City of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and US mayors from Birmingham, Boston, Charleston, Charlotte, Charlottesville, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Louisville, Miami, New Orleans, Savannah, Seattle, Stockton along with the mayors from Calgary, Canada; Nürnberg, Germany; Mumbai, India; Fukuoka City, Japan; Mexico City, Mexico and Cape Town, South Africa joined the NYE festivities in Times Square to send messages of hope and optimism for 2021. Video credits: Jamestown LP (https://www.jamestownlp.com), TimesSquareNYC.org

Jon Keen, Chief Operating Officer for the City of Atlanta provides celebratory holiday greetings to Atlanta's Sister City, Nuremberg, Germany.

To mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, the UK, France, and the UN hosted the Climate Ambition Summit, in partnership with Italy and Chile. Shelby Buso, Atlanta's Chief Sustainability Officer, provided remarks on the city's commitment to the Paris Agreement through "Clean Energy Atlanta," a strategic plan to transition the city to 100% clean, renewable energy across the entire community by 2035. The summit, an important milestone, paves the way for next year's UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

From the World to the A: Coffee with Legends – Kristi Castlin (Season 1, Episode 3): "From the World to the A: Coffee with Legends" is a platform of dialogue with Atlanta's international figures - athletes, diplomats, journalists, historians, business, and civic leaders - as they discuss the city's role in their careers and their experiences in the capital of Georgia. The first two seasons highlights the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of International Affairs’ Global Sports Initiative, which aims to elevate the City of Atlanta as an international sports hub through community engagement, sports exchanges, economic development, and sports diplomacy. To learn more about the Global Sports Initiative, please visit https://www.atlinternationalaffairs.com/sports. For Episode Three, we interview Kristi Castlin, an Atlanta native Olympian. She is an American Track and Field athlete, 2016 Olympic Medalist, and lifestyle influencer. Also known by her nickname, "Hollywood" began competing at age 14 and, since then, she has traveled to over 45 countries for competitions and philanthropy. Kristi is eager to engage her followers (50,000 + on Instagram) to come along the journey with her as she trains for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo! Websites: Mayor’s Office of International Affairs – www.atlinternationalaffairs.com Kristi Castlin – www.kristicastlin.com Social Media Handles: Mayor’s Office of International Affairs · Twitter: @ATLIntlAffairs · Instagram: @atlintlaffairs · LinkedIn: Mayor’s Office of International Affairs Kristi Castlin · Twitter: KristiCastlin · Facebook: KristiHollywood · Instagram: kristicastlin · Linkedin: Kristi Castlin Video Highlights of Kristi: · · In the women’s 100m hurdles at AG Insurance Memorial Van Damme, USA’s Kristi Castlin held off Belgian record-holder Anne Zagre, 12.76 to 12.84 (footage sent by the athlete) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdkvAG1R00s · Homecoming event: Douglasville welcomes Olympic Medalist Kristi Castlin home! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVniVA0-Yh8&t=43s · The USA's Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin win gold, silver and bronze in women's 100m hurdles in Rio 2016. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6oE2wG_p0Y (Olympic Channel) · Kristi’s footage from the 2016 Rio Olympics - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVniVA0-Yh8&t=43s –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Riviera by Smith The Mister https://smiththemister.bandcamp.com Smith The Mister https://bit.ly/Smith-The-Mister-YT Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/al-riviera Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/qonPqql2sP0 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 🎵 Track Info: Title: Riviera by Smith The Mister Genre and Mood: Hip Hop & Rap + Happy –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Malecon by Soyb & Amine Maxwell https://soundcloud.com/soybmusic https://soundcloud.com/aminemaxwell Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/al-malecon Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/xbWzYbtMgIE –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 🎵 Track Info: Title: Malecon by Soyb & Amine Maxwell Genre and Mood: Hip Hop & Rap + Funky

The Atlanta Mayor's Office of International Affairs extends a heartfelt thank you to our intern, Lucas, for his support and dedication. Above all, in creating and leading our first video series, "From the World to the A: Coffee with Legends" and our Fun Fact Fridays. Lucas was our writer extraordinaire who shared Atlanta's story and that of our sister cities. Although his internship is coming to an end, and we will miss him greatly, we know he will excel in anything he pursues. MUITO OBRIGADO LUCAS!

"From the World to the A: Coffee with Legends" is a platform of dialogue with Atlanta's international figures - athletes, diplomats, journalists, historians, business, and civic leaders - as they discuss the city's role in their careers and their experiences in the capital of Georgia. The first two seasons highlights the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of International Affairs’ Global Sports Initiative, which aims to elevate the City of Atlanta as an international sports hub through community engagement, sports exchanges, economic development, and sports diplomacy. To learn more about the Global Sports Initiative, please visit: https://www.atlinternationalaffairs.com/sports For Episode Two, we interview Iziane Castro Marques, a Brazilian Olympian (2004 & 2016) and a former WNBA star who played for the Atlanta Dream from 2008 to 2011. “Izi” also had a long career overseas playing in France, Spain, Latvia, Turkey, Poland, and Russia. In 2014, she founded in Brazil the “Iziane Institute” focused on youth, education, and sports. Websites: Mayor’s Office of International Affairs – www.atlinternationalaffairs.com Iziane Institute (in Portuguese) - https://www.institutoiziane.org.br/ Social Media Handles: Mayor’s Office of International Affairs Twitter: @ATLIntlAffairs Instagram: @atlintlaffairs LinkedIn: Mayor’s Office of International Affairs Iziane Castro Marques Twitter: @Iziane Facebook: IzianeOficial Instagram: @izianebasquete Linkedin: Iziane Castro Instituto Iziane: Instagram: @institutoiziane

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms provided remarks during the opening ceremony of France Atlanta 2020 and spoke on the city's strong relationship with France and both countries’ commitment to “maintaining global partnerships in order to tackle worldwide challenges such as climate change, Coronavirus, systemic racism and the economy.” Follow the link below to watch the ceremony in its entirety and listen to remarks from Philippe Etienne, Ambassador of France to the United States, and a lively panel discussion on how the U.N. SDGs have encouraged French-American cooperation with Vincent Hommeril, Consul General of France in Atlanta, Ángel Cabrera, President of Georgia Institute of Technology, Jonathan Gilad, Counselor for Ecology, Sustainable Development, Energy and Transport for the Embassy of France in the United States and Rickey Bevington, Senior Anchor/Correspondent for Georgia Public Broadcasting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXOcPKcEIQc&feature=youtu.be

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms provides remarks at the Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF). AWIEF is Africa’s largest and most prestigious women entrepreneurship platform. This year’s theme “Reimagining business and Rebuilding Better” provided a platform for global and African thought leaders to reflect and reimagine the business, economic, and leadership skills needed to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic and recover from its after effects; with a focus on developing emerging women entrepreneurs.