San Diego’s first ‘Diplomacy Day’ highlights power of citizen diplomacy

Mexican Consul General Alicia G Kerber-Palma speaks at Diplomacy Day Photo by Chris Jennewein Times of San Diego The San Diego Diplomacy Council celebrated the city s first Diplomacy Day on Thursday afternoon drawing a crowd to the international cottages in Balboa Park to highlight the power of citizen diplomacy The event attracted numerous contributors visiting diplomats and city representatives Organizations ranging from the United Nations Association San Diego to Sister Cities International set up booths Benjamin Moore the foreign affairs advisor to Mayor Todd Gloria kicked off the official campaign We are the th largest city in America we are part of the th largest financial sector in the world the state of California we have the largest concentration of military assets in the world and the majority importantly a model of binational cooperation with our Mexican partners he stated You can easily see that San Diego is poised to lead at the global level and that s why we re all here City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn read a proclamation and Mexican Consul General Alicia G Kerber-Palma addressed the crowd on the role of women in international diplomacy Currently on Diplomacy Day let us take the opportunity to advance an international agenda that truly gives women a seat at the negotiations table she stated The nonprofit San Diego Diplomacy Council seeks to create inclusive professional cultural and educational experiences to connect local and global changemakers and fostering convergence in a divergent world