Meeting
Annual Gala Gets Top Marks
Virginia Power welcomes the AAPA to the U.S. Ambassdor's residence Charles-Efflam Heidsieck plays for Yana Boukoff Presidential special envoy George Mitchell and ambassadors Charles Rivkin and Sir Peter Westmacott The gala 2010 was one of the best ever, with 90 members celebrating It was one of the best AAPA galas in recent years, according to many of those present. Some ninety members and…
Omar Samad
Afghan Envoy Expounds On Conflict Resolution In the shadow of Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s rapid retreat from Kabul to Washington, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Paris underscored what he described as his country’s long-standing reliance on peaceful resolution of conflict. “Components” of the Obama administration’s strategy need tweaking, Omar Samad said in a meeting with Association members on June…
Heisbourg
Iran’s growing nuclear ambitions, the Israeli-Turkish incident, South Korea’s response to the sinking of its ship in the Yellow Sea and Obama’s posture on nuclear non-proliferation were just a few of the topics covered when one of France’s pre-eminent foreign-policy thinkers met with AAPA members at the home of member John Morris on June 9. Heisbourg, who was a guest of the Association on three…
Noam Chomsky
MIT Prof. Emeritus Noam Chomsky told a standing room audience of some 50 Anglo-American Press Association members and guests Friday evening, May 28 that the Obama Administration's continuation of Bush Administration policies has been no surprise for him and that Europeans seem to like President Obama simply because he is more “polite” about pursuing the same basic policies. Former AAPA President…
Angel Gurria
Providing colorful, detailed and newsworthy responses to questions, Angel Gurria, Secretary General of the OECD, met once again with a dozen of us over breakfast at his Paris headquarters May 19, focusing mainly on the world economic crisis, and notably Europe. Gurria noted that, while China and the U.S. were experiencing recovery, China growing by 11%, the outlook for Europe was mediocre,…
Finance Minister Makes News At The AAPA
Finance Minister Christine Lagarde made headlines when she talked to over two dozen AAPA members on April 13 in an annexe of the Finance Ministry. The timing was excellent, as Lagarde had spent the previous weekend on the phone with her euro-zone counterparts to hammer out details of a recovery package to help Greece out of its debt crisis. Lagarde told us the Greek plan could serve as a…
J-D Levitte, off the record again
Nearly 30 members of the AAPA met Feb. 11 with Jean-David Levitte, conseilleur diplomatique to President Sarkozy, in a sumptuous room near the Elysée. The meeting was off the record, in the American style. We have met with him five times.
Renault's P. Pelata talks to AAPA
Renault COO Patrick Pelata Renault's Chief Operating Officer Patrick Pelata spilled a few beans and created news when he met with the AAPA over breakfast on Dec. 17 at the auto maker's headquarters. Pelata disclosed that Renault is talking to other companies including Germany's Daimler AG and some in China about possible collaboration in making key car components.. He explained how Renault is…