Mayor Johnson hosts international diplomats at 2025 Dallas Mayor’s Consular Corps Summit
DALLAS—On November 17 & 18, Dallas Mayor Eric L. Johnson hosted more than 40 international diplomats at the 2025 Dallas Mayor’s Consular Corps Summit.
The summit brought together foreign diplomats with local civic leaders and business partners to strengthen international engagement, explore new opportunities for collaboration, and highlight Dallas’s growing role as a global city.
Some local business leaders shared their experiences relocating to Dallas from across the country and the world, emphasizing the city’s unbeatable workforce and can-do spirit that attracts top talent, drives innovation, and rewards excellence. Other speakers underscored how medical research, financial institutions, and the technology sector are rising to new heights in Dallas.
“Dallas defines what it means to be an international city,” said Mayor Johnson. “Through the Mayor’s Consular Corps Summit, we strengthened our existing international partnerships and showcased Dallas to potential new partners, inviting diplomats from around the world to grow their country’s presence in Dallas and be a part of our remarkable rise on the world stage, from hosting the World Cup next year to the emergence of Y’all Street.”
Since the beginning of his Administration, Mayor Johnson has prioritized international partnerships. In January 2020, he formed the Mayor’s International Advisory Council (MIAC) to advise the mayor on diplomatic relations and international business.
Mayor Johnson appointed Ambassador Jeanne Phillips as chair of MIAC. In this role, she was instrumental to the success of the Mayor’s Consular Corps Summit.
“We were pleased to welcome over 40 diplomats to Dallas for this summit,” said Ambassador Phillips. “International engagement plays a major role in the future of our city, and the Mayor’s International Advisory Council is focused on bringing trade offices and more investment to Dallas under the vision of Mayor Johnson.”
The Mayor’s Consular Corps Summit began at Dallas City Hall on Monday with remarks from Mayor Johnson, Ambassador Phillips, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, and other local leaders, and a “fireside chat” with Ross Perot Jr.
On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas hosted two panel discussions. Nicole Small, co-founder and strategic advisor of Biotech+ Hub at Pegasus Park, moderated a panel with Universal DX Chief Operating Officer Christian Hense and UT Southwestern Chief Innovation Officer Daniel Hommes, discussing how Dallas’s Pegasus Park is driving innovations in cutting-edge medical research, and why Dallas is the right place for that.
Ambassador Mark Langdale, who serves on MIAC, moderated a panel on the rise of Dallas’s financial services, real estate, technology, and energy sectors with Goldman Sachs Global Head of Investment Banking Services Aasem Khalil, Texas Stock Exchange Global Managing Director Jeff Karcher, Hunt Oil Company Chairman and CEO Hunter Hunt, and Billingsley Company Partner Lucy Crow Billingsley. The panelists discussed how Dallas is the best big city in the United States for business.
The Mayor’s Consular Corps Summit included representatives from the following countries: Argentina, Austria, Canada, Columbia, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam.
Dallas is currently home to active consulates of Canada, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, in addition to a consular office of Korea. Dallas also hosts chambers of commerce for France, the European Union, Tanzania, and Ethiopia and Eritrea.
“Mayor Johnson and Ambassador Phillips, together with their teams, delivered an exceptional program—uniting the right people, topics, and venues to deepen our understanding of Dallas, even for those of us based here,” said Consul General of Canada Susan Harper, Acting Dean of the Consular Corps of Dallas.
“Their recognition of the vital role international partnerships play, supported by the consular corps, was especially notable. We value that commitment,” she added. “Together, we can advance the prosperity and security of our nations and our peoples—and we look forward to doing so alongside the welcoming and dynamic people of Dallas and Texas. We are stronger when we work together.”
Mayor Johnson and Ambassador Phillips invited other countries to open consular offices in Dallas to deepen their relationship with the Dallas community and open the doors to new business opportunities, and to “send a memo home” extolling Dallas’s virtues to additional diplomatic and business delegations.
More than 20 diplomats travelled to Dallas from the Consular Corps of Houston for the Mayor’s Consular Corps Summit.
“The Consular Corps of Houston wishes to thank Dallas Mayor Johnson, Ambassador Jeanne Phillips, and all the people that opened Dallas to Houston’s international community,” said Consul General of Germany Kai Hennig, Dean of the Consular Corps of Houston. “We appreciated the extensive discussions, informative presentations, and networking opportunities,” he added. “The summit showed Dallas’s achievements, opportunities, and potential as one of the greatest cities in the United States. The summit also brought the consulates of both Dallas and Houston closer together.”
Moving forward, international engagement remains one of Mayor Johnson’s key priorities.
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