On April 15th, 2019 the U.S. Department of State and Meridian International Center welcomed 64 international visitors from 51 different countries for the annual Towards a More Safe and Secure World initiative. This three-week International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) engaged judicial, law enforcement, and security officials from around the world with U.S counterparts and examined methods for upholding the rule of law, leveraging partnerships, expanding international cooperation, and defeating terrorism.
The international visitors were divided into groups based on their expertise and countries of origin into four separate projects:
The groups began their program in Washington, DC meeting with top private and public sector security experts before breaking off into their smaller projects to travel to small and mid-sized American cities. In their city splits, participants were able to gain an understanding of public safety and security issues from state and local law enforcement officials, public officials, and social service and victim assistance providers.
All four groups reconvened for their final week of programming in Tampa, FL for a workshop on St. Petersburg College’s Multi-jurisdictional Counter-drug Taskforce Workshop Training Program. The initiative concluded in New York, NY where the international visitors attended the annual Combating Transnational Crime Global Cooperation Conference hosted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation New York Field Office.
Towards A More Safe And Secure World – 2019 | |
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Number of Visitors: | 64 |
Regions: | Africa, East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Eurasia, Near East and North Africa, South and Central Asia, Western Hemisphere |
Countries: | Afghanistan, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bolivia, Czech Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Lithuania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Denmark, Israel, Jordan, Laos, Namibia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Taiwan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Panama, Peru, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico, Gabon, Curaçao, North Macedonia |
Impact Areas: | Foreign Policy, Security and Defense |
Program Areas: | Global Leadership |
Partners: | NGOs, Private Sector, Public Sector |