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The magnificent Parliament Building at Stormont in Belfast, Northern Ireland was
the spectacular setting for a Council-hosted Lecture & Reception on Thursday, October
2, 2008. The Guest Speaker at the event was Ambassador Marc Ginsberg, a former U.S.
envoy to Morocco and currently the managing director and CEO of Northstar Equity
Group, an affiliate of APCO Worldwide, America's third-largest independent global
public affairs and strategic communications company.
In his remarks, Ambassador Ginsberg discussed the various issues facing the electorate
in the November 2008 national elections in the United States. He also commented
on the Northern Ireland Peace Process as a template for conflict resolution elsewhere
in the world, especially in the Middle East.
Ambassador Ginsberg serves as a FOX News contributor where he comments on foreign
and economic policy matters, and defense issues for the American television network.
He joined the Carter Administration as Special Assistant to the Secretary of State
for White House Relations and was later appointed Deputy Senior Advisor to the President
for Middle East Policy at the White House.
During the 1980's he practiced international corporate law in the U.S., the Far
East and the Middle East. He is considered one of America's foremost authorities
on Middle East business and trade negotiations. He is also an entrepreneur, being
a founding director of Sutton Place Gourmet (now Balduccis), America's largest gourmet
food retail chain.
He served as President Clinton's Deputy Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs during
the 1992 campaign and transition. Following his term in Morocco, he was appointed
U.S. Special Envoy for Mediterranean Security and Trade Policy.
He began his career as a Middle East foreign policy advisor to Senator Edward M.
Kennedy (D-Mass.). Ambassador Ginsberg was the first U.S. envoy of Jewish heritage
to a Middle East nation. He served as the United States guide for the first Middle
East economic cooperation conference in Casablanca, Morocco.
Ambassador Ginsberg remarked on a special connection he holds with Ireland. In the
1930Õs as his family fled Austria and Nazi oppression, they found safe haven in
Dublin before emigrating to Buffalo, New York.
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