Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Rep. Maxwell Frost Unite on Instagram for the Future of Global Leadership

On Monday, July 24, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield and U.S. Representative Maxwell Frost (D-FL) co-hosted an Instagram Live broadcast to discuss the United States’ upcoming monthlong presidency of the United Nations Security Council and the importance of empowering young leaders to take on today’s global challenges.

As president of the UN Security Council in August, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield explained, the United States will be able to set the agenda. “For me, my big issue is food insecurity, and I will be looking… at how we end hunger, how we end famine across the world.”

“Hunger is a global issue,” she continued, adding that it has been “exacerbated by conflict, such as the war in Ukraine, where the Russians are now, as we speak, attacking ports and have pulled out of a grain deal with Ukraine that was providing needed grain for the rest of the world. This is a huge issue for the world.”

The Ambassador described dealing with Russia in the Security Council as contentious with “pointed” rhetoric at times. “Today I was in the Council, and I called Russia out for… using food as a weapon of war in Ukraine (and) in Syria… and I called them out on it.”

The Ambassador expressed confidence that Representative Frost’s generation would rise to the challenge of addressing issues like food insecurity. “You are the future, but the future is today. And the issues that we have to address are today’s issues. You give me so much hope – so much confidence that we are in good hands in the future,” she told the Congressman.

“Youth empowerment is something I’ve engaged a lot on here at the UN. And I really do strongly believe that you – your generation – you’re our future. We have to empower you,” she added.

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield encouraged young people to consider a career in multilateral diplomacy. “The issues that you are dealing with, Congressman, are issues that young people are dealing with everywhere else in the world. And they need your voice. They need our voices wherever we are able to share our perspectives.”