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| Benjamin Franklin State Dining Room (US State Dept) |
Another great opportunity came our way when the Australian American Leadership Dialogue came to Washington for its annual meeting. I was asked to take the group sailing on the Naval Academy's 44' sailboats. We had a nice couple hours on the water and scored an invite to the group's Gala Dinner in the Benjamin Franklin State Dining Room at the State Department.
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| Kevin Rudd, 26th Prime Minister of Australia (2007-2010) |
During cocktail hour prior to the dinner Michelle and I met the former Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd and the current Australian Ambassador to the US. Secretary Clinton was delayed in Egypt and had to decline the invite to speak to the group but her last minute replacement, the Asst Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell was very entertaining. It was clear that ours is a very special relationship - he couldn't have gotten away with some of the things he said if it was the American-French Leadership Dialogue! In the end it was a nice evening out in DC.
