petit-Goâve, Haiti, some 60 km from capital Port-au-Prince, run towards a UN helicopter.

Haitians piled into several rowboats, preparing to leave the earthquake-devastated Port-au-Prince.

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

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UN Photo/Sophia Paris UN Photo/Sophia Paris

UN Photo/Sophia Paris

A cemetery of unmarked graves lies in a rural valley outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In the rush to dispose of bodies, many of the thousands of dead in Haiti’s earthquake could not receive formal burial services.

An estimated 50,000 Haitians displaced by the earthquake have pitched makeshift tents on the grounds of the Petionville Club, a golf and tennis resort in Port-au-Prince An engineer with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) holds an official portrait of Hédi Annabi, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti and MINUSTAH Head, who perished in Haiti’s earthquake. In the background, MINUSTAH headquarters lies in ruins.

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

Only a statue remains intact in one of the earthquake-wrecked streets of downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

UN Photo/Sophia Paris

The Brazilian battalion of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) collaborates with U.S. Army troops (right) in the seaside slum of Cité Soleil, Haiti. The forces jointly distributed food, water and MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) to residents in Cité Soleil affected by Haiti’s powerful earthquake.

An aerial view of an impoverished neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince demonstrates the extent of damage inflicted by the powerful earthquake that rocked the Haitian capital UN Photo/Logan Abassi

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UN Photo/Sophia Paris

United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)’s Brazilian peacekeepers and United States soldiers distribute food and water in the slum of Cité Soleil, Haiti.

Children were given special high calorie protein bars.

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

A U.S. helicopter prepares to land on the lawn of Haiti’s Presidential Palace in Port-auPrince -- left in a state of near-collapse after the earthquake.

After the devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, a young Haitian survivor received medical treatment in an ad-hoc clinic set up at the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)’s logistics base.

UN Photo/Logan Abassi

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

A French search and rescue team recovers an earthquake survivor, trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed restaurant for eleven days.

UN Photo/Logan Abassi

An 18-year-old Haitian girl suffering from head trauma is transported onto a U.S. helicopter that will take her to the USS Comfort, a medical ship anchored off the shores of Port-au-Prince.

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

UN Photo/Sophia Paris

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) distributes bags of rice to women in front of Grace Children’s Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

A woman in Port-au-Prince prays outside a hospital for the elderly which collapsed in Haiti’s earthquake.

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Idaho, who tried to go out of the country with children, supposedly orphans. They were stopped before they could leave the country with the children, were detained, and appeared multiple times in court until the matter could be ironed out. So little by little the system is being reestablished. But don’t forget, it was Port au Prince in the western department that was hit the hardest. The rest of the country, Haiti is the size of Maryland, ten thousand square miles, is going on.

Diplomatic Connections: Thinking back to your first answer about rebuilding Port au Prince in a new and different way.

Does that mean that some of the population of Port au Prince will be encouraged to relocate outside of Port au Prince into the countryside?

Ambassador Joseph: Nature has done its job and the people are streaming out of Port au Prince already. We had to erect tent cities, but we didn’t place the tent cities around Port au Prince only, we intentionally began building them out in the new places where the people of Port au Prince have moved to get away from the aftershocks and the destruction. Decentralization is going to be a major component in the rebuilding of Haiti. Our goal should not only be to decentralize the population away from the rebuilt Port au Prince to other cities but also to disperse industries throughout the country.

Diplomatic Connections: What will happen to Haiti’s children?

There are thousands of children, orphans in fact and orphans by circumstance, who are being sold or just simply being given away by their parents in order to give them better opportunities outside of Haiti. What is your opinion of children leaving Haiti or of children staying in Haiti? How should the process of adoption be handled? Children are certainly Haiti’s human tragedy at this point, but they are also Haiti’s future.

Ambassador Joseph: From the beginning I have said Haitian orphans, but real orphans, who were already in the process of being adopted and who had families ready to receive them, not only in the United States, but in France and the Netherlands, and elsewhere, should be allowed expedited departure. However, at the same time, I have insisted that Haitian children are not cattle. No matter how well meaning, people cannot be allowed to drop in, pluck children out of the country, and go anywhere with them. We must know and approve of the specific international programs working with children and families in Haiti. We must be extremely watchful for unscrupulous operations that say they want a better life for the children but then end up exploiting the children. It is too easy for many of them to end up in prostitution or in child slavery. Our children must be safeguarded and the visibility of that effort should be a signal that there is a government operating in Haiti.

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Diplomatic Connections: There is a large Haitian community here in the United States, in Canada, and in various places in Europe. What is the role of the Haitian Diaspora, of Haitians living overseas, both in responding to the immediate needs of the Haitian people and, in the longer run, to the vision of a rebuilt Haiti that you have described?

Ambassador Joseph: You know a lot of people don’t know that, but Haitians abroad accounted for more than $1.6 billion of remittances to the folks in Haiti in 2008, the last year for which we have statistics. That’s one quarter of the GDP. It is much more than foreign aid. It’s three times foreign aid.

The Inter-American Development Bank [IDB] estimates that 83% of Haitian professionals are living abroad. This is a brain drain that really began under the leadership President François Duvalier (Papa Doc) of the 1960s and continued under his son Jean-Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc) through 1986.

Now we are going to have to appeal to those to come back; but, I think that the Haitian government will have to do something else. Previous to the earthquake, work had begun on legislation to permit dual citizenship. Although the way we want it to be done is that Haitians, no matter what nationality they hold, would still keep their original nationality, as Israel has done. I think that such a policy has been very good, very productive and fruitful for Israel as it has been for the other states that have allowed for dual citizenship.

Diplomatic Connections: With billions of dollars of assistance pouring into Haiti one question that has been asked persistently is whether or not the Haitian infrastructure, the Haitian Government, is up to absorbing the amounts of aid that are coming in? Or, will questions of corruption and political manipulation that have plagued Haiti’s past emerge again?

Ambassador Joseph: I have been lobbying and working to show that the Préval government is different. We had to strengthen the government, to prove that it is doing things differently, to show that it is responsible. I expect a lot of this aid to go through the government, which will take responsibility and be accountable for this outpouring of aid funds promised to rebuild Haiti. We began prosecuting corruptors of the past, and if they think they are going to come in and try to funnel the aid into their pockets instead of into the lives and welfare of the Haitian people, they are in for a different lesson.

We are receiving a great deal of assistance from the international community. We are willing to accept some foreign administrative support to help us to use this assistance most effectively; but, I think that the Haitian Government must have primary responsibility for deciding where and how funds should be allocated. What should be done is to help Haiti

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strengthen its leadership and to provide needed technical assistance. But the Haitian leadership should be able to say what it needs, and what the country needs and how Haiti should be developed.

One thing that the government really does not favor is all the little NGOs that came into being during the time of greatest corruption in Haiti. The international aid community ended up working for the supposed grassroots NGOs and not for the government. Because there was corruption in many of these small NGOs their proliferation only weakened the central government.

Diplomatic Connections: Haiti has presidential elections scheduled for late this year. For the moment legislative elections scheduled for late February have been delayed for obvious reasons. Do you expect the political process to be able to resume and both the legislative and presidential elections to go ahead at some point this year?

Ambassador Joseph: I don’t know what the damage has been and I don’t know how long the process of getting things running will take. But, I know that our President has said that he would like to step down at the end of his term and that will be in February of 2011. I hope that by then, by December 2010, we will be in a position to have formal elections because that will again infuse some new vigor in the political process. That will allow us to continue a democratic process that began about four years ago.

Diplomatic Connections: Let us ask you about a specific piece of legislation, the HOPE Acts [Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act] - HOPE I and HOPE II - that were adopted by the U.S. Congress and were designed to try to provide tariff preferences for industries in Haiti, particularly the apparel industry. How you evaluate those acts? Were they helpful in getting the economy moving? And do you think that those acts will play a role in Haiti’s economic future?

Ambassador Joseph: When I came to Washington in 2004, I came here with an idea and a slogan: “Haiti is open for business.” Here, in Washington, I was the face of the HOPE Act. I pushed for it at the time with the Republican Congress. Chairman [William] Thomas (R-CA) was head of Ways and Means.

I lobbied Chairman Thomas until he called me into his office around June 2006 and said “I’m going to give you HOPE; but, I cannot give it the way you want it. I’m going to give you HOPE for three years, and I have some restrictions.” I said, “Thank you Mr. Chairman,” and I left his office.

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Charlie Rangel (D-NY). I said, “Charlie, Chairman Thomas has just given me HOPE.” And he says, “Really?” “The HOPE we have now with all of those restrictions?” And he says to me, “We owe Haiti much more than this HOPE. However, if he gives it to you the way it is now, take it. Then when I get in I’ll give you a better HOPE. ” When HOPE II came, it came for ten years and with fewer restrictions. HOPE has already brought about twenty-five thousand new jobs in Haiti, and that’s what we need in Haiti. Now, with the earthquake, we are trying to see whether we can liberalize the HOPE Act II to allow some other people from other countries to benefit - like Brazil, which wants to manufacture in Haiti. The products could come through Haiti, be finished in Haiti, and then re-exported to the US market with preferential treatment. I think that the HOPE Act is the door opener for us, for many more things like that.

Diplomatic Connections: As we’ve watched news coverage of the food distribution programs the process has sometimes seemed completely inadequate to the need and very chaotic.

Coupons have been introduced as a way of rationing and distributing supplies. One of the latest innovations, in addition to the coupons, is giving those coupons primarily to women rather than to men. What are the special needs of women and children are at this point?

Ambassador Joseph: You know in Haitian society, although there is quite a lot of machismo, it is the women who are the traditional movers of money. They are the ones who go to the markets, and the markets are where you sell and buy things with the money. Some of the women might come home and give that money to their husbands; but, I think that in a situation like this the women are the ones who are the pillars of the home. I can see why they gave the coupons to the women. I think we need to strengthen women’s rights in my country, especially children’s rights. And I think that, if the women were in the forefront, they might do better. Men have been running the show, not only in Haiti but elsewhere for a long, long time, and I don’t know that we have been very good stewards.

Diplomatic Connections: We talked a little bit before the formal interview began about your own life history. You were trained as a pastor, and you were involved for many years at the center of the opposition movement against the Duvalier regime. What difference has your faith and religious training, made in your professional life, your political life, in your commitment to your country?

Ambassador Joseph: I took a pastor’s course in Chicago not because I wanted to become a pastor. My father was a pastor, but the pastors’ course was the one that gave me training in biblical

languages, Greek and Hebrew. I wanted to study biblical languages to translate the Bible into the Creole language of Haiti.

When I was growing up, in Church I listened to the preachers, and some of them were not very well learned: they read scripture in French and interpreted in Creole what they read in French. They often would say things that were not in the Bible, so I did not like that. And I determined that somebody should interpret the Bible into Creole someday. During my last year at the Moody Bible Institute, a group of Americans went to Haiti looking for a translator, and people who knew what I was doing sent them to Chicago to find me. And so, I helped to translate the first New Testament and Psalms in the Creole language of Haiti back in October of 1960.

But soon I saw that the other avenue for work was the political scene. That’s when I went into radio and would broadcast back to Haiti. We didn’t start as a political broadcast; we started as a cultural voice. We broadcast on short wave from New York. The program became so popular with so many listeners that it became known as the “morning mass” in Haiti. People just had to listen. I did that for four years but you know revolution, even peaceful revolution, doesn’t pay, and I had a family.

That’s when I went to work for the Wall Street Journal in 1970 and stayed there for 14 years.

At the same time, I started my own weekly newspaper with my brother for the Haitian community, and it was a crusading newspaper. Yes, it was a commercial newspaper, but at the same time it had a message against dictatorship and for democracy.

I was called to head the embassy in 1990-1991 and help organize the first democratic elections in December 1990. But though Aristide won in democratic elections he was no democrat. He did not like the democratic process. I went back to my job in New York.

In 2004, when the people rose up and we entered a democratic government, they again called on me to help in Washington. And in 2006, President Préval called on me to stay here.

President Préval has come back in modern time to the idea that gave us independence, “In unity there is strength.” And that’s my hope for Haiti, to help build on that unity for the future of the country and of the people.

Diplomatic Connections: That seems the perfect place to end our interview. Thank you, Ambassador Joseph.

How Do I Donate?

President Obama asked Presidents Clinton, United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti, and George W. Bush to lead a joint fundraising appeal to ask individuals, corporations, NGOs and institutions what they can do to help the Haitian people to rebuild.

To donate to these relief efforts, go to: www.diplomaticconnections.com

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) meets with William J. Clinton, UN Special Envoy for Haiti and former President of the United States

Click on the icon: CLINTON BUSH HAITI FUND Diplomatic Connections and the Clinton Bush

UN Photo/Mark Garten

Haiti Fund thank you for your contribution!

William J. Clinton (right), United Nations Special Envoy for Haiti, speaks with a doctor outside the General Hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

UN Photo/Logan Abassi

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OFFICE with a VIEW AMBASSADOR with a VIEWPOINT

H.E. Gary Doer, Ambassador of Canada to the United States

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Canadian Ambassador Gary Doer (pronounced dew-er) may have the best view of any ambassador in Washington, D.C. His glass-enclosed office on the top floor of the Canadian embassy at the foot of Capitol Hill opens out onto a terrace that faces the Capitol in one direction and looks down the length of the Mall to the Potomac River and beyond to Virginia.

James A. Winship, Ph.D. for Diplomatic Connections His views, however, give him more than a panoramic vista over the centers of power in the capital of the United States. Gary Doer brings a grassroots politician’s sensitivities to the tough act of balancing the swings of public opinion against the critical needs of the public good. Like the best elected officials, he has a gut-level awareness that no policy initiative can last for long without meeting the simplest of political realities – the need for reelection.

Ambassador Doer comes to his new diplomatic career after ten years as Premier of Manitoba, Canada’s prairie province located between Ontario and Saskatchewan, bordering Minnesota and North Dakota, and touching the salt water coastline of Hudson Bay. Gary Doer won seven elections between 1986 and 2007 as Member of the Legislative Assembly for Concordia representing the New Democratic Party of Manitoba. He has seen his party through bad times and good and was elected leader of the party in 1988 just as it hit its low point and was reduced to third party status in the legislative assembly. In 1990, he became leader of the official opposition in the Legislative Assembly, and he was elected Premier of Manitoba when the NDP regained a legislative majority in 1999.

Even though he was premier of one Canadian province, Gary Doer was no stranger to international diplomacy and worked closely with several of his cross-border counterparts among the governors of the American states. Watershed issues suggesting water diversions from the Missouri River to the Red River Basin involved him closely with the governors of North Dakota, Minnesota and Missouri, among others. He was instrumental in working out cross-border agreements on acid-rain, on promoting cross-border trade and his efforts to deal with clean energy issues have taken him as far afield as California, Texas and New Mexico.

Ambassador Doer, leader of a social democratic party with deep labor roots, was appointed to his new post by Stephen Harper, Canada’s Conservative Prime Minister. Why appoint a member of the opposite party to the critical post of Canadian Ambassador to the United States? Some have suggested that Doer was chosen because he has liberal political leanings that will get Canada a better reception with the Obama administration with the Democratic majorities in Congress. Others have suggested that Gary Doer’s “green” record will improve the international perception of Canada’s stance on environmental issues. The real answer might just be that there are times when a politician’s skills are needed in the diplomatic arena.

Continued on page 28

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Diplomatic Connections: Ambassador Doer, you come to Washington after ten years as the premier of Manitoba. You won three consecutive elections, each by an increasing margin of victory, how did you manage to do that? How are the two jobs different - being Ambassador of Canada here in Washington and being Premier of Manitoba?

Ambassador Doer: I always treated my province as if it were my office. What I am going to bring to this job is that my

office is the United States of America. Washington is where people make decisions, but the people who send their representatives to Washington, D.C. live all over the United States. I understand completely that when you are talking to somebody up here [on Capitol Hill] you’ve got to make sure you can connect back in their district. That’s a similarity to my former job.

I am part of a team. The leader of the team is the Prime Minister, but it is a big team. It’s companies. It’s workers, many of

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whom belong to the the same unions as workers in the United States. It’s mayors. It’s party leaders. It’s voters. Here in Washington representing Canada, I am part of a big team as opposed to the captain of the team as I was in the last job.

Diplomatic Connections: What do you see as the major issues between the United States and Canada? Obviously there is a long friendship, a history of cooperative relations, a peaceful border, and yet there have also been tensions between the

United States and Canada over the years on many issues. What would be the top things on your agenda?

Ambassador Doer: I think that 90% of our trade and our overall relationship are extremely positive. We recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Canadian Ambassador in Iran protecting and freeing Americans from their embassy back in that hostage taking incident. What I see in Washington is that the United States has a lot more resources available to it when dealing with international security issues, but Canada has some unique windows of opportunity. The cooperation between us on national security issues and combating terrorism is incredible.

Canada recently hosted the Montreal Conference on Haiti to coordinate the efforts of major donors in the relief and rebuilding efforts there. We have worked together, competed against each other, and protected each other at the just completed Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Canada will host the G-8 and the G-20 this year. Americans are going to see a lot of Canada on their TV sets.

There are some issues between us, obviously. We are very concerned about the “Buy America” policies that are part of President Obama’s and the Congressional stimulus packages.

If there are procurement policies imposed by the United States or stimulus packages enacted in Canada that do not allow the provinces and the states to compete for contracts back and forth across the border, then we think that bidding process should be opened up. We don’t see this as an issue of Oliver Twist pleading, “Please sir, more gruel?” We see it as an issue where the United States has legitimate concerns about access to our provincial markets, and Canada has legitimate concerns about access to American markets under “Buy America.”

I recently went to Philadelphia where I visited a Boeing-Vertol plant that is manufacturing $1.6 billion worth of Chinook helicopters being sold to Canada for humanitarian and military purposes. I also met with executives of General Electric Water and Process Technologies who are selling over $4 billion of sewage treatment equipment to Canada. These are perfect examples of how a “Buy Canada” policy would cost jobs in the United States. In my view whether it’s “Buy America” or “Buy Canada,” it’s really “Closed America” or “Closed Canada.” And “Closed Canada” I know is fewer jobs for Canada and, I think, fewer jobs for Americans.

Diplomatic Connections: You’ve been very active in global environmental issues and attended the recent Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. That meeting seems to have been a significant disappointment. How do you assess the Copenha-

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Ambassador Doer being interviewed by Dr. James Winship of Diplomatic Connections.

gen Conference? What might be the next steps in trying to deal with greenhouse gas emissions?

Ambassador Doer: Kyoto was a strong agreement with broad enrollment but very little serious action, even though the Protocol actually came into force in 2005. I think that Copenhagen represented a very positive step forward. You can’t say that the agreement has accomplished it goals yet; but, I thought getting a lot more countries in and raising the issue to the level of heads of government was very important.

I thought that the Europeans were careful and wise not to

The magnificent view from atop the Canadian Embassy and just a few steps outside of Ambassador Doer’s office

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allow Copenhagen to become an exercise in competitive vanity.

Instead, the meeting was packaged as an exercise in enlarging enrollment, which I thought was positive. The inclusiveness of the meeting demonstrated both how the importance of the climate change question can bring people together and how deeply the proposed corrective measures can divide the world’s countries.

Despite the chaotic and difficult to manage setting, I thought Secretary Hillary Clinton’s intervention calling on countries, including China, to be more transparent regarding their specific targets to cut greenhouse gas pollutants was very useful. And I think that the work of President Obama in helping to hammer out a widely agreed upon statement, from a Canadian’s perspective, was very, very important.

The agreed upon requirement is to announce self-declared targets for limiting carbon emissions by the end of January 2010. Different countries will have different ways of reaching their targets. We have a lot more renewable energy in Canada producing 60% of our electricity than you do in the United States with 650 coal-fired plants. In the long run there must be international targets; the exercise of sovereignty will be in determining how you reach those targets.

Diplomatic Connections: Ambassador, could you tell us more about the efforts to coordinate international aid to Haiti and what Canada’s particular role in those efforts might be?

Ambassador Doer: To help those affected by the January 12th earthquake, the Government of Canada has earmarked a total of $135 million to date for humanitarian assistance, relief and reconstruction efforts. As I mentioned earlier, Canada also hosted the Montreal Conference of Donors that Secretary of State Clinton attended. Obviously, the immediate needs - to save people’s lives, to get them water, food, medicine, medical attention and makeshift housing – have to be met first.

Now that we are largely beyond that stage, with all the outpouring of support from the public around the world, I think Canada and the United States want to make sure that the people of Haiti, working with regional organizations and United Nations agencies, have the strongest voice in shaping the future of economic and social development for the people of Haiti. Our goal is to provide as much assistance as possible but to make sure that we are doing it with people of Haiti and not just for the people of Haiti.

Diplomatic Connections: What has been the impact of the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on Canada and the Canadian people? Was it worth the extraordinary cost of hosting the Games? You know there is always a global debate about how the games are great television and great emotional boosts; but, they also come at an enormous cost to the host country.

Ambassador Doer: I don’t see a shortage of countries and cities competing to get the games, summer or winter. That answers the fundamental question of value. Hosting the Games is an honor that is coveted all over the world whether it’s the summer games or the winter games. The Olympic Games were certainly a success in terms of cooperation between Canada and the United States, especially all the collaboration that went on to assure the security of the Games and the safety of the athletes and the visitors to Vancouver.

Diplomatic Connections: Nothing is without controversy.

If there was any sports politics controversy regarding the Vancouver games, it was comment about the Canadian slogan “Own the Podium” as being just a little “over the top,” perhaps a little too nationalistic, a little too assertive for the Olympic traditions.

Ambassador Doer: I think the purpose of the “Own the Podium” slogan had its effect long before the Games started.

The goal was to have the ability to train athletes who are going to compete strongly in order to inspire the next generation. It was intended to assure the kinds of investments for facilities and coaching that will last a lot longer than these Olympic Games.

It was really intended to take sports and recreation as a quality of life issue.

Diplomatic Connections: One of the things apparent during the Olympic Games and other international sporting events is Canada’s bilingualism. Language is a controversial issue here in the United States whenever the question of English as the “official” language is raised. What do you see as the pros and cons of bilingualism in Canada?

Ambassador Doer: I think we are way beyond any controversy over the language issue. When people went to the Vancouver Games they found a very international community.

Visitors were able to meet Canadians who were able not only to speak English and French but to speak Cantonese, Punjabi, Russian and many other languages. Yet, all of these people were Canadians despite their different cultures and languages. Of course we have pride of place as Canadians; but, we also have pride of traditions as Canadians who come from many different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Diplomatic Connections: Thank you for speaking with us, Ambassador Doer.

For additional information on Canada’s international activities please go to the “embassy listings” on the Diplomatic Connections website: www.diplomaticconnections.com

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W omen’ays D International

United Nati ons Foundation

Women’s Foreign Policy Group

By: Ingrid Madden United Nations Foundation

United Nations Foundation President Timothy E. Wirth provides opening remarks.

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On March 8, 2010, hundreds of people came together in Washington, D.C. to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day. Hosted by the United Nations Foundation, in partnership with the United Nations Information Center (UNIC) and the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, the event reinforced the joint commitment of the UN and U.S. government to invest in the health, rights and equity of women around the world.

Keynote speaker Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis highlighted the new Administration’s dedication to meaningful foreign and domestic policy changes aimed at maximizing opportunities for women and adolescent girls everywhere.

Secretary Solis noted laudable achievements that have been made towards gender equality, but dually emphasized the many challenges that remain in areas including violence, human trafficking, labor, education, political participation and reproductive health

United States Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis gives the keynote speech at this year’s International Women’s Day Luncheon.

United Nations Information Center and rights. UN Foundation President Timothy E. Wirth joined Secretary Solis in reinforcing that real change on these issues can only be made through the dedication and cooperation of multilateral organizations and American policy-makers.

“The UN Foundation works with the United Nations and U.S. government to ensure the advancement, empowerment and human rights of all women,” said UN Foundation CEO Kathy Bushkin Calvin. “While progress has been made, we must continue to work together to improve the status of women – and specifically adolescent girls – around the world.”

Event attendees applauded the commitment of the Obama Administration and the continued efforts of UN agencies to make a difference in the lives of millions of women and girls in developed and developing countries alike. On this International Women’s Day 2010, everyone involved was reminded that what’s important to women is also central to the interests and development of communities, countries, economies, and our entire world.

Secretary Hilda Solis sitting next to Will Davis, Director, United Nations Information Center, Washington Office.

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Secretary Solis and Timothy Wirth commemorate the UN’s 35th annual International Women’s Day

Mrs. Pie Friendly and Ambassador Phyllis Oakley

Harriet Babbitt, Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, PLC; The Rt Hon The Baroness Scotland QC, Attorney General; Letitia Butler, USAID and Deborah Jamieson, Principal Private Secretary

Ingrid Madden, United Nations Foundation and Mike Beard, Better World Campaign

Aaron Sherinian of the UN Foundation is joined by Sonia Melendez Reyes, U.S. Dept of Labor; Michael Reyes, UNIC; Patricia Padilla, U.S. Dept of Labor and Liam Murphy, UNIC

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A unique dining destination that features new French cuisine with classical roots, in a warm and enriched setting that stirs all of the senses

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HISTORY IS MADE BUT ONCE: BRINGING THE GIRO D’ITALIA TO WASHINGTON, D.C. For the first time in history, in December 2009, the traditional Pink Jersey of the Giro d’Italia crossed in front of the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Left to right: Mark Sommers, Michael Eisner, Ernesto Colnago, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, Ambassador Giulio Terzi, Angelo Zomegnan and Greg O’Dell

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H.E. Giulio Terzi, Ambassador of Italy to the United States The Honorable Adrian Fenty, Mayor of Washington, D.C.

For the first time in history, in December 2009, the traditional Pink Jersey of the Giro d’Italia crossed in front of the Capitol in Washington, D.C.. Wearing it was the Mayor of the District, Adrian Fenty, immediately after having met with the Director of the Giro, Angelo Zomegnan and Italian Ambassador Giulio Terzi to discuss an unprecedented plan in either Italian cycling history or the Capitol of the United States: having the 95th edition of the Giro d’Italia begin in Washington in late spring of 2012.

The idea was officially presented last February during a gala at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, where the senior management of the Giro and its U.S. partners, including the District of Columbia and the Washington Convention and Sports Authority (WCSA), illustrated the grand objectives, the details of the planning process and potential sponsoring opportunities for both U.S. and Italian companies.

“The prospect of it, our great chances, are exhilarating,” Fenty said during the gala at the Italian Embassy. “It’s going to be a fantastic event for D.C., akin to bringing the Olympics to the city and how much excitement and revenue it could potentially bring to Washington.”

Zomegnan and the chair of the working group responsible for Washington’s bid, Mark Sommers, are envisioning two stages: a prologue on the first day, and a stage on the second, after which the caravan would then return to Italy.

Logistically, the 95th edition would start on Pennsylvania Avenue, in front of the National Archives, and would end around the White House. Some of the Capital’s main attractions included in the route would be: the J. Edgar Hoover Building (FBI); the Mall; the U.S. Department of State; the Watergate building and Rock Creek Park.

A Washington’s leg of the Giro d’Italia, one of cycling’s three Grand Tours (the other two being the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España) would strongly incentivize cycling in the United States and would consolidate the partnership between Italy and the U.S. in the field of sports and culture.

“We support the idea,” added Ambassador Terzi, “because it fits into the efforts being conducted by Foreign Minister Franco Frattini to promote the Italian sport worldwide.”

Left to right: D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, Angelo Zomegnan and Mark Sommers

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Colnago bicycles on exhibit at the Embassy of Italy

Angelo Zomegnan, Danilo Gallinari, Ambassador Terzi and Mark Sommers

Danilo Gallinari, Italian professional basketball player with the New York Knicks of the NBA (he is 6ft 10 inches tall) signing an autograph for an admiring small boy.

Danilo Gallinari is a native of Italy and was born in a lovely city called Sant’Angelo Lodigiano in 1988. Although, he is a famous basketball player for the New York Knicks, he attended this event to show his support for the Giro d’Italia.

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Metro Montessori international educational consultants

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Dancing Around A Tale of Two Proms Morgan Freeman

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Canadian Embassy screens Prom Night in Mississippi as part of Black History Month Dr. James A. Winship For Diplomatic Connections Producers Patricia Aquino and Paul Saltzman

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. With a nod to Charles Dickens, this story is not A Tale of Two Cities; instead, it is a tale of two high school proms in the little town of Charleston, Mississippi where two high school proms – one for white students and one for black students – have been the norm for decades. It was 1954 when the Supreme Court of the United States handed down its Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision ruling that separate but equal educational facilities and programs are “inherently unequal.” It was the Brown decision that led to the process of school desegregation and integrated education in the United States. It was the Brown decision that led President Eisenhower to federalize the Arkansas National Guard in order to countermand the defiance of Governor Orville Faubus, enforce the integration of Little Rock’s Central High School, and assure the safety of the young African-American students entering the building. That was September 1957. It was the Brown decision that led President Kennedy to order Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach to confront Governor George Wallace in the “schoolhouse door” at the University of Alabama to assure the integration of that public institution. That was 1963. The story of two high school proms may not be as momentous as these two iconic events in civil rights history, but that was then and this is now.

It was 1970 before Charleston, Mississippi integrated its high school. Charleston, Mississippi was still having separate white and black proms in 2008, and some parents still sponsored a “whites only” prom in 2009.

It happens that Charleston, Mississippi’s most famous resident these days is Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman, who splits his time between New York and Mississippi.

Freeman spent part of his childhood in Charleston under the care of his paternal grandmother after his father died. He was once again nominated in 2010 for the Academy Award in the Best Actor category for his portrayal of South African President Nelson Mandela in Invictus. In 1997, Morgan Freeman heard about the separate proms at Charleston High School and made the school board an offer: hold an integrated high school prom,

and he would pay all of the costs. The school board turned down the offer. Enter a Canadian film production company headed by Paul Saltzman, who had spent the summer of 1965 in the Mississippi Delta doing voter registration work with SNCC – the Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee.

In 2007, Saltzman went back to Mississippi to take a look for himself and to film a personal documentary to be titled Return to Mississippi. Along the way he heard about the two proms in Charleston and about Morgan Freeman’s rejected offer.

Saltzman persuaded Morgan Freeman to make his offer a second time, ten years after the first. This time the school board agreed to allow Freeman to present his offer to the senior class, and they accepted . . . though not without asking first what their limit on spending might be!

Why would Morgan Freeman make such an offer? In part it was because he recognized that prejudice is a deeply ingrained human response to difference. In part it was because he understood that until human beings become conscious of their biases and name their fears no change can be made. In part it was because he dared to speak out and to encourage a specific action – holding an integrated prom – in order to make a positive change. “If I’m going to make a judgment on you because you’ve got straight hair and blue eyes,” observes Freeman, “then I’m doomed. You’re fine, but I’m doomed.” Racism, he understands, surely harms its victims, but it harms the victimizer even more. “The children go to school together all day,” Morgan Freeman in discussion with the students about the Prom ©Catherine Farquharson/Paul Saltzman

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Former Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL) speaking with Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman reminds us, “and when they leave school they never, ever socialize. Our whole heritage has been separation.”

Freeman’s hope was to make one small dent in that history of separation, in one small place, in a way that stood a chance of having a lasting impact.

Not even the beginnings of a once-in-a-century February blizzard in Washington, D.C. could keep invited guests away from the Canadian Embassy for a showing of Prom Night in Mississippi. Morgan Freeman’s presence added a touch of human warmth to the blustery night and a quiet measure of his personal determination to confront racism. Canadian Ambassador Gary Doer put the evening in context by reminding the audience that both the United States and Canada celebrate Black History Month, scheduled for February each year because that month shares the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln, “the Great Emancipator,” and of Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist and defender of women’s rights. Canada, Ambassador Doer reminded his audience, was a terminus of the Underground Railroad precisely because Upper Canada (now Ontario) passed its Anti-slavery Act in 1793. This act then helped to set the stage for the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire by act of Parliament in 1807 and the eventual abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833.

The Canadian Embassy plans to screen Prom Night in Mississippi for Washington area high schools and is working with the film’s producers to help introduce the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Teaching Tolerance” curriculum, which includes a teacher’s guide and a painstakingly developed set of classroom activities centered on the film, to local classrooms. Extending the film’s premise that students should be encouraged to interact across lines of difference, the “Teaching Tolerance” curriculum encourages nationwide observance of a “Mix It up at Lunch” Day to be observed on November 10th each year. In addition, Paul Saltzman and his production team continue their outreach work in a program called “Moving Beyond Prejudice,” which includes screenings of the film, guided discussions, and master classes in filmmaking and civil rights work. In the producers’ eyes the film is far more than entertainment or a 46

Paul Saltzman; Ambassador Doer; Ambassador Gillian Bristol, Embassy of Grenada and Morgan Freeman

documentary record of specific events; it is a teaching tool that touches both head and heart.

Produced by Paul Saltzman and his wife, Patricia Aquino, with the assistance of Thabo Mayo - a graduate of Howard University – as Associate Producer, Prom Night in Mississippi explores the impact of Morgan Freeman’s offer on Charleston as students and high school staff prepare for the prom. The two proms, Freeman insists, “are shackles. These are chains around our souls.” The film is assembled from a wide variety of materials including student-made videos, interviews, public statements by school officials, fly-on-the-wall participation in student conversations, artist’s drawings to cover reports of

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Paul Saltzman; former Congressman Tim Mahoney; Morgan Freeman; Ambassador Doer and Gary Mar, Minister Counsellor, Embassy of Canada

a brief, mostly verbal, confrontation between a white and a black student, and an obscured profile shot for one student who speaks to the camera about racism at home but does not wish to be identified for fear that his parents will disown him.

“There’s some hard headed people in this town,” the fearful student observes. “I’m not just sayin’ whites or blacks. I’m sayin’ a little bit of both.” But, for most of the students there’s a surprisingly easy-going sense that they are ready to make history. “If there’s a chance to make a change,” asks another student, “then why not make it?”

Exploring racism is never an easy thing to do, though at its best “Prom Night in Mississippi” is disarmingly charming.

Its depiction of young people preparing for a prom touches familiar chords with anyone who has ever shopped for a prom dress, rented a tuxedo, spent the morning of prom day washing the car or in the beauty shop, and endured multiple rounds of

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©Catherine Farquharson/Paul Saltzman

Students at the Prom

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m i ss i s s i p parental picture taking. There are disturbing moments as well.

A small group of white parents insists on having a white’s only prom and hires a lawyer to justify their refusal to appear on camera. School administrators have a pointed discussion about security at the prom and whether security officers should wear uniforms or not. (They do.) No matter what degree of normalcy prevails, there’s no escaping the fact that this is a different kind of event. The teacher’s guide for classroom discussion suggests six themes that pervade the film: tradition, change, love, fear, judgment, and opportunity. These make surprisingly effective lenses for probing human prejudice and the circumstances – historical, economic, sociological – that feed its corrosive impact on communities and individual lives.

“Prom Night in Mississippi” is simultaneously reassuring and challenging. The film inserts its audiences into a surprisingly typical American high school, whether in the small town rural South or the urban post-industrial North, where de jure segregation has long been formally ended as violating the law of the land but where de facto segregation is still very much alive and well, if generally quiet and unspoken. Despite the fact that

the story of two proms in Charleston represents a generational clash between parents and children, the film chooses to focus on the children, a typically ragtag bunch of curiously dressed not quite adults who manage to care for each other in quiet ways, who dare to take-on the challenge and the opportunity

posed for them by Morgan Freeman, and who prove themselves to be remarkably articulate about their racial concerns and their sometimes strained personal relationships, their respect for and sometimes frustration with their parents, and their hopes for a better future.

Not a bad return on investment for Morgan Freeman’s “deal” with the senior class, and an even better return for the audiences of any age that view the film. More than fifty years ago icons of the American musical theater - Rogers and Hammerstein – introduced a song entitled “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” in their smash hit South Pacific. At the time (1949) the song, which examined relationships between people of different

©Catherine Farquharson/Paul Saltzman

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races and ethnic groups, was controversial enough that it was condemned as “implicitly a threat to the American way of life” and racial tensions threatened to close the show. To their credit Rogers and Hammerstein insisted on keeping the song in the show. Included in the song are these lyrics: You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late Before you are six or seven or eight To hate all the people your relatives hate You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear You’ve got to be taught from year to year It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear You’ve got to be carefully taught.

Benoit Belisle; Sally Southey, Embassy of Canada; Morgan Freeman and Nick Dietz

Prom Night in Mississippi demonstrates that prejudice of any kind is learned behavior that can’t be unlearned until it is admitted and until it is confronted with an alternative. Prejudice can’t be unlearned, that is, until all of us stop dancing around racism. Thanks to Morgan Freeman, Paul Saltzman, the National Film Board of Canada, and the Canadian Embassy for trying to teach us to move beyond the dancing to face the music and to hear the underlying harmonies.

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Morgan Freeman, Jonathan Sauvé and Jeffery Peterson

©Catherine Farquharson/Paul Saltzman

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BELGIUM HONORS

BATTLE OF THE BULGE VETERANS

Mr. Pieter DE CREM, Belgian Minister of Defense receives from Mr. Dee Paris, 9th Armored Division, 14th Tank Bn and President of the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, Inc., a VBOB certificate.

Inset: H.E. Jan Matthysen, Ambassador of Belgium to the U.S.

Belgian Ambassador Jan Matthysen and Mrs. Matthysen hosted a reception for veterans of the Battle of the Bulge recently at their residence. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and Belgian Minister of Defense Pieter De Crem were the guests of honor and a special music program was performed by the Belgian Royal Air Force Music Band.

The veterans and their families came to Washington from all over the country to participate in a program organized by the Battle of the Bulge Historical Foundation, Inc. in commemoration of their 65th anniversary.

The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Battle of the Ardennes, was launched on December 16, 1944 and was the last decisive combat of World War II to liberate Europe. It was the largest battle the US Army had participated in until then. During one of the coldest winters of the century, almost a million troops fought for a month for the soul of the Old Continent.

Over 19,000 Americans were killed in the hills and woods of the Belgian Ardennes.

The reception provided a special opportunity for Ambassador Matthysen and Minister De Crem to express once again Belgium’s gratitude to the veterans for their role in the country’s liberation sixty-five years ago.

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Mr. Eric Shinseki, U.S. Secretary of Veteran Affairs and H.E. Jan Matthysen, Ambassador of Belgium to the United States

Leuitenant Colonel Martine DIERCKX, Deputy Defense Attaché, Embassy of Belgium and Katherine Nolan, 53rd Field Hospital, Florida

Margaret and Ralph Bozorth, Executive Vice President, Battle of the Bulge Historical Foundation

SMS Johan ELSEN, SMS Oliver Demessemakers and SMS Clarence FIBICH

Lillian Schaffner (far left); Dan Santagata, 5th Infantry Division, 7th Engr Cmbt Bn, NewYork; John R, Schaffner, 106th Infantry Division, 589th FA Bn and John GATENS, 106th Infantry Division, New Jersey

Mrs. Matthysen, Spouse of the Belgian Ambassador welcomes US veteran, Charles Malachoski, 127th Ordinance, Ohio. Inset: LTC Francis Walsh and Jerry Walsh.

Col Stephane PIERRE, Air Force, Embassy of Belgium.

Doroty Barre, 16th General Hospital, Massachusetts; J. David Bailey, 106th Infantry Division, Virginia and Hope Kirkendall, 16th Field Hospital, Florida

Inset: Mr. Eric Shinseki, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Mrs. Shinseki

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NATION’S CAPITAL BREAKS SNOWFALL RECORD

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United States Capitol

The month of February saw two monster snow storms pound the nation’s capital and East coast – as heavy snow and strong winds created blizzard like conditions. As a result, Washington, DC broke its winter total snowfall record with 55.9 inches. The previous record of 54.4 inches was set in the winter of 1898-99, since official record-keeping began in 1888.

The record for daily total snowfall was also smashed.

According to the National Weather Service, the previous record was 28 inches, set in January 1922. However, the biggest snowfall for the Washington-Baltimore area is believed to have been in 1772, before official records were kept, when as much as 3 feet fell, as recorded by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in diaries.

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KCFUTURE AB TO THE

CZECH REPUBLIC: THEN AND NOW Twenty years ago, the newly elected president of free and democratic Czechoslovakia Vaclav Havel visited the United States for the first time in his new capacity. The Velvet Revolution of November 1989 had just brought freedom to his nation and country and his visit to the United States was a highly symbolic trip that crowned the events of the political changes taking place in the heart of Europe. During his trip, President Havel spoke before a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress on February 21, 1990. The speech, in which the President outlined his visions for relations between the U.S. and Europe as well as the rest of the world in the new era, became legendary.

To commemorate the twenty years since President Havel’s landmark speech in Congress, the Czech Embassy in Washington, D.C., organized a panel discussion on Capitol Hill in February on this year. The event, hosted by the Czech Ambassador Petr Kolar, was aptly named “Back to the Future” since the panelists discussed not only President Havel’s speech and its

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Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel presents his speech to the Joint Session of the U.S. Congress while U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle and Speaker of the House Thomas Foley applaud behind him (Feb 21, 1990)

Dr. Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State

CONGRESS

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Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel addresses the Joint Session of Congress (Feb. 21, 1990)

Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel shares remarks with Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy during Havel’s official visit to the U.S. in Feb. 1990

HAVEL

KENNEDY

©Tomki Nemec

Czech Ambassador Petr Kolar opens the panel discussion commemorating the 20th anniversary of Vaclav Havel’s speech to the joint session of Congress. (left to right) Seated panelists include Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, David Ignatius of the Washington Post, and Czech Senator Karel Schwarzenberg.

Left to right: Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Czech Ambassador Petr Kolar, former Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, and Swedish Ambassador Jonas Hafstrom greet each other before the panel discussion, Back to the Future: The Past, Present, and Future of Czech-American and Trasatlantic Relations, commemorating the 20th anniversary of Vaclav Havel’s speech to the joint session of Congress.

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PALOUS

Left to right: Moderator David Ignatius of the Washington Post speaks to Czech Ambassador to the UN Martin Palous and Dr. Albright during the panel discussion Back to the Future: The Past, Present, and Future of Czech-American and Trasatlantic Relations.

IGNATIUS SCHWARZENBERG Left to right: Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, Moderator David Ignatius of the Washington Post and Czech Senator Karel Schwarzenberg during the panel discussion.

ŠTomki Nemec

ALBRIGHT

Former Secretary of State Albright and Senator Schwarzenberg

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and President Havel review their notes during Havel’s official visit to Washington, DC in Feb. 1990

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©Tomki Nemec

U.S. President George Bush welcomes Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel to the White House during his official visit to the U.S. in Feb. 1990

W H ITE HOUSE historical context but also its current resonance with major issues of today’s world policy.

The debate was moderated by David Ignatius of the Washington Post. The Czech panelists were Karel Schwarzenberg, former Czech Foreign Minister and Martin Palous, currently Czech Ambassador to the United Nations. Both had participated in the 1990 trip to the U.S. as members of the inner circle of the President’s advisors. Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State, who was immensely involved with the preparation of President Havel’s 1990 trip, also discussed the current situation of Czech-American and transatlantic relations. Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, commented on the geopolitical significance of the enlargement of NATO and the EU in the 1990’s and its current implications.

Left to right: Ambassador Kolar, Senator Schwarzenberg and Ambassador Andreas S. Kakouris of Cyprus

Czech Senator Karel Schwarzenberg shakes hands with Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor to President Carter, at the panel discussion Back to the Future moderated by David Ignatius of the Washington Post.

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CAGE nicolas

NAMED GOODWILL AMBASSADOR

In December of 2009, Oscar winning actor Nicolas Cage was named Goodwill Ambassador for Global Justice for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) at the United Nation’s Correspondent’s Association (UNCA) 14th Annual Benefit Dinner in New York, where this humanitarian appointment was made official.

Mr. Cage expressed that he was up to the real life challenge of the role as UNODC Goodwill Ambassador and emphasized the need to make an impactful and significant difference on a global level by advocating all the arduous and constant efforts that UNODC is continuously working towards for international security and justice.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also presented Mr. Cage with the UNCA’a Global Citizen of the Year Award for Humanitarian Achievements.

Mr. Cage is very deserving of these awards as he uses his celebrity in a fashion that serves humanity to the greater good. This hollywood actor should be celebrated, as through his humanitarian efforts, he is playing his best role on the stage of life.

UN Photo/Mark Garten

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) poses with actor and newlyappointed Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Nicolas Cage, at the UN Correspondents Association Awards Dinner in New York.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) delivers the Global Citizen of the Year Award for Humanitarian Achievements to actor Nicolas Cage.

UN Photo/Mark Garten

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (second from left) and his wife (left), Yoo Soon-taek, pose for a picture with actor Nicolas Cage (second from right) and his wife, Alice Kim.

UN Photo/Mark Garten

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Heritage Days CELEBRATING THE CUISINE OF

His Excellency Jaliya Wickramasuriya, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United States

World Bank AT THE

Mr. Tissa Wijeratne, Deputy Chief of Mission, Ambassador Jaliya Wickramasuriya and Mr. Nimal Karunatilake, Minister (Commercial) - Embassy of Sri Lanka

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As Ambassador Jaliya Wickramasuriya welcomed guests to a colorful and abundant Sri Lankan buffet in the World Bank’s main dining room, he observed that the building was decorated with images and artifacts of his homeland.

Culinary Diplomacy

Ms. Tanya Spencer, Economic & Commercial Officer / Bilateral Trade Office – South Asia U.S.Department of State and Mr. Harry Marshall, Jr., Senior Legal Advisor / U.S. Department of Justice, Office of International Affairs

As he moved closer to the dining room, he noted, the smells of Sri Lanka – redolent of curries, coconut, and cinnamon – surrounded him. Now, as they shared this exquisite buffet prepared by Guest Chef P. Madhawa Weerabaddhana and Guest Executive Pastry Chef Gerard Mendis, patrons of the World Bank Dining Room could taste the cuisine of Sri Lanka for themselves. However, to truly understand his country, Ambassador Wickramasuriya told the diners, “You must come to see Sri Lanka for yourselves.” Where better to combine food, diplomacy, politics, economics and international tourism than the World Bank headquarters? What’s better than the best of Sri Lanka’s culinary culture to attract tourists and business back to the country?

This “Celebration of the Cuisine of Sri Lanka” was part of “Heritage Days,” a week-long program of international culinary exploration developed by Restaurant Associates for the World Bank Group. As in the case of the guest chefs from Sri Lanka, Restaurant Associates extends an invitation to embassies and consulates to sponsor specific dining opportunities in order to assure the authenticity of the cuisines offered. The artfully presented array of Sri Lankan dishes and desserts included chicken, fish and prawn curries as well as several vegetarian curries, a variety of salads featuring tropical fruits and vegetables not usually found in winter-time Washington, freshly baked South Asian breads, and a collection of coconut and bananaladen custards and cakes.

Culinary arts and cultural diplomacy often go together.

Local foods and flavors not only reflect geography, climate and locale, they also reflect history, cultural heritage and early experiences of a globalized economy. This is especially true in the case of Sri Lanka, an island state at the tip of the Indian sub-continent that is roughly the size of West Virginia with a population of twenty million people, more than ten times the population of that state. Sitting astride the historic ocean trade

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Mr. Nimal Karunatilake, Minister (Commercial); Ms. Wasantha Perera, Minister (Administration); Mr. M. R. Hassen, First Secretary; Brig. Vijitha Ravipriya, Defense Attaché - Embassy of Sri Lanka.

Left to right: Mr. Anthony Renzulli, Desk Officer for Sri Lanka & Maldives, Trish Mahoney and Ryan Miller - all with the U.S. Department of State

routes connecting South Asia with Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Far East, Sri Lanka – formerly known as Ceylon – has merged a strong traditional kingdom with the cultural and religious cross-currents of several other civilizations to create a remarkable multi-ethnic and multi-religious state.

Three-quarters of Sri Lanka’s population are Sinhalese, the majority of whom follow Buddhist tradition and are located in the southwest of the island. The leading minority groups are Tamils, who came to Sri Lanka from South India in two different waves of immigration and largely follow Hindu tradition.

“Sri Lankan Tamils” constitute twelve percent of the country’s population and are concentrated in the North. They have long lived on the island and have been well integrated into the overall community. The second group, known as “Indian Tamils,” represents six percent of the population and are concentrated in the eastern and south-central areas of Sri Lanka.

In addition, about seven percent of the population is Muslim.

There is also a relatively small population known as Burghers who are descendants of European colonists. The net result is an ethnic, religious, linguistic and cumulative culinary mix.

Today, Sri Lanka, as an official government publication states, a “rainbow of diversity” and this is reflected in the culinary delight of their multi-cultural and multi-ethnic influenced authentic cuisine which was magnificently showcased at this event hosted at The World Bank.

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Starting his career at the age of 17 and having spent 11 years in Europe, Asia and Middle East working for hotel chains, such as: Carlton, Regency and Inter-Continental, Executive Pastry Chef Gerard Mendis returned to his homeland in 1987 to join the Hilton Colombo, where he continues to work to date.

Chef Madhawa is a hotel management graduate with specialization in professional cookery from the Ceylon Hotel School and a Board Member of the Chefs Guild of Sri Lanka. In his 27 years of experiChef Madhawa Weerabaddhana, Board Member / Chefs Guild of Lanka and Chef Gerard Mendis, Executive Pastry Chef / Hilton – Colombo

ence, he has held a range of positions including Executive Chef at many resorts in Sri Lanka, the Far East and Europe.

Chef Madhawa Weerabaddhana, Board Member / Chefs Guild of Lanka; Dawn Parker and Dr. James Winship, both with Diplomatic Connections; Ms. Serena Crutchfield, Regional Marketing Manager / Restaurant Associates; Chef Gerard Mendis, Executive Pastry Chef / Hilton – Colombo

Nestled as a beautiful pearl below in the southern tip of India, Sri Lanka is an island nation, which inherits a written history of over 2,500 years. Bestowed with unparallel natural beauty, punctuated by breathtaking beaches, rivers and waterfalls, imposing mountains, abundant flora & fatina and inspiring heritage sites from ancient cities to colonial forts, Sri Lanka is a “Land of Infinite treasure.” The country is also well-known for its finest varieties of Ceylon tea, precious gemstones and the rich variety of spices it produces for the world.

Sri Lanka is home to about 20 million people, consisting of several ethnic groups, such as: Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers and many more, while its religions include Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity.

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U A E

I t a l y

SOFITEL Chicago water tower %

T u r k e y

Q a t a r

Sofitel Chicago Water Tower is renowned for hosting world leaders and dignitaries from around the globe. To promote this exquisite state-of-the-art property, Cristina Gospodin, their liaison for Diplomatic Affairs, recently visited Washington, DC to familiarize the Diplomatic / International Community with their awardwinning hotel, restaurants and luxurious accommodations. The Sofitel Chicago Water Tower is centrally located in the heart of Chicago, just steps from the “Mag Mile,” with close proximity to the business district, diplomatic consulates, major city sites and entertainments.

Diplomatic Connections facilitated the meetings and the embassies warmly welcomed Ms. Gospodin’s visit and were, furthermore, very interested in learning how the Sofitel Chicago Water Tower serves and caters to the Diplomatic / International Arena. This was time well spent for all as there are many Diplomatic Delegations that take place in the lovely city of Chicago, Illinois, not to mention, it’s amazingly historical sites are always of great interest even to the holiday traveler.

We’ve included some photos of Cristina with Diplomats and Staff Representatives from the Embassy of UAE, Qatar, Japan, Italy, Germany, Canada (page 104) and Turkey.

Left to right: Patricia Violante Cassetta, Congressional Affairs Advisor, Embassy of Italy; Former Ambassador of Italy to the OAS Paolo Ianni and his wife, Francesca; Cristina Gospodin; Giuseppe Manzo,First Counselor, Press & Public Affairs, Embassy of Italy

Khalid Rashed K. Albahar, Assistant Military Attache, Embassy of UAE and Cristina Gospodin

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J a p a n

C a n a d a

G e r m a n y

Anna Schiller, Embassy of Germany; Cristina Gospodin; Inga-Lena Moore, Embassy of Germany and Kyle Gaffney, General Manager, Old Ebbitt Grill Capt. Abdulraheem AlHosani, Embassy of UAE Cristina Gospodin with Deputy Chief of Mission Kenji SHINODA, Embassy of Japan

Cristina with Feriha Istar, Cultural Attache, Embassy of Turkey

Left to rignt: Khalid Albahar; Cristina; Staff LtCol Sulaiman AlKaabi, Deputy Defense, Military, Naval and Air Attache; Captain Younes Hanash; Lt Rubaya AlMarri - all with the Embassy of UAE

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South Africa DOING MORE THAN TOOTING

ITS OWN HORN: AN INTERVIEW WITH SOUTH AFRICA’S ACTING AMBASSADOR AND DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION

James A. Winship, Ph.D. for Diplomatic Connections

The Republic of South Africa may not yet have filled the position of Ambassador to the United States, but it is represented in Washington these days by two very effective emissaries – Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires, Mr. Johnny Moloto, and Zakumi the yellow-spotted, green-dreadlocked young leopard figure who has been designated the official mascot of the 2010 World Cup football matches to be held in South Africa this year. They make a warm-hearted, jovial, thoughtful and persuasive pair. Both of them, along with the entire country of South Africa, are counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to the beginning of 2010 World Cup matches set for nine South African cities in June.

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Acting Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission, Mr. Johnny Moloto, South African Embassy

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©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

DCM Johnny Moloto represents a new generation of South African leadership. Former South African President Nelson Mandela will turn ninety-two later this year. Bishop Desmond Tutu will be seventy-nine. South African President Jacob Zuma is sixty-eight. Johnny Moloto was born in 1971. He is thirtynine years old; but, he has acquired a great deal of political and administrative experience in the last decade. Washington, D.C. is his first posting outside of South Africa, and he arrived

©2010 OC

FIFA 2010 World Cup Host Announcement, World Trade Centre, Zurich, Switzerland - Sepp Blatter looks on as Nelson Mandela and Danny Jordaan celebrate with the trophy after the announcement that South Africa will host the 2010 World Cup.

here just in time to experience the snowiest winter on record in the nation’s capital. He received his Bachelor’s, Honours and Master’s degrees in international relations from the University of the Witwatersrand and is close to completing his Doctorate in Public Affairs at the University of Pretoria . . . if only a diplomatic assignment didn’t interfere! Though he began his career as an academic, Johnny Moloto soon transitioned from the study of diplomacy to the work of diplomacy. He was first Administrator for the South African National Commission for the United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). He moved from that position to the Office of the Deputy President of South Africa and from there to become Head of Business Development and International Relations at South Africa’s Agricultural Research Council.

Subsequently, he served as Head of the Office of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position he held for three years. Prior to coming to Washington Johnny Moloto served as Director for Greater China at the President of the Italian Football Ministry of International Relations Federation Giancarlo Abete preparing to handover the trophy. and Cooperation.

Zakumi outside the CTICC with the Soccer World Cup sponsorship balls on December 2, 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa.

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

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©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

President of South Africa Jacob Zuma and President of FIFA Sepp Blatter during the Red Carpet event prior to the 2010 Soccer World Cup Final Draw at the CTICC on December 4, 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa

Zakumi’s pedigree is less administrative and more intriguing.

His green and yellow color scheme represents the colors of South Africa’s national team – Bafana Bafana. He was born on June 16, 1994 . . . the same year that South Africans of all races cast their ballots to elect a new post-apartheid democratic government. That makes him the same age as the new South Africa’s government and both will celebrate their “Sweet Sixteen” birthdays this year with all the excitement and the growing pains of adolescence. South Africa’s Local Organizing Committee Chief Executive, Danny Jordaan, explains that Zakumi is “the ambassador for all our hopes, dreams and aspirations in South Africa.” The Fédération Internationale de Football Association, FIFA’s (fee’-fah) official title, says that Zakumi’s primary role is to assure that the World Cup is “one huge, joyful and unforgettable party that shows the thousands of international guests the warmth and the spirit of the African continent.” Zakumi gets his name from the international abbreviation for South Africa ‘ZA’ and ‘kumi’ which denotes ‘ten’ in several African languages.

South Africa’s countdown to the World Cup began in 2004 when the country won the right to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This will be the first World Cup held on the African continent, and South Africa won the honor in competition with Egypt and Morocco. The football matches will be held across South Africa and will take place between June 11 – July 11, winter time in South Africa. Qualifying matches for this year’s World Cup began as early as August 2007 and included more Franz Beckenbauer, legendary German football coach, manager and former player (second from the left) presents Mr. Mandela a gift at his home in Cape Town. Also pictured are Danny Jordaan, Irvin Khoza and Molefi Oliphant. ©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

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than 200 FIFA national teams from across the globe. Thirtytwo teams, including host South Africa, have qualified for this final round of matches.

South African football fans will give the world a whole new vocabulary of fan-atic sports paraphernalia. First there are the makarapa, crazy and unique headgear that start from your basic construction worker’s hard-hat and go anywhere a designer’s and a fan’s imagination can take them.

Originally designed as much for protection from flying objects launched by over-enthusiastic supporters, the hard-hats have become artistic masterpieces incorporating the South Luke is pictured at the automated cutting maAfrican flag, team symbols, chine during the manufacturing process of the Makarapa hard hats in Newtown on February traditional African art work, 03, in Johannesburg, South Africa ©2010 OCDominic Barnardt and even loud horns powered by a plastic hose that transforms breath power into ear shattering decibel-based enthusiasm! Not to be out done by horn-blowing hat wearers, fans have retaliated by inventing the vuvuzela, one-meter long plastic horns in a rainbow of colors that imitate the trumpeting of an elephant! ©2010 OC Dominic Barnardt World Cup football is a global phenomenon wherever the matches are played, but nowhere will a country host with more pride and anticipation than in South Africa. When the South African flag flies over each match this year it will represent not just national 70

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pride and the history of a nation, it will represent the struggle against apartheid, the end of racism, the dream of a multi-racial society, the vision of a new South Africa, and the hope of generations Artist painting during the manufacturing process of the to come. That flag first Makarapa hard hats. ©2010 OC Dominic Barnardt flew over a new South Africa in 1994 “not as a symbol of a political party, nor of a government, but as a possession of the people.” When the World Cup matches start in June they will represent FIFA’s global competition for football supremacy among the world’s national teams, but it will be South Africa’s party.

~ THE INTERVIEW ~

Diplomatic Connections: What does hosting the World Cup mean for South Africa?

Moloto: Without any doubt it is a big deal. It is a continuation of Nelson Mandela’s vision of social cohesion and building national unity. It’s bigger than just sport. Sport becomes a tool to transform society in a number of ways - socially, economically and politically.

At the social level we have learned over the years, from about the time we hosted the Rugby World Cup in 1995, that sport is a very effective unifying tool in the same way that it was a dividing tool under apartheid. When apartheid came to an end, sport became a unifying tool. It became urgent to integrate all communities and to make sport an equal opportunities endeavor. So, the World Cup was seen in that context. We saw how people rallied behind our teams over the years whenever we had a major sporting event. And we are hoping that hosting the FIFA World Cup Championship matches will fulfill a similar goal.

I had the great fortune to attend some of the Confederation Cup games, in August, with my family. It was quite an out of this world experience. South Africans from all walks of life had the opportunity to rally behind their team. From a political point of view, there is another very strong message: beyond it just being a World Cup hosted in South Africa, this global event is on African soil for the first time. This opportunity allows us not just to showcase South Africa, but the African continent to the world. World Cup allows us to demonstrate that we are capable of hosting such world-class events alone, capable of bringing visitors from abroad, hosting them in a safe environment and giving them a high quality experience.

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

All the artists pose with hats during the manufacturing process of the Makarapa hard hats.

Diplomatic Connections: Earlier in our conversation you used the plural: “stadia.” Does that mean that the World Cup tournament will be played at several sites around the country?

Moloto: Yes, there will be ten sites in nine different cities.

Diplomatic Connections: So the impact is not just on Johannesburg or on one city, it’s on the entire country.

Moloto: That is correct. The overall economic impact around each host city is quite phenomenal. There has also been a great effort to assure that these are sustainable investments. It mustn’t be putting up a stadium which will not be used once the World Cup is over. Fortunately for us we have more than one sport that relies on a stadium for major activities. We normally share football facilities with cricket and rugby, so the new facilities will get frequent use long after FIFA and the World Cup are gone.

Diplomatic Connections: Is South Africa ready? Are the facilities ready? Are there any problems? Are there opportunities there that need to be met?

Moloto: Actually, if you are talking infrastructure, we have met all the deadlines. In fact, even the one area where we were a bit worried, which was Capetown, we were thinking of requesting an extension because of some labor disputes, but actually we met the December deadline. All the facilities now been handed over to FIFA.

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

FIFA FAN FEST

Diplomatic Connections: In other words, for the duration of the tournament you actually hand over the stadium facilities over to FIFA and FIFA takes responsibility for operating them?

Moloto: We are the country hosting the tournament, but the 2010 World Cup is a FIFA franchise.

Diplomatic Connections: There have been some early reports and some grumbling about profiteering - about prices going up for hotel rooms, airfares, things like that, how does the government try to deal with that?

Moloto: There is something of a misunderstanding here. The latest reports are that more tickets have been made available at a more affordable rate for South Africans. One of the challenges we faced in the opening stages of selling tickets was that while World Cup is hosted in South Africa, you also want to have as many international guests as possible. So you open up the process to make sure that people from far away, particularly from

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

The FIFA FAN FEST in Longstreet Cape Town on 4 December 2009 the day of the final draw for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

the countries that have qualified, who obviously want to come and support their teams are able to come and to be accommodated in South Africa. International football is very much a team sport and a fan sport. You want to ensure that the participating teams have a fair chance to have their followers come to the games. But, equally so, you want to make opportunities available to all South Africans. The latest reports are that the price of tickets has been reduced to make sure that they are available to as many people as possible.

Diplomatic Connections: You were very kind when you described football, soccer here in the United States, as a fancentered sport. International football fans are famous for the intensity of their enthusiasm and also for their so called hooliganism. How do you prepare for these games? Obviously there are concerns about security and terrorism, but there are also Continued to page 80

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Italian footballer Fabio Cannavaro showing his agility during the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, ©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

Brazil vs. Italy game, Italian player Andrea Dossena during the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup at the Loftus Stadium in Tshwane/Pretoria. 21 June 2009.

Right photo: An aerial view of Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on January 31, 2010 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Photos below: An aerial view of Moses Mabhida Stadium on January 31, 2010 in Durban, South Africa. ©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

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2010 Soccer World Cup Final Draw

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

Charlize Theron and Matthew Booth

Charlize Theron and Makhaya Ntini

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

Draw Master Jerome Valcke shows the name of Uruguay to the audience. Uruguay were drawn in group A alongside hosts South Africa, Mexico and France.

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©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

Charlize Theron reacts as Jerome Valcke shows South Africa as A1 during the Red Carpet event prior to the 2010 Soccer World Cup Final Draw at the CTICC

David Beckham and Charlize Theron ©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

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A general view of the Cape Town International Convention Centre on December 01, 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa.

©2010 OC

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

England coach Fabio Capello on the Red Carpet.

Uruguay coach Oscar Washington Tabarez at the Mixzone after the 2010 Soccer World Cup Final Draw ©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

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South African coach Carlos Alberto Parreira during the Red Carpet event prior to the 2010 Soccer World Cup Final Draw ©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

Brazilian coach Dunga at the Mixzone after the 2010 Soccer World Cup Final

MIXZONE

AFTER THE 2010 SOCCER WORLD CUP FINAL DRAW

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

Italian coach Marcello Lippi at the Mixzone ©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

USA coach Bob Bradley ©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

Spain’s coach Vicente Del Bosq ©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

German coach Joachim Low Japan’s coach Takeshi Okada ©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

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Premier of the Western Cape Helen Zille during the Red Carpet event.

Left to right: Former South African President FW de Klerk, former South African President Thabo Mbeki and LOC CEO Danny Jordaan during the 2010 Soccer World Cup Final Draw.

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

Johny Clegg performs during the 2010 Soccer World Cup Final Draw

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

Cape Town mayor Dan Plato during the Red Carpet. ©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

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David Beckham

©2010 OC

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter on stage with the host cities mayors during the FIFA FAN FEST in Longstreet Cape Town on 4 December 2009 - the day of the final draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

Danny Jordaan, Thabo Mbeki and Bishop Desmond Tutu on the Red Carpet.

Miss World 2010 Finalists at the FIFA FAN FEST in Longstreet Cape Town on December 4, 2009 the day of the final draw for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

Premier Soccer League CEO Kjetil Siem

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

Deputy President of South Africa Kgalema Motlanthe and Dr. Irvin Khoza during the Red Carpet event .

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

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basic concerns about street crime and also about the hooliganism and violence that have become part of international football unfortunately.

Moloto: Let me just say that South Africa, when it comes to events management, I think we have come near to mastering the art. We’ve hosted major events since 1995 with the Rugby World Cup. Unlike the Olympics, which are hosted in one city and its environs, several of the events South Africa has hosted have taken place at multiple venues across the country. We hosted the Rugby World Cup in ‘95, the Africa Cup of Nations in ‘96, the Cricket World Cup in 2002, and we have hosted other events like world races and conferences, all with their own issues. They tend to attract a huge number of protestors and whether they are anti-organization, anti-racism or whatever, and we must act to secure events. We know how to do these kinds of events and how to mount the exceptional security effort that is needed. I don’t think FIFA would have given us a bid had they not been comfortable with our plans.

We have had multiple opportunities to put these plans to the test. Beyond our own efforts, we also allow teams individually to send their own security to assist, on the ground. Several countries have sent their security teams to assess our plans and have offered their assistance. The South African security forces have invested a huge amount of money in this area. A lot of investment has also been made to increase the security and to enhance the available police force, both from the visiting per-

spective as well as from the permanent force perspective.

Diplomatic Connections: What are the biggest problems facing South Africa today?

Moloto: Of course, it is the economy. Not that the economy itself is a problem, it is that while the economy has been relatively stable it hasn’t created nearly enough jobs. Not only has the economy not created jobs, it has not enabled us to begin integrating those people in the rural areas into the main economy.

We have succeeded in putting together a very good constitution and a very dynamic policy framework; however, these accomplishments have not really translated into the type of results that we have wanted economically. I think that is going to be the focus of President Zuma’s administration to try to transform the economy, to make it an economy where all benefit.

Diplomatic Connections: What new steps might lead in that direction?

Moloto: President Zuma has come up with new priorities that focus around mainly the socio-economic area. You are dealing with poverty, land reform and rural development. Land reform is a large part of it. We still have a dual economy where we have those that are poor and residing in rural communities, and we have others that are well to do and are doing better than others. We need to deal with and to close that gap.

Diplomatic Connections: In terms of relations between the United States and South Africa, what would you say are the two or three major issues that you most want to work on while you are here?

Moloto: Our political relations with the United States are very good. When Secretary of State Clinton visited Africa last fall, she and South Africa’s Minister for International Relations and Cooperation, Ms. Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, had excellent conversations. We want to take advantage of that relationship and to make certain that there is much more awareness between our

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countries. There is a lot of good will toward South Africa from ordinary Americans and from American businesses. We need to harness that good-will and maintain it in a positive way that sets the framework for opportunities to collaborate.

There are great economic opportunities in South Africa. We were encouraged that despite the global economic recession the Ford Motor Company committed to invest more in South Africa.

We would like to see more American investment like that. The United States, in spite of its challenges, is still a major economic and political power. From our perspective, we feel that we can benefit from two way trade and bilateral investment. It is our job to come here and make sure the American people and

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

government understand the opportunities that are available in South Africa. We are going to work on that particularly using the World Cup. The World Cup will put us in the global spotlight; but, it will also force us to look at our own domestic priorities. We cannot shy away from our health issues, for example.

We need the world to help us with these issues because in the long term HIV/AIDS is not just a South African problem but a global problem. Together we might even find a cure. Look also at the area at education.

The challenges you are facing in education are the same ones that South Africa faces and that many other nations face. With the growing global connectivity of nations, we will be learning

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©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

from each other what solutions and new ideas have worked and are worth trying.

Diplomatic Connections: One of the things South African President Zuma has done is to change the name of your department from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation. Why? Moloto: He explained why he did that from a domestic South African point of view. We see our reason for being as creating a better life for South Africans. People never could understand what exactly diplomats did. And, in a time when South Africa faces so many domestic challenges, our task is to look outward, but not at the expense of local issues. True, it is a far longer name, but it actually explains what the department does. It is about relationship building with other countries.

We have struggled for years to explain why it is so important to have so many embassies around the world. We trade. We learn from other countries. We try to bridge gaps in understanding and to assure South Africa’s security. We cannot afford to be isolationists because we can never have all the ©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

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resources and too many problems have become regional and global in scope. They are far beyond South Africa’s ability to deal with them alone. They must be dealt with cooperatively.

Diplomatic Connections: How does South Africa see its larger role in the African continent?

Moloto: We want to work in partnership with others and to create a renewed and energized Africa for the twenty-first century. South Africa was the last country to be freed from the shackles of colonialism; so, that is why one of our key priorities is to see Africa use its vast mineral endowment and its vast population to bring about greater and more rapid economic growth. That can happen only if we collaborate with other independent states across the African continent. As an African nation our perspective is that we want all African nations treated equally as important actors on the world stage and economic forces in the global economy.

Diplomatic Connections: That is a very principled and idealistic approach to international affairs. Moving beyond the level altruism let us ask some specific diplomatic questions. It has been said that South Africa is engaged in “quiet diplomacy” with regard to Zimbabwe, a country which has been unstable, tumultuous, and quite violent at times.

What does South Africa see as its role there?

Moloto: First, “quiet diplomacy” is not South Africa’s phrase. We are engaged in serious but respectful diplomacy with Zimbabwe; there is nothing quiet about it. Second, Zimbabwe is a sovereign state, and we want all states to participate in the global community of nations.

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Of course, the Zimbabweans themselves have admitted that there are problems. That is why they failed earlier to engage with neighboring African states; they needed to have mediators to assist them in ending the internal disputes that have torn at the fabric of the country. Ultimately, they are all Zimbabweans. That much they agreed on. From that base South Africa has taken the lead in assembling a summit of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), which includes fifteen states of southern Africa, and pressing for a framework for the settlement of the political divisions within Zimbabwe. That framework, known as the Global Political Agreement (GPA), has succeeded in creating a unity government and setting the stage for new elections in Zimbabwe, though not without some continuing resistance.

When the Global Political Agreement (GPA) was signed by the opposing parties in Zimbabwe, the Southern Africa Development Community agreed to be the guarantor of the arrangement. That is a role that South Africa and President Zuma take very seriously, and in the end President Zuma has told President Mugabe and the opposition factions: you must abide by the provisions of the GPA because this is what Zimbabwe needs.

The situation in Zimbabwe could have gotten worse; instead, they have stabilized the financial situation, the economy is able to grow again, and food supplies are beginning to rise. None of that would have happened had it not been for the contribution of all the countries in the region. South Africa and other partners were willing to shepherd the Zimbabwean people in

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this process to make sure that they found each other and dealt with the critical issues of constitutional reform.

Diplomatic Connections: How have Zimbabwe’s difficulties impacted South Africa?

©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

Moloto: South Africa has consistently said that when we are invited, when we are requested to assist, it is our obligation to take that responsibility. Because we find ourselves geographically in the same region as Zimbabwe everything that happens in Zimbabwe spills over and affects South Africa. Obviously, with the World Cup beginning in June, we do not want trouble in our own backyard. But, beyond that, there is also the human element. We cannot let the human suffering go on indefinitely.

Millions of refugees from Zimbabwe have poured into South Africa and other neighboring countries.

Our vision is to see a prosperous Zimbabwe that is restored to its rightful place where it was once the great bread-basket and a leading economy of the region. And we are seeing signs that our efforts, whether they are cultural or the work of diplomats, are starting to pay off. We are seeing business people interested in going back to Zimbabwe. We signed a bilateral economic agreement last year in Zimbabwe to ensure that both countries prosper in our respective private sectors.

However, I also want to reiterate and reemphasize that now is the time for all parties that have shown interest in rebuilding Zimbabwe to assure that they consummate whatever efforts have been made by actually investing in Zimbabwe. Economic sanctions should be removed in order to free up the economy to start growing 86

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again. Remember that what has been the political opposition now is a part of that government. With continued sanctions the international community might actually stifle Zimbabwe’s efforts to devise and implement a long-term strategy to put the country on its feet again.

Our position is to persevere through negotiations and political discussions. One cannot pressure a sovereign government to do something against its own interests, but you can always push them in the right direction. Persuasion and political engagement, where you are required to facilitate negotiation, I think set a very good example. South Africa is very determined and committed that we do not want and will not support any sudden or violent change of government. We want to have an orderly transition to democratic elections and help Zimbabwe discover a leader who will bring about peaceful change in the government. We think that can happen, and President Zuma has tried to reinforce that process by naming a team of high level advisors to oversee the on-going reform efforts in Zimbabwe.

Diplomatic Connections: May we return to the refugee question for a moment? Part of the story of post-apartheid South Africa is that its relative economic success has made South Africa magnet for refugees from Zimbabwe, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and even from Somalia. South Africa has problems of its own and yet you also recognize refugees need a safe haven. How do you handle the refugee influx?

Moloto: Well it’s not really how we “handle” it. Instead, it’s about upholding the United Nations conventions where we have accepted the responsibility to welcome refugees who have left their countries because of political persecution. We feel it is our obligation therefore to provide a safe haven. Remember that ours is a history of political struggle, South Africa became a true democracy after one of our most successful human rights ©2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa

campaigns the world has seen. Whenever we see injustice and people being persecuted because of their political beliefs, as part of a welcome to South Africa we try to make certain that they won’t suffer additional injustice.

Diplomatic Connections: In your previous position you focused on South Africa and its relationships with China. What has been China’s impact in South Africa, and more broadly, China’s impact in the African continent?

Moloto: There is a very vibrant trade relationship between South Africa and China. There is a consistent upward trend from when we started trading in 1998 after the establishment of full diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic up to the present. South Africa is China’s second largest trading partner in Africa, and the largest recipient of Chinese exports. We are also Africa’s second largest exporter to China.

What is also significant to us is that China provides a huge market potential. Had it not been for China, the global economic meltdown would have had a much more severe impact not only on South Africa but on most other countries that are trading nations, especially those that trade primarily in commodities. South Africa still has a huge commodities sector, and China’s appetite for minerals and energy remains enormous.

Also, remember that both of us are developing countries. That shared perspective helps quite a lot.

We have very good bilateral trade relations with China, though we still import far more from them than we export to them. We signed a two-year agreement with China where they allowed us to put a more a moratorium on the import of textiles and clothing from China. This agreement allows our own domestic textile industry to be protected. That is unusual, but

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it shows China’s awareness that the clothing and textile issue is very political for us because it creates jobs. It’s culturally rooted; it’s historically rooted; it’s been a main stay of our economy for years. With an aggressive player such as China coming in, the textile sector could be overrun and overwhelmed, but China was a true partner in this case and pulled back.

China’s continued participation in the continent has been quite positive. The Chinese will listen to our proposals in bilateral meetings and in larger forums across the greater Africa region. The Chinese do not insist on a standard template where they say: this is what you are going to get in terms of cooperation. We put in our proposals and suggest what we want to have, rather than having a formula imposed on us. The recent China-Africa Cooperation Forum held in Egypt (November 2009) was particularly successful because a new five year production plan was adopted. That action plan actually spoke to our priorities, not only in South Africa but across the African continent. Of course, you would want the Chinese to put their issues on the table as well. We work on the principle of win-win resolutions; both partners in a negotiation must feel that their primary concerns have been met. Whatever arrangement you engage in, at least it is negotiated. It is not something that you are forced into. You are entering into a relationship that is to the benefit of both parties.

Diplomatic Connections: Thank you, Mr. Minister. You have been very generous with your time. We wish South Africa a marvelous World Cup competition and congratulate you on sixteen years of independence built in the spirit of Nelson Mandela’s vision of “a rainbow nation at peace with itself and with the world.”

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UN Creative Community Outreach Initiative

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n early March, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed the Global Creative Forum at the Hammer Museum in Los

Angeles. He met with influential and strategic representatives of the entertainment industry to initiate an increased awareness of the United Nation’s mission of continuously developing and facilitating a greater understanding of global issues, such as: world hunger, disaster victims, energy resourses, climate change and the global economy.

The UN, under the Secretary-General’s Creative Community Outreach Initiative (CCOI), collectively partners with members of the international film industry to create and direct a higher level of worldwide attention towards common humanitarian interests. It’s imperative to the success of the UN’s primary goals and missions to partner with this effective and high-profile community.

Ki-moon spoke of the life-changing experiences UN staff members have had in different situations; more recently, helping in the recovery of earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile.

He emphasized how the extraordinary strength and endurance of these professionals was truly a great contribution to society.

Many celebrities were in attendence to demonstrate their support.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) and his wife, Yoo Soon-taek (second from right), pose with William J. Clinton (second from left), UN Special Envoy for Haiti and former U.S. President, and Kiefer Sutherland, protagonist of popular series “24”

UN Photo/Mark Garten

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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon poses for a photo with actor Orlando Bloom

UN Photo/Mark Garten

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) meets with actor Samuel L. Jackson (centre) and Mr. Jackson’s wife, LaTanya Richardson

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) addresses the Global Creative Forum in Los Angeles, California. With Mr. Ban are (from left to right), actress Demi Moore; William J. Clinton, UN Special Envoy for Haiti; and William Rouhana, Jr., Vice-Chairman and Co-Founder of the Humpty Dumpty Institute.

UN Photo/Mark Garten UN Photo/Mark Garten

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National Dayof the State of Kuwait

Mrs. Rima Al-Sabah, Ambassador Al-Sabah and Mr. Rafic Bizri, Hariri Foundation USA

H.E. Shaikh Salem Al-Sabah, Ambassador of the State of Kuwait to the United States

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Mrs. Al-Sabah and H.E. Aziz Mekouar, Ambassador of Morocco to the U.S.

Ian M. Davis, VP - Government Relations, Occidental Petroleum Corporation and H.E. Hunaina Al Mughairy, Ambassador of Oman to the United States Mr. Omar Al-Shamsi, UAE Embassy; Mr. Yahya Al-Shawkani, Embassy of Yemen; Mr. Jasem Al-Budaiwi, Embassy of Kuwait and Sufyan Qudah, Embassy of Jordan

Oliver Zandona, ExxonMobil and Hamad Al-Dosari, Embassy of Qatar

Dr. Malak, MajGen Mohamed Elkeshky, Embassy of Egypt and BrigGen Ali Al-Aaragy, Embassy of Iraq

Patrick Mancino, NCUSAR and Brad Haynes, Chevron Corporation Jacqueline Moutran, Embassy of Kuwait, Roselyn Cosentino, Luxe Worldwide Hotels and Wendy McAfree, Luxe City Center

Marco Pinho, Dhari Al-Faylakawi and Nick Marino

Jose M. Zuniga, PhD, IAPAC and John Charles, Embassy Suites at the Chevy Chase Pavilion

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Transatlantic Climate Germans and Americans can be a powerful motor for cooperation on climate and energy policies. The aim of the Transatlantic Climate Bridge is to help Americans and Germans exchange know-how and to pave the way for joint solutions.

Panelists and Ambassador Scharioth at the Transatlantic Climate Bridge One Year Anniversary event

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German Embassy, Washington,DC; by Christophe Avril

Bridge

Ambassador Scharioth talks with Doug Esamann, Duke Energy, and Maja Wessels, First Solar.

By German Embassy The idea of building a ‘transatlantic climate bridge’ to increase cooperation in the climate and energy arena between the US and Germany came to fruition just about one year ago. Though at the time, viewpoints in the United States varied on investing in cleaner sources of energy, many regional climate and energy initiatives existed and the potential for increasing cooperation between the US and Germany in this field was clear.

The German government’s ‘Transatlantic Climate Bridge’ initiative was launched in 2008 as a response to this, in order to connect all those who seek to make a difference — at the local, state and federal level. The aim is to support platforms and partnerships that help Americans and Germans exchange their know-how and to pave the way for joint solutions.

At the launch of the Transatlantic Climate Bridge in the US in December of 2008, German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth said, “Americans and Europeans have been successfully joining forces for decades to address the key challenges facing us. A stable climate with sustainable, reliable and affordable sources of energy are crucial to the world’s economies. A joint commitment to invest in newer, cleaner sources of energy can create new jobs and world-class industries, clean up the environment, protect the climate, improve standards of living and enhance global security.”

German Embassy, Washington, DC; by Christophe Avril

Year One: Strong Cooperation Among Policy Makers, Scientists and Business People from Both Sides of the Atlantic Despite the challenges facing climate legislation in the US and the lack of agreement reached at the UN conference in Copenhagen in December of 2009, the Obama administration has made the fight against global warming a priority and there is now a broad range of German-US cooperation in the climate and energy arena to be proud of.

Existing innovative partnerships such as the MIT/Fraunhofer Institute Joint Center for Sustainable Energy, and existing cooperation between states such as Northern Virginia and Stuttgart or Pennsylvania and North-Rhine Westphalia, have continued to gain momentum.

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Cooperation between Germany and Us states was given a significant boost when a joint declaration was signed in April 2009 between the German government and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its aim is to support the exchange and application of mutually beneficial sustainable energy and climate change policies.

Outlook for Transatlantic Climate Bridge in 2010 To mark this one year anniversary, the success of the Transatlantic Climate Bridge was celebrated by an event hosted at the embassy by the German Ambassador in Washington, DC on January 19, 2010. This gathering featured a panel discussion between industry experts from Us companies First solar and Duke Energy as well as German companies siemens and Deutsche Bank. Its focus was the economic opportunities inherent in sustainable business practices and on the numerous challenges ahead in progressing international climate negotiations. speaking during the panel discussion, Ambassador scharioth cited Germany’s experience that economic growth and emissions reduction are not mutually exclusive.

“Germany has succeeded in reducing its emissions by 24% compared to 1990 levels, whilst enjoying economic growth of 38%. Germany has also created 280,000 jobs in the renewable energy sector only. This proves that a sound climate and energy policy can achieve economic growth, energy independence and contribute to the fight against climate change.”

First solar, the largest manufacturer of thin-film solar cells in the world, is an excellent example of a U.s. company thriving in Germany, thanks to the country’s favorable framework for renewable energies.

Maja Wessels, Vice President Government Affairs at First solar said, “Five years ago, First solar was a start-up company.

Today, it is the world’s largest solar manufacturer and the low cost leader, and the reason is Germany…because of the assured market in Germany, companies such as First solar are able to invest confidently.”

The discussion ended with all panelists agreeing that transatlantic climate cooperation must continue to be strengthened in 2010; that a progressive climate and energy policy creates jobs and makes economic sense.

ay omen’ s W D International

In early March, Meryl streep visited the United Nations Headquarters in New York City to join Yoo soon-taek, spouse of secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN special Adviser Rachel Mayanja in celebrating International Women’s Day and to demonstrate her advocacy on behalf of women’s equality and global rights. streep was a guest speaker at the special event “Women Can’t Wait.”

at the United Nations

UN Photo/Mark Garten

UN Photo/Mark Garten

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Left photo: Actress Meryl Streep (centre) arrives at the UN Headquarters event “Women Can’t Wait!”, co-hosted by non-governmental organization Equality Now and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

To the left of Ms. Streep is Rachel Mayanja, UN Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women.

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Yoo Soon-taek (second from right), wife of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and actress Meryl Streep (centre) pose for a group photo with (from left to right): Taina Bien-Aimé, Executive Director of non-governmental organization Equality Now; Jessica Neuwirth, Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Rachel Mayanja, UN Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women

TORONTO

MAPLE LEAFS VS

WASHINGTON

CAPITALS H.E. Gary Doer, Ambassador of Canada to the United States

By Jesse Thomas Embassy of Canada

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raditionally, Hockey Night in Canada airs on Saturday nights throughout the hockey season. However, on a Friday afternoon in January of this year, the hockey world made an exception and the Canadian Embassy implemented its own version of Hockey Night in Canada ~ right here in Washington, DC! With great anticipation, the Canadian Embassy’s Officers’ Club held their first luncheon of the New Year, on a day when the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of Canada’s greatest historic hockey teams, was in town to square off against America’s own, the Washington Capitals. As a way of honouring the two countries’ teams meeting in the Nation’s capitol on that Friday night, the O’Club brilliantly orchestrated a hockey-themed luncheon in the Canada Room at the Canadian Embassy. Nearly 100 diehard hockey fans attended the event, including: Canadian Ambassador to the U.S., Gary Doer, Brian Burke, General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and

Left to right: Ambassador Doer, George McPhee, General Manager of the Washington Capitals and Gary Mar, QC, Minister-Counsellor, Embassy of Canada 102

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Left to right: LCdr Paul Bosatta, Embassy of Canada; Brian Burke, General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs; George McPhee, General Manager of the Washington Capitals; LCol Douglas Martin (front) and MCpl Darryl Marshall, both with the Embassy of Canada

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Left to right: Gary Mar, Embassy of Canada; Slapshot; Cristina Gospodin, Sofitel Chicago Water Tower; Gen Doug Langton and LCol Douglas Martin, both with the Embassy of Canada

Left to right: LCdr Sean Noble, Embassy of Australia; Maj Jeff Forgrave; Konn Hawkes; Maj Lyndon Humber - all three with the Embassy of Canada

Olympic Team USA, George McPhee, General Manager of the Washington Capitals, Major-General Doug Langton, Canada’s Defence Attaché to the U.S., and last but not least, “Slapshot,” the official mascot of the Washington Capitals.

The O’Club members include the Embassy’s military and civilian officers, and its luncheons are designed to bring Canadians and Americans together to interact informally and to maintain and strengthen their long-standing relationship.

Excitement and enthusiasm filled the air as though a Stanley Cup game 7 was about to begin. Talk of the luncheon buzzed around the Embassy days in advance and when it finally arrived, it did not disappoint. The Great Bald Eagle “Slapshot” arrived promptly so as not to miss the opportunity to mingle with the O’Club’s members and their guests. As the attendees made their way into the Canada Room, one could not help but notice the sea of hockey jerseys that were present, and that clans began to form according to team loyalties, especially the Maple Leafs and the Capitals.

Once the initial rivalries subsided, Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas Martin, President of the O’Club, took to the podium and addressed the audience with a heart-warming welcome, then thanked special guests, Brian Burke and George McPhee, for taking the time to attend the event.

“Canada and the United States have always enjoyed great rivalry on the ice,” said LCol Martin, “but when it comes to North American Defense and Global Security, Americans and Canadians aim for the same goal ~ defending our two great nations.”

With that in mind, and spirits high, the remainder of the luncheon was filled with excitement, camaraderie, laughter and great food.

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Left to right: Scott Greenberg; Mark Smith; Col Dave Erickson;Tom Keithly; Peter Dougherty, Todd Hughes; Brian Kennedy; Maj Mike Ross with guests of the Canadian Embassy

Left to right: Kevin Mowles; Slapshot; Sgt Vincent Healy, Embassy of Canada

Left to right: Sarah McCue, Slapshot and Darin Skelly, Embassy of Canada

Left to right: Chantal Briere and Maj Shawn MacArthur, both with the Embassy of Canada

Left to right: Col Don Steele, British Embassy; Col Robert Smallwood, Embassy of Canada and Col Mark Hoare, Embassy of Australia

Left to right: Cesar Garcia, Capt George Vriniotis; Wynne Walper; LCol Douglas Martin; Jesse Thomas; John-Paul Seminario - All with the Embassy of Canada

Left to right: Back Row: Sean Troux; Maj Daniel Sheils; LCol Pete Peril; Jon Young; Tim Noonan; Maj Luc Hamel Middle Row: Glen Kramer; Maj Yanick Tardif; Will Sturgill; Eamon Barry Front Row: Lt Andy McLean; Martin Dufour All are part of United States and Canadian Military with guests

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Affordable Private Jets? You may be surprised.

When it comes to traveling in luxury and comfort, there may not be a finer mode of travel than that in a private jet. Although the level of personal service and jet amenities is far superior to that of commercial aviation, you may be surprised to learn how certain scenarios make a private jet comparatively affordable.

aviation industry catering to an elite group of clients including business leaders, political leaders, wealthy individuals and entertainers, Wings Jets provides more compelling and personalized private jet solutions with superior economics.

Commercial aviation serves approximately 500 airports, while the number of airports served by private jets mushrooms to over 5000.

The value of such an enhancement is highlighted when traveling to smaller cities underserved by the commercial airlines. This works to reduce the commute to the airport at both the origination and destination. Also, the skies have become more crowded than ever around the large commercial hubs. As a result of the increased commercial air traffic,“it is absolutely clear you’ll have gridlock,” comments Anthony J. Broderick, former FAA official. “Any [commercial airline] flight involving a connection will become a daylong excursion.” Leveraging private aviation and smaller executive airports is an effective solution to the congestion issue.

Another significant benefit of private aviation is when executives or management teams need to make multiple stops in one day, to visit clients or remote facilities. Leveraging a private jet significantly reduces the travel time. Often multi-day road shows can be compressed into an efficient short trip. For example, a Light Jet, such as a Citation Encore or Raytheon Hawker 400XP, capably holds 6 or 7 executives comfortably. When one factors the costs of First-Class commercial tickets for 6 executives (or even last minute Business-Class tickets), extra nights in a hotel room for each team member, additional meals, time away from the office and downtime in transit, the comparative cost totals can be surprisingly similar. There are multiple categories of private jets to accommodate any size party, up to 14 passengers and even larger. Private Jets also offer the team a comfortable, secure environment within which they can conduct private discussions or strategize for an upcoming meeting. Another intangible benefit of private aviation’s efficiencies affords the executives to spend less time on the road and more time in the office or at home with their families.

Business or personal travel can be comparatively affordable if arranged through particular providers. Companies that leverage operational efficiencies through an extensive network of aircraft can offer cost-effective pricing structures. One such company that is a proven leader at delivering such benefits is Wings Private Jets, LLC. “An essential element in optimizing the flight experience for the client is a team of experienced aviation advisors,” says John Rusinak, Managing Member of Wings Jets. “With our personalized boutique level jet service and client-centric focus, we consistently deliver the quality aircraft and industry-leading value our clients demand.”

Few programs compare to the flexibility and client freedoms found in the Wings Jets program. All flight details are custom tailored to each client’s particular needs and preferences. The success of the Wings Jets program is illustration of a shift away from other Membership Programs and 25-Hour Jet Cards to a more flexible approach, client empowerment and value. With extensive years of experience in the 106

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Central to their strength is a certified operator network strategically based throughout the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe. Well positioned aircraft allow them to deliver cost-effective private jet solutions with a renowned commitment to safety and service.

Wings Jets boutique level jet service allows clients to enjoy guaranteed 365/24/7 availability, jet-specific option, discounted category option, last minute discounted ‘Empty Leg’ flights, advanced approval of jet selection, five-hour response time (within the continental U.S.) as well as the strictest safety standards in the industry. The cornerstone of the network and protecting each Wings Jets flight is the ARG/US TripCHEQ System, the defacto gold standard in aviation safety research and evaluations.

Wings Jets service is synonymous with flight safety.They are the leaders in safety due diligence. Each and every Wings Jets flight is protected by industry leading safety guidelines and proprietary qualification standards. All pilots, aircraft and operators pass stringent ARG/US TripCHEQ safety evaluations prior to each flight. It’s just one more distinction that sets Wings Jets apart and illustrates their total commitment.

Wings Jets Membership is less restrictive than Fractional or Card Programs. There are no capital requirements, no responsibilities of acquisition, no membership fees, no monthly maintenance or management fees, no positioning fees and no annual contracts. The cost of each flight is simply debited from the account. Deposit funds and you can be flying the very same day. A crucial benefit is the flexibility to dictate jet model or jet category, as most appropriate for each flight. Enjoy

value-rich one-way and round-trip pricing with fixed hourly rates or leverage one of the last minute discounted flight specials. The program also affords the ability to fly multiple jets simultaneously. Additionally, there is no time limit for using funds in an account. For clients who fly less frequently, there is a charter on-demand program that maintains all the inherent values of the network.

At Wings Jets, dedicated, highly experienced private aviation advisors work for the client, where the client dictates the travel terms. With decades of flight management experience, Wings Jets services are delivered with reliability and strict client-centric oversight. They believe in working on a personal level where flight amenities are a function of comprehensive consultations. Personalized client profiles are maintained to insure consistent delivery of a client’s specific needs and preferences. No impersonal call centers. No customer service representatives. With your own personal aviation advisor handling all aspects of each trip, the flight experience is comfortable, seamless and exceptionally convenient.

Wings Jets will routinely make arrangements for all your other travel needs. You can book hotel reservations, rental car, entertainment, security protections or other custom requests through their 24-hour Concierge Department rather than using several booking agents. This significantly simplifies travel and keeps all itinerary details coordinated within one efficient process.

All Wings Jets clients receive a hand-selected jet most appropriate for their particular flight and representing the optimum in quality, comfort and value. Clients are presented with various aircraft options and are empowered to choose their preferred solution. Of course, clients can always be jet-model specific at any time. Every jet model from every

manufacturer is available to all clients, each flight. Wings Jets also extends frequent complimentary upgrades, whereby clients fly in a larger cabin aircraft while still paying the smaller jet rate. This is yet another illustration of how they optimize service and value.

And while Wings Jets may be a U.S. based company, their reach is global.

Clients get the same flexible service whether they’re flying to South Carolina or Southern Europe. The ability to fly nearly anywhere in the world at anytime of the day or night affords great time savings and makes conducting business extremely convenient. When it comes to domestic or international travel, Wings Jets will fly you anywhere you need to go comfortably, reliably and cost-effectively.

Next time you are planning an important business or personal trip, consider the unparalleled comfort, convenience and flexibility of Wings Jets. For busy executives who want to travel on their own schedule, avoid crowded public terminals and the inconveniences of long security lines, private aviation is the solution. Wings Jets has established itself a leader in private aviation by offering service, quality, flexibility and value to its clients. Whether one books a trip far in advance or leverages a last minute discounted ‘Empty Leg,’ every client enjoys the benefits of their boutique level jet services.

Wings Jets - “The Pleasure of Yes!” For more information, kindly visit Wings Jets online at http://www.WingsJets.com or call 1.888.WINGS.JETS (888.946.4753).

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SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES HAS A NEW OFFICE LOCATION

Saudi Arabian Airlines (SV) has moved its North America Regional Head Office from its Washington DC location to Vienna VA, near Tysons Corner at 8081 Wolftrap Road, Suite 200, Vienna VA 22182.

The new City Ticket Office within the main airline offices, features a tasteful blend of modern and traditional interior design.

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Mr. Khalid Albalawi is General Manager, Passenger Sales and Services for Saudi Arabian Airlines USA/Canada Region.

The airline, the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, was previously in the Watergate Office Building at 2600 Virginia Ave NW, Suite 510, Washington DC. The old location will now be converted into a satellite City Ticket Office to provide services particularly to the Royal Saudi Embassy and the Saudi Arabia Cultural Mission to the USA. Saudi Arabian Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the world, with more than 100 aircraft flying more than 17 million passengers annually to over 80 destinations worldwide – in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and the USA. It is currently undergoing privatization with the airline being divided into six Strategic Business Units, or SBU’s. The SBU’s include catering, ground handling services, cargo, technical services, aviation academy and the main airline unit.

The airline is also undertaking an Information Technology upgrade, cutover to a new Reservations System based on Amadeus Global Distribution System and other enhancements. It currently flies three times weekly from JFK International Airport in New York and Dulles International Airport in Washington DC. Its B777 aircraft are equipped with sleeper seats in First and Business Classes that recline flat for utmost passenger comfort and features a state-of-the-art entertainment system with large seat back or arm seat video screens featuring the latest in in-flight entertainment.

Saudi Arabian Airlines recently took delivery of new Airbus A320s, part of its fleet modernization program that involves delivery of up to 70 new aircraft including A320s, A330s and B787 Dreamliners.

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The Conference Room (left) and the City Ticket Office (right) are spacious and can accommodate the many staff and visitors that conduct business on a daily basis. New hardware and modern equipment ensure efficiency and good customer service.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES NEW REGIONAL OFFICE The new Saudi Arabian Airlines USA/Canada Region Head Office houses the Executive and Administration Departments, Sales & Marketing, City Ticket Office and the new Reservations Call Center for North America.

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The new Saudi Arabian Airlines Reservations Call Center for North America handles all reservations requirements of all customers in the USA and Canada. Advanced call management technology ensures quick and efficient service for all callers.

The City Ticket Office (CTO – left and right) provides ticket issuance services to customers that include Saudi students, the Saudi diplomatic community, walk-in customers and others.

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Dr. James A. Winship For Diplomatic Connections Strange as it may seem, on a cold wintry January evening in Washington, D.C., the deserts of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula became the stars of a Washington première. The occasion was a reception and preview of the IMAX film Journey to Mecca: In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta in the Johnson IMAX Theater at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. This special “opening night” of the film, which was subsequently shown for eight weeks at the Smithsonian, was made possible under the patronage of H.E. Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States, in association with H.E. Yousef Al Otaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States, and H.E. Aziz Mekouar, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United States. Special guest of honor for the evening was His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former head of Saudi Intelligence (1977- Aug. 2001), former Saudi Arabian Ambassador, respectively, to the United Kingdom & Ireland (Jan. 2003-Sept. 2005) and United States (Sept. 2005- Feb. 2007). Prince Turki is currently Chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS), which provided substantial assistance in making this film possible. He is also son of the late King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud (King from 1964-1975) and nephew of the current ruler, His Majesty King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud (2005present).

The evening packed the Johnson IMAX Theater with hundreds of invited guests from across the Arab and the broader Islamic world as well as a cross-section of Washington’s diplomatic corps and American foreign policy insiders. Those gathered in the theater were greeted by Elizabeth Duggal, Associate Director, External Affairs and Public Programs, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, who introduced Taran Davies, Dominic CunninghamReid and Jonathan Barker, producers of the film that was directed by Bruce Neibaur and backed by Cosmic Picture and SK Films in association with National Geographic. Setting the scene for the film, Taran Davies noted that, “One of our goals was to show the Hajj on the giant screen as a way to strip away the barriers between cultures.” Cunningham-Reid added, “The reasons behind the film were certainly the times we were living in, and the fact that Contributing photographers for pages 112 - 123 Matthew Lehner, Tony Powell and Paula Morrison

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Journey to Mecca:

In the footsteps of Ibn Battuta

Left to right: Taran Davies, Producer; Jake Eberts, Executive Producer; Dounia Benjelloun, Co-Producer, Investor, Sponsor; H.E. Aziz Mekouar, Ambassador of Morocco to the U.S.; Saudi Prince HRH Turki Al-Faisal, Chair of KFCRIS, Presenter; Bruce Neibaur, Director; Dominic Cunningham-Reid, Producer and Jonathan Barker, Producer D i p l o m a t i c c o n n e c t i o n s B U SINE s S Q U A R TE R LY | WINTE R 2 0 1 0

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Sam Martin, SK Films; Jonathan Barker, CEO and President of SK Films; Wendy Mackeigan, Vice President, SK Films; Amber Hawtin, SK Films and Toby Mensforth, Director of Theatres, The Smithsonian

HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal and Mr. James Kimsey, Co-Founder, CEO and first chairman of internet service provider America Online (AOL)

HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal addressing the crowd James Hoagland won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for the Washington Post in 1971 “for his coverage of the struggle against apartheid in the Republic of South Africa” and again, for the Post, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1991 “for searching and prescient columns on events leading up to the Gulf War and on the political problems of Mikhail Gorbachev.”

J. L. (Jack) Davies was founder and President of AOL International, where he led the global expansion of AOL, the world’s leader in interactive services, and Compuserve into key markets in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Canada. Under Jack’s leadership, AOL International grew to over 4 million members and over $1 billion in revenues within 4 years of the launch of the first international service in late 1995. Jack joined AOL as Senior Vice President of AOL Services in July 1993 and was responsible for all content and marketing activities. During his tenure, AOL tripled its subscriber base to more than one million members. Jack retired from AOL in 2000.

James Hoagland, Journalist/Correspondent for the Washington Post; Jane Stanton Hitchcock, New York Times bestselling author; Ambassador Al-Sabah; Kay Kendall and Jack Davies D i p l o m a t i c c o n n e c t i o n s B U SINE s S Q U A R TE R LY | WINTE R 2 0 1 0

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General Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Mrs. Alma Powell

Jason Isaacson, American Jewish Committee and H.E. Aziz Mekouar, Ambassador of Morocco to the U.S.

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after September 11 (2001), there was a great hunger and a need for information about Islam in the West.”

For all the celebrity and the celebration, however, it was still the film that was at the center of the evening and the pilgrimage of the Hajj, the ritualized journey to Mecca that is one of the “Five Pillars of Islam” and is required of all the Muslim faithful who are able, that was at the center of the film. Mecca is much more than a holy city; it is for Muslims the center of their faith and the hub of their spiritual universe. It is here that Abraham arrived after answering God’s (Allah’s) call to follow the angel Gabriel into the desert to a place where God lived – the Ka’abah – and where Abraham, his second wife Hagar, and their son Ishmael would be resettled. Tradition says that the original Ka’abah was the first house on earth, built by Adam and Eve. Abraham and Ishmael rebuilt it on the original foundations. It was here that Abraham’s obedience to God was tested when he was ordered to leave Hagar and his son alone in the desert, where they began to die of thirst, and where Gabriel rescued Hagar and the child by causing a miraculous well to spring from the earth. Abraham, Ibrahim in Arabic, was a hanif – a discoverer of monotheism, and a prophet of God. It was Muhammad, the “Messenger of God” (peace be upon him) who centuries later received God’s revelation and shared it with the people of Mecca, then an oasis and local trading center, in the form of the Qur’an. Initially, Muhammad’s message met with limited success, and he and his followers were forced to flee to Medina where tradition says he succeeded in uniting the conflicting tribes. From this base Muhammad was able eventually to reenter Mecca, to gain large numbers of adherents, and to rededicate the Ka’abahh according to God’s directions. It is the Ka’abah, a cube-shaped granite building surmounted with a black silk and gold inscribed drape that is the most sacred site in Islam and toward which Muslims around the world face as they observe their daily prayers. As a part of the pilgrimage to Mecca the pilgrims from all across the Islamic world reenact episodes from Muhammad’s life. One of these activities, repeated several different times during the course of the Hajj, is circumnavigating the Ka’abah in a counterclockwise direction seven times. These walks represent the journeys of Abraham and Muhammad as well as the pilgrims’ journey to find God. As the number of pilgrims making the Hajj has grown exponentially the logistics of the tawaf (the Arabic term for this circling of the Ka’abah) have become more complex to the point where pilgrims may circle the black cube on the ground level, on a portico of the surrounding mosque, and on the roof of the mosque.

In order to explore the reality of the Hajj at the level of individual human experience, the film chooses to view the journey through the eyes and the words of a single pilgrim, the great Arab traveler and chronicler of his multiple journeys across the Near East and the Far East, Ibn Battuta. In 1325 CE, at the age of twenty-one, Ibn Battuta, left his family and friends in Tangier, Morocco to set out on the Hajj to Mecca and as the Qur’an suggests, “to seek knowledge in the far corners of the world.” He did not return for twenty-four years, traveling farther and more extensively than did Marco Polo and reaching India and China as well as East Africa, Constantinople, and the Volga River. Educated in a family of qadis, Islamic judges, it was logical for Ibn Battuta to set out as a pilgrim at an early

Left to right: H.E. Ali Aujali, Ambassador of Libya to the U.S.; H.E. Abdulwahab Al-Hajjri, Ambassador of the Republic of Yemen to the U.S.; Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs; H.E. Yousef Al-Otaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the U.S.; H.E. Dr. Imad Moustapha, Ambassador of the Syrian Arab Republic to the U.S. and H.E. Dr. Hussein Hassouna, Ambassador of the League of Arab States to the U.S.

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age. But, whether it was the foolishness of youth or a desire to replicate the solitary experience of the Prophet Muhammad, it was somewhat less logical that he should set out determinedly alone “having neither fellow-traveler in whose companionship I might find cheer, nor caravan whose party I might join.” It is the power of the IMAX experience that it dramatizes the landscape of the desert, its vastness, its emptiness, its mirages, its beauty, its dangers and Ibn Battuta’s aloneness.

Ironically, the other key character in the story of Ibn Battuta’s travels is a highwayman, initially a thief and his band who prey on travelers, often leaving them for dead in the desert.

Discovering that Ibn Battuta is a pilgrim on the Hajj to Mecca, however, the highwayman spares his life knowing that by him-

self the young man is unlikely to survive. Alone in the desert the young Ibn Battuta comes close to death, but he is trailed by the highwayman who saves his life and becomes his teacher. It is the highwayman who teaches the brash young man that he cannot survive alone; he must depend on others. It is not a lesson easily learned, but it is the highwayman who gets Ibn Battuta to Damascus and to the caravan that will eventually bring him to Mecca. The lessons learned by this once proud now humbled young man, Ibn Battuta, are the lessons of the Hajj, which brings together pilgrims from across the world and turns them into a community of the faithful. The tradition of the Hajj requires that all men dress alike, in two simple unhemmed white sheets the ihram, designed to demonstrate the equality of all the pilgrims in the eyes of God. The Hajj is an act of devotion designed to teach lessons of obedience to God, of humility in the face of other human beings, and of the utter dependence of human beings on each other to survive in the harsh beauty of the desert and to live in community with one another. The historical account of Ibn Battuta’s travels is formally titled, A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of the Cities and the Marvels of Traveling, and his experience of his first Hajj is central to shaping the kind of observant and sympathetic traveler he becomes.

Merging from the story back into the reality of the present day Hajj, this film brings to life the sights, the sounds, the crowds, the diversity and the reverence of the Hajj as it affects twenty-first century pilgrims. A recent scientific study of those who participated in the Hajj, done by a team from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, found that: “Hajjis show increased belief in peace, and in equality and harmony among adherents of different religions. The evidence suggests that these changes are a result of exposure to and interaction with Hajjis from around the world.”* The pilgrimage of the Hajj is no less a gift now than it was in Ibn Battuta’s time.

Following the screening of the film, Prince Turki Al-Faisal congratulated all who had been involved in “Journey to Mecca” from its conception to its realization on the screen. He noted the extraordinary access the Saudi Arabian government had granted the film makers and their willingness to use an all Muslim crew to photograph the modern day reality of the Hajj, an event that has been bringing together Muslims from around the world to a single location – Mecca – for 1400 years. The producers noted that their goal had been to “showcase the cultural, spiritual and historical elements of the Islamic world in a non-political way,” and Prince Turki ended his remarks with the hope that the film would be “a precursor of better things in the

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Ambassador Salem Al-Sabah, Mrs. Rima Al-Sabah and HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal.

future.” Following these closing remarks a reception was held in the Rotunda of the museum featuring the foods, music and traditions of the area surrounding Mecca.

In the end, the Hajj is a journey of discovery, whether for one man – Ibn Battuta – or for the three million pilgrims who perform the Hajj each year. It is a journey of self-discovery that takes pilgrims deep inside a personal self and an enduring faith to discover the vastness of God’s universe, the vulnerability and dependence of the individual, the diversity of the faithful from all corners of the earth, and the critical need for the help of others to live in harmony and in peace. Prince Turki Al-Faisal summed this up nicely. “There is a verse in the Qur’an which says that people coming to pilgrimage should not only devote themselves to their religious duties, but also to their inter-human relationships. A movie like this brings out the universality of faith and the universality of a belief that has transcended the time from Abraham all the way down to Muhammad . . . and to the present.” It is not only Ibn Battuta’s record of his travels in pursuit of knowledge that was a journey of discovery and a gift to his listeners, much the same was true for this IMAX film’s impact on its audience as well. *Clingingsmith, David Lawrence, Khwaja, Asim Ijaz and Kremer, Michael, Estimating the Impact of the Hajj: Religion and Tolerance in Islam’s Global Gathering (April 2008). Harvard University – John F. Kennedy School of Government, KS Working Paper No. RWP08-022. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1124213

H.E. Ali Bin Fahad Al-Hajri, Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the U.S. and H.E. Antoine Chedid, Ambassador of Lebanon to the U.S.

Nail Al-Jubeir, Director of the Saudi Information Office, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia and wife Maysoon.

Taran Davies and Her Excellency Houda Nonoo, Ambassador of Bahrain to the U.S. 120

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Dr. Salim Aziz, Capitol Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery Associates and Sherry Cooper, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia

Dr. Talal Nsouli of The Watergate and Burke Allergy & Asthma Center greeting HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal

H.E. Husain Haqqani, Ambassador of Pakistan to the U.S. and HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal

Susan Pausky, Azhar Hussain and Margaret Cone Mrs. Yusoff Hamid and H.E. Dato Yusoff Hamid, Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam to the U.S.

Jared Scott and Kelly Nyks

Dr. John Duke Anthony, President of National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations and Shahla Izadi Rassuli, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia

H.E. Dato’ Sri Dr. Jamaludin Jarjis, Ambassador of Malaysia to the U.S. and his wife, Mrs. Jarjis

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Mrs. Olhaye and H.E. Roble Olhaye, Ambassador of Djibouti and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps.

Nick Khazal - VI Photography

Taran Davies and UAE Ambassador Al-Otaiba

Mr. Leo Daly and his grand-daughter Jeannie.

Dr. Sayyid Syeed, National Director for the Office of Interfaith & Community Alliances for the Islamic Society of North American (ISNA) and Mr. Omer Bin Abdullah, a Writer/Editor/Analyst of South Asian Heritage

Grover Norquist and his wife, Samah.

HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Bruce Neibaur and Dominic Cunningham-Reid

Laure Saint-Hillier; HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal; Hassam Ghancy, actor and Bruce Neibaur

Taran Davies, HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal and Ms. Elizabeth Duggal, Associate Director, External Affairs and Public Programs, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History. Ms. Duggal introduced the film on behalf of The Smithsonian.

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5.12

SAVE THE DATE MAY 12, 2010 DIPLOMATIC CONNECTIONS IS HOSTING A

D iplomatA ppreciation R eception ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 12TH, FROM 5: 30 PM TO 8 PM

F our S easons otel H AT THE

IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

WELCOME TO THE ELYSIAN.

Sometime over the past century, travel became so commonplace that we stopped treating it for what it is: one of life’s greatest indulgences.

At the Elysian, we are dedicated to reviving the bygone era—when travel was synonymous with luxury. With customized service, style and sophistication as the cornerstones of our mission, you will understand why the Elysian is setting a new standard of luxurious hospitality.

photography by patricia parinejad & maria ponce

opposite: hotel lobby. this page, clockwise from top left: guest suite terrace, courtyard fountain, premier gold coast suite, european style courtyard, guest bedroom, oversized bathrooms.

With 188 guest rooms and only 10 on

with white Carrara marble and dual

each floor, the Elysian ensures you will

vanities with LCD televisions. To relax,

receive not only privacy during your stay,

cozy up next to the fireplace in the sitting

but also expansive accommodations

room or enjoy an alfresco afternoon on

averaging 890 square feet. Each guest

the private, furnished terrace overlooking

room and suite has been furnished with

the bustling Gold Coast.

classic pieces that have a modern interpretation: king-size beds are lined with 460-thread count Rivolta Carmignani Italian linens, and bathrooms feature both a soaking tub and separate shower

In addition to your comfort, your privacy is of utmost priority; our European style courtyard and secure underground hotel entrance ensure discreet arrival and departure.

The cuisine at the Elysian will surely impress even the most discerning palates. Balsan, named after Coco Chanel’s original financier, is a casual yet elegant dining spot focused on seasonal items from local artisanal farms and serves breakfast, lunch, light dinner and late-night bites. Ria kicks it up a notch as Elysian’s signature dinner spot, featuring global influences and an emphasis on the freshest ingredients from around the world. And you can always start or spend your evening

From sophisticated wedding receptions

at Bernard’s bar, featuring creative

to stately business meetings, the

cocktails inside a leather and wood

Elysian’s four private spaces are perfect

“member’s only” style bar. Don’t worry

for any function, with each room

—here, everyone is a member. Private

displaying the signature 1920’s elegance

dining rooms are also available for

and glamour. If business is your

cuisine and conversation.

pleasure, the Fitzgerald Boardroom,

Escape from the stress of everyday life with a relaxing retreat inside the Elysian’s Spa & Health Club. Spanning a spacious 14,000 square feet, the spa and health club features a mosaic-tiled lap pool, private treatment rooms, Pilates and Gyrotonics studio, and a men’s atelier. At the Elysian, we believe that each treatment should be a purposeful experience that will leave you feeling delighted and restored. Let our

expertly-trained

therapists

and

specialists help you select a holistic treatment perfectly tailored to your needs.

which comfortably accommodates up to 12 people, is the ideal escape from the daily doldrums of the office.

Faulkner and Hemingway—with their floor-to-ceiling

windows—are

also

available to host smaller gatherings and meetings in a variety of configurations. The Sinclair Ballroom is perfect for any type of occasion—it can hold up

this page, clockwise from top left: elysian spa & health club mosaic-tiled lap pool, sinclair ballroom, ria, balsan, and fitzgerald boardroom.

to 270 for a reception, 160 for a banquet or 130 for a dinner with a dance floor.

11 east walton, chicago 312.646.1300 elysianhotels.com

some say travel is not what it used to be. we look forward to proving otherwise.

Once, hotels were synonymous with a style of life as it

two distinctive restaurants and an incomparable

should be lived. Today, one of these landmarks stands at

spa and health club. And a hotel stay is once again

the corner of Rush and Walton, carrying with it 188

remarkable. To arrange a stay at Chicago’s newest

expansive guest suites, a European-style courtyard,

hotel, kindly contact us or your travel professional.

11 east walton

chicago

t 312 646 130 0

e ly s i a n h o t e ls . c o m

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