We are pleased to announce that Ambassador (Ret.) Nina Hachigian, U.S. Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy, will be a keynote speaker at the Global Ties U.S. 2024 National Meeting on Thursday, March 7. She joins Global Ties U.S. 2024 Citizen Diplomat Awardees Daisy Khan, Founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality, and the Rid-All Green Partnership, an urban agricultural center and community education hub, in Cleveland, Ohio, during the plenary session: Raising Community Voices. The plenary session will celebrate how local leaders are serving their communities by connecting them with the world and building the effective global partnerships we need today.
Ambassador Nina Hachigian is the first-ever U.S. Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy. In this role, she leads and coordinates the U.S. Department of State’s engagement with mayors, governors, and other local officials in the United States and around the world to advance U.S. foreign policy at the local and state level, and support U.S. national security priorities by fostering connections among cities, municipalities, and communities both here at home and abroad.
Prior to rejoining the U.S. Department of State in 2022, Nina served as the first Deputy Mayor for International Affairs for the City of Los Angeles, and from 2014 – 2017 she served as the second U.S. Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Registration for the Global Ties U.S. 2024 National Meeting is open to the public and available until February 23. This is the premier annual gathering of international exchange and public diplomacy professionals and supporters from government agencies, the private sector, nonprofit organizations, and academia. The 2024 National Meeting theme is Diplomacy in Action: Raising Community Voices.