SECRETARY OF STATE CLINTON AND BRAZILIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANTONIO DE AGUIAR PATRIOTA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio de Aguiar Patriota
Remarks Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State Itamaraty Palace
Brasilia, Brazil
April 16, 2012

FOREIGN MINISTER PATRIOTA: (In Portuguese.)

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you so much, Antonio. And it is a great pleasure, as always, to be back in Brazil, especially just one week after the very constructive meeting that was held between our two presidents. We have deepened and broadened our cooperation on so many issues, and our Global Partnership Dialogue is now bringing together our experts on both sides to discuss in depth what we can do advance our cooperation on the economy, on education, on some of the key challenges such as cyber security that we are both dealing with.

And it is exciting for us to be in this partnership because we have a long history together. In the 19th century when Brazil won its independence, the U.S. was the first country to recognize Brazil. And in the 20th century, when a U.S. Secretary of State made the first ever official visit to a foreign country, it was to Brazil – Secretary Elihu Root, who came here in 1906. So we now – Antonio and I decided that we have to have a 21st century partnership, the time for us to be really looking at the opportunities and challenges we face and how we can do better together.

A week ago, Antonio and I were together in Washington at a standing-room-only business meeting at the United States Chamber of Commerce. And earlier today, I was privileged to speak to a business group of Brazilian business leaders. We know that we’re making progress in bilateral trade and investment, creating jobs for both of our peoples, but there’s more to do. I will be sending an innovation delegation to Brazil later this year with some of our top entrepreneurs, educators, and tech leaders to meet with their Brazilian counterparts.

And this is – in addition to the very exciting partnerships which President Rousseff highlighted when she was in the United States, particularly with her visits to Harvard and MIT, through the Science without Borders initiative, Brazil will send 100,000 students to study science and technology at foreign universities. Many of them will be welcomed in the United States. And we, in turn, under President Obama’s initiative, 100,000 Strong, want to send a hundred thousand U.S. students to Latin American universities. And of course, we expect many to come here to Brazil.

In the meeting this afternoon, we received an update on the U.S.-Brazil global partnership. We discussed Latin America, of course. We discussed Africa. We discussed some of the hotspot issues at the time, now of Iran, Syria, and so much else. But I think it’s important to emphasize that at the heart of this partnership are values. We are two of the largest democracies in the world, two of the most diverse countries in the world. We share a commitment to opportunity for all people. And tomorrow, President Rousseff and I will kick off the high-level meeting of the Open Government Partnership here in Brasilia, which she and President Obama launched eight months ago. This Open Government Partnership is intended to fight corruption, promote transparency, empower citizens to make the case that both Brazil and the United States believe so strongly that democracy delivers results for people.

So it’s exciting that we’re building these habits of cooperation between our governments, our private sectors, our universities, our civil societies, and our citizens. And I’m looking forward to the work ahead. We’ve set up a very busy agenda for ourselves, but we are committed to doing everything we can to help lay the foundation for this 21st century partnership.
Thank you, Antonio.

MODERATOR: (In Portuguese.)

QUESTION: (In Portuguese.)

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first, let me say that the United States absolutely admires Brazil’s growing leadership and its aspiration to join the United Nations Security Council as a permanent member. We believe that the long-term viability of the United Nations Security Council depends upon updating it to the 21st century to recognizing that it has to reflect the world that exists today, not the world that existed when it was formed. So for that reason, we are committed to serious, deliberate reform efforts in the UN, not only on the Security Council, but frankly, in a number of areas of UN process and functioning.
And in fact, I think

we believe that the United States has shown a greater commitment to real UN reform than many of our counterparts on the Security Council. But we also have learned that until other countries are committed to UN reform, we’re not going to make the progress that we need, and I think it would be very hard to imagine a future UN Security Council that wouldn’t include a country like Brazil with all of its progress and the great model it represents of a democracy that is progressing and providing opportunity for its people.

QUESTION: Madam Secretary?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Yes.

QUESTION: On Afghanistan, a number of U.S. officials have said that the Haqqani Network is behind the attack in Kabul and elsewhere over the weekend. In your conversation with Foreign Minister Khar, what sense did she give you that the Pakistanis would be willing to go after the Haqqani Network? (Inaudible) deepen counterterrorism involvement, but it’s fallen by the wayside.

And if I may on North Korea – (laughter) – double (inaudible) questions. You spoke to Foreign Minister Yang on Friday, and I was wondering what sense you got from him (inaudible) pressure on North Korea, who was about to go ahead with the nuclear test.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first with regard to Afghanistan, the United States strongly condemns yesterday’s cowardly attacks. Once again, we extend our condolences to the victims and their families. I spoke to Ambassador Ryan Crocker in Kabul yesterday, first to check to see how everyone was doing. Thankfully, despite the attacks, the Embassy and our personnel associated with it were safe. We also were impressed by and I conveyed my appreciation to the Afghan National Security Forces for the effective response which they provided. Remember, they were in the lead on this. They were the ones who ended the sieges, captured the insurgents, and are in the process of compiling evidence about the nature and origin of this attack.

Now, I think it’s fair to say that despite how contemptible these attacks were, they were not successful. They were another failed effort by extremists to try to undermine the slow but steady progress that Afghanistan is making to stability. And as the transition to security leadership by the Afghans themselves continues, we know there will be more challenges, because it’s not in the interests of all of these adversaries to see Afghanistan be able to provide security for itself. So they will continue to test, they will continue to assassinate, they will continue to attack, and we are going to stand with the people and the Government of Afghanistan. We are going to continue to work with the Afghan National Security Forces along with our NATO-ISAF partners, and we believe and we have evidence of this that the insurgency is failing despite their ability to launch spectacular attacks from time to time.

The investigation over the origin of these attacks is ongoing, but there are already indications of Haqqani involvement. The Haqqani Network is a very determined foe of the stability, security, and peace of the Afghan people. So we’ll see what the full investigation shows, but it’s not premature to refer to the evidence that is being compiled.

When I spoke with the Pakistan foreign minister, Foreign Minister Khar today, I certainly expressed my strong conviction that there has to be a concerted effort by the Pakistanis with the Afghans, with the others of us, against extremists of all kinds whether they threaten the Pakistani people, the Afghan people, or the American Embassy. And when I was in Pakistan last October, I made it very clear both publicly and privately that Pakistan had to work with us to squeeze the Haqqani Network. And I’m going to continue to make that point, to press it hard, and our consultations with the Pakistanis are proceeding, but the Haqqani Network is a threat to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the people of the region. So we’re going to take it very seriously.

With respect to North Korea, look, we are working to ensure that the new North Korean leadership hears unequivocally from the international community that their provocative behavior will not be rewarded, and the fact that the UN Security Council unanimously approved a presidential statement deploring the North Korea failed satellite launch underscores that it violated UN resolutions and that these actions constitute a threat to regional peace and security and that there will be consequences to this behavior. There unfortunately have to be consequences.

We very much, very much hope to see a different attitude from the Government of North Korea – not with the United States or Japan or South Korea first and foremost, but for their own people. And so as you may know, we were negotiating the potential of trying to assist them and had reached agreement with them to try to provide nutritional assistance since they cannot feed their own people. Unfortunately, they decided to launch this – or to attempt to launch this missile, which was clearly in violation of the UN Security Council. So the Security Council has directed the North Korean Sanctions Committee to designate more North Korean companies for asset freezes to identify further sensitive nuclear and missile technologies that will be banned from sale to Pyongyang, among other measures. And we have all agreed – that includes China – that there will be further consequences if they pursue another provocative action.

So let me say this again: Here in Brasilia, a country that has demonstrated what good leadership, what a partnership between the people and the government can produce, the new, young leadership of North Korea has a very stark choice. They need to take a hard look at their policies, stop the provocative action, open to the rest of the world, work to educate their people, feed their people, put their people first ahead of their ambitions to be a nuclear power, and rejoin the international community. We would welcome that.

QUESTION: (In Portuguese.)

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, let me begin, and then perhaps the minister would also add some comments.
I did meet with Graca Foster this morning and came away very impressed with her personally and also with the commitment Petrobras has to maximizing the benefits for the Brazilian people of the extraordinary potential of the pre-salt deepwater reserves. And we discussed a long list of issues, because what Brazil is doing is complicated and demanding, expensive, and there are ways in which our government and our international oil companies, along with others from elsewhere in the world who have expertise and experience, technologies, innovative approaches, can partner with Petrobras under the conditions that are set by the Brazilian Government. She is a very knowledgeable person and extremely practical. She knows that a lot of what is going to be happening in deepwater drilling off the coast of Brazil will take a very high level of investment. And insofar as it is possible, the United States and our companies stand ready to participate.

We discussed Chevron. Obviously, we want to be a good partner to Petrobras and Brazil. There are problems in deepwater drilling. We suffered through them in our own Gulf of Mexico. So we know how challenging this path is, but we also know how important it is for Brazil to do this. And it was an excellent discussion. We had some of our experts with us. We’re setting up an ongoing dialogue to get very practical. I am not the person to talk to about wellheads, but there are a lot of people in our government and in our private sector who you could talk to about wellheads and different pressures and the like.
So I think she put it well. She said she wanted a very material agenda, that we would talk about what Petrobras’s needs were; and insofar as we had anything to offer, we would make that available. And it’s of course up to Petrobras and the Brazilian Government to decide the way forward.

FOREIGN MINISTER PATRIOTA: (In Portuguese.)

QUESTION: (Inaudible) Argentina, Madam Secretary. (Inaudible) Argentina (inaudible)?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Oh. Well, I think that’s going to be a decision that will be rightly debated, and I’m not going to offer an opinion. I don’t know all the details. But I think competition and having an open market for energy and other commodities is a much preferable model. And the decisions that are taken by nations are ones that they have to justify and live with. But clearly, I think the model of openness, outreach, competition, market access are ones that have proven successful the world over.

MODERATOR: Reuters, last question.

QUESTION: Madam Secretary, in Syria violence is clearly still continuing. There are reports of four people killed in Homs, (inaudible) the two in Hama, all today. Given that the ceasefire seems to be unraveling before it’s even managed to take hold, you must be thinking about what to do if it does indeed fail to take hold. How do you plan to respond (inaudible)?

And on Iran, the Iranian foreign minister said that if the P-5+1 were to start – start easing sanctions, it would be much easier to resolve the nuclear issue. (Inaudible) sanctions before Iran ceases uranium enrichment, as is called for in so many UN Security Council resolutions?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Arshad, I’m not going to prejudge the outcome of the process in Syria, because the first tranche of UN monitors is beginning to deploy today. Clearly the burden is on the Assad regime to demonstrate their commitment to all aspects of Kofi Annan’s six-point plan. And we’re not interested in your promises; we’re not interested in new conditions or new excuses. We want action. I think the world wants action. That’s why the Security Council acted in a unified way to support Kofi Annan’s initiative.

Much of Syria is quieter, but I agree with you that the people of Homs continue to endure renewed shelling by the regime. So we know the ceasefire is not complete, but it appears as though the violence is down significantly. So rather than setting conditions on the monitors, what the Assad regime needs to do is to make clear that they’re going to silence their guns, withdraw their troops, and work toward fulfilling the six-point plan. That means, as it has always meant, pulling out of the towns and cities; allowing peaceful demonstrations like what we saw over the weekend, where thousands of Syrians came out to demonstrate peacefully; releasing political prisoners; and allowing a peaceful transition to begin.

So this week will be critical in evaluating the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2024. And we’re hoping for the best. We want to see a peaceful period for the people of Syria and we want to see a political process begin. But if violence is renewed, if the regime reverts to shelling its own people and causing a great deal of death and injury, then we’re going to have to get back to planning what our next step is. So we’re planning for a good outcome, positive results, and we’re talking with others on the Security Council and beyond about what would be next steps if that does not prove successful.

Switching to Iran, look; the initial discussions between the P-5+1 and Iran were serious and focused on the nuclear issue. The P-5+1 was unified in calling for Iran to demonstrate the peaceful intent of its nuclear program and to fully comply with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Iran agrees that the terms of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty should serve as the framework for the discussions going forward, and we set the next round for Baghdad for the end of May.

We want this to be a sustained effort. Between now and the next round, there will be experts meetings, there will planning, and we have to address the concerns of the international community. We’re going to take this one step at a time; but clearly, any process would have to have reciprocal expectations and actions, and there has to be evidence by Iran that they would be seriously moving toward removing a lot of their nuclear ambiguities that exists now, that they would be much more open and transparent, and they would take steps to respond to the UN Security Council resolutions and the international community’s concerns.

So we are watching. You’ve heard me say before I believe in action for action. But I think in this case, the burden of action falls on the Iranians to demonstrate their seriousness. And we’re going to keep the sanctions in place and the pressure on Iran as they consider what they’ll bring to the table in Baghdad, and we’ll respond accordingly.

FOREIGN MINISTER PATRIOTA: (In Portuguese.)

SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON MEETS WITH LIBYAN PRIME MINISTER ELKEIB

The following excerpt is from a Department of State e-mail:
“Remarks With Prime Minister Elkeib After Their Meeting
Remarks Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State Treaty Room
Washington, DC
March 8, 2012
SECRETARY CLINTON: Good morning, everyone. I just have to express that it is not only an honor, but a personal pleasure to welcome the prime minister of a free Libya on his visit to Washington, where he’s had excellent consultations in the White House meeting with, among others, the President, and an excellent presentation before the UN Security Council yesterday in New York. Just think, this time last year, the United States was working to build an international coalition of support for the Libyan people, and today we are proud to continue that support as the people of Libya build a new democracy that will bring about peace and prosperity and protect the rights and dignity of every citizen.

The prime minister and I had a very productive, comprehensive discussion about the many issues Libya is facing. We do not underestimate how challenging the road ahead will be. We are aware of that. We’ve been on the path to democracy for more than 235 years, and we know that there are potholes and pitfalls along the way. Qadhafi spent 42 years hollowing out Libya’s institutions, ruling through intimidation and division, but after his defeat, over the last four months, the prime minister and this interim government have provided essential and effective leadership and they’ve begun the hard work of putting Libya back together. We’ve seen progress in each of the three key areas of democratic society – building an accountable, effective government; promoting a strong private sector; and developing a vibrant civil society. And we will stand with the people of Libya as it continues this important work.

On the governance front, the interim leadership has established an inclusive election law and set up a supreme elections commission with the goal of holding constitutional assembly elections this June. This is a critical first step that will pave the way for a new constitution grounded in democratic principles. We fully support the elections commission as it works to meet its deadlines and ultimately elect a fully democratic parliament that can begin delivering results for the Libyan people. We’re also encouraged by the prime minister’s and the government’s commitment to promoting human rights and the rule of law, and we are offering help to the government as they continue investigating allegations of human rights violations. They realize and we applaud their commitment to ending this kind of violence in the new free Libya.

We also know there are problems with border security, with integrating militias, with working toward national reconciliation, and on all of these and more, we are working with our Libyan partners. At the same time, on the economic front, business is picking up. Libya has exceeded everyone’s expectations in resuming oil production. The United States and the UN have removed almost all restrictions on doing business, and we are encouraging American companies to look for opportunities inside Libya. We also are supporting the booming new civil society that is developing in Libya. I was delighted when I visited Tripoli to go to the university, to talk with young people, to meet with others who are fighting for women’s rights and human rights in their country.

Our Middle East Partnership Initiative and USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives are working with many civil society groups. And the UN support mission in Libya is playing a valuable role. We’re exploring ways to promote partnerships and exchanges in the health field with a particular emphasis on continuing to assist the war wounded. We’re looking at establishing a U.S.-Libya higher education task force with the goal of expanding academic and student exchanges. And I am pleased that we will begin providing visa services at Embassy Tripoli for Libyan Government officials. We want to get permanent facilities, but obviously in the short term, we want to set up shop and begin to reach out in the most important way – on a people-to-people basis to the Libyans.

So Mr. Prime Minister, I and our government look forward to working with you and the Libyan people as you continue to make progress on behalf of a new, free, democratic Libya.

PRIME MINISTER ELKEIB: Madam Secretary of State, thank you very much for your kind words and for hosting me today and my team. On behalf of the Libyan people, I extend our deepest appreciation to the American people and leadership and say, simply and deeply, thank you. I also thank Dr. – President Obama, Secretary Clinton, and Ambassador Rice for having been a tremendous support and for their strong leadership in supporting the Libyan revolution, which has been so successful that it did indeed impress everybody. We Libyans are very proud of our young men and women who brought freedom to our country after 42 years of a brutal regime that nobody felt would disappear in eight months. So we do thank our friends and partners so much for having been there when we needed them.

We have come here today to find ways on how we can work and how we can better work together. One of the things that I did request help with from Madam Secretary was the remnant of the past regime. They have been a nuisance and have been – they have been causing problems and we need them back to give them proper justice. And we also need the funds they have stolen from the Libyan people to come back to Libya. So we look forward to help in that area from the U.S. and from everybody else who can help us here. It’s very important to us.

During the revolution, the Libyan people demonstrated time and time again great courage and resilience. Our citizen army of teachers and mechanics, lawyers, students, professors, our sons and daughters suffered great losses along with the civilian population, but with great bravery and unfortunately too much in terms of losses. But however, in the end, we succeeded in making the dream of a free Libya a reality, and we’ll keep it that way.
We also, in a direct fashion and I hope Madam Secretary would forgive me for having done that, requested help with our wounded young men with very difficult cases. And the response was very positive, and we cannot thank you enough for that. Libyans are putting the same energy and determination that fueled the revolution into establishing a new Libya that has a positive contribution, maybe in a small way, at least, to the environment around it and to the world around it. And we are determined to do that. Libya needed the facelift and the revolution has given it to her. We are looking for a new Libya founded on the principles of democratic governance and rule of law and dedicated to improving the quality of life for the Libyan citizens. And we call on our friends and partners who helped us to become free to also help us meet the aspirations of our people.

We had a very productive meeting today that focused on a number of areas of mutual interest and future opportunities for cooperation between our two countries. The Libyan Government is fully committed to holding free, fair, and transparent elections in June, and we look for continued support from the U.S. and our partners in that area. Now that the war of liberation of Libya is almost over – after we get those remnants of the past regime, it will be over – now that we are – the war is almost over, the U.S. private sector can help play an important role in rebuilding Libya and enabling us to meet our aspirations for peace, prosperity, and high quality of life. And we are determined to do that.
In the past year, the dynamics between the U.S. and Libya has been dramatically transformed for the better. We look forward to the continued strengthening of this relationship as Libya moves forward with its democratic transition and rebuilding its economy.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, sir.

MS. NULAND: We have time to take two questions today. We’ll start with Reuters, Andy Quinn.

QUESTION: Good morning. My questions will focus on Libya, if I may. Mr. Prime Minister, first for you, at the United Nations yesterday, the Russian Ambassador to the Security Council accused Libya of running camps to arm and train Syrian rebels. I’m hoping you can respond directly to this accusation. And also to discussion of these calls for autonomy in Benghazi and concern that this is going to threaten the future of the Libyan revolution, can you address that, please?
And for Madam Secretary, I’m wondering if you can tell us if you received any new assurances on the Megrahi case in your discussions today.
And both of you, if you could discuss what lessons Syria’s rebels should take from the Libyan experience. Thank you.

MS. NULAND: That was four questions.

SECRETARY CLINTON: It was four questions. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

PRIME MINISTER ELKEIB: Excuse me. On the Syrian issue, we, I believe, were the first country to recognize the Syrian Transitional Council, and we did it because we felt that the Syrian cause is a good cause. It’s people who are voicing their voice, raising their voice, asking for freedom. As far as training camps, unless this is something that is done without government permission, which I doubt, I’m not aware of any.

Concerning the East, the issue of a group of not more than few thousand trying to create a state, I can tell you this is democracy in practice; that is simply that. I know the person who is appointed by this small group. I know him very well, he’s actually a friend, and I have respect for him as a result of his past. I disagree with the approach not because it’s an opinion that people are sharing with others but because it has to be toward a constitution that we are about to create, that this issue should be raised.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Andy, I, of course, raised the Megrahi Pan Am 103 issue as I do whenever I meet with Libyan officials. You know where I stand. I believe that Megrahi should still be behind bars. And we know that Libya faces a multitude of challenges, but at the same time they have assured us that they understand the sensitivities of this case, and they will give the matter the consideration it deserves. We will continue to fight for justice for all the victims of Qadhafi and his regime. And in this particular case, the U.S. Department of Justice has an open case, and it will remain open while we work together on it.

Finally, with respect to Syria, I think what we saw coming out of Libya with the unity and the vision that the Transitional National Council presented to the world with the close linkage between the civilian representatives and the fighters for freedom, they presented a unified presence that created an address as to where to go to help them, a lot of confidence in their capacities on the ground, their commitment to the kind of inclusive democracy that Libya is now building. And we are working closely with the Syrian opposition to try to assist them to be able to present that kind of unified front and resolve that I know they feel in their own – on their behalf is essential in this struggle against the brutal Assad regime.

MS. NULAND: Last question is (inaudible) Lachlan.

QUESTION: Good morning to both of you. Madam Secretary, if I may on Iran, the P-5+1 issued at the IAEA a statement calling for Iran to open up the facility at Parchin. Do you consider that a condition for the talks to go ahead? And how confident are you that Iran will come to these talks seriously discussing the nuclear concerns you have?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Lachlan, I think that what we have demonstrated consistently through the P-5+1 is that the international community is united. We are united in our concerns and condemnation of Iran’s actions that violate their international obligations, and we are united in continuing to press the Iranian regime to come to the diplomatic forum that the P-5+1 offers. So as the president made clear in his remarks just a few days ago, we continue to believe we have space for diplomacy. It is obviously coupled with very strong pressure in the form of the toughest sanctions that the international community’s ever imposed.

We want to begin discussions with Iran. They insist that their nuclear program is purely peaceful and if that’s the case, then openness and transparency, not only with the P-5+1 but also with the IAEA and the Security Council and the international community, is essential. That’s why we want to respond as we did, positively, to the letter that came from the Iranians. I would also draw your attention to the statement that China released today in Vienna on behalf of the P-5+1 with regard to our expectations that access to Parchin and other Iranian sites will be provided. So we are hoping that the Iranians will come to the table prepared to have the kind of serious and sincere discussion we have been looking for, for several years. We think it is even more pressing and imperative today than it has been in the past and we would like to see diplomatic progress, which we support.
Thank you all very much."