FY23 Report on Conferences as Required by Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-12-12 and M-17-08

This report fulfills the U.S. Department of State’s reporting requirements pertaining to conference related expenditures contained within the Office of Management and Budget’s Memorandum M-12-12 (OMB M-12-12, issued May 2012 and OMB M-17-08, issued November 25, 2016) for fiscal year 2023.

During FY2023, the Department of State hosted ten conferences that met the threshold for reporting.

Name of Conference	WHA China Watchers Conference
Location	SOUTHCOM HQ Conference Center of the Americas, Doral, Florida
Total Expenses	$148,887.96
Start Date	October 18, 2022
End Date	October 20, 2022
Purpose and Contribution to Mission	This conference will provide information, resources, and contacts for posts across WHA to better assess and respond to PRC competition throughout the region. It is organized by the Regional China Officers assigned to WHA (EAP positions forward deployed to four WHA posts), with approval and support from WHA/FO and EAP/China.
Total Department Funded Attendees	61

Name of Conference	DS Global Summit
Location	Department of State, Washington, DC
Total Expenses	$1,017,961.47
Start Date	October 25, 2022
End Date	October 27, 2022
Purpose and Contribution to Mission	To address the DS Bureau’s Functional Bureau Strategy and ensure our DS leaders/managers are fully aware of the supporting role each of the directorates has. Discuss risk management and the key role the Bureau plays in enabling the Department’s global mission/operations and doing so within budgeted resources. Review and discuss the Bureau’s recent focus on intelligence-based law enforcement and security operations and the value added to national security efforts through increased reporting. Other topics that will be discussed are diversity, mental health, resources, the training continuum, UAS, and the DS protective mission.
Total Department Funded Attendees	455

Name of Conference	Indo-Pacific China Watchers Conference
Location	U.S. Pacific Fleet Meeting Facility, Honolulu, Hawaii
Total Expenses	$325,003.39
Start Date	December 13, 2022
End Date	December 15, 2022
Purpose and Contribution to Mission	The RCO program will partner with INDOPACOM to host a three-day in-person conference in December 2022. This conference will bring together reporting and Public Diplomacy officers from EAP and SCA, as well as representatives from domestic State and DOD offices in Washington and at INDOPACOM, to discuss USG efforts to confront the strategic challenge posed by the People’s Republic of China. We hope to use this conference to strengthen posts’ analytic tradecraft and PRC expertise, build consensus and collaboration with DOD on whole-of-government responses to PRC challenges in the the Indo-Pacific, and highlight interagency tools and resources available for advancing the United States’ PRC-related objectives.
Total Department Funded Attendees	70

Name of Conference	Africa Fulbright Program Training for Locally Employed Staff
Location	Paris, France
Total Expenses	$224,469.00
Start Date	March 13, 2023
End Date	March 16, 2023
Purpose and Contribution to Mission	The Fulbright Program is active in 38 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (AF) and offers important opportunities for U.S. and African students and scholars to participate in two-way academic exchanges. There are no binational Fulbright Commissions in AF; programs are administered in-country by U.S. embassies. Administration of academic exchanges in the region relies heavily on Locally Employed Staff (LES) who serve as Cultural Affairs Specialists and Assistants at U.S. embassies. In order to strengthen the capacity of Fulbright program management by AF Posts, ECA will implement a multi-day training for 34 LES from 30 U.S. embassies in Sub-Saharan Africa from March 13-16, 2023, in Paris, France, in cooperation with the Africa Regional Services Office and the U.S. Embassy in Paris. The previous LES training was held in 2016 and there have been extensive changes in the Fulbright Program and multiple staff turnovers at AF Posts over the last seven years. It is critical for staff to be trained in new program regulations, policies, and procedures. Fulbright Program managers from ECA and our cooperating agency, the Institute of International Education, will implement the training. The training was originally scheduled to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, but Embassy Pretoria subsequently informed ECA that it was no longer able to support the event. The two other main travel hubs in AF, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Dakar, Senegal, are not viable options due to security concerns and multiple conference commitments respectively. Paris is a principal hub for flights from several AF countries and hosts the Africa Regional Services Office which supports AF Posts.
Total Department Funded Attendees	41

Name of Conference	Fulbright European Regional Conference
Location	Prague, Czechia
Total Expenses	$259,258.35
Start Date	May 2, 2023
End Date	May 5, 2023
Purpose and Contribution to Mission	The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational and cultural exchange program, creating connections in a complex and changing world. Fulbright builds lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries—building mutual understanding between nations, advancing knowledge across communities, and improving lives around the world. This is a regional meeting of European PAOs, DPAOs, LES, and Fulbright Executive Directors, along with ECA program officers and our implementing partners, who work on approximately 2,600 Fulbright Exchanges annually in 46 European and Eurasian countries (both commission and non-commission countries). The conference will take a comprehensive look at the state of the Fulbright Program throughout Europe and discuss such key topics as keeping Fulbright diverse and competitive, binational strategic planning and vision, telling the Fulbright story, and encouraging best practices in a wide variety of areas, including budgeting in the context of fixed allocations and continued inflation, social media innovations, and cross-border initiatives.
Total Department Funded Attendees	48

Name of Conference	NEA Regional Climate Conference
Location	Amman, Jordan
Total Expenses	$139,963.00
Start Date	May 2, 2023
End Date	May 4, 2023
Purpose and Contribution to Mission	The NEA Regional Climate Conference will bring 60-80 USG stakeholders from Washington and the MENA region to Jordan. USG officials working on climate issues in the region, from NEA, OES, SPEC, USDA, USAID and PRM will engage with officers from regional posts and other participants to identify and define concrete opportunities to advance U.S. climate, economic, and security goals.
Total Department Funded Attendees	80

Name of Conference	Greater Caribbean FAST Officers Workshop, Santo Domingo, DR
Location	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Total Expenses	$101,569.64
Start Date	June 4, 2023
End Date	June 7, 2023
Purpose and Contribution to Mission	U.S. Embassy Santo Domingo is uniquely positioned to host a workshop for the greater Caribbean region—it is the largest U.S. mission in the Caribbean with 14 interagency partners and 28 FAST professionals. The Dominican Republic is the second-largest Immigrant Visa processing post globally and the mission manages the most widely followed embassy Instagram account in the region with 391,000 followers to date. For the last 20 years, the Dominican Republic has been one of the fastest-growing economies in Latin America and it is the largest economy represented in the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Caribbean Affairs (CAR). Additionally, the Dominican Republic is the most populous country in CAR and one of the top tourism destinations around the world for U.S citizens. Understanding the country context of the Dominican Republic within the Caribbean is critical to accomplishing U.S. and State Department policy objectives, and FAST professionals have significant knowledge and expertise to share with FAST colleagues from the greater region. The workshop is an opportunity to equip approximately 50 First and Second Tour (FAST) Professionals posted throughout the greater Caribbean region with the tools they need to succeed as they embark on their careers and foster a better understanding of current U.S. approaches to bilateral and regional relationships. The workshop is rooted in the 2022-2025 State Department Core Precepts, USAID Foreign Service Skills Framework, and meets objectives outlined by the U.S. Dominican Republic Integrated Country Strategy (ICS). The Workshop will be modeled after historically successful in-person workshops for entry-level professionals. These workshops have contributed to a stronger sense of unity in the department in prior generations of U.S. Foreign Service professionals. Nearly all entry-level professionals over the past two years were onboarded virtually, and the Workshop will provide an opportunity to facilitate networking and in-person discussions of which a vast majority of FAST professionals were unable to participate.
Total Department Funded Attendees	78

Name of Conference	2023 Global Chiefs of Mission Conference
Location	Department of State, Washington, DC
Total Expenses	$808,466.10
Start Date	June 13, 2023
End Date	June 14, 2023
Purpose and Contribution to Mission	A conference of all Chiefs of Mission from around the world to hear from the Secretary about top foreign policy goals.
Total Department Funded Attendees	155

Name of Conference	American Spaces Annual Conference
Location	Department of State, Washington, DC
Total Expenses	$109,751.09
Start Date	June 26, 2023
End Date	June 30, 2023
Purpose and Contribution to Mission	Conference Objectives: Professional development of ECA Office of American Spaces’ specialist corps of Regional Public Engagement Specialists (REPS) and ensure ECA/A/M’s global mission, presence, and programming is aligned to execute Department policy of foreign public engagement. Specific objectives include: Present a honed narrative to explain our expertise and work, including REPS’ specific expertise, for internal and external engagement. Identify potential solutions for American Spaces’ programming and operational challenges within each region. Recognize and effectively respond to opportunities to inform and influence policy and decision making in the Department and interagency. Recognize opportunities to incorporate DEIA principles into all aspects of our programs and operations.
Total Department Funded Attendees	42

Name of Conference	Invoicing Best Practice Workshop
Location	Bogota, Colombia
Total Expenses	$171,114.86
Start Date	July 10, 2023
End Date	July 14, 2023
Purpose and Contribution to Mission	The WHA 2023 Best Practices Workshop brings together eInvoicing users from the WHA region to discuss best practices for invoice processing. Attendees will receive training from ILMS experts on advanced eInvoicing functionality and finance analytics. Participation at this workshop will expand WHA Financial Staff’s knowledge of the system and optimize Financial Staff team’s use of eInvoicing.
Total Department Funded Attendees	39

FY23 Report on Conferences as Required by Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-12-12 and M-17-08

U.S. Department of State

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