CDI Director Consults with U.S. Partners
CDI Director Ben Reilly held discussions with key CDI partners in the United States in April.
Following the launch of a new book on dilemmas of democratization in San Francisco, Prof Reilly travelled to New York for discussions with the United Nations Democracy Fund and the United Nations Development Program. CDI cooperates with both agencies and has received co-funding and other forms of assistance from various UNDP offices for our party and parliamentary training programs.
Professor Reilly then travelled to Washington DC for consultations with CDI's key American partners, the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI). CDI works in close partnership with both NDI and IRI on a number of projects, particularly in Indonesia and Timor-Leste, and as a result of these discussions will seek to expand this already strong cooperation in the future. While there, Prof Reilly gave a lunchtime presentation on CDI's work at NDI and also gave a separate talk at Georgetown University.
While in Washington, Prof Reilly was also invited for separate discussions with the U.S. Undersecretary for Democracy and Global Affairs, Ms Paula Dobriansky, and with Mr Mike Kozak of the National Security Council. Prof Reilly was also invited to the White House for discussions with the Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives and External Affairs, Mr Barry Jackson. All of these discussions played a valuable role in helping situate CDI's work program in a global context while also expanding knowledge of CDI's activities in the US administration and building links for the future.
Following these meetings, Prof Reilly travelled to Kyiv, Ukraine to attend the Fifth Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy, where he was a panellist on NDI's workshop on 'Developing norms and standards for political parties'.
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