REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY AND REPUBLIC OF KOREA PRESIDENT PARK GEUN-HYE

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Remarks With Republic of Korea President Park Geun-hye At Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
October 10, 2013

PRESIDENT PARK: (Via interpreter) I’m delighted to meet and see you again, Mr. Secretary after having last met back in April. And I recall your kind letter during my visit to the United States, when you were not able to be present due to certain circumstances. And President Obama was not able to attend this year’s meetings on account of inescapable factors. Please do pass on my best regards upon your return to the United States.

I’m also delighted to note that we have been able to issue a statement that in many (inaudible) significant during my visit to the United States and in the aftermath of my meeting with President Obama. And following that meeting, we have been able to see our partnership evolve further into a comprehensive strategic alliance. And I also feel it’s very meaningful that we have been steadily implementing, one by one, the items that we agreed to during that meeting, for instance, the revision to the nuclear energy cooperation agreement between our two countries as well as other major issues as well in the spirit of our alliance. And I look forward to continuing to do that in the spirit of our alliance.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you. Thank you very much, Madam President. As you said, the alliance is both strong and the alliance is extremely important to us, and we’re very grateful to you for the cooperation.

And again, I am sorry that I wasn’t present for the meeting. But I know you had a very successful meeting. And Secretary Hagel, who I was with just the other day, tells me he had a very successful security consultative meeting in Seoul. And the success of the Republic of Korea is really quite remarkable, and we are very grateful for the significant role that you are currently playing on the global stage, and particularly our cooperation with respect to North Korea.

Obviously nobody faces the challenge of North Korea more than you do. (Laughter.) And we applaud your very measured and careful approach by which you’ve both been firm, but at the same time you’ve tried to reach out. My hope is, Madam President, that with the conversations we’ve had with the Chinese here – and I’m sure you share this – that we’re all on the same page and in a place where denuclearization and serious steps to move towards it are the key, and that has to define our policy.

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY CONGRATULATES PEOPLE OF NIGER ON THEIR NATIONAL DAY

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 
Niger's National Day
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
August 2, 2013

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Niger as you celebrate the 53rd anniversary of your independence this August 3.

The United States applauds the government and people of Niger for your commitment to strengthening democratic institutions, promoting human rights, and advancing regional security. Your steadfast embrace of tolerance and rejection of violence following the tragic terrorist attacks in Agadez and Arlit has set an example for the world.

The United States looks forward to continued partnership as our countries work to achieve common goals and a healthy, prosperous and secure future for the people of Niger.

The United States wishes all the people of Niger a joyous and peaceful independence day celebration.

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY"S PRESS AVAILIBILITY IN TEL AVIV, ISRAEL

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Press Availability in Tel Aviv

Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Tel Aviv, Israel
June 30, 2013

SECRETARY KERRY: I apologize for keeping everybody waiting, but I am pleased to tell you that we have made real progress on this trip, and I believe that with a little more work, the start of final status negotiations could be within reach. We started out with very wide gaps and we have narrowed those considerably. We have some specific details and work to pursue, but I am absolutely confident that we are on the right track and that all of the parties are working in very good faith in order to get to the right place. The most important thing is that I believe the parties – it’s not my perception, but I think what the parties themselves believe is possible here, in the end, the choices here are really up to them.

And as I have talked the last few days intensively with leaders in Jordan, in the West Bank, in Palestine, as well as in Israel with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas particularly, I’ve really been impressed with their serious commitment to this task. They have spent hours working through language, working through ideas, and the effort that they and their teams have put into this convinces me of their interest in being successful.

They understand that in the pursuit of this new partnership, one ally none of us have is time. Time threatens the situations on the ground, it allows them to worsen, it provides time for misinterpretations, mistrust to harden. It allows time for vacuums to be filled by bad actors. It also allows time for people who want to undermine efforts to make peace to undertake their activities. Finally, of course, it lets patience wear thin and cynicism to solidify, and for unforeseen events to even enter into a closing window.

So our immediate goal is, of course, to resume permanent status negotiations. It is not to negotiate for the sake of negotiating. What we want, and most important, what the people who live here want, all of the people who live here, is an enduring solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and that is a solution that will lead to two states for two peoples which the majority of Israelis and Palestinians clearly want. It is a solution that will strengthen Israel’s security and it will strengthen its future as a Jewish state, and that will give the Palestinian people the chance to fulfill their legitimate aspirations in a country of their own.

In our talks, Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas both engaged constructively, carefully, seriously. We considered different approaches, and I am very hopeful that we are close to an approach that will work. But it will take a little bit more time to work through some of the details and modalities. Both leaders have asked me to continue my efforts to help bring them together, and I am leaving several staff people here to work on these details in the next week or so. And I believe their request to me to return to the area soon is a sign that they share my cautious optimism, and that is why they’ve asked me to come back here as we complete the work on these details.

Now, obviously, we’re all working very, very hard, and I know that it is a worthwhile endeavor; that I am convinced of. I also know progress when I see it, and we are making progress. That’s what’s important and that’s what will bring me back here.

Thank you. I’d be happy to answer any questions.

MODERATOR: Thank you. We’re going to take a few questions now. The first is from Michael Gordon of The New York Times.

QUESTION: Sir, for three days you’ve been meeting day and night, traveling back and forth between Jordan and Israel. If it’s been this difficult to get the parties to agree even to sit down together and negotiate, why is there reason to think that negotiations would actually succeed?

And a related question: The Israelis say Prime Minister Netanyahu offered a package by the end of your marathon session and Mr. Erekat says there was no breakthrough. You’ve talked of progress. What is this progress that you say you’ve made here? What are the main elements of the package that you’re trying to put together?

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I’m not going to go into any of the elements of the package, Michael, because we have all agreed that the best way to serve this effort is not to be floating ideas or possibilities out there for everybody to tear apart and evaluate and analyze. The leaders will make those decisions. And that’s why this is difficult. Tony Blair is fond of saying that the hardest part is the launch, and the reason is both sides want to understand what the parameters are, what sort of the understanding is about how and what will – how will you negotiate and what will be negotiated about. Once you get to that, then you can begin to really dig in and get to the hard work.

So as I said, the gaps were very broad when we began. They are now, I think, very narrow. And we have, as I said, some work to do. I’m leaving staff here. I wouldn’t be doing that if I didn’t believe we had something serious to work on. And I’m going to come back because both leaders have asked me to, and I think I wouldn’t be asked to and I wouldn’t do it if there wasn’t some hope and possibility in that.

So I think this is worth it, folks. This has been years and years and years. If it takes another week or two weeks or some more time, that’s minimal, miniscule compared to the stakes and compared to what we’re trying to do. And the fact that both parties have insisted that they want to continue and work on where we are and insist that it’s important for me to come back at the appropriate time, I will do so. That’s what President Obama committed to and that’s the work that he’s asked me to do.

MODERATOR: Thank you. The next question is from Atilla Somfalvi with Ynet.

QUESTION: Yes. Secretary, is there a timeframe? I mean, September is coming up and we are waiting for the presidents to go back to the UN, till September to the end of August. What is the deadline?

SECRETARY KERRY: We’re not going to get stuck with artificial deadlines. That’s a big mistake. As I just said to you, I’m leaving people here who will continue to work on some of this, and they have asked me to return in the near term. So my hope is that the details and the work that I talked about can be completed. If it can’t, I won’t come back at that time, but I believe it will be.

I’m feeling very hopeful, as I said earlier, that we have a concept that is being now fleshed out and that people have a sense of how this might be able to go forward. And that is why I said that I believe the start of negotiations could be within reach. Obviously, the work has to be completed. People have to make a few choices still. But the gap has been narrowed very significantly.

I’m pleased and proud of the work that everybody has done. Prime Minister Netanyahu and his team were up until – I think we were there till 4:00 in the morning this morning, working for hours, and we did that the day before, and again with President Abbas. Frankly, we need to take a little more time to work with both sides on a couple of issues that I think are worth working on.

So I’m not going to get into them. It’s a mistake. We are committed through this process. When and if we get to those negotiations, which I hope we will get to, we are committed not to talk about what we’re doing, because that’s the way we’re going to be able to really work seriously. I know it’s going to be frustrating for you and for other people, and there will be speculation and conjecture and rumors and inaccuracies out there. That is not going to disturb us. We are committed to work on what we know we’re working on, and that’s the way we’re going to maintain the integrity of this effort.

MODERATOR: Great. The next question is from Leslie Wroughton of Reuters.

QUESTION: Leslie Wroughton from Reuters. Mr. Secretary, what was – I understand you’ve been busy with the Middle East process, but there are other pressing global issues going on. One is Egypt. The White House said this morning it has been in touch with all parts of the Egyptian Government, including President Morsy’s office. Have you participated in those talks? And what is it that the Egyptians --

SECRETARY KERRY: Who had? I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you.

QUESTION: The White House had said.

SECRETARY KERRY: Yes.

QUESTION: And have you participated in those talks? Also, in the new security environment, what is the U.S. doing to protect U.S. interests? And is that response informed by what happened in Benghazi? Is that response informed by what happened in Benghazi?

SECRETARY KERRY: The Embassy –

QUESTION: Yes.

SECRETARY KERRY: -- in Cairo?

QUESTION: Correct. And then on Syria, you are going to meet Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in Brunei. What are you going to tell him? And would you expect to get attention – Mr. Lavrov’s attention following recent rebel gains on the battlefield? Are the rebels doing this with more weapons, better weapons?

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, with respect to Egypt, I have – believe it or not, even in the middle of this, I’m keeping in very close tabs with what’s happening in Egypt as well as Syria. And I have talked to Mr. ElBaradei, I’ve talked to Amr Moussa, I have talked with leaders of Gulf countries particularly – talked with King Abdullah, talked with – every meeting I’ve had, we have also focused on Egypt, because Egypt is a great concern to all of us. So – and I have talked with the White House regularly with respect to what we’re doing as well as the State Department in order to make sure that we’re taking the right precautions, and that leads me into the question.

The Embassy – we are very confident about the status, we believe, of the Embassy. There are a great many Embassy folks who are on voluntary – who have been offered a voluntary drawdown. It’s up to them whether or not they want to draw down. In addition to that, we have a huge number of people who are actually on leave and away because of vacation and home leave time. So we believe our Embassy is appropriately staffed, and we believe it is appropriately protected. And we’ve been in touch, obviously, with Ambassador Patterson and staying in close touch with people on the ground.

We are also talking about – sort of not just today, but the day after today, what happens in the future as we go forward. We – I want to extend my condolences to the family of Andrew Pochter, who was killed in Alexandria on the 28th. We have issued, always, advisories with respect to travel. On the 28th, we issued a alert which is a more compelling, urgent statement about the potential of violence. We’ve urged everybody for weeks now to have knowledge about demonstrations and not to take part in them, or to try to stay away from them.

And so I think that we’re monitoring very, very closely events in Egypt. I know that there are about 10,000 folks or so in Tahrir Square at this moment and growing. The heat is about 40 degrees Centigrade, so it’s keeping people somewhat away, but I think as the afternoon goes on, the crowds will grow and the evening is obviously what we’re watching very, very closely. So we’re very much alert to and concerned about and in touch on the subject of Egypt.

QUESTION: And Syria?

SECRETARY KERRY: Syria, well, I’m going to – I look forward to my conversation with Foreign Minister Lavrov. I’m actually anxious to get there and to engage with him because the situation in Syria is grave. We continue to hope that – and there have been talks in the last days with Lakhdar Brahimi and Under Secretary Sherman, and we are very much hopeful that the concept of the peaceful resolution, no matter what’s happening in Homs, no matter what’s happening, is the only way to try to save Syria.

And there is no, as I have said many times, military solution to the problem of Syria. Now, the Assad regime wants to move to the contrary. Clearly, part of my conversation with Foreign Minister Lavrov and with the Russians will be how we can maximize our efforts together to have an impact on this. Now, I’m not going to go into greater detail with respect to that conversation, but I very much look forward to meeting with Sergey Lavrov when I get there.

MODERATOR: And our final question is from Abdul Raouk-Arnout of Al-Ayam newspaper.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, for the last three days, you’ve been shuttling between Amman, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. Now, we know nothing about these meetings. How these meetings were going? What difficult – it’s about, I think, 20 hours of meetings with President Arafat – President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu. So can you describe these meetings, how well it going?

And you’ve said that you don’t want to get into the details. Fine, but the issue of settlements, is it the main obstacle that you’ve been facing at these meetings?

SECRETARY KERRY: The answer is no, there are any number of obstacles, but we’re working through them. And we made progress, as I said, in every sector. We still have, as I said, a little bit of work to do, and I look forward to doing it. But we have widened – again, we have taken a very, very wide gap and we’ve narrowed it. And these are very complicated talks because the stakes are very, very high for everybody. This is about a country, two countries and two peoples and peace and the possibilities of avoiding war and how you guarantee things where years and years of conflict have hardened feelings and hardened emotions and hardened realities.

So it’s hard to work through that. I’m impressed by the attitude, I’m impressed by the seriousness, I’m impressed by the commitment. The fact that we sat there for all those hours; worked through difficult issues; worked through hard, long-term, entrenched beliefs; and found facts and found a way to organize some thoughts is very, very important here. And so I’m very positive. I mean, if I didn’t have to go to have these meetings and to take part as I need to, I’d stay here and we’d continue to work. I’m leaving people here to work.

So I hope people feel the strength of possibilities here. I’m a believer in possibilities. I see them now. And I see them more clearly. We have to have the courage to stay at this and to make some tough decisions. Now, they’re not my decisions. They belong to some other people. My job is to try to help clarify and encourage and perhaps even occasionally put ideas on the table that can help move us in the right direction. I believe we are doing that, and I thank Prime Minister Netanyahu and I thank President Abbas. They have both made serious efforts to move.

That doesn’t mean because you have a few more things to work through over the period of whatever amount of time that people should feel, "Oh my gosh, we’re not getting there." This process has been pretty dead in the water for four or five years. So we’re trying to come back from that, and I’m encouraged by the seriousness of purpose indicated by both teams. They are working hard. We all are. And we’re determined to get there, all of us.

Thank you all very much. Appreciate it.

REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY AND SUADI FOREIGN MINISTER PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Remarks With Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal After Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
June 25, 2013

FOREIGN MINISTER SAUD: (Via interpreter) I would like to welcome His Excellency Mr. John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, and his accompanying delegation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This, his third visit to the region, only asserts his personal concern with the region’s issues and the interests of the United States and those of its friends.

Secretary Kerry and I had a fruitful, constructive discussion today, just like we do in all of our transparent, open-minded meetings. We reviewed many regional and international issues, on top of which is the crisis in Syria and the developments on the Syrian, regional, and international arenas.

Perhaps the most ominous of these developments is the involvement of foreign forces, foremost of which is the motions of Hezbollah and others with support from Iran’s national guard in the mass murder of Syrians with unlimited military support from Russia. This critical turn of events cannot possibly be overlooked. Over and above the regime’s genocide against its own people, this adds an even deadlier element in the form of an all-out foreign invasion that breaks every international law, protocol, and principle. This violates the Syrian land and turns it into a battleground for global and regional conflicts and puts it under the mercy of sectarian struggles. Syria now can only be considered an occupied land. This requires a firm stand and speedy action from the international community. There no longer is rhyme or reason to let Russia’s open and fervent weaponization of the Syrian regime and the hordes of foreign forces backing it to go on unabated.

In the meantime, we are still failing to secure international protection for the Syrian people, or at least provide some sort of military assistance to help it defend itself against these abhorrent crimes being committed against it with nary an excuse. In this regard, the Kingdom demands a clear, unequivocal, international resolution that bans any sort of weaponry support for the Syrian regime, and declares null and void the legitimacy of that regime, which it had lost on day one of this crisis when it denied the simplest, most basic demands of its people, and waged a genocidal war against it instead. It lost its membership in both the Arab League and the Islamic Cooperation Organization, and the Gulf Cooperation Council had already reiterated its illegitimacy, a fact that has been further reaffirmed by the Friends of Syria meetings.

The regime’s illegitimacy eliminates any possibility of it being part of any arrangements or playing any role whatsoever in shaping the present and future of Syria, taking into consideration that the Syrian National Coalition now has the recognition of the international community as the sole representative of the Syrian people in its political and ethnic entirety. The Coalition is now ready to commence with the transitional ruling body with full-fledged authorities away from the pillars of the Syria regime and its cohorts who have blood on their hands.

At the same time, the Kingdom affirms the necessity of changing the balance of powers on the ground in favor of the Free Syrian people. This is the only way to bolster the chances of a peaceful solution, one that we will all seek at the upcoming Geneva 2 convention. I would like to commend the U.S. decision to send military aid to the Free Syrian Army, and express my relief for what I heard today from the U.S. Secretary of State concerning both changing the military balance of powers on the ground and maintaining the legitimacy of the Syrian National Coalition as the sole representative of the Syrian people.

I shouldn’t forget to underline the European Union’s resolution to lift the ban on arming the Syrian opposition. I call upon the EU to immediately put the resolution into action to counter the serious current developments on the Syrian ground.

We also reviewed the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the ongoing efforts to revive the peace process and the negotiations between the two sides. The Kingdom sees it vital that these efforts focus on resolving the conflict’s major issues after all else had failed at achieving any progress. All previous efforts had been dealing with the ramifications rather than the causes. Therefore there should be consensus towards a solution that is based on international resolutions and principles, agreements and understandings already signed, and the Arab Peace Initiative, so as to reach the goal of a sustainable, independent, and a contiguous Palestinian state.

I would like to thank the Secretary for his efforts in resolving this conflict, and we appreciate his efforts. Now I’d like to thank you all. The Secretary has the floor.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, Your Royal Highness. Assalamu alaikum. It’s a privilege for me to be here again back in Saudi Arabia, and I’m happy to be in this very beautiful city, which is a great hub of innovation and a great history and the crossroads, obviously, for all the pilgrimage to Mecca, and important to the Kingdom. I’m particularly grateful to my friend, Prince Saud al-Faisal, for his welcome here. Always a great welcome and always a very enjoyable and frank conversation, and I respect and appreciate that.

As I think everybody knows, Saudi Arabia is one of our closest partners, and we are grateful for that. We work together on a host of key issues in the region, including the most important one of protecting stability for all of the countries in the region. And the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia is critical, I think, to both of our countries.

So, first, I thank Saudi Arabia for its very important leadership and work within the Arab League and, in fact, internationally with the critical and sometimes not properly recognized initiative of His Majesty King Abdullah with the Arab Peace Initiative. This is a most important initiative. And while not everybody agrees with every portion of it, it is an effort, literally, to bring about peace, an offer of a future in which there is a normal set of relationships with real peace, with diplomatic recognition, commerce, trade, all that comes with that peace. And I think that the Arab League’s mission to Washington some weeks ago was an important step forward in helping to lay the groundwork for the possibility of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

We believe, President Obama believes, that those negotiations should start as soon as is possible, and hopefully that they should conclude with two states living side by side in peace and security. And he has sent me out here to this region on a number of different occasions now in order to work with both the Israelis and the Palestinians, but also with the neighbors, in order to try to bring about the conditions for negotiations to take place, and ultimately notwithstanding all of the turmoil, notwithstanding all of the conflict, notwithstanding all of the counter-indications, to be able to bring about peace.

We need to be able to do that. And we share a belief with Saudi Arabia and many countries that these next weeks are perhaps – or at least this next period of time is an important period of time where decisions could be made that could affect this region for years to come.

We also discussed, as His Royal Highness has said, the crisis of Syria. I join His Royal Highness in making clear that this is a crisis that has been made worse, a situation that’s been made far more difficult and complicated by Assad’s invitation to Iran and to Hezbollah, Iran’s surrogate, to cross lines – international lines – and to become engaged on the ground in Syria. It is the Assad regime that has internationalized the violence on the ground in the worst of ways. And I would remind people, as I think His Royal Highness has and would join me, that peaceful demonstrations that asked for small amounts of reform were met with violence in the very beginning, and it is that violence that has grown, and now, because of the Assad regime’s decision, been internationalized.

I expressed our appreciation for Saudi Arabia’s leadership within the region, within the Arab League, in efforts to try to help us to find a political solution. We believe that the best solution is a political solution in which the people of Syria have an opportunity to be able to make a choice about their future. And we believe that every minority can be respected, that there could be diversity and pluralism, and that people could do so in a climate of peace in the absence of oppression and violence or the involvement of foreign fighters, providing the Assad regime is prepared to live by the framework that was created in the Geneva communique for a transition government with full executive powers chosen by mutual consent of all the parties, which really has the best chance of bringing about peace in Syria. We continue to believe, as His Royal Highness referred to, that the Geneva 2 offers the best opportunity to be able to try to bring that about.

And as countries like the United States and Saudi Arabia aid the opposition, we do so with the belief that it is done in the effort to try to bring people to the decision to go to Geneva and respect the Geneva 1 communique. Earlier this week, we agreed in Doha to do more to aid the opposition in order to help bring that about. And the President of the United States has made the decision to do more, and today I came here to talk with His Royal Highness the Foreign Minister in order to understand better what Saudi Arabia will be doing, what the countries in the region will be doing, and how we can coordinate those efforts in the best way to bring about the solution that we all hope for.

Finally, let me commend Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council for their support of President Hadi and the people of Yemen in their ongoing national dialogue and their broader transition process. This is critical to the future of Yemen, to the future of the region, and we agreed that there are ways that we can cooperate further on that, and we will.

All of these concerns and everything that we discussed today, frankly, has global consequences. And that is why our partnership, the partnership between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is so essential. So I thank His Majesty, King Abdullah, and the I thank the Foreign Minister, my friend, Prince Saud al-Faisal for his welcome today, and I thank him most importantly for the serious purpose and serious discussion that he is engaged in and for the cooperation that we are both engaged in, in order to bring about peace and stability to this region.

Thank you, Your Royal Highness.

FOREIGN MINISTER SAUD: (Via interpreter) Thank you, Mr. Secretary, and before I close, I would like to congratulate Prince Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the new prince of – the Emir of Qatar. And I would like to appreciate his father, Prince Hamad, for his efforts in developing Yemen and bolstering the relations between our two countries and our two peoples and his work on the issues of the region. And we pray for Qatar’s prosperity and advancement.

We will take your questions now.

MS. PSAKI: The U.S. question will be from Margaret Brennan of CBS News.

QUESTION: Margaret Brennan from CBS. Your Royal Highness, a lot has changed in terms of (inaudible) providing (inaudible). When will we see it make a difference on the ground? And (inaudible) that difference without outside military intervention? And Secretary Kerry, if you could explain more on how the U.S. is helping to coordinate on (inaudible) demonstration (inaudible). (Inaudible) Sergey Lavrov just said that (inaudible).

FOREIGN MINISTER SAUD: (Inaudible) and the corollary to that is (inaudible) a massive flow of money, of weapons to aid and abet (inaudible) genocide. This must end. And Saudi Arabia is not a country that interferes in internal affairs of countries. But an invaded country, where genocide is being perpetrated, is not a normal situation. And I can say with all clarity that we will help the Syrian people defend themselves. We will take our means we have – we are a small country. The aid we can provide is proportionate to our capabilities. But we will not stop helping them in the most effective way that we can, according to that capability.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, with respect to the (inaudible) technicalities of one particular type of aid versus another, or logistics, but it is obvious from the London 11 meeting that we had the other day, as well as from this meeting, that we are trying to coordinate. We’re trying to understand as well as possible what each nation is doing today, what they’re prepared to do, and obviously, how we can work in a way that isn’t at cross-purposes. We need to be coordinated. So that coordination effort was a subject of discussion today. And I think that given the fact that the President made the decision to provide additional assistance, we want to make sure that that’s being done in the most effective way possible.

We also wanted to – I wanted to hear from His Royal Highness the views of Saudi Arabia with respect to the strategy going forward, and larger concerns: What are the implications of Iran and Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, being involved across international lines in another country, in effect managing a war for that country? What are the impacts on our friends who are neighbors, on Jordan, on Israel, on Lebanon, on Turkey? These are all important considerations, and sometimes one needs to sit face to face in order to have an opportunity to be able to better understand our friends’ thinking on these issues. And that’s exactly what we did.

With respect to Egypt and the demonstrations, first of all, demonstrations are a very legitimate form of expression for citizens in any country. And it’s imperative, we hope, that those demonstrations will be peaceful, that the government would respect them, and that the people will respect their fellow citizens. So that is an important principle on which to begin, but obviously Egypt is going through a very difficult period. We have made many recommendations to our friends in Egypt. We are trying to help, as other countries are trying to help, to create a place for the opposition to be part of the political process in order to create some economic reforms that will help attract business and capital and begin to move their economy. And I think it’s up to the citizens of Egypt to make decisions as to whether or not they feel that all of those kinds of reforms and initiatives are taking place in a way that meets their needs.

That’s not our – that’s – we’re not involved in that. That’s their choice. This demonstration is spontaneous and comes from the Egyptian people. We hope that it will bring the government ultimately to a place where the reforms are effected and choices that need to be made about the economy are implemented. And we will obviously hope that it will not produce violence and be a moment of catalyzing, positive change for Egypt itself.

With respect to the comments – with respect to Mr. Snowden’s situation and the comments, I haven’t read the comments. I understand from – indirectly that it was a strong statement by the Foreign Minister. But I would simply appeal for calm and reasonableness in a moment where we don’t need to raise the level of confrontation over something as, frankly, basic and normal as this.

It is accurate that there is not an extradition treaty between Russia and the United States, so if you want to be technical, certainly there is no extradition treaty. But there are standards of behavior between sovereign nations. There are – there is common law. There is respect for rule of law. And we would simply call on our friends in Russia to respect the fact that a partner nation, a co-member of the Permanent Five of the United Nations has made a normal request under legal systems for law to be upheld.

And we would hope that as a nation, as a sovereign nation, Russia would not see its interests in siding with a person who is accused of breaking the law in another nation and who is a fugitive from justice according to international standards of law. So we simply call on them to – they don’t have to enforce the law, but they certainly can allow him to be subject to the laws of our land and our Constitution, which he is a citizen of. And that’s what we call on them to do.

We’re not looking for a confrontation. We’re not ordering anybody. We’re simply requesting, under a very normal procedure, for the transfer of somebody, just as we transferred to Russia seven people in the last two years that they requested that we did without any clamor, without any rancor, without any argument, and according to our sense of the appropriateness of meeting their request. And that’s what we would hope they would reciprocate with here today.

QUESTION: I have two questions. One is for Mr. Secretary and the other one for His Royal Highness. Mr. Secretary, I believe that there is a tremendous concern in the West and United States about – there was tremendous concern to arm the Syrian Free Army (inaudible) those are in relation to (inaudible). I believe that this concern has resulted in making Hezbollah and Iran more strong in the theater of operation in Syria. Now with the decision of the American Administration to arm the Free Syrian Army, I mean, are you going to arm them with the heavy weapons that could topple the regime or just to make the advance of power on the ground?

(Via translation.) Supporting the Syrian – the Syrian Free Army with (inaudible.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me just say very directly we never discussed the details of whatever class of weapons we might or might not be providing to anybody. That is not a matter of public discussion. And I think our goal, as I stated, is very clear. We do not want this to be a wider war. We do not want (inaudible) contribute to more bloodshed and a prolongation of the agony of the people of Syria. So our hope is to be able to speedily move to a place where the killing can end and the people of Syria will have a chance to choose their future. We believe that best is provided for through the Geneva process.

But we will continue to provide assistance to the Syrian military coalition and to the Syrian opposition in the interim and because we do not believe that it is appropriate for the Assad regime to have invited the Iranians and Hezbollah to cross international lines and to have their fighters on the ground. There are no United States fighters, there are no Saudi fighters, there are no Qatari fighters on the ground. The opposition was fighting. It is Assad who has grown this in its significance and global implications. And needless to say, we are responding appropriately and we will continue to respond appropriately as the President has said.

FOREIGN MINISTER SAUD: (Via interpreter.) The Kingdom’s aid to Syria – just like I said earlier, Syria is facing two things: genocide, unprecedented genocide in this region and a foreign invasion. The Syrians are calling out for the conscience – the collective conscience of the Arab, Islamic, and international communities to help them out and defend themselves against this unbelievable attack on them. Just like the Secretary said, what led to this situation are simple and basic demands by the Syrians to make their lives a little better. But the reaction, the violent reaction of the regime by killing the opposition and murdering those it considers to be opposition, made it inevitable for the Kingdom, which is an Arab country that’s a sister of Syria and has mutual interests with the Syrian people – it’s left with no choice but to help that people defend themselves. And the only restriction we – there is on the aid we can give to the Syrian opposition is our ability to help, our --

SECRETARY KERRY: Your call. It’s up to you. You can do whatever you want.

FOREIGN MINISTER SAUD: (Via interpreter.) The Secretary has an appointment.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter.) Concerning the Geneva 2, how will you hold the conference when the Syrian coalition will not participate? And what’s Saudi Arabia’s stand on calls for jihad? And what measures has it taken to – concerning that? And now the Syrian rebels, there is a rift among the alliance of the Syrian opposition. What is Saudi doing to alleviate that?

And Mr. Kerry, about (inaudible) agreement between Saudi Arabia and the U.S.A. that (inaudible) between Saudi and Arabia and the Americans. Why has that not include in this agreement?

SECRETARY KERRY: Oh, which agreement is that?

PARTICIPANT: The case of Hamid (inaudible), a Saudi citizen.

SECRETARY KERRY: I will have to investigate that. I can’t tell you exactly, but I will find out for you, and we’ll get back to you. Fair enough?

FOREIGN MINISTER SAUD: (Via interpreter.) A rift among Syrian – factions within the Syrian oppositions, this – it’s important for them to agree, so as to defend themselves better and to go on to rebuild Syria in a way that preserves the interests of everyone, of all sects and ethnicities.

What the Kingdom is doing in that regard, we are always trying to convince them to tell them to – to help them to understand that it’s in their best interest to agree. And we hope that these efforts continue so as we arrive at their goals.

Jihad is basically according to – determined by whatever one can achieve. One can do jihad with their hands or with their words. And we are doing it with all our efforts. Thank you.

THE CALL BETWEEN SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY AND IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER ZEBARI

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Readout of Secretary Kerry's Call With Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
June 15, 2013

Yesterday Secretary Kerry called Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari to discuss recent developments in Iraq and the region. The Secretary thanked the Foreign Minister for his efforts to help organize a unity meeting of Iraq’s political and religious leaders at the end of May and the meeting between Prime Minister Maliki and KRG President Barzani on June 9. He noted that he was encouraged by the positive tone of these meetings and urged Iraqi leaders to build on these steps by continuing direct dialogue and taking concrete action to address political differences. The two agreed on the importance of a unified approach against violence and the need to address legitimate grievances peacefully and in a manner consistent with the Iraqi constitution.


The Secretary and Foreign Minister also discussed Iraq-Kuwait relations and the Secretary noted that he was impressed by the recent progress the two nations have made toward resolving remaining UN Chapter VII issues. The Secretary stated that this was a clear example of determined and persistent diplomacy paying off. He assured the Foreign Minister that the United States would continue to work to help Iraq improve relations with other neighbors in the region.

The Secretary and the Foreign Minister also discussed the situation in Syria. The Secretary reaffirmed that the United States continues to work aggressively for a political solution with the goal of a second Geneva meeting, but that the use of chemical weapons and increasing involvement of Hizballah demonstrates the regime’s lack of commitment to negotiations and threatens to put a political settlement out of reach. The Secretary expressed our concern about the increasingly sectarian nature of the Syrian conflict on both sides, including atrocities committed in recent days in Qusayr and in Deir EzZor. In that light, the Secretary noted his appreciation for the Foreign Minister’s statement on June 11 discouraging Iraqis from joining the fight in Syria. The Secretary further urged that Iraq take every possible measure to help end the military resupply of the Assad regime and thereby increase the pressure that will be necessary to advance a political solution.

The Secretary mentioned that he looks forward to seeing the Foreign Minister in Washington under the auspices of the Joint Coordinating Committee established by the Strategic Framework Agreement. We will work with the Government of Iraq to find a date for this important meeting to take place in the coming months.

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY AND POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER SIKORSKI MAKE REMARKS AFTER MEETING

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Remarks With Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski After Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
June 3, 2013

SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. I’ve got two comments I want to make at the top here before welcoming Foreign Minister Sikorski as I will and want to, and then look forward to your questions on that. But this morning, I’m thinking, as all of us from the Senate family are, of the passing of one of our own, Senator Frank Lautenberg. I was privileged to spend more than 20 years as Frank’s colleague in the Senate, off and on repeatedly, because of Frank’s original retirement, which fate did not allow to stick.

Frank was a remarkable legislator and just a tremendous human being. He was someone who fought and won a lot of battles that today people just take for granted, like a ban on smoking on airplanes or progress for veterans and laws that have helped allow Jews and Christians and Baha’is and so many others escape persecution, laws banning foreign aid to state sponsors of terrorism, laws bolstering security of ports and chemical plants, and laws ensuring that the victims of terror achieve some sense of justice. We think of Pan Am 103 and what eventually took place there. That was Frank Lautenberg.

Frank was tenacious as a legislator. Never forgot where he came from in New Jersey. Never forgot the values that he grew up with and learned, always practiced them. But he was above all a person of huge personal conviction. We traveled together way back when in 1990 to the first climate change conference in Rio, and Frank never lost faith with that commitment to the environment. During the years when Frank was going through chemotherapy and he was weakened by cancer, he was still down there on the floor of the United States Senate fighting on every environmental debate late into the night.

He used to talk to me about his grandchild whose asthma was exacerbated by pollution, and it was all very, very personal to Frank. And so too was his conviction about those who have worn the uniform of our country. Frank never lost the connection to the 18-year-old Frank Lautenberg who volunteered for service in World War II. And I think he fought harder for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan because he had been there in their shoes. He fought just as hard for me as well, and I will always be grateful and touched by the ferocity with which Frank defended me in 2004 when partisans questioned my own service in the Navy.

Frank Lautenberg was as loyal as he was patriotic. So I will particularly miss the last World War II veteran who serves in the United States Senate. And my heart goes out to his wife Bonnie, to his children Ellen, Nan, Lisa, and to Joshua, and to the grandchildren that he loved so much.

Now also I want to just say a word because we are following the events in Turkey obviously very, very closely, and as many of you know, we’ve been working very closely with the Turkish leadership. Prime Minister Erdogan was just here, and I have been working very closely with Foreign Minister Davutoglu on efforts with respect to the Middle East.

As we have stated always to them in conversations as well as elsewhere in public, the United States supports full freedom of expression and assembly, including the right of people to peaceful protest, because that is fundamental to any democracy. And we are concerned by the reports of excessive use of force by police. We obviously hope that there will be a full investigation of those incidents and full restraint from the police force with respect to those kinds of incidents. And we urge all people involved, those demonstrating and expressing their freedom of expression and those in the government, to avoid any provocations of violence. Obviously, everybody was deeply concerned about the numbers of people who have been injured and about the level of violence to property.

We don’t say these things to interfere in another country’s choices or events, but we say these things to reaffirm what we believe are universal principles and values that are essential to the practice of democracy and to the improvement of the relationship between governments and people.

Our Ambassador has made our views known to senior officials and we have updated our travel advisories for American citizens in Turkey, reminding them of precautions to take in travel but also that they should not participate in these kinds of events. And obviously we hope that the people of Turkey and the Government of Turkey will find their peaceful way forward in the next days.

That said – and I thank the Foreign Minister – I asked him his permission to be able to say a couple of things, both about Turkey and Senator Lautenberg, and I appreciate his indulgence because this is his visit and his time, and I’m grateful to him. As always, our friends in Poland are enormously thoughtful and enormously helpful to this partnership, and we are very, very grateful. I couldn’t be more pleased than to welcome Foreign Minister Sikorski to Washington at this moment to discuss the wide-ranging agenda that the United States and Poland share.

Our countries really do share a remarkable history, a long history. It’s been well over two centuries since George Washington and Casimir Pulaski stood side by side as our country was struggling for freedom. And it is safe to say that Poland and the United States have stood side by side ever since then, and particularly through the difficult period of the 20th century, through the war, through the Iron Curtain, and now into the 21st century where the American people and the Polish people are still standing side by side.

The United States is very committed to this partnership. And I reaffirmed to the Foreign Minister from Poland our gratitude for the degree to which Poland has been showing leadership within the European Union as well as within NATO itself. The Foreign Minister and I both understand that advancing our shared interests starts with keeping ourselves and our allies secure. As a NATO ally, Poland has played a particularly strong role in Afghanistan, where Polish troops are serving alongside Americans and those in 50-plus other nations, and we thank Poland for that commitment and also for that sacrifice.

At the same time, we are both focused on European security. Last November, we established the first full-time American military detachment at the Lask Air Base, and we are on track to deploy a missile defense site in Poland by 2018 as part of NATO’s modernized approach to our security. And of course, our commitment to Article 5 of NATO is ironclad. I also want to commend Poland for its defense modernization efforts and its commitment to NATO capabilities.

The Foreign Minister and I also discussed our economic ties. As everybody knows, we are pursuing the TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. And that would make our relationship even stronger, but also raise the standards of doing business on a global basis and create one of the strongest markets in the world on both sides of the Atlantic.

We also want to see Poland included in the Visa Waiver Program. Making it easier for Poles to visit the United States makes sense in every respect. It’s good for trade, it’s good for investment, it’s good for promoting the people-to-people ties that help to bind our countries together. And we’re going to continue to work with Congress in order to achieve the goal of this visa waiver program.

We’re also both busily engaged in supporting democratic transitions within other countries, whether it’s in Eastern Europe or the Middle East or North Africa. And we thank our friends in Poland for their extraordinary commitment to democracy and to those who fight for freedom. And I think the Foreign Minister may have something to say about Polish plans with respect to that.

In every respect in the EU, Poland’s leadership has been exemplary. We’re both encouraging Ukraine to continue on the path to reform so that that will help it to be able to integrate with the EU. And these are the same steps that Poland itself has taken in the past. Therefore, Poland has a huge ability to be able to help other countries to understand that road ahead of them.

So I’d just finish by thanking the Foreign Minister for Poland’s hosting the climate change summit that will happen in November. It’s another example of Poland’s leadership. And once again, Foreign Minister, welcome. We thank you for the strength of this alliance, and I look forward to working with you to strengthen our partnership in any number of additional ways. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER SIKORSKI: Thank you. Well, thank you very much for hosting me here in Washington. We go back to before you assumed your current position, but it’s always good to have a visit at the office, and I’m sure that we’ll work as closely as I did with Condi and Hillary before you.

I wanted to say that I fully associate myself with what the Secretary of State said, both about the departed Senator – and I say this as a Pole, but also as the husband of an American citizen – and on what’s going on in Turkey. Poland, because of its successful transformation from dictatorship to democracy, is trying to be a leader of democratization efforts around Europe’s neighborhood. And therefore, we are – we pay particular attention when there is backsliding, whether it’s selective justice or it’s overuse of force or it’s skewing election results, be it in Turkey, be it in Georgia, being it in Belarus and elsewhere. We pay attention and we try to do something about it.

This is a unique Polish-American partnership, democratization, and we actually have a formal democratization dialogue of this because we bring unique capabilities to this. We remember being helped by the United States in our time of need. And it goes back a long way, to Woodrow Wilson and help for the resurrected Poland after World War I, but also Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter before him. We entered NATO under President Clinton. Everybody remembers this, and this is a sure foundation for our relationship, because we are both nations that feel liberty and human rights in their bones. And we are both revolutionary people who would like to share the benefits of these things with other people.

But we also have important interests in common. As the Secretary of State has already mentioned, the security dimension is very good. And we are delighted that at last there is a small but capable U.S. presence in Poland, and U.S. F-16s and Polish F-16s are training together. We also will welcome the missile defense site, and all the practical arrangements already being made.

Thank you for your words about the Visa Waiver Program. It’s become a symbolic but also a practical issue, and I will be delighted if President Obama’s promise to us to fix it by the end of his tenure is fulfilled.

Yes, Poland is a strong supporter of a transatlantic free trade area. We need to leave the crisis behind us. And developments in the energy sphere and this, removing the remaining barriers to trade, to investment, is one means of achieving this. And you can count on Poland being a strong advocate of this inside the European Union.

We, of course, also share your efforts to try to resolve both the Middle East issue between Israel and Palestine, but in particular the horrible situation in Syria, where there are already perhaps 80,000 dead, over a million external refugees, millions of internal refugees. And I know your expertise on this, and Poland will do in Europe to – what we can to support those issues.

You came to Poland for the COP Conference in Poznan. I know your long engagement with those issues. So I have taken the liberty of inviting the Secretary of State to come to Poland, and I hope you’ll pick not too distant a future date to do it.

Again, thank you for having me here, and I’m very glad to be able to say that the Polish-American friendship and alliance is as strong as ever.

(In Polish.)

SECRETARY KERRY: So, in case you didn’t understand that, he just took back everything he said before in English. (Laughter.) Except for Hillary Clinton and Condi Rice. (Laughter.)

MS. PSAKI: On that note, the first question will be from Jill Dougherty of CNN.

QUESTION: Thank you. Secretary Kerry, you mentioned the violence in Syria. Everyone is watching that with concern, but of course, Turkey is one of the key countries involved in what is transpiring in Syria. Are you concerned that the government could be preoccupied by this violence, making it more difficult to deal with the Syrian situation at all? And do you have an update for us on the Geneva 2 meeting that we expect to take place?

And just one – the Foreign Minister mentioned Mideast peace. You’ve spent a lot of time working on that recently. When you were in Jerusalem the last time, you talked about the need for both sides – for the Israelis and the Palestinians – to make decisions; it’s decision time. How are they doing that? Are you at a point where you could have some type of proposal? Should you go back to the region to encourage them? Where do we stand? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me begin with the second part first, if you don’t mind, since it’s right there. I am confident that both sides are weighing the choices that they have in front of them very, very seriously. I’m absolutely confident about that, and that is all I’m going to say. I’m not – I think they need to have an opportunity to do that, and I will make a judgment at some point whether I need to go push a little bit or help that process, and I’m certainly willing to. I am open to that possibility.

But as I’ve said, we’re not raising any expectations about an American plan or other things. These discussions have been private, and I think they’ve been constructive as a result of being private, and that’s the way I would like to keep them until such time as they either deserve comment publicly or because they speak for themselves in some choices. And that’s where the Middle East is right now. But I am confident about the energy and effort that is going in to thinking through the road ahead.

With respect to the Turks and the process for Syria, let me just begin by saying that what is happening in Syria is happening because one man, who has been in power with his family for years now, more than 40 years, will not consent to an appropriate process by which the people of Syria can protect minorities, be inclusive, and have the people of Syria decide their future. He has decided to protect himself and his regime’s interests by reaching out across state lines and actually soliciting the help of Iran on the ground with foreign fighters as well as Hezbollah, a terrorist organization. A designated terrorist organization has now crossed over from Lebanon into Syria and is actively engaged in the fighting.

President Assad is not unwilling to use Scuds against women and children and students and doctors and hospitals. He’s not unwilling to wreak havoc on individual citizens. And today in Qusayr, which is under siege by his forces and the surrogate forces, you have an extraordinary number of civilians who are trapped, and he will not allow the Red Cross and humanitarian aid to go in until the military has finished what it intends to do.

So I think the world is seeing the actions of a person who has lost touch with any reality except his own and who is willing to wreak any kind of punishment on his own – on the people of his country simply so that he can maintain power. And so this situation is obviously intolerable, unacceptable by any standard, and I think all civilized countries would call on the Assad regime to pull back from that and to engage in a legitimate peace process.

Now, with respect to that, I’m confident that Turkey will continue to be a critical player in this. I’m confident Turkey will reach out and resolve these questions. It’s not the first time any government has faced this kind of challenge. And I do expect Foreign Minister Davutoglu and the Prime Minister to remain engaged in the effort to try to resolve what is happening in Syria.

With respect to Geneva 2, we all understand – I have said from day one – this is a very difficult process which we come to late. We are trying to prevent the sectarian violence from dragging Syria down into a complete and total implosion, where it has broken up into enclaves and the institutions of the state have been destroyed, with God knows how many additional refugees and how many innocent people killed.

That’s why the effort to try to have an implementation of Geneva 1 take place at a conference. Now, when that ripens, when that becomes a reality is going to be decided by events on the ground and the participants themselves. The United States can push and cajole, and President Obama has instructed all of us to try to take every step possible to protect the people and to provide a venue for this dialogue to take place. But in the end, the people on the ground are going to have to decide that that’s something they’re prepared to engage in.

I spoke with Foreign Minister Lavrov on Friday. We had a good conversation. He remains deeply committed to trying to make this conference happen, as do all of the support group of the people involved with the opposition. But I will say that the possibility of the transfer of S-300s, which will upset the balance of power with Israel as well as the prosecution of this lopsided military initiative in Qusayr and the trapping of civilians and the treatment of civilians, could put this kind of thing at risk. So we hope people will pull back and stay focused on the possibilities of implementing Geneva 1 and having a legitimate conference.

This week – tomorrow, in fact – Under Secretary Wendy Sherman will travel to Geneva. She will meet with Russian counterparts, and we will continue to lay the groundwork for the possibility of a negotiated resolution. And we will stay committed to that possibility notwithstanding the violence on the ground and the difficulties that we face.

MODERATOR: The second question will come from Mr. Marek Walkuski from Polish Public Radio.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, do you personally and the State Department support an expansion of the Visa Waiver Program included in the current comprehensive immigration reform that’s in the Senate right now? I’m asking about provisions that open the door to the program for countries with low visa overstay rate. And can you assure that Poland would qualify to the program – for the program if the legislation is approved?

And on missile defense, President Barack Obama dropped an important part of his own missile defense plan for Europe a few months ago. Can you assure that the United States will not make more concessions to Russia on missile defense?

And Mr. Foreign Minister, are you convinced that Poland would finally – would eventually host a U.S. missile defense base on its territory?

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me start with the second part of your question, if I may. The United States of America has made zero – zero concessions to Russia with respect to missile defense. There was no discussion with Russia whatsoever about the decision that was made with respect to phase four. And it was purposefully – there was no discussion with Russia in order to avoid any potential of an accusation of a deal or some agreement or some concession. There was no discussion.

This was a simple decision based exclusively on the functionality of the system and the decision that we could have a better system in the long run by moving to a different technology and building on phase three. And we are absolutely, President Obama is absolutely, committed to the deployment of phase three, as I said a few minutes ago. It is in the budget. It is proceeding forward. It will be deployed, very simply.

With respect to the question – the first part of your question was on the Visa Waiver – President Obama supports the Visa Waiver Program. I support the Visa Waiver personally for Poland. The Administration as a whole is supportive of the language in the legislation on the Hill right now. We hope that legislation will be passed, and we expect that Poland will benefit from the implementation of the Visa Waiver Program.

As I said in my opening comments, this makes sense, this is good for all of us, and we want this to happen.

FOREIGN MINISTER SIKORSKI: Well, I don’t think you could have got it either more eloquently or more firmly, so all that is left for me to say is thank you. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: But in the past, Mr. Minister, you had some doubts about missile defense in Poland.

SECRETARY KERRY: That’s why he came here, because we just erased all the doubts.

FOREIGN MINISTER SIKORSKI: We’ve also had a formal exchange of letters and we are on the same page on the missile defense issue.

MS. PSAKI: Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Happy. Thank you all very, very much. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER SIKORSKI: Thanks.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thanks, Minister.

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY AND CYPRIOT FOREIGN MINISTER KASOULIDES REMARK'S BEFORE MEETING

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Remarks With Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides Before Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
May 10, 2013

SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. It is my great pleasure to welcome Foreign Minister Kasoulides of Cyprus, and really at an important time. Cyprus is a very good friend of the United States, and I know that Cyprus, as everybody does, has been struggling with very, very deep economic challenges. So we are very understanding of the difficult choices that you’ve had to make and the challenges that you face. We certainly want to be helpful in ways that we can be.

We also look forward to working with the Foreign Minister and with President Anastasiades and others to try to move Cyprus forward on one of the world’s frozen conflicts. I have talked personally with the Prime Minister of Turkey and the Foreign Minister of Turkey several times, I’ve talked with the Foreign Minister of Greece, and I’ve talked to the President of Cyprus, and I hope that there is a way. The United States supports a bizonal, bicommunal federation. We would like to see us unfreeze this conflict and be able to move to a resolution.

The United Nations is working at that, a representative who was hoping to find a moment. I would hope that rather than preventing people from moving forward, the economic crisis in fact opens up opportunities. And needless to say, there are important possibilities of exploration off the coast of Cyprus with its economic zone, and that may even be able to be a part of a solution.

So Mr. Foreign Minister, I’m really delighted to have you here. You’re an old pro at this; you’ve been at it a long time. And I look forward to a good conversation with you on all of the issues of concern.

FOREIGN MINISTER KASOULIDES: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. I’m very glad that I’m going to have this meeting with the Secretary of State. I know that Secretary Kerry shows a very keen interest in our region, in the eastern Mediterranean. In fact, I think his next visit will be the fourth in the region. And I want to discuss the issue of Cyprus, as he has said, not in isolation but being looked at in the wider picture of the eastern Mediterranean. We want to be and play the role of stability in this region and work with all the neighbors and with the United States.

And we think that also the efforts to resolve our problem is our first and foremost desire. It’s an open wound and it’s bleeding to have to have one’s country divided. Of course, we would like to deal with the issues of the economy and the issues of the natural gas as three separate issues. If the ones reinforces the other, it’s through these parallel three roles. But we will discuss these things in the meeting.

SECRETARY KERRY: Absolutely. I look forward to it. Thank you all very much. Thank you.

REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY AND ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER BONINO

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino Before Their Meeting

Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Foreign Ministries Rome
Rome, Italy
May 9, 2013

MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Minister Bonino and Secretary of State Mr. Kerry have just completed their talk and they will now make some statements to the press. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER BONINO: Good morning. (Inaudible) I met in person, but it’s not the first time Secretary of State (inaudible) in his capacity. So you are muchly welcome and it’s really a pleasure to have you in Rome today and next times.

(Via interpreter) I’ve said to the Secretary of State Mr. Kerry how pleased I am and how pleased our government is to see that Rome is becoming a diplomatic crossroads for a new, very important round of talks, the aim of which is to get the peace process going once again. And clearly, it’s become very intense over the past few hours.

When I say peace, I mean, of course, in the interest of the two peoples concerned, the Israelis and the Palestinians, and for the overall Middle East. I must say that I am indeed impressed by the very dynamic momentum of the U.S. Administration in this regard and Mr. Kerry’s tenacity in trying to open up many different avenues for these talks.

I’ve also had the opportunity to meet with Israeli negotiators and the Jordanian Foreign Minister. And I believe that they are very, very serious and there is a great deal of resolve on both sides, and I’ve been able to witness that this is the very last chance for these kinds of negotiations to lead to the outcome that we all hope to see. And I hope that the meeting that Mr. John Kerry will have in a couple of weeks with Prime Minister Netanyahu and with President Abbas will be useful. Hopefully, those talks will be useful in trying to quickly complete this dossier, because it is not an open-ended negotiation, and I think everybody realizes that. As far as we’re concerned, we’ll do our very best in order to support this effort.

We also discussed other countries that are experiencing difficulties. Libya is among these. We are concerned about the developments on the ground, and of course, we share the same idea, and that is that we are hoping to be able to avoid a worsening of the situation on the ground in Libya.

And the other main concern has to do with Syria. We hope that the meetings that Mr. John Kerry has had in Russia will lead to a resumption of the negotiations, and hopefully we’ll be able to go back to the outcome of Geneva I and overcome the deadlock that we see on the ground. We know that the humanitarian consequences would be intolerable, unbearable, and there would also be political consequences and spillovers in neighboring countries. We think that this would make many countries very fragile. And we think that also in terms of the cost in human lives, it would become a humanitarian emergency.

Now, we are committed, and of course, all of Europe will be backing this dossier and these efforts, and we can confirm our financial commitment as well. And we are going to try also to increase our aid. There are millions of refugees in Jordan and in Lebanon, so we have to increase our aid to them. And hopefully, it will also be possible to renew our cooperation between our two countries. I don’t think there is any need for me to underscore the ties between our two nations; they are very well known. But we are not only concerned with this tragedy in Syria, we are also concerned, in fact, with the spillovers throughout the entire region.

John, the floor is yours.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much. Grazie. Thank you, Foreign Minister. Buon giorno a tutti.

(In Italian.) Good morning, everyone. I am very happy to be able to return to Italy, especially to be able to meet with the new Minister for Foreign Affairs. I wish to say that from the United States and on behalf of President Obama, we wish to express our warmest congratulations.

(In English.) Obviously, on all of our minds this morning – this afternoon now – is the loss of life in the tragedy that took place yesterday in an accident at Genoa. And all of our sympathies are with the families and victims and with the Italian people.

It is always a pleasure to be in Rome, and I appreciate the comments of the Foreign Minister with respect to a crossroads and place where we can have the kind of diplomatic discussions that I’ve been able to have in the last 24 hours. And I’m especially pleased to meet with all of you at a time when Italy is looking to a new government to help to lead the country into the future, a time of change and transition. And over the past two years, as we all know, Italy has undertaken an unprecedented economic reform agenda. Needless to say, reform takes time. But we believe Italy is on the right path and we encourage our cooperation in these endeavors.

We believe that we can work this journey together and farther into the future and perhaps more effectively with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which promises jobs and growth and opportunity for both of our countries and particularly for young people. We know how many young people all across Europe are looking for that future, and we want to work with Italy and with other countries in an effort to move forward. We are excited to develop our partnership with Europe and particularly with our good friend and ally, as the Minister referred to, with Italy.

We look to the future with the knowledge that we are really linked in so many ways through our past endeavors. Italy has been right there standing with us and supporting some 30,000 U.S. servicemen and men and women who live here in Italy, and your continued leadership in peacekeeping, your efforts with respect to Afghanistan and other places, have been very important to helping to bring peace and opportunity to parts of the world.

We’re very grateful for the way that Italy has stepped up as the fourth largest supplier of troops and contributor to Afghanistan, the leader in the Regional Command West in Herat, and a very effective NATO partner and a huge force for progress in Libya. We talked about Libya this afternoon; there are still enormous challenges in Libya, and Italy obviously has a special relationship, a special ability to help lead. And we look to work with Italy in the critical role of trying to bring stability to that troubled part of the world.

In addition, Italy’s voice has been particularly important with respect to the challenge of Syria. It was on my very first trip as Secretary, only 12 weeks ago, that I came here to Rome and I worked with your government in order to support the Syrian opposition that needs to emerge from the war in an inclusive, pluralistic, democratic government that is protective of minorities and of the rights of all Syrians. I appreciate Italy’s materiel support for the opposition coalition, as well as its very, very generous response to the humanitarian crisis.

So on this current trip, I’m back in Rome focused again on not just the progress in Syria, but the possibilities of progress in the Middle East itself. We all know that the current path in Syria is simply unsustainable, and it will only lead – absent leadership that brings countries together to try to find a political solution, the current path will only lead to greater bloodshed, greater destruction, greater instability, a greater humanitarian crisis, a greater challenge to the stability of neighboring states, to the potential of extremists becoming stronger, and the potential of chemical weapons falling into the hands of dangerous people. Those are all strategic interests that should motivate all of us to try to come to a negotiating table to find that political solution.

Two days ago I was in Russia meeting with President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov, and I’m grateful for their willingness to try to move to a new paradigm and to try to bring people together for a Geneva II. And I look forward to collaborating with them in the days ahead to try to bring the parties to that table.

Tuesday, we announced that as soon as practical, and I talked today with Secretary General of the United Nations, and I leave it to the United Nations to make its own announcements about the future, but we talked about the way ahead with respect to this negotiation, and the effort to follow on on last year’s Geneva conference. Let me just make this clear: Geneva I, which was adopted by all the parties, including Russia, said that we must have a transition government arrived at by mutual consent, a transition government that has full executive authority. If you are going to arrive at something by mutual consent, by definition the parties at issue must consent. And to consent, you must be willing to take part in some discussion. So it is our hope, both Russia and the United States, that we will have an ability to create a new dynamic to try to find this transitional government.

And today I can announce, on behalf of the United States, another step forward to address the humanitarian crisis, an additional $100 million in humanitarian assistance to support those affected by the violence in Syria and the more than 1.4 million refugees already outside of Syria and the several million displaced within Syria. This funding will support the activities of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, both within Syria as well as part of the regional refugee response in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon.

In the end, my friends, the solution to this crisis is not more humanitarian assistance. In the end, it is a political solution that reduces the humanitarian crisis itself. And it is an effort to try to end the bloodshed.

During my meeting with Foreign Minister Judeh of Jordan this morning here in Rome, I heard the latest from him about the nearly 2,000 refugees pouring across Jordan’s borders every single night, not to mention the staggering numbers in Lebanon, Egypt, and Turkey. And what the United States wants, what Jordan wants, what Italy wants, is an end to the slaughter.

Foreign Minister Judeh and I also had a follow-up conversation to the announcement last week by the representatives of the Arab League that they would affirm their support for the Arab Peace Initiative. And I spoke with Abu Mazen this morning, President Abbas, and yesterday at the Villa Taverna I had a productive meeting again with Justice Minister Livni. I plan to continue this discussion in the weeks to come, and I will be traveling back to Israel and the West Bank in two weeks in order to meet with both Prime Minister Netanyahu as well as President Abbas.

So I thank Foreign Minister Bonino for her warm welcome here today. I congratulate her on her new duties and the new government as it takes on its responsibilities. I promise you that President Obama and the United States of America stand ready to work with this government in all aspects – economic, security, and in ways that strengthen the relationship between Italy and the United States. We very much look forward to working with you in the future. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER BONINO: Thank you very much.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) We have time for a couple of questions. We’ll begin with Margherita Ghinassi from Channel One News.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Good evening. Undoubtedly, over the past few days, this past week, there’s been an intense diplomatic activity in order to try to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and also for the crisis in Syria. So this is my question now. It seems that the key word is to hurry up, to do something quickly. Why quickly? And what are the priorities for the United States and what are the priorities for Italy? Minister Bonino, of course, you’re going to have to refer to Europe’s priorities too, because your dream is to have a federated Europe, a confederation of states.

FOREIGN MINISTER BONINO: You want to go first? Why do you want to make – which --

SECRETARY KERRY: Please.

FOREIGN MINISTER BONINO: Maybe John can go into that more than I. To be quick, well, we’ve talked about the personal situations, the human tragedies, and we think that this has been going on long enough. I think we all agree with that. And we also have to be quick in order to avoid any spillovers in neighboring countries, because this is going to lead to political destabilization and to a broadening of the conflict, and it would then be very difficult to try to get that under control again.

So when we say that we have to be quick, this is a must. And it seems that unless we do that, the situation will deteriorate, and as I said, this will lead to very dire consequences. So the priorities now, well, clearly we have to support the diplomatic effort, first of all, and we hope that all of Europe will be backing this diplomatic effort. Now, there are other theaters in which we are involved – Lebanon, for example, and we were talking earlier about Libya as well, and even Afghanistan. I believe, however, that now in this point in time, Europe is going to have to provide that backing.

Now, we are in a position whereby we can have relations with the Arab world that might be very helpful in this phase, in this period of time, to act as a bridging element to bring together the different dialogues and negotiations. So these are the priorities, and we’ve got other scenarios, of course, that we are involved in and with their own priorities. And let me just say to clarify something that Mr. Kerry said, in Italy, in Europe, of course, we see the opening up of the Free Trade – Transatlantic Free Trade dialogue as being very positive. Of course, we realize that there will be some difficulties there; however, we believe that this is going to be one of the driving forces of the growth that we’re always speaking about.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, Minister. Why quickly? Why move quickly? The answer is very simple. Because for 30 years or more there has been a pent-up demand to try to resolve the issues of the Middle East, and it is clear that when left to a vacuum or when left to delay, bad things happen. Things happen that work against the possibilities of peace. It is my belief, and I think shared by many people, most importantly President Obama’s belief, because he is the one who went to Israel and opened up this window of possibility in the speech that he gave and stressed the importance of it, because people who are denied peace can ultimately find other means of trying to satisfy their aspirations.

I think that the security interests of the region, the economic interests of the region, the political interests of the region, the demographic interests of the region, the counterterrorism interests of the region, and other interests all compel the notion that we need to be serious about this. We have seen presidents and prime ministers and secretaries of states and foreign ministers struggle with this for a long time, from Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Taba, Oslo, Madrid (inaudible). There have been many, many efforts. The truth is, most people understand what the contours of the two-state solution are. Most people understand what it will take to satisfy the parties in this case. They are legitimate interests. Israel needs guarantees for security, the Palestinians need guarantees for a state that they can be proud of, that is a contiguous state.

And I think the urgency is that the longer you do not move towards peace, the more you have the possibility of conflict and even war. So President Obama has made it clear to all the parties, he wants to know if people are serious. And I think there are ways to prove whether or not people are serious. That’s what I’m seeking on his behalf over the course of these next days, and my hope is that parties will come together in a serious way.

I believe – I will say this to you now – I believe that the parties are serious. I believe that a process is going on right now to examine these possibilities legitimately with the Palestinians and with the Israelis. And we intend to keep this quiet and private as much as one can so that people can make tough judgments in their own appropriate space. And that’s what we’re doing. But that’s why it’s urgent, because this has gone on for a long time and the impatience level is building up in many places with all of the respective dangers that are attached to that.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) We have time for one last question. Brad Klapper from the Associated Press.

QUESTION: Hi. Excuse me for not standing; I’m weighted down by electronics. Yesterday, serious allegations were made about the State Department’s handling of the Benghazi attack and its aftermath, including senior officials who say they’ve been pressured or even demoted for not toeing the line. Do you still think that --

SECRETARY KERRY: Including what? I couldn’t hear that.

QUESTION: Sorry.

SECRETARY KERRY: Including what?

QUESTION: Including officials, senior officials, who say they’ve been pressured or demoted for not toeing the line. Do you still think the Department has handled things well, and will you investigate these new allegations, or do you dismiss them as rehash?

And on Syria, very simply: What is more important, the U.S. aid to Syrians, including the 100 million in humanitarian assistance you announced today, or the continued military support for the Assad regime by Russia which, we learned today could now include state-of-the-art surface-to-air missiles? Whose contribution is really having a bigger effect on Syria’s civil war? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, (inaudible) look. It’s not that simple with respect to Syria, so I’m not going to make comparisons between one country and the United States humanitarian aid because as you know, other countries are providing lethal assistance, and the opposition is obviously capable of fighting on the ground and has been.

That’s not where this discussion needs to go now. It needs to go where Foreign Minister Lavrov and I tried to move it to in Moscow, which is to the importance of the negotiations where all of these things will be appropriately measured at the table. I’m not going to try to pre-cook it; that would be an enormous mistake. What we need to do is get to that negotiating table. All of these kinds of asymmetrical and counterarguments will be made by all the parties, and hopefully we will negotiate our way through that thicket in a reasonable way with a view to doing what Sergey Lavrov and I agreed to in Moscow.

I thought what Prime Minister Lavrov said and did in Moscow was very important. He stood up and said that Russia is not tied to any one person. He said that he believes we need to implement Geneva I, and that requires a transition government by mutual consent. There is no way that anybody here believes that the opposition is ever going to give consent to President Assad to be running that government. So the fact that Russia and Foreign Minister Lavrov embraced this path I think is very, very significant.

With respect to – you asked a second --

QUESTION: About Benghazi.

SECRETARY KERRY: With respect to Benghazi, I have been literally in 24-hour meetings, flying from Moscow. I’ve seen the most cursory headlines of the testimony that took place yesterday, so I’m really not in a position to start making judgments about it, and I’m certainly not going to make those judgments in Rome, Italy rather than in Washington, D.C.

But I will tell you this: The State Department will leave no stone unturned. I’ve already made it crystal clear to the chairmen of the relevant committees that I have assigned my chief of staff, David Wade, to be responsible for liaisoning with them to answer any questions that they have. And I am absolutely determined that this issue will be answered, will be put to bed, and if there’s any culpability in any area that is appropriate to be handled in some way with some discipline, it will be appropriately handled. But that judgment awaits me in a report that will be forthcoming, and I’m confident that any recent evidence will be a component of that consideration. So let’s wait until we get back to the United States and I’ve had a chance to catch up to the full measure of what took place.

QUESTION: Do you have nothing to say about the Russian – the reports of Russian surface-to-air missiles, pretty state-of-the-art, going to Syria now?

SECRETARY KERRY: I had my say with President Putin and I had my say with Sergey Lavrov, and we made an agreement to go to a negotiation in the next days. And I’m not going to get into here, now, at this moment, as I said, distinguishing features between one country’s aid and another country’s aid and who’s doing what. That would be counterproductive to what we’re trying to accomplish. I think we’ve made it crystal clear we would prefer that Russia was not supplying assistance. That is on record; that hasn’t changed. But I’m not going to get into the qualitative differences at this moment.

FOREIGN MINISTER BONINO: Maybe – I would like to add a comment. What has been happening in the Syrian region dossier up to now, it’s quite clear, and who was standing and who was supporting whom. But if we want to support the efforts of negotiation, I don’t think we have to look so much backward; we have to look forward. And that means that, as Secretary of State Kerry said, the question is now to see how we move from Geneva I to implementing Geneva I.

And I think it’s not useful for the moment to restate who is doing what. We are providing humanitarian support, but let me be clear: The only possible solution is a political one. I don’t believe that there is a military solution at hand. The humanitarian assistance is not a solution. It’s just a help. And I’m proud that we can contribute to help also. Meeting the Foreign Minister of Jordan, you can really sense the difficulties that the country is facing. So if we can help, we are proud to do it. But again, never, never humanitarian assistance has been the solution. The only one is really to push forward a possible negotiation.

SECRETARY KERRY: Can I just add, so that you can go back to the record on this, because I want you to have it – we have previously stated that the missiles, particularly the (inaudible) A-300, is potentially destabilizing with respect to the state of Israel. And so we’ve made it very clear historically that that is a concern of the United States. But again, I think drawing the "which is more important" relative balance, which is clearly going to be part of the negotiation in Geneva, at this point is – doesn’t take us where we need to go, notwithstanding that we believe, as I said, that it is destabilizing.

FOREIGN MINISTER BONINO: Okay, thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you.

U.S. SUPPORTS THE ARMS TRADE TREATY

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
The United States Supports the Arms Trade Treaty
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
March 15, 2013

The United States looks forward to working with our international partners at the upcoming conference from March 18-28 to reach consensus on an Arms Trade Treaty that advances global security and respects national sovereignty and the legitimate arms trade. We supported and actively participated in negotiations on an Arms Trade Treaty held at the United Nations in July 2012. Those negotiations made considerable progress, but ended before a treaty could be concluded. Accordingly, the United States supported a UN General Assembly resolution December 24, 2012 to convene the conference this month to build on those efforts.

The United States is steadfast in its commitment to achieve a strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty that helps address the adverse effects of the international arms trade on global peace and stability. An effective treaty that recognizes that each nation must tailor and enforce its own national export and import control mechanisms can generate the participation of a broad majority of states, help stem the illicit flow of conventional arms across international borders, and have important humanitarian benefits.

The United States could only be party to an Arms Trade Treaty that addresses international transfers of conventional arms solely and does not impose any new requirements on the U.S. domestic trade in firearms or on U.S. exporters. We will not support any treaty that would be inconsistent with U.S. law and the rights of American citizens under our Constitution, including the Second Amendment.

While the international arms trade affects every country, over one hundred states today do not have a system for control of international conventional arms transfers. We support a treaty that will bring all countries closer to existing international best practices, which we already observe, while preserving national decisions to transfer conventional arms responsibly. The international conventional arms trade is, and will continue to be, a legitimate commercial activity. But responsible nations should have in place control systems that will help reduce the risk that a transfer of conventional arms will be used to carry out the world’s worst crimes, including those involving terrorism, and serious human rights violations.

I wish the conference well and hope that we can reach consensus on a treaty that improves global security, advances our humanitarian goals, and enhances U.S. national security by encouraging all nations to establish meaningful systems and standards for regulating international arms transfers and ensuring respect for international law.

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY ADDRESSES STAFF, FAMILIES AT RIYADH EMBASSY

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Meeting With Staff and Families of Embassy Riyadh
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Embassy Riyadh
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
March 4, 2013

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Ambassador, for letting me totally screw up your process here. (Laughter.) Anyway, I’m glad to have the kids here and some of the parents out there. But I thought it was terrific to have the kids up here because only a few years ago, as everybody knows, this was an unaccompanied post. And now I’m told there are about a hundred kids here and ten on the way. We’re even counting kids on the way. (Laughter.) So the population is growing. And Dhahran – I understand in Dhahran they’ve got a playground that used to be unused. It was a playground with (inaudible) things in it, and nobody used it. Now it’s filled with kids all the time. So that shows things change. And a lot of you have been part of that positive change, and I just want to say thank you for that.

It’s wonderful to be here. I particularly want to thank the Ambassador, Jim Smith, who himself knows what it means to stand watch. He flew jets, combat missions out of Dhahran Airbase. He knows this region. He spent some 28 years flying jets in the United States Air Force and rose to the rank of Brigadier General. And it’s my honor and the President’s honor that he is here doing a terrific job as the Ambassador. And Janet, his wife, thank you for all you do for America, both of you; we really appreciate your work and your (inaudible). (Applause.)

And for all of you here working here, just a profound thank you from the President, the Vice President, the entire Administration, and everybody in America. You don’t hear it enough. This is a post that presents lots of challenges, but it also is exciting because it’s on the cutting edge of transformation. It is so important to us. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia I said to, as well Highness Prince Saud Al-Faisal today and to the Crown Prince, that almost on every issue of importance to us right now, on the question of the sanctions with Iran and being able to provide oil to Americans at a reasonable price and to the rest of the world, and not having a skyrocketing dislocation in the marketplace, Saudi Arabia has stepped up and helped to be able to make those sanctions work. And that’s had a profound impact on our ability to effect foreign policy.

On counterterrorism, on Yemen, it’s hard to see where we might be and whether we’d be having the kind of transformation taking place there that is taking place without the Saudi influence and the Saudi assistance and help. Look at Syria today, in a huge moment of transformation with really critical stakes to all of the region, to Israel, to us, to the longer-term prospects of the stability and peace of this region, and Egypt and its transformation. So you just look anywhere and you will find a reason for you to be doing the hard work in a place that’s going through its own evolutionary process, and we will. And that’s the nature of the life we’re all leading and of this interconnected global society that we live in.

So I just want to thank you for being here, and every single one of you is an ambassador. Every day, no matter who you interact with, and particularly those of you here in the visa section, the consulate, who are affecting so many people who go over to our country. We have 70,000 students, Saudi Arabian students, in our country studying. That’s extraordinary.

There’s another thing I want to thank you for, especially these kids here and to the older kids. I was how old you guys are – how old are you?

PARTICIPANT: 13.

SECRETARY KERRY: Wow, you’re older than I was when I was the son of a Foreign Service officer and went to another country, and changed schools, didn’t really know where I was, and wasn’t too sure why. And I’ll tell you, folks, you put up with a lot in that respect. I think I went to – I counted it the other day. I went to about six schools by the time I got to the eighth grade. So I know what it means to be in this great endeavor.

And yet, I’m so thrilled to be able to serve as Secretary of State because of that, because I understand the difference that we can all make in the lives of people we meet, the difference we make in terms of foreign policy and relationships, the difference we make to our country’s long-term hopes and values and security. All of that is what is effected on a daily basis here, and we do it for a miniscule amount of money, a miniscule amount of the American budget.

So I’m going to fight like crazy to convey to my colleagues the benefits of what you do and the work you do here. And when I thank you, I’m not just thanking people who fit under the category of Foreign Service officer. I want to thank all the civil servants, I want to thank all political appointees, I want to thank all the people who come from other departments, because as everybody knows, an embassy is a complex mosaic of all of the various parts of our Administration, whether it’s Commerce Department or Justice Department or trade and whatever it is.

And finally and not least importantly at all, I want to thank all of you who are local employed people who work for us who are Saudi, and this is your home and we thank you for helping us to be able to reach out to the people of your country. So thank you, everybody, for being part of this mission. I wanted to have a chance to say hello to all of you. And wow, are you a well-behaved and quiet group of people. I am impressed. (Cheers and applause.) Thank you very, very much.