Presidential Commissioner on Public Diplomacy Hails Global Conference for U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Officers as a " Needed Success"

Contact: Matt Lauer
Phone: (202) 619-4463

WASHINGTON, Friday, April 12 -- Maria Elena Torano, a member of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, today declared the recently concluded global symposium for U.S. State Department public affairs officers as "a needed success."

The conference, held April 8-10, brought nearly every public affairs officer from American embassies across the globe to Washington for three days of knowledge gathering and information sharing.

"I have served the nation's public diplomacy efforts through my role on the Advisory Commission for the past eight years. The State Department has never coordinated a conference of this kind," said Torano, who served as the Commission's liaison to the symposium.

Demonstrating communications concepts and techniques, the conference fostered these skills among its attendees. Additionally, participants shared a range of methods for disseminating the American message, assessed the message the United States wants to deliver to foreign audiences and examined how those audiences have changed after September 11.

"In my view, a conference like this is a necessary part of building an effective communications capability. Every multinational corporation does one," continued Torano. "I congratulate Secretary Colin L. Powell, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Charlotte Beers and their team for coordinating such a trailblazing event, which served as a stage for innovative and creative ideas. We must find new ways to communicate."

The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy is a bipartisan Presidentially appointed panel created by Congress in 1948 to provide oversight of U.S. Government activities intended to understand, inform and influence foreign publics. The Commission reports its findings and recommendations to the President, the Congress and the Secretary of State and the American people. Additional members include: Chairman Harold Pachios of Maine and Commissioners Charles Dolan of Virginia, Penne Percy Korth of Washington, D.C. and Lewis Manilow of Illinois. For more information, visit www.state.gov/r/adcompd.