Media Advisory | November 5, 2015 Telephonic Press Briefing with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton

EVENT:

Please join us on Thursday, November 5, 2015 at 13:00 GMT for a telephonic press briefing on the outcomes of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s September 2015 visit to the United States in relation to U.S.-China cooperation on issues of importance to Africa, including peacekeeping, wildlife trafficking, food security, and global health initiatives. 

DETAILS:

Speakers:

Susan A. Thornton, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Mr. Peter Barlerin, Director of the Office of Economic and Regional Affairs in the Bureau of African Affairs; Ms. Heather Dresser, Foreign Affairs Officer, Office of Economic and Regional Affairs in the Bureau of African Affairs 

Date:                           Thursday, November 5, 2015
Time:                        08:00 EST |13:00 GMT | * Please use Time Zone Converter to determine the start time of the event in your time zone.
Language:                  English.  French and Portuguese interpretation will be offered.
Ground rules:             On the record
Dial-in Info:                To be provided once you RSVP
RSVP:                        RSVP to afmediahub@state.gov.  Please indicate if you will dial in (specify English/French/Portuguese line), or request that we dial out to you (provide the phone number and language to be used).

LOGISTICS

Callers should dial-in to the conference call 10-15 minutes early. 
When an individual journalist dials-in, the operator will collect the caller’s name, press affiliation, and location.  When an embassy dials in, the operator will ask the embassy’s name and location.
The moderator will facilitate the Q and A among the connected callers.  Journalists on the conference call will be instructed to press the “*” and “1” buttons on their phones in order to enter the question queue.  NOTE:  You can press “*1” at any time during the call to join the question queue, even before the moderator begins the Q and A portion.  We ask that journalists limit themselves to one question and indicate to which speaker the question is directed.  Journalists can also submit questions in English to afmediahub@state.gov prior to or during the call. 

Bio

[Photo of Susan A. Thornton] Susan A. Thornton

Deputy Assistant Secretary

Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Term of Appointment: 07/21/2014 to present

Susan A. Thornton was appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State after serving for three years as Deputy Chief of Mission to the U.S. Embassy in Turkmenistan. A career member of the U.S. Foreign Service, Ms. Thornton joined the Department of State in 1991, and has spent the last twenty years working on U.S. foreign policy in Eurasia, focused primarily on the countries of the former Soviet Union and East Asia.

As Deputy Assistant Secretary, Ms. Thornton is responsible for policy related to China, Mongolia, and Taiwan.

Before her posting in Turkmenistan, she served as the Law Enforcement Counselor in Moscow. Previous foreign service assignments include Deputy Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs, Economic Unit Chief in the Office of Korean Affairs, and diplomatic postings in Beijing, Chengdu, Yerevan, and Almaty.

Prior to joining the Department of State, Ms. Thornton worked at the Foreign Policy Institute in Washington, DC, where she researched and wrote about Soviet bureaucratic politics and contemporary Russia. She speaks fluent Russian and Mandarin Chinese.