The Republic of Somaliland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has renewed its pact with Glover Park Group to advise the East African territory on communications and government relations matters.
The WPP unit will provide government relations and strategic communications counsel in regards to improving Somaliland’s bilateral relations with the United States, according to Foreign Agents Registration Act documents filed in September.
The pact renews GPG’s work for the Somaliland government, who hired the agency last year to act as an advisory on communications and government relations matters.
Somaliland, which declared its independence and split from Somalia after a 1991 civil war, maintains a democratically-elected government and functions as an autonomous region with its own currency and army. However, while the territory maintains informal relations with the United Nations and European Union as well as countries like the United States, it remains unrecognized internationally as a sovereign state.
The campaign, which began on September 1 and continues until the end of November, brings GPG a $22,000-per-month fee.
The Glover Park Group
Bio
The Glover Park Group is an American communications consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. The company was founded in 2001 by former White House and Democratic campaign officials Carter Eskew, Michael Feldman, Joe Lockhart, and Chip Smith.
The firm’s services include lobbying, public relations, advertising marketing, government relations and policy counsel, crisis management and opinion research. The firm provides integrated strategic communications and advocacy services to corporations, non-profit organizations, trade associations, governments and issue, and industry coalitions. Notable clients have included the National Football League, Pfizer, the United States Telecom Association, Visa, the Alliance for Climate Protection, Microsoft and Verizon Wireless.
The firm’s leadership includes founding partners Carter Eskew, Michael Feldman, Joe Lockhart, Chip Smith, and former White House official Joel Johnson, who leads the firm’s government relations practice. Other notable employees include former Associated Press White House correspondents Jennifer Loven and Nedra Pickler, both managing directors in the firm’s public affairs division) Notable former employees include Howard Wolfson and former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers.
In November 2011, the firm was acquired by WPP plc, a London-based communications services company. In statements released by both companies, it was confirmed that founding partners Eskew, Feldman, and Smith would remain in their leadership positions
