Last month I had the enormous privilege of representing Leeds and the UK at a Symposium on Strategic Subnational Diplomacy, hosted by Meridian International Centre in partnership with the Truman Centre, Melbourne Centre for Cities and fully funded by the US State Department. Their aim was “to convene municipal and regional leaders from the U.S. and eight ally nations to foster more deliberate and better coordinated strategies that support subnational engagements in international affairs, counter malign influence and interference, preserve democracy and democratic values, and advance economic prosperity.”
I joined 45 delegates from around the world, with small teams of 5 people from subnational and central government representing the UK, USA, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.
It allowed participants to build their networks, learn from each other and foster more effective strategies to support subnational engagement in international relations. With sessions on wide-ranging topics such as climate, cyber security, managing disinformation, migration and attracting foreign direct investment, the conference provided insight into the breadth of issues that international relations teams in subnational governments face as part of their daily business. Of particular interest to me was new learning around how governments in other countries, such as France and the USA, support subnational diplomacy through dedicated teams in their foreign ministries. For the city representatives in Team UK, we left with a strong sense of purpose to set out the case for city diplomacy to be seen as an extension of national diplomacy, helping to enhance the UK's global impact.
I also spent the final morning at the British Embassy in Washington learning about their work on trade and climate change. It was useful to hear how they were preparing for sweeping changes in the wake of the new Trump administration.
The timing of the event, just days before the inauguration of the new President, was very exciting as we got to see the preparations taking place around Capitol Hill and the White House. A top fun fact pointed out by one of my colleagues on my return is that Benjamin Latrobe, architect of the Capitol building and parts of the White House, is known as the "Father of American Architecture" but was originally from Leeds - a city with global reach!
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