It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the State Department today in honor of Our Cities, Our Climate – an initiative between the State Department and Bloomberg Philanthropies.[...]At the center of the State Department’s public diplomacy is the mission to connect the United States with the world to foster creative and powerful networks of citizens around the world to build common understanding.

Global trends will bring to the fore cities and city governments as the new actors in international relations and diplomacy. Those trends are: the increasing urgency of urban development and the globalization of cities.

Outside of the Western world, a handful of cities are fast becoming important global business players. Some of their home countries are recognizing that power and seek to create a multi-polar world that isn't so reliant on the U.S. and Europe. These are the power cities outside of the core economies of the west.

Every year citizen diplomats, business influencers, municipal leaders and other luminaries from around the world converge at Sister Cities International's annual conference. Building on President Eisenhower's original vision, Sister Cities International is an organization dedicated to fostering world peace by building global relationships one city at a time.

Over the next few days, leaders from cities, local governments and other organizations around the world will gather in Lyon, France. It is an important step toward COP21, the UN conference on climate change that will happen in Paris in December. The bold actions taken not only by local leaders but also by all the range of non-state actors to reduce greenhouse gases place them at the forefront of the fight against climate change.