 Good morning everyone. Good afternoon to our friends in Europe. This is John Heffern. I'm the principal deputy here at the State Department's Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Today's event is a live web chat, so please send in your questions using the hashtag diaspora voices. Also, you can follow the conversation on Twitter using the chat box next to the video player in the tweet button below. Thanks for joining us. It's a joint event today, the Secretary's Office of Global Partnerships, the Department's Bureau of International Information Programs, and of course European and Eurasian Affairs. Welcome to my Ambassador friends, Jeff Pied, who's with me in the studio, Baster Masha Yovanovich and Keev and Rick Mills in Yerevan, Armenia. First, I want to mention that this event is sponsored by the Secretary's Office of Global Partnerships, and obviously they do partnerships for a living. And so the conversation today and the questions that we're going to focus on are questions about partnerships, about cooperation and joint projects. First, you always need to start with your mission statement. Our mission statement in the Bureau of European Affairs is to promote a Europe that's whole, free and at peace. And part of this effort is to encourage our partners, especially those in the east and south, to continue to look to the west. And partnerships of all kinds are key to that effort. What we've discovered over the years is that our diaspora communities are natural assets linking the United States to countries all over Europe. So today's goal, we want to start a conversation and discuss creative ways that the State Department and our embassies overseas can work with diaspora communities to deepen bilateral relations, help our partners succeed, and keep them looking west. We have many tools to do that. Obviously funding is one, but others are connections and linkages. Embassies have convening power. We also can do joint media events. There are a number of things we can do together to develop these partnerships. You'll be seeing a lot more on state diaspora partnerships in the days and weeks ahead. In the last 10 years, the State Department has focused a lot of attention on diaspora outreach. Specifically, we focused on events. We've had several global diaspora summits and global diaspora weeks. But Secretary Kerry wants to refocus this initiative. He wants to build partnerships, public-private partnerships with diaspora communities in the U.S. from all over the world, not just Europe, from all over the world. And this means cooperation on specific projects. The Secretary's Office of Global Partnerships is working closely with USAID on IDEA, the International Diaspora Engagement Alliance, looking for ideas from the diaspora communities on specific partnership opportunities. And any sector is eligible for this. Education, exchange programs, very important health environment, and of course entrepreneurship. So this event today will give the European diaspora groups a bit of a head start. So work with us, help us spread the word, and keep your eye out for the October 12th event that's very important to this initiative. So first I'm going to ask Ambassador Ivanovich and Keev to say a word or two. Then Ambassador Mills and then Ambassador Pyatt. So Ambassador Ivanovich, good afternoon. How are you doing, Masha? Doing just great. Hello from Keev. It's a real pleasure to be here with all of you at this outreach event today to have a chance to speak with the Ukrainian diaspora and other diasporas and to explore ways that we can expand our partnerships. In my very short time as ambassador here, I've really been struck anew by the strength of the relationship between Ukraine and the United States, between Ukrainian Americans and Ukrainians here. The relationship obviously is important, not just for political security and economic reasons, as important as those areas are, but also because of the human element, because of how we connect in really profound ways through shared values and shared hopes for the future. The Ukrainian diaspora has been a dynamic and very enthusiastic bridge, I think, between our two countries. And I'm convinced, I think as many of us are, that the diaspora can continue to play a key role in deepening our connections even further and bring Americans, Ukrainians, and Ukrainian Americans closer together for the benefit of all of us. There's already a lot of work being done by the many vibrant diaspora groups in the United States. And they're making a real impact on people's lives here through supporting health care, providing supplies to hospitals, sister city programs, cultural programming, producing media content. I mean, the list goes on and on. And I'm just really touching the surface now. The U.S. also supports some of the Ukrainian American diaspora efforts. For example, USAID has supported election observation in Ukraine by the U.S. Ukraine Foundation, as well as the Ukrainian Congress Committee. And that helps democracy to take deeper root in Ukraine. On the cultural side, there have been many exchanges with Ukrainian Americans coming here on Fulbright, and Ukrainian Americans hosting Ukrainians who come to the United States for the open world exchange. So these are exciting programs. I'm convinced we could do a lot more working together. And, you know, for example, could we design programming to support Ukrainian entrepreneurs, or could we share U.S.-based podcasts or publications with independent Ukrainian-based media to push back against Russian propaganda here? There's a lot of things that I think we could be doing, a lot more things that we could be doing together. The most important thing, of course, is to bring our peoples together. So I'm looking forward to this discussion and hearing your ideas about how we can create greater partnerships. So thanks a lot. Thank you, Ambassador Ivanovich. Over to Rick Mills and Yerevan. Thanks. Thank you. Good to see you, John, and my colleagues in Kiev and Washington. And thank you for putting together this opportunity to talk about how we can strengthen diasporan embassy relations in particular. I think Armenia and its diaspora in the U.S. and around the globe have a very special relationship. And I think it's in part because of that relationship that Armenia and Armenian civil society is among the most vibrant of the former Soviet Union countries. And I certainly want to increase diasporan involvement. The embassy has been active with the diaspora for many years. And it's a two-way thing, a two-way exchange is what I'd like to emphasize. We learn at the embassy from the diaspora. I was in the United States in March meeting with diasporan communities in Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, talking about our programs, talking about how the diaspora could perhaps leverage with us. We could build on our strengths and skills in various areas, but also hearing from the diaspora, hearing about the areas they thought the U.S. government should be focused on, the embassy should be working on. And that's a very valuable two-way exchange. And that's something that I think the embassy is very committed to and I'm very committed to. And I'm interested in ways how we can build those bridges, how the diaspora and the embassy can share ideas about areas that we should focus on, especially in a time of scarce resources where every penny we have that we want to use to build Armenia's economy and civil society needs to be carefully and targeted. And I find great input from the community when I listen to them and what their ideas are. I would also just want to point out that having the diaspora involved in volunteerism here in Armenia has been a great way to deliver the message about American values, about volunteerism here in Armenia. I meet young Armenians who come over here, often in programs like expat Armenia, birthright Armenia, that are spending time and it's not just financial contributions, it's bringing your skills and your resources to Armenia and sharing those that make such an impact. So I too, like my colleague in Kiev, Masha, am looking forward to hearing some ideas about how we can strengthen that relationship. Thanks. Thanks, Rick Mills. And Jeff Pied, Baton Cleanup. You served in India, Ukraine, many places. You're off to Greece. Any thoughts before we turn to the questions? Yeah. Well, thanks, John. Thanks for putting this all together. A couple of things. I mean, Masha did a terrific job, I think, of sketching how important the diaspora has been to our Ukraine engagement over the past couple of years. Like Rick, I did a trip to Chicago early this year engaging the Ukrainian diaspora there and was really impressed by the sense of engagement and energy. It very much inspired my preparations for Greece. I actually had a meeting yesterday with a Greek diaspora group here in Washington and I prioritized diaspora engagement as I get ready for Athens. Very encouraged to hear what's already happening, you know, the fruitful ground that we have to build on in terms of these kind of public-private partnerships that this initiative has meant to accelerate. Groups like the Hellenic Initiative that are already doing very dynamic work. Another piece of this that I would particularly highlight that I think is important is how we use these partnerships to engage with next generation of leaders. The diaspora is dynamic. It involves youth and younger people. One of the examples in Ukraine that I'm very proud of is the partnership that we have with the Ukrainian-American diaspora around the Ukrainian Catholic University, one of the most inspiring institutions in the whole country. Very strong diaspora connection but also a strong embassy connection there. And as I head towards Athens I'm interested to explore other ways that we can leverage these kind of educational partnerships to build our people-to-people relationship but also to empower this younger generation of leaders that's emerging across Europe today. Well thank you Jeff. We've received a number of questions in advance and please keep sending your questions. We've got another half hour or so to be online live and let's get the first question out. One of the questions we thought was useful that all of us could perhaps address is how has working with the diaspora specifically impacted your work as an ambassador in your host country? Is there a specific instance that stands out to you as you think critically on how to work with the diaspora? I don't know maybe Rick do you want to start on that? Any specific ideas that you want to start with? Sure thanks John. Again I would highlight what the diaspora has alerted to us. We're for instance looking at the agricultural sector here and the importance that it has in the Armenian economy, the importance it has in ending the depopulation of rural Armenia. We're looking at ways to strengthen it and when I was in Fresno in March the community there had some very positive ideas about what we could do to strengthen the agricultural sector here about steps they could take to provide some training, some market based analysis for agricultural products here that they were willing to share and to work with the agricultural training college that the US government through USAID has helped support here. So we came back, I came back, met with USAID, met with officials in the Ministry of Agriculture and we implemented some of these specific programs that were suggested by the diaspora out in California that were actively engaged in agricultural issues and knew what they were talking about. Thank you. How about you? A couple more specific ideas. I know you mentioned several but a couple more. Well actually I'd like to echo what Jeff said about sort of the next generation. I think that the programming that we do and the programming that many of the diaspora groups do which I've seen both here in Ukraine and also in my time in Armenia. Talking with youth is really, really important. It's something we put a premium on when we consider our own programming because we want to share with young people what the US is really like. They're never going to accept everything that we do. They're never going to agree with everything that the US is about but I think having that understanding, that ground level of understanding when you spend a year in the United States on exchange or even two weeks in the United States on an exchange is really kind of very, it creates a huge impression. It's hugely impactful and it's really important for mutual understanding between our two countries. And as we know sometimes the kind of lasting impact of this kind of programming takes years. And so it's great to have diaspora partners who are willing to host folks from Ukraine or other countries in the United States and to also help us identify who are the right people that we should be sending to the United States, who are the leaders, who are the potential leaders of these countries that we could have the most kind of robust conversation about things like values, priorities, objectives and so forth. Masha, thanks. Baster Payet? Thanks John. I guess there are so many dramatic experiences that stick out for me from three years in Kiev, but I think what's striking to me is how there's a diaspora story woven around almost every one of those. Early in Russia's aggression against Ukraine, remember there was this weaponized information that we saw, this line that came out of Moscow about fascists and discrimination against Russian speakers. The diaspora was extremely useful here in the United States in helping to educate audiences on the Hill and Congress and elsewhere about the facts and knock down some of this false information that the Kremlin was trying to project out. Likewise, Masha alluded to some of the support that the diaspora provided in the early months of the war for things like first aid kits, medical support, vitally important while we began to spin up the U.S. government machinery to provide security sector assistance to Ukraine. One of the nice things about the diaspora, the private sector, is sometimes it can be more nimble than the United States. And I think one of the novel aspects of the GPI partnership is how it leverages, as you said, the convoking power, the platform that the U.S. government has with the dynamism, the flexibility, the let's get stuff done mentality that our diaspora private sector Americans bring to engagement with their countries of origin. Yeah, let me offer thought on this, too. We've got a good question from Eric E. Schardt. We'll do next. But let me just touch on one thought. You mentioned you and Masha both exchange programs. And I was DCM in Jakarta many years ago, and my ambassador said he had three priorities in Indonesia. Exchanges, exchanges, and exchanges. And I agree with that. And I've been in Washington a couple of years now, but I did see a great cable from Ambassador Mills' team about a specific diaspora effort to double the number of Fulbright projects, Fulbright grants that we have for Armenia. As the budgets get cut, we need to do these public-private partnerships to double our impact, double our presence, and double our funding. And so what his team was able to do was to identify a diaspora group. I don't know the details. He can share the details maybe, but a diaspora group that wanted to encourage Armenian relations with the United States, people-to-people ties, and actually have set up a joint commission to do Fulbright programs, to double the number of Fulbright programs we now have in Armenia. I think it's exactly the kind of thing, a targeted, specific project that I think the Secretary's Global Partnership Office would like to promote. Let's turn to the next question. Eric E. Schardt has a question about, a broader question. Diaspora engagement can transform a nation. What diaspora policies have you encouraged as ambassadors, perhaps on local reform? All of us have been involved in local reform. What diaspora policies, projects have you encouraged as ambassadors? Maybe, Jeff, let's start with you. We'll go reverse order this time. Any thoughts on this one? Well, again, the example of Uku in Lviv is a great one of an institution that the diaspora has engaged with, which has become a platform for helping to shape a new generation of leaders in Ukraine. So that's one that I think has lessons that can be built on it. I've also, during my time in Masha's job, encouraged the diaspora to look at this terrific story of the Donetsk National University in exile. Which operates in Venetia. There was a terrific Atlantic Council blog not long ago about how that university managed to preserve itself even after the aggression made their home campus in Donetsk unusable. And I think it's an example of where, as I said, the diaspora's comparative advantage is speed of response and the ability to mobilize resources which can complement what the United States is doing in official channels. Masha, how about you? Any internal reforms necessary in Ukraine? No doubt. No doubt. I think, you know, just building on what Jeff just said, I think one of the things that we've seen here and certainly in other countries is how diaspora groups can also help with things like election observations to make sure that all the rules and procedures are being followed. Because the diaspora has a real advantage in many ways, whether it's linguistic, whether it's cultural, kind of really understanding what's going on. Other people can, you know, be in the room and maybe not get all of the subtext of particular actions. Excuse me. So I think, I think that's certainly one area that has been very important here in Ukraine over the years, really helpful. And I also think that the diaspora has a special voice here because, you know, sometimes when there are reforms, they can be, as we all know, very difficult, just as they are in our own country in the United States. And so when you have people who understand the culture so well and really feel it, both, you know, from the head and the heart, I think they can be really good translators of why some of these things are necessary. So, you know, working with diaspora on these kinds of projects, I think is very useful. Great. Now, Rick Mills, lots of questions coming in. Any quick comment on this one, or we can move to the next question. A lot of questions coming in. Rick, anything to add on this one? I would just say, John, there's not an area in Armenia, as you know, that the diaspora hasn't affected, to be quite honest, from health care to education to even the IT sector, which is a real successor for the Armenians. All of those changes, all of those sectors impacted by the diaspora working by itself or sometimes in tandem with the embassy so that we could leverage what we were doing. It's across the board, which I think is why it's really been so impactful here. The diaspora has made an impact everywhere in Armenia. All right, good. Mehto Koloski has a question for us. He likes some advice from us, from our experience, about how we can work with diaspora communities to diversify their mission portfolios beyond one or two issues. A question on that one, too. I don't know. I would offer a thought on that, that when I've worked with diaspora groups, what I've always encouraged them to do is to work with the host government, not just Washington, on changes. To use their influence in host governments, their countries of origin, to try to promote internal reforms and to do things in the host country. It shouldn't be just Washington making changes. Obviously, we have policy discussions with diaspora groups as well. But the idea would be for them to also work with the host governments of their countries of origin to promote change in the countries. That's one area that I've suggested to them in the past. Jeff, thoughts on them being broader than one or two issues? Just two quick points, John. One, I mean, I've seen across my career the importance of getting out of capitals. A lot of change happens at the level of local governments, regional governments. And I think that's an area where diasporas can do more in most countries. And then the other point I would make, this whole question of the new economy, transformational technology, when I look back on my own diplomatic career, the single most important change that's happened is global connectivity. And I think looking at areas, whether IT incubators, technology hubs, how to leverage the transformational impact of technology, which is so important here in the United States and so important to driving economic change in the United States into other economies, all of whom are interested, not necessarily in replicating Silicon Valley, but figuring out how to use these empowering technologies to drive economic growth. I think that's a really important one. The idea of private investment, maybe Rick or Masha could touch on the private investment part. And the IT communities in both countries are very important. What can we do to encourage the diaspora communities to be more involved in private investment in some of the countries where we work? Any thoughts on that, Ambassador Mills? On the private side? I think both got some new institutions, some new mechanisms that have just been set up here, including Tifa, the Trade Investment Framework Agreement, which has created a Tifa Council, which is now, I think, a real opportunity for the diaspora business community to give the U.S. The idea is about what's blocking investment, what makes it hard for diasporic investors to trade with Armenia, and what makes it hard for Armenians to trade with the U.S. And that's a venue we're encouraging the diaspora to use so that they can share thoughts with us, because it's a very high level dialogue at the highest levels of the two governments where both sides are committed to addressing the obstacles to increasing trade and investment. The diaspora has also been helpful to the embassy in echoing and bringing some credibility when we raise the issue here of corruption, which is still a problem in Armenia, which the government acknowledges, and we raise the issue whenever we can. But when the diaspora and business people in the diaspora who want to work here, and as Masha says, their head and their heart wants to bring them to Armenia, when they talk about the corruption issues they face, it has real power here and real resonance, and the government listens. And that's, I think, one way that the diaspora has played a really important role here on that issue. Masha, quick thought on this one? Yeah, I would just echo everything that Rick just said about the business environment, the investment environment. The diaspora can be a very strong voice here in terms of explaining why it is so important to get this right. Not only for their own investment opportunities, but for the future of whether it's Armenia or Ukraine or another country, this is really important for the prosperity of these countries. I wanted to go back just for one moment to your previous question and just note that another really important way I think that diaspora groups can or the diasporas can expand their outreach is working with civil society. And obviously important to work with all the groups that we've mentioned previously, but I think also just the ordinary folks who are out there, whether they're activists or people in the countries. Many of them know the sorts of things, certainly the gaps, they may not have the solutions. But I think that maybe some of the diaspora groups, perhaps working with us, perhaps working with others, have some of those solutions and they can really partner with the locals in the country. I think that's really important as well. Good, thanks Masha. Another question now from Deborah Trent. She's asking some of the ways that the diaspora can engage with the U.S. government on behalf of their home countries and people through influencing policy or partnership or projects and programs. How can diaspora groups be more effective working with embassies and working with the U.S. government? Jeff, let's start with you again on this one. Well, again, in terms of embassy Athens, I know that Ambassador Pears has done a lot of engagement with diaspora communities. In my case, again, technology helps in this area. Twitter, email, let us know how we can help to complement what these diaspora groups are doing. And likewise, where we can focus our efforts in order to deliver progress in terms of building the bilateral relationship and also accelerating economic and political progress. One thought that I would have from my experience on this is that even where we don't have funding and often the U.S. government embassies don't have a lot of funding anymore for these projects, we can do stuff to help them. We can host an event at our ambassador's residence or the ambassador can come to one of their events and certainly in a place like Armenia, just the U.S. ambassador showing up will increase the press coverage of one of their events if it's a useful event. Whether we funded it or not, I think we can host events and we can show up at events that give a boost to some of our private partners. Masha, any thoughts, specific ways that they can work better with us and we can work better with them? I think you just provided a couple of really good examples. And just to also echo what Jeff said, reach out to us. Let us know what's on your mind. Let us know what you think we could be doing better and how we could be partnering with you. Let us know where you see the needs are. I think certainly our office here is open and I think there's been a long history here in Ukraine of American ambassadors engaging with the diaspora. And certainly Jeff has been very active in that regard. And I think that we want to continue that relationship. Baster Mills, any thoughts on this one? We can turn to the next one, but how about this one? Specific ideas on working together? I would just echo what my colleagues just said. Communicate, communicate, communicate. We want to hear from the diaspora. There are a lot of tools to use that from emails to blogs to letters. You mentioned John, this Fulbright program that we've created with a very generous and committed member of the American diaspora. She was a woman who just reached out to the embassy and said she was interested in developing science and education abilities and skills within the Armenian communities here. She wanted something that would have a real lasting impact. We began talking to her about the Fulbright program as one way to do that. And out of that discussion came her commitment to fund the Hovnanian Fulbright Scholarship Program, which will be giving scholarships to Armenian students in the STEM area, science, technology, environment. And that was just an example of someone reaching out and us working together to come up with an idea. Rick, we got a question earlier on one of the quote that came in earlier today about diaspora communities working at the local level to enrich the work of their own communities. I assume that means in the United States rather than overseas. Questions about what diasporas can do, diasporas groups can do in the United States to improve their work and to make themselves more effective. I don't know if we have experience on that. Have you seen them working in the United States too, Jeff? Again, John, I mentioned already the example of engagement with Congress, which is critically important to resource what we all do to build the constituency for America's active engagement abroad. I said yesterday in my engagement with the Greek diaspora that we all need to stay very focused in terms of our agenda, in terms of our priorities. Thinking about what are the key issues that need to be advanced in order to both build the foundation for a solid bilateral relationship and then accelerate economic progress. And I think that's one of the areas, as Rick said, communicate, communicate, communicate. We need to understand what our agendas are and what we're trying to get done. One thought I had, Ambassador Mills mentioned birthright. Birthright is active in a number of countries, obviously Israel and Armenia are only two, but really important. I think the youth outreach to connect the young Americans with the culture and language and sometimes religions of their home countries would be another thing that I think certainly is effective in terms of their perspective and I'm sure Israel as well. Rick, any thoughts about diaspora from your meetings with them here, stuff that they're doing here that's effective, could be more effective? Well, I would say what impressed me in March, of course, again, was the range of activities that the diaspora has. But what's been important is that the diaspora, the groups that are most effective, I think, are the ones that do communicate with us at the embassy so that we can provide them some context. We can talk about how what they're doing may relate to something we're doing so we can leverage off each other. For instance, we've started a new program here in Armenia. It's a real flagship for us, the My Armenian Smithsonian Project. For the first time, the Smithsonian has opened an office in a foreign country. It's going to be working to develop the tourism sector here in Armenia. We have some funding to move this project forward in a significant way. There's the kind of thing where the diaspora could work with us in tandem to support some of the steps we're taking to develop tourism infrastructure in Armenia. And there was a lot of interest when I was in the States and how they could work with us in tandem on this particular project. And I find that the diaspora in the United States, they want the input of the embassy and when we work together, we do get bigger bang for both our bucks. I wonder, Rick, if we could get the Smithsonian to change its name and start calling itself the Smithsonian Institution to demonstrate its diaspora connections. Masha, any thoughts from your perch? No. I love that idea, though. I think that's a great idea. I think, again, working with the diaspora groups, having them, you know, Rick said, communicate, communicate, communicate with us, I think is the way to go. All right. A couple more questions coming in. Noreen, Bowden and Demba want us to talk a bit, touch about exchanges. Let's talk more about exchanges. How can we leverage our relationship with diaspora communities to expand our exchange programs? We've talked a lot about the one in Armenia. Masha, what about you? What kind of exchange programs do you think the diaspora could help you and your team work on? Well, the diaspora is already working with us on Open World and, you know, this is a program where Armenians, Ukrainians, well Armenians too, many people from this part of the world come to the United States for several weeks and go to a number of cities. And what is unique about the Open World exchange is that there is, they have home stays and so you actually stay with people in, you know, the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, wherever you happen to be. And it's, you know, you're not staying in a hotel that is the same as the hotel anywhere else in the world. You're actually living with a family seeing how Americans live. And I think that many Ukrainian Americans have stepped up to host Ukrainians who are coming to the United States and it gives, I think, an added dimension for the richness and diversity in the United States. And I think that Ukrainian Americans can be a really good guide to Ukrainians as they discover the United States. So that's one area. Another area is obviously Fulbright's. We have a number of Fulbright's, you know, are Ukrainians going to the United States and vice versa. And again, that expands understanding of, you know, not only the academic issue that people are following, but also, you know, sort of mutual understanding. I think that, you know, that kind of human contact is one of the areas, whether you're talking about diplomacy, whether you're talking about business, whatever it is, it's so important to get that right. And I think that diaspora is having a unique advantage in helping us get that right. And to bring change one person at a time. It takes a long time, but it's the most effective way. Rick, I thought on this one, other areas of exchanges that your team is working on? Well, I would emphasize as important as exchanges are to get Armenians to the States equally valuable, getting members of the diaspora to come to their home countries. In my case, Armenia. That's incredibly impactful. And when I meet with young diasporans or even older diasporans, retired diasporans that are giving up their skills here on a range of programs from Teach for Armenia to the Fulbright program to the Armenian Volunteer Corps, they have enormous impact here in terms of bringing American values and being able to talk in a real resonant way with Armenians because they share a cultural background and often a language. It's amazing what having our members of the diaspora in country can achieve. And I'm always looking for ways to encourage members of the diaspora to come to Armenia, even if it's just for a few weeks. I also think it allows them to take back to America real insights into what's happening here in Armenia and what the issues are. So I would just encourage and remind people it's a two way street. Alright, well let's do the next question. I'm going to ask Ambassador Jeff Pie to do it and he can answer both questions if he'd like. Martin Russell has asked how we can avoid duplication of efforts between U.S. and European players when we engage the diaspora. Are there ways that we can better synthesize our efforts with our European colleagues and share best practices and knowledge? Any thoughts about working with the European diaspora groups or comments on exchanges? Thanks, John. First of all, on exchanges. I'm incredibly excited about what's happening at Embassy Athens right now in terms of some of their exchange programs. I was delighted to see what Ambassador Pierce did with bringing a group of young Greek entrepreneurs to the South by Southwest Technology Conference. That's the kind of thing that I want to continue prioritizing and developing. One of the things that Masha benefits from is one of the largest flex programs in the world. I'm a huge fan of what flex represents. I saw both in Central Asia when I was PDAS and also in Kiev how life changing it can be for these young people who spend a year of high school in the United States. Resources are key here. It's one of the reasons I'll be meeting next week with the Hellenic Caucus in Congress to talk about how we continue to resource what we're doing with our bilateral relationship. I was very encouraged when Masha and I had our confirmation hearing. The strong messages I heard from Senator Menendez, from Senator Durbin, from Chairman Corker in terms of what our embassies are doing on this score across Europe. And then just quickly on the European Union question. I mean obviously the key to the effectiveness of American diplomacy across Europe today, building the Europe whole free and at peace that you talked about is our partnership with Brussels and our European counterparts. That was a defining theme of my three years in Kiev and I certainly expect it to be the case in Athens as well. Rick, Masha, any thoughts on working better with the European embassies and our partners on this? I would just say in some ways I think this is up to the embassies in some way. We need to do the coordination work here with our EU colleagues and our other colleagues in the international community who contribute and donate from the UN to the Council of Europe. And that is an effort we make here to know what the diaspora communities in Europe are doing. The EU mission here actually shares a lot of information and that's very valuable to us. And I do think that that's an effort that the embassy, at least my personal belief, we need to make that a priority so that we don't have the duplication that the questioner mentioned. All right, good. Masha, a quick one on this. We're getting near the end of time. We've got a couple more questions we want to do. A quick one on this. You're working with the Europeans better? Just wanted to change it slightly and say in our case here in Ukraine that one of the key partnerships is with Canada because of course in Canada there is a very large Ukrainian diaspora just as there is in the United States. So one of the things that we're looking at is how can we leverage that? How can we work better? And USAID has recently funded a study on the diaspora, the Ukrainian diaspora in both countries. What is of most interest to them? And so stay tuned for further information on that as we gather the data and try to roll it out. And thanks to everybody who participated in that study. All right, good. Getting near the end. We're trying to do two more questions before we move on and our other bureaus will be coming in and doing this in the next couple of weeks. Is there a history of multiple diaspora groups from different communities working together to accomplish a goal? I know there's some competition among diaspora groups, but when have we seen them work together in an effective way? Rick mentioned Smithsonian as one example. Are there others? Maybe let's start with Rick. Any thoughts about diaspora groups and Armenia working together for some common goal? Absolutely. We had a good example here where the AGBU, the Armenian General Benevolent Union, which is one of the largest worldwide Armenian groups, as you know, John, worked with several other smaller groups, including some we've mentioned, like Berthright Armenia, the Armenian tree project. And others to create an impact hub in AGBU's new headquarters here in Yerevan. And the impact hub, which is on the top floor of AGBU's new building is really become an incubator and accelerator, a place where ideas are exchanged and a lot of terrific transformative work is happening. So I have seen groups working together. I've also had the experience in Northern Ireland, if I can just say, where I was posted in Dublin during the peace process, of different diasporic communities working together to achieve common goal. In that case, it was the two communities in the north, as well as Irish in the south, where they had a common interest in economic development. They would come together and work on cross-border trade and economic trade issues specifically, even though the communities were sometimes at loggerheads on political issues, and they were quite effective when they came together. Thanks, Rick. I'm going to bet Masha has something to add on this as well. Well, I would just say very generally, I think that it's always better to work together. Certainly when I had my introductory meetings with some of the diasporic communities, it was one meeting. And when you hear from a group of people together, even if they represent different groups, when you hear the same things, it's very reinforcing. And I think that's true in the home country. I think it's true in the United States, whether it's working with the State Department or with Congress. Great. Thanks for that. We've got time for one last question, and it really is a key one. We've touched on it, but let's do a little more on private investment, entrepreneurship, startups, incubators, accelerators, as catalysts for partnerships. You're working with diaspora communities. Where have we seen this work, and how can we all do this better? Jeff, let's start with you on this. Thanks, John. I think one of the great things about the technology sector, of course, is that America's technology success is a reflection of our openness as a country. You look at the number of Silicon Valley jobs that are created by members of the diaspora, whether they're from India or from Ukraine or from someplace else, and I think there's a natural synergy there. A lot of these diaspora representatives in our technology industry came to the United States in order to take advantage of the favorable investment environment, an environment that empowers creativity, rewards experimentation. It's exactly those attitudes that we want to try to inspire and encourage in Europe today as we seek to build a climate for greater economic prosperity and economic freedom. So I think there's a lot that can happen in this area. Rick talked about the impact hubs. I love the impact hub in Odessa. It's a great example. You go there and you see these young people with a maker shop who are experimenting. And again, I'm very excited to get to Athens and explore some of the work, the good work that Ambassador Pierce and the team have already done in this area and then try to take it to the next level. Fantastic. Rick Vils, how about you? Anything to add on the impact hubs and the accelerators and incubators? We're about out of time, but real quickly, Rick. We've seen real success here when the diaspora comes and brings expertise that they have, especially in key sectors of the economy. And they're willing to share that, whether they're an accelerator or whether they're just positioned in a ministry or they're positioned at a school. It works terrific. All right. Good. I'm sorry, Masha. We'll just have to leave you for the next time. You can answer this one. I know there's a lot of this going on in Kiev. So thanks to you. Thanks to everybody. This is the first in a series of diaspora outreach events. So please keep your eye out for the idea web page. You'll see it on the link below. Sign up and receive updates. There's going to be a lot of future events and a key date to mark on your calendars is the October 12th diaspora fair where the focus will be on networking and highlighting the work of the diaspora in tackling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. So let's keep the discussion going. Hashtag diaspora voices and thank you all very much, very impressed and encouraged by the involvement of the diaspora community with us today. So thanks to colleagues. Thanks very much to everybody online. Goodbye and let's keep in touch.