AI-assisted summary Jordan’s Ambassador to the U.S., Dina Kawar, visited Iowa to connect with business leaders and politicians.

The event aimed to strengthen business ties and promote cultural exchange between Jordan and Iowa.

Dina Kawar, the Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the United States, visited with prominent Iowa business owners and politicians in West Des Moines.

“It’s an exceptional honor to host Ambassador Dina Kawar at Coviance’s headquarters. And having Director Debi Durham represent all of us Iowans was even more special,” Omar Jordan, Coviance founder and CEO, said in an email after the event. “My team and I are humbled by the tremendous support this event has received, and we look forward to the continued steadfast partnership between Iowa and Jordan.”

Jordan founded Coviance, a West Des Moines-based financial technology startup, in 2015. As a prominent local Jordanian-American, Jordan was exactly the type of connection Kawar was looking to make.

The networking event Wednesday, June 16 was one of many others like it that Kawar and her team have orchestrated across the country. The ambassador considers this type of outreach to be vital to her job, said Dana Daoud, director of the Jordan Information Bureau at the Jordan Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Facilitating positive business relationships, among other things such as promoting good education and experiencing local culture, is one of Kawar’s primary goals whenever she visits somewhere new, Daoud said.

Attendees of the event were encouraged to mingle and chat with the ambassador, as well as with one another.

“It’s always impactful when conversations like this happen in Iowa,” Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Finance Authority and the Iowa Economic Development Authority, said at the event Wednesday morning. “Iowa has a long tradition of global engagement through agriculture and manufacturing, our biosciences (and) education, but what we really do best — and where it all begins — is citizen diplomacy.”

The face-to-face connections established at the event are ones Durham and Kawar both hope will continue to grow.

“While we may be in the heartland of America, we’ve always had a worldview that looks outward with curiosity, partnership and goodwill towards all,” Durham said.

Prior to serving as ambassador, Kawar also served as the Ambassador of Jordan to France from 2001-2013. From August 2014 to June 2016, she served as the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations, where she led the Jordan delegation on the Security Council. When Jordan took its rotation, she became the first Arab woman to preside over the body.

Kawar strives to spread diplomacy across the U.S., not just in Washington, D.C. She values the connections she has made across the country and hopes that those same connections will help to foster the relationship between Jordan and the United States.

“One of the best things I have (done) as an ambassador is to come and visit states and see people on the ground,” Kawar said. “There’s so much that the United States has to offer, and I’m so honored by your hospitality.”

Norah Judson is a reporter for the Register. Reach her atnjudson@gannett.com.