Two MAIA students, Anita Aravena & Amanda Spincola, helped staff the recent inaugural "Pacific Agenda: Investment, Security, & Shared Prosperity Summit" held in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
This three-day conference was hosted at the East-West Center in Honolulu and brought together nearly 300 participants from across the Pacific, including the heads of state of 16 Pacific Island nations. The keynote speaker was U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, who defined the conference's purpose as "to marry American dynamism with Pacific potential."
During their time at the conference, Anita and Amanda both gained hands-on experience working with C-Suite executives, heads of state, and other senior decision-makers across nine critical sectors, including energy, infrastructure, and the digital economy. Anita was assigned the role of notetaker and took notes during sessions on the economics of tourism. Her notes will be used by conference participants, both civilian, military, and diplomatic, to take action and follow up on items suggested/agreed upon during the session. Amanda was assigned the role of country liaison and handled day-off logistics. She coordinated with the U.S. State Department Team, the Australian delegation, the Tongan delegation, and the Pacific Forum delegation to ensure all members arrived when/where they needed to be and had everything they needed to ensure full and active participation in the summit.
Read the full news release about the conference below and see if you can spot our students in the included photo album: https://www.eastwestcenter.org/news/news-release/us-indo-pacific-diplomatic-business-leaders-advance-economic-initiatives