DFAT indigenous peoples strategy 2015-2019: a framework for action

DFAT has developed a five-year Indigenous Peoples Strategy to align its work on issues affecting indigenous peoples across the foreign policy, aid, trade and corporate objectives for the department. Overview The Australian Government is committed to providing opportunities to assist indigenous peoples —both in Australia and overseas—to overcome social and economic disadvantages. Indigenous peoples make up only 5 per cent of the global population; however they make up 15 per cent of the world’s poor and about one-third of the world’s 900 million extremely poor rural people. Australia’s first peoples are one of the oldest continuous living cultures on Earth. The contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to modern Australian society is an enormous part of what makes our country and who we are. The Australian Government is committed to better engagement with its Indigenous peoples to ensure policies and programmes improve their lives and opportunities across the country. Globally, Australia continues to be a strong advocate for the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples around the world in international matters which affect them. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is committed to ensuring that indigenous peoples benefit from its work. Through a network of 95 overseas posts in 77 countries, and in partnership with government and non-government organisations, business and community groups in Australia and overseas, DFAT leads the Australian Government’s efforts to: advance Australia’s security interests internationally open up new markets and create conditions for increased trade and investment to strengthen Australia’s economy and to create jobs lift living standards and reduce poverty in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond shape the regional and international environment and strengthen global cooperation in ways that advance Australia’s interests project a positive and contemporary image of Australia as a destination for business, investment, tourism and study provide high-quality passport and consular services to Australian citizens. DFAT has developed a five-year Indigenous Peoples Strategy to align its work on issues affecting indigenous peoples across the foreign policy, aid, trade and corporate objectives for the department. The Indigenous Peoples Strategy provides a framework for DFAT to work with its partners to advance and promote the wellbeing of indigenous peoples around the world, in line with Australia’s national interest. DFAT will use the strategy to manage for positive results and continual improvement in its work on issues affecting indigenous peoples. DFAT will assess and disseminate lessons from its work to contribute towards evidence and debate about issues affecting indigenous peoples, both in Australia and overseas. The strategy will be guided by four pillars to achieve this vision: DFAT will work with its partners to influence international policy to advance the interests of indigenous peoples in the international community. DFAT will strive to deliver international programs that improve outcomes for indigenous peoples. DFAT will encourage Indigenous Australians to apply for DFAT-funded opportunities to engage in and develop people-to-people links with the international community. DFAT will ensure an inclusive workplace culture across the department. DFAT’s Indigenous Taskforce is responsible for monitoring the overall implementation of the Indigenous Peoples Strategy. DFAT will conduct a mid-term review of the strategy in 2017 and a final review in 2020

Development for all 2015-2020: strategy for strengthening disability-inclusive development in Australia’s aid program

Disability-inclusive development is a priority for Australia’s international engagement. This strategy – Development for All 2015-2020: Strategy for strengthening disability-inclusive development in Australia’s aid program – responds to the agenda set out in DFAT’s development policy, and aims to promote improved quality of life of people with disabilities in developing countries. Ministerial foreword The Australian Government is committed to playing a leadership role internationally in disability-inclusive development to enable people with disabilities in developing countries to find pathways out of poverty and realise their full potential. Our development policy, Australian aid: promoting prosperity, reducing poverty, enhancing stability, confirms Australia’s commitment to expanding opportunities for people, businesses and communities as key to promoting economic growth and reducing poverty. It recognises that everyone is affected if the most disadvantaged people are left behind, and acknowledges that people with disabilities make up the largest and most disadvantaged minority in the world (comprising 1 in 7 of the global population). The Australian aid policy outlines our continuing commitment to including people with disabilities as participants in and beneficiaries of our aid program. Aid alone cannot solve development problems. Our partner governments need to lead in expanding opportunities for people with disabilities by developing and implementing strong policy and legislative frameworks and improving service delivery. And we recognise we need to tap into ideas from a wider range of sources, including the private sector, and leverage new kinds of partnerships. This new strategy—Development for All 2015–2020: Strategy for strengthening disability-inclusive development in Australia’s aid program—builds on experience in implementing the Australian Government’s first strategy for disability-inclusive development1, which helped establish Australia as a strong voice globally in this area. This strategy sets out how the Australian Government—in particular, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)—will strengthen its impact in promoting disability-inclusive development beyond 2015, with a particular focus on our region, the Indo-Pacific. Australia’s international advocacy, diplomatic efforts, and aid program investments will continue to make a major contribution to improving the quality of life for people with disabilities in developing countries with the objective that our development efforts leave no one behind

Composition of trade Australia 2014

The authoritative compendium of statistics on merchandise exports and imports, this publication analyses the growth, direction and commodity breakdown of Australia\u27s trade over the past three years. It also includes individual reports showing the composition of trade with Australia\u27s top 25 trading partners and selected country groups. Also included is a section on Australia\u27s trade in services

‘The “Bowl of Jelly”: The Department of State in the Kennedy and Johnson Years, 1961-68’,

The article explores efforts to reform the State Department under presidents Kennedy and Johnson, with the intention of making the Department better able to lead and coordinate the sprawling foreign policy apparatus. However, Kennedy soon gave up on what he described as the 'bowl of jelly', so the reform effort was left to Johnson. Under him there were attempts to boost the State Department's internal efficiency and its ability to support counterinsurgency efforts. Yet there was a justified perception by the end of 1968 that the State Department was unredeemed managerially and in terms of its standing in the foreign policy nexus. Reasons for the lack of progress include sporadic presidential engagement, and Secretary of State Dean Rusk's limited aptitude for managerial affairs

Foreign ownership of U.S. Treasury securities: what the data show and do not show

The Treasury Department makes available to the public considerable information about foreign holdings of its securities. Nevertheless, it is not possible to determine from the published data exactly which foreigners own U.S. Treasury debt and how much of this debt is in foreign hands.Treasury bills ; Investments, Foreign - United States

Deborah Olsen Public Service Scholarship Essay

In this essay, Maura Hand reflects on the ten weeks she spent interning with the State Department\u27s Office of Foreign Missions (OFM) in San Francisco, California

Effectively Engaging Diasporas Under the New Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

With the amalgamation of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) into a new Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), new opportunities will emerge for a coherent approach to diaspora engagement initiatives that combine the existing policy directions under a single umbrella. DFATD should work with diasporas in Canada to facilitate and improve engagement with the sending regions. This engagement can occur through current programs, as well as the creation of a new pilot project requiring cooperation between the different policy approaches. Engagement should vary according to the different levels of formal government diasporic engagement of the sending countries, as countries with weak government engagement will require policy approaches distinct from countries with strong government engagement

Putting culture into the Cold War: the Cultural Relations Department (CRD) and British covert information warfare

In 1943 the British Foreign Office created an obscure outfit called the Cultural Relations Department (CRD), to manage the growing organization of intellectual, cultural, social and artistic contacts designed to promote Allied goodwill. It became clear early on that the Soviet Union was already well-organized in this field, with many seemingly independent international organizations claiming to represent 'world opinion' yet operating as fronts for Moscow's foreign policy objectives. In the three years before 1948, when the more widely-known Information Research Department began its operations, CRD was the cutting edge of Britain's informational Cold War, focused very much upon the twin issues of culture and organized youth. This essay will examine this little-explored organization by focusing upon these twin issues and its neglected records in FO 924 in the Public Record Office, London

Foreign Direct Investment in the United States: An Economic Analysis

[Excerpt] Foreign direct investment in the United States declined sharply after 2000, when a record $300 billion was invested in U.S. businesses and real estate. (Note: The United States defines foreign direct investment as the ownership or control, directly or indirectly, by one foreign person [individual, branch, partnership, association, government, etc.] of 10$236 billion in U.S. businesses and real estate. Foreign direct investments are highly sought after by many state and local governments that are struggling to create additional jobs in their localities. While some in Congress encourage such investment to offset the perceived negative economic effects of U.S. firms investing abroad, others are concerned about foreign acquisitions of U.S. firms that are considered essential to U.S. national and economic security