Subnational Diplomacy: NYC’s Efforts to Support Ukraine at the Penn Club
Open to all Columbia Club members!!!
6:00 PM Wine Reception/Registration
6:30 PM Event Begins
$25 pp – Tickets are refundable until noon on 9/12.
Please join us for a fireside chat with Commissioner Mermelstein & Consul General Holubov to discuss how NYC has risen to the challenge to support the Ukrainian people during this difficult time.
Difficult global issues like the Ukrainian crisis present opportunities for subnational diplomacy—diplomacy conducted by officials at various levels of government below the national level—to overcome barriers that have stalled national efforts. The State Department realizes that local governments are on the frontlines of global crises and recently created an office of subnational diplomacy, which leverages the leadership and experiences of US mayors and governors. NYC’s response to the Ukrainian situation embodies subnational diplomacy. Within weeks of the invasion, Commissioner Mermelstein & Consul General Holubov had mobilized and coordinated with NYC agencies, the local Ukrainian community, and the Ukrainian government to provide much-needed aid and strategic support to our Ukrainian counterparts.
Commissioner Mermelstein was born in Ukraine, and his family fled to the US when he was a child. He has played an integral role in NYC’s response to the Ukrainian crisis, coordinating with and acting as the crucial link between the Ukrainian diplomatic community, various city agencies that provide support services to refugees, and the Ukrainian community. New York City, home to the largest Ukrainian population in America, will spend over $2 million to help an anticipated influx of Ukrainian refugees with housing, legal, and translation services. The City has also donated over 1.5 million emergency supplies to Ukraine to support ongoing humanitarian needs.
Oleksii Holubov is the Consul General of Ukraine in the New York. He graduated from Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in 1984 and the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in 2004. He has been in the diplomatic service of Ukraine since 1995, serving at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva. He was also Deputy Head of the Main Department for Strategic Planning and Operational Support of the Administration of the President of Ukraine from 2015-2017, and from 2010 – 2011 was Head of Division of the Department of the Secretariat of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. He has also served in Norway. He is fluent in Ukrainian, English, & Russian.
REGISTER HERE