FROM: THE STATE DEPARTMENT
05/04/2015 05:02 PM EDT
Japan's Children's Day
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
May 4, 2015
On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am delighted to send best wishes to the people of Japan on Children’s Day this May 5.
On this special day, Japanese families celebrate the joys of childhood and family life. As the President noted during the recent historic visit by Prime Minister Abe to Washington, our children are delighted by the cultural offerings of both our countries – from pop music and movies to animated films and comic books. Prime Minister Abe, his wife, Akie, my wife, Teresa, and I marveled at a virtuoso violin performance by a 9-year-old during the Abe’s recent visit to our home in Boston.
The children of Japan and the United States represent the future of our bilateral relationship, which is why we are more committed than ever to expanding academic and cultural exchanges between our young people.
As the people of Japan take time to honor the importance of family and youth, I again offer my congratulations on this special day.
Showing posts with label SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Monday, May 4, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH COLOMBO EMBASSY STAFF
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks with Embassy Colombo Staff
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Colombo, Sri Lanka
May 3, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: (Applause.) Can I just -- really, thank you. Thank you. Thank you and good morning. You love it. I’m just getting at it, just (inaudible). It’s really nice to see all of you. Kids, thank you for coming out. How are you? You all look fabulous. You look terrific. No school today, right? (Laughter.) Yay. (Laughter.) That’s really, really good. Anyway.
Well, I’m really happy to see all of you. Thank you. And, Marines, thank you very much. Semper Fi, and we appreciate your service enormously. I didn’t know we had so many Marines out here. I just was with four of them down there. What’s the complement, about 12?
PARTICIPANT: Seven, sir.
SECRETARY KERRY: How many?
PARTICIPANT: Seven, sir.
SECRETARY KERRY: Seven in all. All right. Well, thank you very much for what you do and your service.
And thank you all very, very much. It’s really nice to be here. I’m enormously excited to be in Sri Lanka for the first time, and I wasn’t aware, actually, when I came out here that it had been so long since there had been an official visit by a Secretary of State. I know Colin Powell came through during the time of the tsunami very briefly for a few hours. But it was a pleasure for me yesterday to be able to spend time with the new leadership and get a sense of the excitement about the future for Sri Lanka and the end of so many years of war, so many years of this island nation being torn apart, and now coming together. And I just met this morning with some of the Tamil leaders, which was really interesting to hear them share their vision for a united, peaceful Sri Lanka even though there are difficult issues still to get over.
I want to thank all of you. I particularly want to thank – we have about 417 local employees. Could you all raise your hands, all the local employees? Well, we can’t do this without you in any way at all, so thank you very, very, very much. (Applause.) And there’s one person in particular. Is Niranjan Fonseka here? Niranjan, come up here for a minute. Come here; I’m going to embarrass you. This guy – (applause ) – he not only (inaudible) different town (inaudible) driving through over here, but he has worked here for more than 30 years, and we want to say thank you to, friend. Thank you so much. Really, really appreciate it. Thank you, Niranjan. (Applause.)
I want to thank Drew for the tremendous job that he’s doing. He’s had more than 30 years of service and he’s been in a lot of different places – Darfur and Tikrit, in Iraq, and Kabul. So I think it’s about time he got an ocean-front view and – (laughter) – (inaudible). It’s not a bad deal, right?
MR. MANN: It’s not so bad.
SECRETARY KERRY: Anyway, let me just say that I want to thank all of you. I really do. There is a reason that we raise(inaudible) flag every single day opposite Temple Trees and that all of you do what you do here, which is because we believe in the future of democracy, of stability, and the opportunity for people in other countries to be able to live better lives free from persecution and free from dictatorship, and most importantly, just able to share in the global community’s aspirations for everybody – for all human kind. And the United States is very proud – I’m really proud as Secretary of State – to touch down in various countries and be able to meet you and get a chance to see the people who – the local appointees, the Foreign Service officers, the civil servants, temporary duty, various agencies – all come together to help promote values and interests of our country, but happily, values and interests that match those of so many people in so many parts of the world.
And I’ve got to tell you, I had the privilege of running for president and running around the country, and I met so many people in so many parts of America who contribute as citizens to the building of our country. And I have to tell you, not everybody could tell me they were as satisfied with the job that they had as the people I meet who get to get up every morning and go to work and make life better for other people, and work to carry their country’s interests, and work to represent their nation. And in many cases, those of you who are American, when you meet somebody, you’re an ambassador and you are perhaps the only face of America somebody will meet at that particular moment or maybe for the rest of their life. How you engage with them, what you say, how you carry yourself, what you do is critical to the opinions that people will form about who we are and what we care about.
So whether it’s the granting of the visa, or it’s working out a problem to reunite somebody with their family, or it’s helping somebody find the medical care that they need, or helping to bring people together to help resolve conflict and war, all of those things contribute to the building of community and to the building of the relationship between Sri Lanka and the United States of America.
So I want to say thank you on behalf of our country. I hope you feel good about what you’re doing, because you should. And it’s – I see our assistant secretary. Let me get our assistant secretary up here, Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal. (Applause.) And she does a great job for all of us. And she’s been passionate about making sure that I got out here at some point, and now that I’ve been here I just want to come back and stay longer and get a chance to see (inaudible). (Applause.)
So how many kids do we have here? Kids, come on up here. Come up here and say hi to me. Come here. We’re going to get everybody up here. Come on up here. How are you? What’s your name?
CHILD: Sidney.
SECRETARY KERRY: Sidney, how old are you?
CHILD: Ten.
SECRETARY KERRY: Good. All right, 10. She’s one year younger than I was when my dad went into the Foreign Service and packed my bags and I went off to school in another country. And I said, “Where am I? I don’t know what’s going on.” You having fun? Come on up, guys. Come on up, everybody. You all look so good, I want to show you off. (Laughter.) How are you? What’s your name?
CHILD: Keenan.
SECRETARY KERRY: Keenan, how you doing? How old are you?
CHILD: Eight.
SECRETARY KERRY: Eight. Come on over here, everybody. So everybody get up here, I want a photograph with all of you. You guys don’t want to come up? No? Okay. I don’t blame you; I’d be shy too. Come on up. Who’s the oldest person here? Anybody 11? Nobody’s 11, so 10 is the oldest. Okay. How do you like living here? Do you like living here?
CHILD: (Inaudible.)
SECRETARY KERRY: What?
CHILD: What’s (inaudible)?
SECRETARY KERRY: Do you like living here? Do you love it here?
CHILD: Yeah.
SECRETARY KERRY: Good. Okay. Right answer. (Laughter.) I’m standing here just – anyway. And how do you – do you like school? Are you learning a language? Good. What can you say? (Laughter.) I don’t want to embarrass. I’m sorry. (Laughter.) Who wants to say something? Anybody want to say something in – ooh, can you speak any of the language?
CHILD: A little bit of Spanish and French. (Laughter.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Good for you. How about you, what are you learning?
CHILD: French.
SECRETARY KERRY: French, all right. Yeah, a lot of French. That’s incredible. Hello. How are you? So come on over here, everybody. All the kids, we’re going to pose for a big photograph.
Here’s our photographer here and he’s going to take a picture. Everybody get in here. Big smile. There you are. Turn around. All right. How about a big hand for these kids, guys? (Applause.) Thank you again.
I want you to know you’re very, very lucky, and whatever you do in the rest of your life, living in somebody else’s country and getting to know another culture and another history is something that will serve you well for the rest of your lives, so you should really enjoy it.
Now, quickly before I have to go. I have to go to the airport because I’ve got to fly to Nairobi and I want to have a chance to shake hands and say hello to everybody. Profoundly, from President Obama, from myself, from our country, to all of you local employees, again: thank you for helping our country be able to tell your country who we are; and thank you to everybody else who serves in our Foreign Service, Civil Service or in any way whatsoever. We’re deeply grateful to you.
I want you to know this is a very, very complicated time in the world, and all of the things that we could expect almost automatically during the Cold War – because we grew accustomed to it and because it was simpler, sort of East-West and the big divide of communism and freedom, democracy – that’s been far more complicated now by sectarian divisions, religious divisions, by many forces we’ve released as a result of the freedom that has come to countries, but also as a result of the remarkable level of communications that takes place today. Look at all these mobile devices that are pointing at me now. (Laughter.) I don’t know how many of you are going to tweet or Instagram or do something, but that didn’t exist 10 years ago. And so people now tune in instantaneously. Everybody is a reporter. You can put something up on YouTube and the rest of the world sees it. So there’s so much information coming at people nowadays, it’s hard to manage. It makes things look a little more disorderly in many ways.
So we have to work even harder to get facts to people, to get real choices to people and begin to be able to build consensus around commonsense decisions about how you make a country stronger and how you bring people together, how you resolve differences. And in many cases, because of these communications today, differences are just magnified so much more that, in fact, they may – some of the same things may have existed 20 or 30 years ago, but you didn’t read about them instantaneously. You didn’t see them on a 24-hour cable television show. And so the intensity with which this comes at people changes people’s views – not all for the better, may I say.
So that’s the struggle: How do we break through with commonsense choices, with the opportunities that we want to give people so they can sense that they have actually some control over their lives and some input to their own governments? That’s the great struggle today, and I am personally very, very grateful to all of you for being a part of it. Thank you and God bless. Thank you.
Remarks with Embassy Colombo Staff
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Colombo, Sri Lanka
May 3, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: (Applause.) Can I just -- really, thank you. Thank you. Thank you and good morning. You love it. I’m just getting at it, just (inaudible). It’s really nice to see all of you. Kids, thank you for coming out. How are you? You all look fabulous. You look terrific. No school today, right? (Laughter.) Yay. (Laughter.) That’s really, really good. Anyway.
Well, I’m really happy to see all of you. Thank you. And, Marines, thank you very much. Semper Fi, and we appreciate your service enormously. I didn’t know we had so many Marines out here. I just was with four of them down there. What’s the complement, about 12?
PARTICIPANT: Seven, sir.
SECRETARY KERRY: How many?
PARTICIPANT: Seven, sir.
SECRETARY KERRY: Seven in all. All right. Well, thank you very much for what you do and your service.
And thank you all very, very much. It’s really nice to be here. I’m enormously excited to be in Sri Lanka for the first time, and I wasn’t aware, actually, when I came out here that it had been so long since there had been an official visit by a Secretary of State. I know Colin Powell came through during the time of the tsunami very briefly for a few hours. But it was a pleasure for me yesterday to be able to spend time with the new leadership and get a sense of the excitement about the future for Sri Lanka and the end of so many years of war, so many years of this island nation being torn apart, and now coming together. And I just met this morning with some of the Tamil leaders, which was really interesting to hear them share their vision for a united, peaceful Sri Lanka even though there are difficult issues still to get over.
I want to thank all of you. I particularly want to thank – we have about 417 local employees. Could you all raise your hands, all the local employees? Well, we can’t do this without you in any way at all, so thank you very, very, very much. (Applause.) And there’s one person in particular. Is Niranjan Fonseka here? Niranjan, come up here for a minute. Come here; I’m going to embarrass you. This guy – (applause ) – he not only (inaudible) different town (inaudible) driving through over here, but he has worked here for more than 30 years, and we want to say thank you to, friend. Thank you so much. Really, really appreciate it. Thank you, Niranjan. (Applause.)
I want to thank Drew for the tremendous job that he’s doing. He’s had more than 30 years of service and he’s been in a lot of different places – Darfur and Tikrit, in Iraq, and Kabul. So I think it’s about time he got an ocean-front view and – (laughter) – (inaudible). It’s not a bad deal, right?
MR. MANN: It’s not so bad.
SECRETARY KERRY: Anyway, let me just say that I want to thank all of you. I really do. There is a reason that we raise(inaudible) flag every single day opposite Temple Trees and that all of you do what you do here, which is because we believe in the future of democracy, of stability, and the opportunity for people in other countries to be able to live better lives free from persecution and free from dictatorship, and most importantly, just able to share in the global community’s aspirations for everybody – for all human kind. And the United States is very proud – I’m really proud as Secretary of State – to touch down in various countries and be able to meet you and get a chance to see the people who – the local appointees, the Foreign Service officers, the civil servants, temporary duty, various agencies – all come together to help promote values and interests of our country, but happily, values and interests that match those of so many people in so many parts of the world.
And I’ve got to tell you, I had the privilege of running for president and running around the country, and I met so many people in so many parts of America who contribute as citizens to the building of our country. And I have to tell you, not everybody could tell me they were as satisfied with the job that they had as the people I meet who get to get up every morning and go to work and make life better for other people, and work to carry their country’s interests, and work to represent their nation. And in many cases, those of you who are American, when you meet somebody, you’re an ambassador and you are perhaps the only face of America somebody will meet at that particular moment or maybe for the rest of their life. How you engage with them, what you say, how you carry yourself, what you do is critical to the opinions that people will form about who we are and what we care about.
So whether it’s the granting of the visa, or it’s working out a problem to reunite somebody with their family, or it’s helping somebody find the medical care that they need, or helping to bring people together to help resolve conflict and war, all of those things contribute to the building of community and to the building of the relationship between Sri Lanka and the United States of America.
So I want to say thank you on behalf of our country. I hope you feel good about what you’re doing, because you should. And it’s – I see our assistant secretary. Let me get our assistant secretary up here, Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal. (Applause.) And she does a great job for all of us. And she’s been passionate about making sure that I got out here at some point, and now that I’ve been here I just want to come back and stay longer and get a chance to see (inaudible). (Applause.)
So how many kids do we have here? Kids, come on up here. Come up here and say hi to me. Come here. We’re going to get everybody up here. Come on up here. How are you? What’s your name?
CHILD: Sidney.
SECRETARY KERRY: Sidney, how old are you?
CHILD: Ten.
SECRETARY KERRY: Good. All right, 10. She’s one year younger than I was when my dad went into the Foreign Service and packed my bags and I went off to school in another country. And I said, “Where am I? I don’t know what’s going on.” You having fun? Come on up, guys. Come on up, everybody. You all look so good, I want to show you off. (Laughter.) How are you? What’s your name?
CHILD: Keenan.
SECRETARY KERRY: Keenan, how you doing? How old are you?
CHILD: Eight.
SECRETARY KERRY: Eight. Come on over here, everybody. So everybody get up here, I want a photograph with all of you. You guys don’t want to come up? No? Okay. I don’t blame you; I’d be shy too. Come on up. Who’s the oldest person here? Anybody 11? Nobody’s 11, so 10 is the oldest. Okay. How do you like living here? Do you like living here?
CHILD: (Inaudible.)
SECRETARY KERRY: What?
CHILD: What’s (inaudible)?
SECRETARY KERRY: Do you like living here? Do you love it here?
CHILD: Yeah.
SECRETARY KERRY: Good. Okay. Right answer. (Laughter.) I’m standing here just – anyway. And how do you – do you like school? Are you learning a language? Good. What can you say? (Laughter.) I don’t want to embarrass. I’m sorry. (Laughter.) Who wants to say something? Anybody want to say something in – ooh, can you speak any of the language?
CHILD: A little bit of Spanish and French. (Laughter.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Good for you. How about you, what are you learning?
CHILD: French.
SECRETARY KERRY: French, all right. Yeah, a lot of French. That’s incredible. Hello. How are you? So come on over here, everybody. All the kids, we’re going to pose for a big photograph.
Here’s our photographer here and he’s going to take a picture. Everybody get in here. Big smile. There you are. Turn around. All right. How about a big hand for these kids, guys? (Applause.) Thank you again.
I want you to know you’re very, very lucky, and whatever you do in the rest of your life, living in somebody else’s country and getting to know another culture and another history is something that will serve you well for the rest of your lives, so you should really enjoy it.
Now, quickly before I have to go. I have to go to the airport because I’ve got to fly to Nairobi and I want to have a chance to shake hands and say hello to everybody. Profoundly, from President Obama, from myself, from our country, to all of you local employees, again: thank you for helping our country be able to tell your country who we are; and thank you to everybody else who serves in our Foreign Service, Civil Service or in any way whatsoever. We’re deeply grateful to you.
I want you to know this is a very, very complicated time in the world, and all of the things that we could expect almost automatically during the Cold War – because we grew accustomed to it and because it was simpler, sort of East-West and the big divide of communism and freedom, democracy – that’s been far more complicated now by sectarian divisions, religious divisions, by many forces we’ve released as a result of the freedom that has come to countries, but also as a result of the remarkable level of communications that takes place today. Look at all these mobile devices that are pointing at me now. (Laughter.) I don’t know how many of you are going to tweet or Instagram or do something, but that didn’t exist 10 years ago. And so people now tune in instantaneously. Everybody is a reporter. You can put something up on YouTube and the rest of the world sees it. So there’s so much information coming at people nowadays, it’s hard to manage. It makes things look a little more disorderly in many ways.
So we have to work even harder to get facts to people, to get real choices to people and begin to be able to build consensus around commonsense decisions about how you make a country stronger and how you bring people together, how you resolve differences. And in many cases, because of these communications today, differences are just magnified so much more that, in fact, they may – some of the same things may have existed 20 or 30 years ago, but you didn’t read about them instantaneously. You didn’t see them on a 24-hour cable television show. And so the intensity with which this comes at people changes people’s views – not all for the better, may I say.
So that’s the struggle: How do we break through with commonsense choices, with the opportunities that we want to give people so they can sense that they have actually some control over their lives and some input to their own governments? That’s the great struggle today, and I am personally very, very grateful to all of you for being a part of it. Thank you and God bless. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY'S STATEMENT ON REPUBLIC OF KOREA CHILDREN'S DAY
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
05/04/2015 05:07 PM EDT
The Republic of Korea Children's Day
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
May 4, 2015
On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I send my very best wishes to the children and families of the Republic of Korea on Children’s Day this May 5. On this day, Korean families around the world, from Seoul to San Francisco, celebrate the blessing of children. While we spend time with our families, we also take the opportunity on this day to reflect on our responsibility to ensure that future generations are able to grow up in a safe, sustainable, and prosperous world. The United States is proud to work with our Korean allies to guarantee that our children have even more opportunities than we enjoy today.
I again send my heartfelt congratulations to the people of the Republic of Korea, and I wish you and your families a joyous day.
05/04/2015 05:07 PM EDT
The Republic of Korea Children's Day
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
May 4, 2015
On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I send my very best wishes to the children and families of the Republic of Korea on Children’s Day this May 5. On this day, Korean families around the world, from Seoul to San Francisco, celebrate the blessing of children. While we spend time with our families, we also take the opportunity on this day to reflect on our responsibility to ensure that future generations are able to grow up in a safe, sustainable, and prosperous world. The United States is proud to work with our Korean allies to guarantee that our children have even more opportunities than we enjoy today.
I again send my heartfelt congratulations to the people of the Republic of Korea, and I wish you and your families a joyous day.
SECRETARY KERRY'S PRESS AVAILABILITY IN COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Press Availability in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Taj Samudra Hotel
Colombo, Sri Lanka
May 2, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Good evening, everybody. Thank you for being patient; I appreciate it. So let me begin by thanking our very gracious host today. I’m very grateful to the president, the foreign minister, the prime minister for their generous welcome. President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, and Foreign Minister Samaraweera – each of them were very optimistic and hopeful about the possibilities of our cooperation going forward. And I was really delighted to be surrounded by their energy and their focus on delivering on the promises they’ve made and the hopes of people that were expressed in the historic election that took place. I’m also very pleased to be here because the – this is an island nation of extraordinary beauty, remarkable culture, extraordinary people. And I wish especially after my brief visit to the temple that I would’ve had more time to enjoy all of that diversity, particularly at this moment of the holiday which is taking place and being celebrated tomorrow.
It’s also the Vesak Poya holiday – I gather the lanterns are all lit and held, and it’s a sight to behold. But maybe tonight we’ll be able to sneak out and catch a few people getting ready for tomorrow.
This is my first visit here and it’s a privilege to be able to come at this critical moment of transition, and it’s the first visit by an American Secretary of State since Colin Powell was here during the tsunami very briefly, and the first official visit in which all of the ministers and everybody have been part of meetings, and not been able to spend time since a Secretary of State 43 years ago. So it’s an especially opportune moment to strengthen the ties between our countries.
Now, before I begin, I want to just say a quick word, if I may, about the situation in Nepal. The devastation caused by the April 25th earthquake remains very much on our minds. I called our ambassador yesterday and had a good conversation with him about the efforts of all of our embassy personnel and local employees, many of whom literally had to shift to the embassy building, which is earthquake resistant, and live there for several days and eat there and work out of there. They’ve been doing a very capable and courageous job of working with the influx of rescuers and others, and we are working now very hard to help get additional assistance there. Obviously, the death toll has kept rising, and everybody has seen on television the horrendous images of children and families torn about, homes absolutely destroyed, the entire community ripped apart. And I think that we all know that rebuilding is going to take quite some period of time and an extraordinary amount of effort.
It is heart-rendering, however – it is really encouraging to see the way in which Sri Lanka and many other countries in the region – India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and others – are all coming together to support Nepal during this crisis. And the United States is intending on doing its part to try to be helpful. I think to date we put in some $22.5 million. USAID has also deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team. An additional urban Search and Rescue Team and accompanying disaster experts are assisting with the assessments of the situation. And we stand ready to provide additional assistance and work with all of the countries in the region.
Tragedies of this magnitude underscore in many ways that in the 21st century, next door is everywhere. And we all have a stake in everybody else’s success. And I want to congratulate the people of Sri Lanka for their steps to that end. Let me come back to Sri Lanka for a moment. The elections that took place on January 8th were really extraordinary. And the election commissioner, the civil servants, the police and security officials all deserve an enormous amount of credit for ensuring a free and fair election. But most of all, I want to congratulate on behalf of the American people the citizens, the people of Sri Lanka who turned out in record numbers from all corners of the country in order to reclaim Sri Lanka’s traditions of critical debate, free press, and an independent civil society.
I’m told there is a Sri Lankan proverb that says “wisdom can be found when traveling.” And it was the quest for knowledge and information that brought me here and a discussion with senior leaders today. And I think I heard some wisdom. The president, the prime minister, the foreign minister and I covered a lot of ground over the course of the day – economic assistance, economic development, the attraction of foreign investment, the reform process, the reconciliation process, regional issues, the situation in the Maldives – many different issues. But we had a particular focus on the government’s reform and reconciliation agenda.
As I outlined in my speech this afternoon, reconciliation is a difficult task with many components. And I urged the foreign minister to work with the ICRC – International Red Cross – and the UN in order to investigate missing person cases and to search for answers wherever they may lead, and however painful in some cases the truth may be. They talked to me about a truth commission and other efforts, developing the process, working the UN. And I know they are really deeply committed to working this through. The foreign minister and I agreed that the voices of civil society are essential to secure a lasting peace. And that also includes particularly the voices of women.
The foreign minister and I also discussed the government’s effort to strengthen Sri Lanka’s judiciary. Now, this is a long-term undertaking that requires high standards for judicial independence, fairness, and due process under the law. And these reforms are also difficult, but they’re also essential. The prime minister summed up the challenge when he said: “The best way to avoid a relapse into conflict and arbitrary rule is to ensure that Sri Lanka’s leaders are held accountable through representative institutions.” And we could not agree more.
That’s why the United States is ready to help asset recovery and the enforcement of anti-corruption rules. It’s why we continue to urge the government to release remaining political prisoners. And it’s why we’re prepared to furnish whatever legal and technical assistance Sri Lanka may need as it moves down this path in the days ahead.
Finally, we also reviewed important regional issues, as I mentioned a moment ago, such as maritime security, the economic integration of the region, clean energy, climate change, and the Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor, which will connect South to Southeast Asia and spur sustainable development in both regions.
So Sri Lanka is at a pivotal point. Peace has come, but true reconciliation will take time. Institutions of governance are gaining strength, but further progress needs to be made. No part of this transition will be easy. But with a clear vision and firm commitment, I am absolutely confident that Sri Lanka will keep moving forward and the United States looks forward to being at its side as it does.
I’d be delighted to take a couple questions.
MS HARF: Is this on? Okay, there we go. The first question is from Ms. Manjula of the Sunday Observer. There’s your mike.
QUESTION: I’m Manjula. I’m with the Sunday Observer. (Inaudible) see your visit as interference --
SECRETARY KERRY: Can you hold it a little closer so it will be clear? Thank you.
QUESTION: Gladly. Question: Anyone see your visit as interference in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs?
SECRETARY KERRY: I’m delighted to answer that question for the simple reason that I came at the invitation of the prime minister, the president, and the foreign minister, who visited me specifically in Washington to lay out many of these challenges and to ask me if I would pay a visit and help – if our government would help Sri Lanka on this journey. The second reason why it is not is that everything that we are talking about, we are offering, not demanding. Everything that we have suggested is exactly that – a suggestion. And I think if you heard my speech today, I spoke with great respect and great sensitivity to the path that Sri Lankans have chosen. This is up to Sri Lankans, not us. And I also, thirdly, reiterated to every minister I met with and the president that the United States is not here to ask Sri Lanka to align with anyone, to refuse to have any other relationship or to involve itself somehow in other kinds of politics.
We welcome the strong relationship of Sri Lanka with any country in the world that Sri Lanka wants to have a relationship with. What we do care about is the democracy, that the people of Sri Lanka have asked for. And we came here to affirm the commonality of our values that tie us together, the commonality of our hopes and aspirations. And I think you would have to ask the foreign minister, the prime minister, and the president whether they viewed anything that was suggested today as interference, and I think they’d tell you no, it was welcome, and they look forward to the next visit; in fact, offered an invitation to President Obama to come as soon as he might be able to.
MS HARF: And the last question is from Rosiland Jordan with Al Jazeera English. The mike is right behind you.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I have one question. Is Yemen on the verge of becoming a failed state? And if not, what reassurances do you and others in the Administration have that it can survive the current crisis?
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, we don’t have an assurance yet. But I would not yet say that the verdict is in on what Yemen is going to be, because we are trying very hard, working with the UN, working with our friends in the region, particularly with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – we are working hard to secure a negotiated process through the UN which will bring the parties together, Yemenis, to negotiate the future of Yemen. And if that can happen, then it obviously has the opportunity to hold itself together, to resolve a way in which all of the interests within the country can be represented.
Many other countries have stated that it is their desire to see this political solution take place. Iran has publicly made suggestions that they’d like to see a negotiation, that they think it could be resolved through that, but would like to see it resolved that way. European countries – France, Germany, Britain, others – have all weighed in. The EU has suggested it needs to be resolved that way. So as long as that is yet untested and un-failed, I think all of us have hopes that Yemen can find a path forward.
Now, it’s not going to be easy; many things have to happen. We believe that one of those things is – and the Saudis have suggested that they would be prepared to (inaudible) humanitarian assistance in and want to do so. So hopefully the modality can be found to be able to get humanitarian assistance according to the Saudi thoughts on that in in a way that can alleviate the shortage of food, the shortage of fuel, the shortage of medicine, and then, using that time period to begin to open up the possibilities of a political resolution. That’s our hope. But we’re having discussions over the course of every day right now in order to push towards this. And our hope is that the UN process may be able to actually take hold before too long and we will continue to work on that as hard as we can.
MS HARF: Great. Thank you all very much.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all very much.
Press Availability in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Taj Samudra Hotel
Colombo, Sri Lanka
May 2, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Good evening, everybody. Thank you for being patient; I appreciate it. So let me begin by thanking our very gracious host today. I’m very grateful to the president, the foreign minister, the prime minister for their generous welcome. President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, and Foreign Minister Samaraweera – each of them were very optimistic and hopeful about the possibilities of our cooperation going forward. And I was really delighted to be surrounded by their energy and their focus on delivering on the promises they’ve made and the hopes of people that were expressed in the historic election that took place. I’m also very pleased to be here because the – this is an island nation of extraordinary beauty, remarkable culture, extraordinary people. And I wish especially after my brief visit to the temple that I would’ve had more time to enjoy all of that diversity, particularly at this moment of the holiday which is taking place and being celebrated tomorrow.
It’s also the Vesak Poya holiday – I gather the lanterns are all lit and held, and it’s a sight to behold. But maybe tonight we’ll be able to sneak out and catch a few people getting ready for tomorrow.
This is my first visit here and it’s a privilege to be able to come at this critical moment of transition, and it’s the first visit by an American Secretary of State since Colin Powell was here during the tsunami very briefly, and the first official visit in which all of the ministers and everybody have been part of meetings, and not been able to spend time since a Secretary of State 43 years ago. So it’s an especially opportune moment to strengthen the ties between our countries.
Now, before I begin, I want to just say a quick word, if I may, about the situation in Nepal. The devastation caused by the April 25th earthquake remains very much on our minds. I called our ambassador yesterday and had a good conversation with him about the efforts of all of our embassy personnel and local employees, many of whom literally had to shift to the embassy building, which is earthquake resistant, and live there for several days and eat there and work out of there. They’ve been doing a very capable and courageous job of working with the influx of rescuers and others, and we are working now very hard to help get additional assistance there. Obviously, the death toll has kept rising, and everybody has seen on television the horrendous images of children and families torn about, homes absolutely destroyed, the entire community ripped apart. And I think that we all know that rebuilding is going to take quite some period of time and an extraordinary amount of effort.
It is heart-rendering, however – it is really encouraging to see the way in which Sri Lanka and many other countries in the region – India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and others – are all coming together to support Nepal during this crisis. And the United States is intending on doing its part to try to be helpful. I think to date we put in some $22.5 million. USAID has also deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team. An additional urban Search and Rescue Team and accompanying disaster experts are assisting with the assessments of the situation. And we stand ready to provide additional assistance and work with all of the countries in the region.
Tragedies of this magnitude underscore in many ways that in the 21st century, next door is everywhere. And we all have a stake in everybody else’s success. And I want to congratulate the people of Sri Lanka for their steps to that end. Let me come back to Sri Lanka for a moment. The elections that took place on January 8th were really extraordinary. And the election commissioner, the civil servants, the police and security officials all deserve an enormous amount of credit for ensuring a free and fair election. But most of all, I want to congratulate on behalf of the American people the citizens, the people of Sri Lanka who turned out in record numbers from all corners of the country in order to reclaim Sri Lanka’s traditions of critical debate, free press, and an independent civil society.
I’m told there is a Sri Lankan proverb that says “wisdom can be found when traveling.” And it was the quest for knowledge and information that brought me here and a discussion with senior leaders today. And I think I heard some wisdom. The president, the prime minister, the foreign minister and I covered a lot of ground over the course of the day – economic assistance, economic development, the attraction of foreign investment, the reform process, the reconciliation process, regional issues, the situation in the Maldives – many different issues. But we had a particular focus on the government’s reform and reconciliation agenda.
As I outlined in my speech this afternoon, reconciliation is a difficult task with many components. And I urged the foreign minister to work with the ICRC – International Red Cross – and the UN in order to investigate missing person cases and to search for answers wherever they may lead, and however painful in some cases the truth may be. They talked to me about a truth commission and other efforts, developing the process, working the UN. And I know they are really deeply committed to working this through. The foreign minister and I agreed that the voices of civil society are essential to secure a lasting peace. And that also includes particularly the voices of women.
The foreign minister and I also discussed the government’s effort to strengthen Sri Lanka’s judiciary. Now, this is a long-term undertaking that requires high standards for judicial independence, fairness, and due process under the law. And these reforms are also difficult, but they’re also essential. The prime minister summed up the challenge when he said: “The best way to avoid a relapse into conflict and arbitrary rule is to ensure that Sri Lanka’s leaders are held accountable through representative institutions.” And we could not agree more.
That’s why the United States is ready to help asset recovery and the enforcement of anti-corruption rules. It’s why we continue to urge the government to release remaining political prisoners. And it’s why we’re prepared to furnish whatever legal and technical assistance Sri Lanka may need as it moves down this path in the days ahead.
Finally, we also reviewed important regional issues, as I mentioned a moment ago, such as maritime security, the economic integration of the region, clean energy, climate change, and the Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor, which will connect South to Southeast Asia and spur sustainable development in both regions.
So Sri Lanka is at a pivotal point. Peace has come, but true reconciliation will take time. Institutions of governance are gaining strength, but further progress needs to be made. No part of this transition will be easy. But with a clear vision and firm commitment, I am absolutely confident that Sri Lanka will keep moving forward and the United States looks forward to being at its side as it does.
I’d be delighted to take a couple questions.
MS HARF: Is this on? Okay, there we go. The first question is from Ms. Manjula of the Sunday Observer. There’s your mike.
QUESTION: I’m Manjula. I’m with the Sunday Observer. (Inaudible) see your visit as interference --
SECRETARY KERRY: Can you hold it a little closer so it will be clear? Thank you.
QUESTION: Gladly. Question: Anyone see your visit as interference in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs?
SECRETARY KERRY: I’m delighted to answer that question for the simple reason that I came at the invitation of the prime minister, the president, and the foreign minister, who visited me specifically in Washington to lay out many of these challenges and to ask me if I would pay a visit and help – if our government would help Sri Lanka on this journey. The second reason why it is not is that everything that we are talking about, we are offering, not demanding. Everything that we have suggested is exactly that – a suggestion. And I think if you heard my speech today, I spoke with great respect and great sensitivity to the path that Sri Lankans have chosen. This is up to Sri Lankans, not us. And I also, thirdly, reiterated to every minister I met with and the president that the United States is not here to ask Sri Lanka to align with anyone, to refuse to have any other relationship or to involve itself somehow in other kinds of politics.
We welcome the strong relationship of Sri Lanka with any country in the world that Sri Lanka wants to have a relationship with. What we do care about is the democracy, that the people of Sri Lanka have asked for. And we came here to affirm the commonality of our values that tie us together, the commonality of our hopes and aspirations. And I think you would have to ask the foreign minister, the prime minister, and the president whether they viewed anything that was suggested today as interference, and I think they’d tell you no, it was welcome, and they look forward to the next visit; in fact, offered an invitation to President Obama to come as soon as he might be able to.
MS HARF: And the last question is from Rosiland Jordan with Al Jazeera English. The mike is right behind you.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I have one question. Is Yemen on the verge of becoming a failed state? And if not, what reassurances do you and others in the Administration have that it can survive the current crisis?
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, we don’t have an assurance yet. But I would not yet say that the verdict is in on what Yemen is going to be, because we are trying very hard, working with the UN, working with our friends in the region, particularly with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – we are working hard to secure a negotiated process through the UN which will bring the parties together, Yemenis, to negotiate the future of Yemen. And if that can happen, then it obviously has the opportunity to hold itself together, to resolve a way in which all of the interests within the country can be represented.
Many other countries have stated that it is their desire to see this political solution take place. Iran has publicly made suggestions that they’d like to see a negotiation, that they think it could be resolved through that, but would like to see it resolved that way. European countries – France, Germany, Britain, others – have all weighed in. The EU has suggested it needs to be resolved that way. So as long as that is yet untested and un-failed, I think all of us have hopes that Yemen can find a path forward.
Now, it’s not going to be easy; many things have to happen. We believe that one of those things is – and the Saudis have suggested that they would be prepared to (inaudible) humanitarian assistance in and want to do so. So hopefully the modality can be found to be able to get humanitarian assistance according to the Saudi thoughts on that in in a way that can alleviate the shortage of food, the shortage of fuel, the shortage of medicine, and then, using that time period to begin to open up the possibilities of a political resolution. That’s our hope. But we’re having discussions over the course of every day right now in order to push towards this. And our hope is that the UN process may be able to actually take hold before too long and we will continue to work on that as hard as we can.
MS HARF: Great. Thank you all very much.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all very much.
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS IN COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Strengthening the U.S.-Sri Lanka Partnership for Human Rights and Lasting Peace
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Taj Samudra Hotel
Colombo, Sri Lanka
May 2, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Mangala, thank you very, very much. Thank you for a wonderful introduction, notwithstanding that you reminded me that I disappointed you in 2004. (Laughter.) I disappointed myself and a few other people.
I am really happy to be here (inaudible) and I’m very happy to welcome all of you here. No, you are welcoming me – it’s a mutual welcome, admiration, effort. And I can’t thank Mangala and Sri Lanka enough for the very generous welcome that you gave me this morning when I first came here. I came over to that historic building that is now the foreign ministry. Thank you for that, my friend.
I also want to thank you for your remarkable efforts – yours and the president’s and prime minister’s – on behalf of the people of Sri Lanka. And I thank you for something else. A week ago I was in northern Canada, just below the Arctic Circle, not far from the Arctic Ocean, where I was assuming the chairmanship of the Arctic Council. And I want you to know it is a welcome change to enjoy the warm weather here. (Laughter.) I didn’t see a lot of igloos around, happily.
I also want to say thank you to all of you who have come here – students, educators, civil society activists, religious leaders, and to everyone from the government, the diplomatic community, and the private sector who has committed time to be here to share some thoughts this afternoon.
It is fitting that we gather today under the auspices of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute. Lakshman was, to put it simply, a brave man and a good man. He rejected recrimination in favor of reconciliation. He knew that the future demanded that his country move beyond the more difficult chapters of its past. And he devoted his last years to healing Sri Lanka and to leading it to its rightful place within the community of nations. He said wisely, “We have to live in Sri Lanka as Sri Lankans, tolerating all races and religions.”
So many of you here are the fathers and mothers of this vision. But as any parent will tell you, your obligations don’t end with a child’s birth; they’re just beginning. Sri Lanka’s newfound civil peace has to be nurtured; it must be allowed to grow and become stronger until it is, in fact, fully mature.
If Lakshman Kadirgamar was here and he had lived to see this new era, I know he would be inspired by the people of this country – Sinhalese and Tamil, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and Muslim. He would see the possibilities of a Sri Lanka reconciled, democratic, and prosperous, with a united and entrepreneurial people dedicated to making their country a shining jewel of the Indian Ocean and of the broader Indo-Pacific. The United States, I am here to tell you, believes in that vision. We believe in the potential of Sri Lanka, the potential of Sri Lanka’s people – and I mean all of its people. And I can assure you that the United States, that America will stand with you by your side as you build a stronger democracy and a future that is marked by peace and prosperity after so many years of suffering and hardship.
Now, I don’t have to tell you that history. You know it; you’ve lived it. You’ve experienced it for 30 years. Terrorism, sectarian violence, suffering, death, anger, disappearances, moments of hope followed by more loss, more hate, and more fear.
Having gone to war myself, as Mangala mentioned, not very far from here, I know the tragic truth that in peacetime, children bury their parents, but in wartime, parents bury their children. Sri Lanka has known too many generations of parents forced to bury children.
Let me be very clear about this: It is sometimes necessary to go to war, despite the pain it brings. For all of my country’s disagreements with the previous government in Sri Lanka over how it fought the LTTE, we clearly understood the necessity of ridding this country of a murderous terrorist group and the fear that it sowed.
I believe that you learned in the final, bloody days of that struggle what my country discovered to our own anguish during our civil war: There were no true victors – only victims. You saw, I trust, that it is obvious the value of ending wars in a way that builds a foundation for the peace to follow.
And I know you recognize today that the true peace is more than the absence of war. True and lasting peace, especially after a civil conflict, requires policies that foster reconciliation, not resentment. It demands that all citizens of the nation be treated with equal respect and equal rights, and that no one be made to feel excluded or subjugated. It calls for a military that projects its power outward to protect its people, not inward to police them.
It necessitates, as America’s great president Abraham Lincoln said, binding up the nation’s wounds, with malice towards none and with charity towards all.
Today, there are young people in this country who are experiencing peace for the first time in their lives. We need to hope, we need to make certain that they will know anything – that they will never know anything except for peace.
And that isn’t easy – recovering from conflict, believe me, never is easy. Under President Sirisena’s leadership, Sri Lanka’s traditions of critical debate, free press, and independent civil society are returning. The armed forces have started to give back land to people in the north. Your citizens have been asked to mourn all the dead – not just those from one part of the country or one ethnicity or one faith. Incidents of violence have decreased.
The government has stood up against hate speech and created a presidential task force on reconciliation led by former President Kumaratunga. And just this week, the parliament passed and the president championed, as Mangala said, a constitutional amendment that actually limits the powers of his office. Promise made; promise kept.
Now, the problems of Sri Lanka are clearly going to be solved by Sri Lankans. That’s the way it ought to be, but it’s also the only way it’s going to work. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.
But if – but we also know that, in today’s world, everyone and everything is connected. And when we are connected unlike any time in history – everybody’s walking around, even in places where they’re poor, with a smartphone and a cellphone; they’re in touch, they’re in touch with the world. So if there are steps the United States can take to help, we will do so. I know you have your own plan and your own notions about what is necessary, and by no means whatsoever do we intend to try to usurp that or evade that or dismiss that. That would be inappropriate and unwise at the same time. But we do have some suggestions, as friends. And let’s offer four possible areas for cooperation.
First – reconciliation. The majority of you voted for a government that is committed to the difficult task of literally healing the wounds of war. But that’s a difficult job with many components.
Years ago, I want you to know that when I was a member of the United States Senate – in the early years in the ‘90s, Mangala– I was put in charge of an investigation to try to determine the fate of American soldiers, sailors, and aviators who were still missing from the Vietnam War during the 1960s and the 1970s. The families of those in America whose loved ones had been lost were desperately trying to get answers from the government and demanding answers, and they had every right to do so. And we knew that it was impossible for us to try to move forward if we didn’t try to provide those answers. So we did everything possible that there was to try to find out what happened to their loved ones. I traveled to Vietnam something like 17 or 20 times in the span of two years, working with the Vietnamese to let us into their history houses, to their museums, to their documents – even to interview with the generals that we had fought against to see if we could provide those answers.
So we experienced the same emotions and the same search for answers that are present in your country today. And that is why it is so critical for your government to work with the ICRC and the UN in order to investigate missing person cases and try wherever you can – I can’t guarantee it; nobody can that you’ll find the answer for sure – but try to find wherever the truth may lead. No matter how painful that truth is. It’s the right and the humane thing to do – and it is, believe it or not, an essential part of the healing process.
Now, reconciliation obviously doesn’t happen all at once; it requires time and concrete actions. And those have to replace the suspicion with mutual trust and mutual fears have to be replaced with mutual confidence. I want you to know that the United States stands ready to be a partner with you in that effort.
We’ll do all we can to support the government as it makes progress in such areas as returning land, limiting the role of the military in civilian life, and trying to provide the answers on disappeared people. None of us wants to live in a country where the military is stopping its own citizens at checkpoints. And Sri Lanka’s military has so much more to contribute in defending this country, protecting vital sea lanes, and taking part in UN peacekeeping missions all over the world. And as your armed forces make that transition, we’re going to be very eager to work with you and to work with them and to help.
That said, the job of bringing Sri Lankans together also cannot be done by the government alone. So it matters what you say, it matters what people say, and that they have the right to say it. It matters what civil society – that many of you here represent – what you have to say. It matters what religious groups are saying and what they’re able to accomplish, and that they have the freedom to be able to move to do so. And it matters what communities are able to do in order to fix the kind of social problems that impact everyone – from promoting health care and a clean environment to countering domestic violence and drug use – and that the central government trusts people to take the lead.
Now in all this – some may think this goes without saying, but in too many parts of the world it doesn’t – the women of Sri Lanka are playing a critical role, and must. They are helping the needy and the displaced. They’re encouraging people to build secure and prosperous neighborhoods. They are supporting ex-combatants and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, and they’re providing counseling and other social services. And these efforts are absolutely vital and we should all support them.
But we also have to do more than that. Here, as in every country, it’s crystal clear that for any society to thrive, women have to be in full control – they have to be full participants in the economics and in the political life. There is no excuse in the 21st century for discrimination or violence against women. Not now, and not ever.
Now, that brings me to the second area of possible cooperation on justice and accountability. Restoring your country’s judiciary is a long-term undertaking that requires high standards for judicial independence, fairness, and due process under the law. Those reforms are often difficult to achieve anyway – we’re still working on some things in our system, believe me; you can see some of it on television – not easy, but it is absolutely essential to be open and honest about trying to do it. Every citizen has a right to seek justice, and every citizen has a right to expect justice for victims of war crimes or crimes against humanity. They’re painful issues; I know that. But if you try to compel people to simply forget the past and try to wipe it away, believe me: They will be more likely, not less, to cling to it. And if you tell them to forego justice under the law, they will be more likely to seek it outside of the law. It will be harder, not easier, to move forward as one country at peace.
And that is why we hope your government will continue to cooperate with the United Nations as it explores the best way to mount a credible domestic investigation into allegations of human rights abuses – an investigation that meets international standards and at the same time, and most importantly, is legitimate in your eyes, in the eyes of the people here. The United States is prepared to furnish whatever legal, whatever technical assistance, whatever help we can to support Sri Lanka as it moves down this path.
A third area where we can work together is the advancement of human rights, here and around the world. The new government that you’ve elected is laser focused on establishing a strong reputation for your country on human rights. And the United States could not be more supportive of that goal. Until just recently, our diplomats routinely clashed with yours on these issues at the Human Rights Council in Geneva and the UN in New York. Now, with the new government, with the turning of this critical page, we have an opportunity to work together. But we also continue to urge your government to release remaining political prisoners, and we would be pleased to assist in those efforts by sending a team of legal experts to advise on assessment and release, which is a critical component of the documents that have to be made in that.
And I say this fully mindful of the fact – believe me – no nation, including the United States, has a perfect record on human rights. We all have to do our best in order to improve. And I hope that the momentum that has been created in Sri Lanka will continue to build, and I’m confident that with the government you have and their commitments reiterated to me today, I have no doubt that you will.
Now, a final challenge on which our two governments may be able to work together is the strengthening of democratic institutions. Here, you have a very strong foundation on which to build. Your former president reminded me that they had lunch, that you had the first – the longest serving supreme court in all of Asia, and that you have one of the oldest parliaments. You have this extraordinary foundation on which to build. We simply offer our support to help you in any way that we can on this effort of capacity building and the challenge of restoring the tradition that you have always had with respect to the fullness of your democracy. We want to help support you in the upcoming electoral processes. Timely elections will be yet another sign of the government following through on its commitments.
Now, the people of Sri Lanka deserve great credit for the recent elections. And I want to congratulate all of you. They’re quite remarkable. You turned out in huge numbers to exercise your rights. Every vote was a victory for your country. And you insisted on historic reforms, including a constitutional amendment that was just restoring the independence of the electoral commission. But hard work remains, my friends, including devolving power to the provinces. The United States stands ready to provide technical assistance to make it easier to implement these measures and to strengthen such critical institutions as the ministries and parliament. We’re also ready to help with asset recovery and the enforcement of anti-corruption rules. Our investigators are prepared to work with your investigators. Our prosecutors are prepared to work with your prosecutors. And we commit that any stolen assets in the United States will be returned to their rightful owners.
We’ve seen in recent decades that free countries can learn from one another, and that, to prosper, they have to be prepared to help one another. And that is why I’m pleased to announce that our governments will launch a partnership dialogue to intensify our cooperation across the board. President Obama has nominated a new ambassador, and as a symbol of our renewed commitment to this relationship, I am happy to announce that we are going to build a new embassy compound. And our partnership dialogue and expanded bilateral assistance will help consolidate Sri Lanka’s very impressive gains. We also want to do this in a spirit of friendship and mutual respect. We’re not doing this as part of any global countering or whatever – make your choices. That’s your right as independent people. But we appreciate and respect and admire the steps that have been taken by you to give yourself a government that wants to restore that government. And in any way that we can help, we stand ready to do so.
So to sum up, Sri Lanka is at a pivotal point. Peace has come, but true reconciliation will take time. Your institutions of governance are regaining strength, but further progress will have to be made. The United States will help when and where we can. And no part of this transition, obviously, will be easy, but if Sri Lanka keeps moving forward, I have every confidence it will take its rightful place of respect and of influence on the world stage.
Sri Lankans should take enormous pride – I’m sure you do – in what has been happening within your borders. But every nation also has to look beyond its borders as well.
For Sri Lankans, that’s nothing new. Your country sits at the crossroads of Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. And for centuries, it’s served as a gateway for merchant ships. The Indian Ocean is the world’s most important commercial highway. Today, 40 percent of all seaborne oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz and half of the world’s merchant fleet capacity sails through the Straits of Malacca. And with its strategic location near deep-water ports in India and Myanmar, Sri Lanka could serve as the fulcrum of a modern and dynamic Indo-Pacific region.
The questions now are: How do we get there and what role can the United States play in that journey? Well, let me answer that question by saying that we see our role partly as a leader, because we have a strong economy and an ability to be able to project, but also we see our role as a convener, and most importantly, as a partner.
The United States is already providing leadership on maritime security in the India Ocean in association with close friends and allies across the region, including India, Australia, Indonesia, and Japan. And that requires, in part, a focus on counter-piracy and counter-trafficking operations. It requires investments in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, so that the next big storm doesn’t inflict catastrophic damage on coastal communities. The United States and Sri Lanka are also working together to oppose the use of intimidation or force to assert a territorial or maritime claim by anyone. And we reject any suggestion that freedom of navigation and overflight and other lawful uses of the sea and airspace are somehow privileges granted by big states to small ones. They’re not privileges; they’re rights. And these principles bind all nations equally. And the recent decision by India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh to submit to binding arbitration – that’s an example of how maritime claims can be resolved peacefully and through good-faith negotiations.
Now, I’ve said convene also – is a convener. The United States is also a convener when it comes to promoting economic integration. South Asia is one of the globe’s least economically integrated regions. Trade among its countries amounts to some 5 percent of total trade and the cost of doing business across borders due to non-tariff barriers, import duties, and bottlenecks at border crossings is a huge impediment to growth.
That is why the United States is promoting the Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor to connect South Asia to Southeast Asia and to spur sustainable development in both regions. IPEC will strengthen energy, transit, trade, and people-to-people ties – on land and sea. And the challenge is: What’s the pace going to be of this integration? If commerce across South Asia is going to become the economic driver that it ought to be, governments have to act with urgency, not settle for half-measures or wait for the next country to go first. And we look forward to working with the Sri Lankan Government as it increases trade and investment with its neighbors in the Indian Ocean and beyond.
So the United States I’ve described as a leader and convener. Most importantly, though, I want to talk about being a partner. We’re a partner in something like disaster relief, climate change, clean energy. Here in Sri Lanka, you lived through the devastating impact of the 2004 tsunami. I’ll never forget hearing the news. The images are absolutely extraordinary, gut-wrenching –entire towns obliterated; raging waters sweeping away people’s homes; hundreds of thousands killed and many more separated from families.
And after the devastation, the American people moved quickly and generously to provide relief. And I’m proud that the United States Marines were among the first responders in the recovery efforts. And USAID alone provided about $135 million of assistance, with many millions more coming from the American people’s personal donations.
The earthquake that caused the tsunami was unprecedented in its destructive impact. And as searing as images from Kathmandu this week remind us, the nations of this region have to find common cause in enhancing the preparedness for natural disasters. But we also know that because of climate change, we’re actually going to be facing more frequent and intense disasters across the board. I’m not drawing that out of thin air, and I hate to be the bearer of that kind of a warning, but it’s science that’s telling us – the IPCC of the United Nations, the world’s scientists. And we’re seeing the changes already in so many different places, including the Arctic, that I visited the other day. So the United States stands ready to help respond and prevent climate change by leading the world towards a global agreement at the end of this year in Paris.
I can’t tell whether one storm – nobody can – or another storm specifically was caused by climate change, but I can tell you that scientists are telling us unequivocally that there will be more storms of greater intensity unless we stop and reverse course in what we are doing to send greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Now, some people might shrug their shoulders and just say, “Well, there’s nothing that I can do about it.” That’s not true. There’s something everybody can do about it. In fact, all of us know exactly what we have to do. The solution to climate change is a transformed energy policy. Just as climate change presents the United States, Sri Lanka, and the region with a common threat, my friends, the need to develop secure and sustainable energy sources presents us with a remarkable shared opportunity – the greatest market in the history of humankind. It’s an opportunity to make the right choices about conservation, about wind power, or solar power, hydro – which you have, significantly – about fuel and utility standards, about efficiency standards, about building codes, about transportation. And we can – and with all those things – reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and save ourselves, save the planet, literally, from a catastrophe that would be the unrestrained effects of climate change.
Good energy solutions are good climate solutions. And the market represents a multi-trillion dollar opportunity, with 4 to 5 billion users around the world today. Just so you have a little comparison on that, the market of the 1990s that drove our economy to the greatest wealth creation since the early 1900s was a $1 trillion market, not multitrillion. And it had one billion users. And that was the technology, communications market. The energy market is 6, 7 trillion now and rising – maybe 9 by the mid part of the century. By 2040, investment in the energy sector is expected to reach nearly $20 trillion. That’s a lot of money, my friends – that’s a lot of jobs. So we want to see clean, accessible energy be the biggest slice of the economic pie.
Now, of course, Sri Lanka is much more of a marketplace for clean energy. It is much more than simply a market to attract clean energy, and you know that, and I know that. It’s a cultural model; it’s a huge economic mosaic. It could well become, as you march down this road with the effectiveness you have been these days, a model for democracy and the restoration of democracy. It could show unity in remarkable ways to the region. We see even now, regrettably, that there are signs – troubling signs that democracy is under threat in Maldives, where former President Nasheed has been imprisoned without due process. And that is an injustice that must be addressed soon. But Sri Lanka’s story carries the promise that people can hold their government accountable, use peaceful dissent, use the power of the ballot box and change the course of history. And we can already see here the power of that promise.
We see it in the hard work of a Sinhalese mother who struggles to give her child a good education. We see it in the dignity that comes when a young Tamil man secures a job in which he can take pride. We see it in the common desire of all Sri Lankans to live in a safe neighborhood and a secure nation. We see it in the demand that leaders protect the rights of people and be responsive to the basic needs and aspirations. Those are the values that connect all of us across every boundary, no matter our history, no matter our background, no matter our beliefs and our creed. That’s who we are. Now, I want to leave you with just one story of that kind of belief today.
Karthika is from a Tamil Hindu family. When she was 14, the Tigers kidnapped her and sent her north to Jaffna. She was forced to carry a gun and move through the jungle. She was given barely enough food to survive. And in a firefight one day, bullets and shrapnel blinded her in one eye. For 11 years, her family had no idea whether she was alive or dead.
Eventually, Karthika escaped that hell by fleeing through areas of heavy fighting. She returned home, but in many ways, her struggle was only just beginning. She had limited education, limited skills, having spent half her life surrounded by war. She had few friends, and even fewer prospects to find a job or even to start a life.
After several false starts, Karthika found a USAID program in the Eastern Province that offered her a way out. She trained for months and learned the skills she needed to get her a job in a new garment factory. She started earning an income. And she made an effort to befriend women from the Sinhalese community, something that would have been unimaginable for her just a few short years ago. Asked why she was able to find hope when others didn’t, Karthika said very simply, “Now, it has changed.”
My friends, everywhere there is an injustice, there are men and women who are ready to be the Karthikas of their moment. Men and women who survive a war that wrecks families, and then build their own. Men and women who see what the worst of what people can do, and then dedicate their lives to finding the best in others. You have all borne the costs of war. It’s now time for you to experience and hold onto the benefits of peace. “Now, it has changed” is a claim that each and every one of you can make together. And I am certain that you will make it a proud claim – a badge of merit and honor and success that will be heard and seen by your neighbors and friends all across the globe.
So thank you once again for welcoming me here. It’s an honor for me to be here at this point in your history. And I can tell you that we will not walk away from our pledge to work with you, to go together on this road and on this journey. Good luck to all. Godspeed on the road ahead. Thank you. (Applause.)
Strengthening the U.S.-Sri Lanka Partnership for Human Rights and Lasting Peace
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Taj Samudra Hotel
Colombo, Sri Lanka
May 2, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Mangala, thank you very, very much. Thank you for a wonderful introduction, notwithstanding that you reminded me that I disappointed you in 2004. (Laughter.) I disappointed myself and a few other people.
I am really happy to be here (inaudible) and I’m very happy to welcome all of you here. No, you are welcoming me – it’s a mutual welcome, admiration, effort. And I can’t thank Mangala and Sri Lanka enough for the very generous welcome that you gave me this morning when I first came here. I came over to that historic building that is now the foreign ministry. Thank you for that, my friend.
I also want to thank you for your remarkable efforts – yours and the president’s and prime minister’s – on behalf of the people of Sri Lanka. And I thank you for something else. A week ago I was in northern Canada, just below the Arctic Circle, not far from the Arctic Ocean, where I was assuming the chairmanship of the Arctic Council. And I want you to know it is a welcome change to enjoy the warm weather here. (Laughter.) I didn’t see a lot of igloos around, happily.
I also want to say thank you to all of you who have come here – students, educators, civil society activists, religious leaders, and to everyone from the government, the diplomatic community, and the private sector who has committed time to be here to share some thoughts this afternoon.
It is fitting that we gather today under the auspices of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute. Lakshman was, to put it simply, a brave man and a good man. He rejected recrimination in favor of reconciliation. He knew that the future demanded that his country move beyond the more difficult chapters of its past. And he devoted his last years to healing Sri Lanka and to leading it to its rightful place within the community of nations. He said wisely, “We have to live in Sri Lanka as Sri Lankans, tolerating all races and religions.”
So many of you here are the fathers and mothers of this vision. But as any parent will tell you, your obligations don’t end with a child’s birth; they’re just beginning. Sri Lanka’s newfound civil peace has to be nurtured; it must be allowed to grow and become stronger until it is, in fact, fully mature.
If Lakshman Kadirgamar was here and he had lived to see this new era, I know he would be inspired by the people of this country – Sinhalese and Tamil, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and Muslim. He would see the possibilities of a Sri Lanka reconciled, democratic, and prosperous, with a united and entrepreneurial people dedicated to making their country a shining jewel of the Indian Ocean and of the broader Indo-Pacific. The United States, I am here to tell you, believes in that vision. We believe in the potential of Sri Lanka, the potential of Sri Lanka’s people – and I mean all of its people. And I can assure you that the United States, that America will stand with you by your side as you build a stronger democracy and a future that is marked by peace and prosperity after so many years of suffering and hardship.
Now, I don’t have to tell you that history. You know it; you’ve lived it. You’ve experienced it for 30 years. Terrorism, sectarian violence, suffering, death, anger, disappearances, moments of hope followed by more loss, more hate, and more fear.
Having gone to war myself, as Mangala mentioned, not very far from here, I know the tragic truth that in peacetime, children bury their parents, but in wartime, parents bury their children. Sri Lanka has known too many generations of parents forced to bury children.
Let me be very clear about this: It is sometimes necessary to go to war, despite the pain it brings. For all of my country’s disagreements with the previous government in Sri Lanka over how it fought the LTTE, we clearly understood the necessity of ridding this country of a murderous terrorist group and the fear that it sowed.
I believe that you learned in the final, bloody days of that struggle what my country discovered to our own anguish during our civil war: There were no true victors – only victims. You saw, I trust, that it is obvious the value of ending wars in a way that builds a foundation for the peace to follow.
And I know you recognize today that the true peace is more than the absence of war. True and lasting peace, especially after a civil conflict, requires policies that foster reconciliation, not resentment. It demands that all citizens of the nation be treated with equal respect and equal rights, and that no one be made to feel excluded or subjugated. It calls for a military that projects its power outward to protect its people, not inward to police them.
It necessitates, as America’s great president Abraham Lincoln said, binding up the nation’s wounds, with malice towards none and with charity towards all.
Today, there are young people in this country who are experiencing peace for the first time in their lives. We need to hope, we need to make certain that they will know anything – that they will never know anything except for peace.
And that isn’t easy – recovering from conflict, believe me, never is easy. Under President Sirisena’s leadership, Sri Lanka’s traditions of critical debate, free press, and independent civil society are returning. The armed forces have started to give back land to people in the north. Your citizens have been asked to mourn all the dead – not just those from one part of the country or one ethnicity or one faith. Incidents of violence have decreased.
The government has stood up against hate speech and created a presidential task force on reconciliation led by former President Kumaratunga. And just this week, the parliament passed and the president championed, as Mangala said, a constitutional amendment that actually limits the powers of his office. Promise made; promise kept.
Now, the problems of Sri Lanka are clearly going to be solved by Sri Lankans. That’s the way it ought to be, but it’s also the only way it’s going to work. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.
But if – but we also know that, in today’s world, everyone and everything is connected. And when we are connected unlike any time in history – everybody’s walking around, even in places where they’re poor, with a smartphone and a cellphone; they’re in touch, they’re in touch with the world. So if there are steps the United States can take to help, we will do so. I know you have your own plan and your own notions about what is necessary, and by no means whatsoever do we intend to try to usurp that or evade that or dismiss that. That would be inappropriate and unwise at the same time. But we do have some suggestions, as friends. And let’s offer four possible areas for cooperation.
First – reconciliation. The majority of you voted for a government that is committed to the difficult task of literally healing the wounds of war. But that’s a difficult job with many components.
Years ago, I want you to know that when I was a member of the United States Senate – in the early years in the ‘90s, Mangala– I was put in charge of an investigation to try to determine the fate of American soldiers, sailors, and aviators who were still missing from the Vietnam War during the 1960s and the 1970s. The families of those in America whose loved ones had been lost were desperately trying to get answers from the government and demanding answers, and they had every right to do so. And we knew that it was impossible for us to try to move forward if we didn’t try to provide those answers. So we did everything possible that there was to try to find out what happened to their loved ones. I traveled to Vietnam something like 17 or 20 times in the span of two years, working with the Vietnamese to let us into their history houses, to their museums, to their documents – even to interview with the generals that we had fought against to see if we could provide those answers.
So we experienced the same emotions and the same search for answers that are present in your country today. And that is why it is so critical for your government to work with the ICRC and the UN in order to investigate missing person cases and try wherever you can – I can’t guarantee it; nobody can that you’ll find the answer for sure – but try to find wherever the truth may lead. No matter how painful that truth is. It’s the right and the humane thing to do – and it is, believe it or not, an essential part of the healing process.
Now, reconciliation obviously doesn’t happen all at once; it requires time and concrete actions. And those have to replace the suspicion with mutual trust and mutual fears have to be replaced with mutual confidence. I want you to know that the United States stands ready to be a partner with you in that effort.
We’ll do all we can to support the government as it makes progress in such areas as returning land, limiting the role of the military in civilian life, and trying to provide the answers on disappeared people. None of us wants to live in a country where the military is stopping its own citizens at checkpoints. And Sri Lanka’s military has so much more to contribute in defending this country, protecting vital sea lanes, and taking part in UN peacekeeping missions all over the world. And as your armed forces make that transition, we’re going to be very eager to work with you and to work with them and to help.
That said, the job of bringing Sri Lankans together also cannot be done by the government alone. So it matters what you say, it matters what people say, and that they have the right to say it. It matters what civil society – that many of you here represent – what you have to say. It matters what religious groups are saying and what they’re able to accomplish, and that they have the freedom to be able to move to do so. And it matters what communities are able to do in order to fix the kind of social problems that impact everyone – from promoting health care and a clean environment to countering domestic violence and drug use – and that the central government trusts people to take the lead.
Now in all this – some may think this goes without saying, but in too many parts of the world it doesn’t – the women of Sri Lanka are playing a critical role, and must. They are helping the needy and the displaced. They’re encouraging people to build secure and prosperous neighborhoods. They are supporting ex-combatants and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, and they’re providing counseling and other social services. And these efforts are absolutely vital and we should all support them.
But we also have to do more than that. Here, as in every country, it’s crystal clear that for any society to thrive, women have to be in full control – they have to be full participants in the economics and in the political life. There is no excuse in the 21st century for discrimination or violence against women. Not now, and not ever.
Now, that brings me to the second area of possible cooperation on justice and accountability. Restoring your country’s judiciary is a long-term undertaking that requires high standards for judicial independence, fairness, and due process under the law. Those reforms are often difficult to achieve anyway – we’re still working on some things in our system, believe me; you can see some of it on television – not easy, but it is absolutely essential to be open and honest about trying to do it. Every citizen has a right to seek justice, and every citizen has a right to expect justice for victims of war crimes or crimes against humanity. They’re painful issues; I know that. But if you try to compel people to simply forget the past and try to wipe it away, believe me: They will be more likely, not less, to cling to it. And if you tell them to forego justice under the law, they will be more likely to seek it outside of the law. It will be harder, not easier, to move forward as one country at peace.
And that is why we hope your government will continue to cooperate with the United Nations as it explores the best way to mount a credible domestic investigation into allegations of human rights abuses – an investigation that meets international standards and at the same time, and most importantly, is legitimate in your eyes, in the eyes of the people here. The United States is prepared to furnish whatever legal, whatever technical assistance, whatever help we can to support Sri Lanka as it moves down this path.
A third area where we can work together is the advancement of human rights, here and around the world. The new government that you’ve elected is laser focused on establishing a strong reputation for your country on human rights. And the United States could not be more supportive of that goal. Until just recently, our diplomats routinely clashed with yours on these issues at the Human Rights Council in Geneva and the UN in New York. Now, with the new government, with the turning of this critical page, we have an opportunity to work together. But we also continue to urge your government to release remaining political prisoners, and we would be pleased to assist in those efforts by sending a team of legal experts to advise on assessment and release, which is a critical component of the documents that have to be made in that.
And I say this fully mindful of the fact – believe me – no nation, including the United States, has a perfect record on human rights. We all have to do our best in order to improve. And I hope that the momentum that has been created in Sri Lanka will continue to build, and I’m confident that with the government you have and their commitments reiterated to me today, I have no doubt that you will.
Now, a final challenge on which our two governments may be able to work together is the strengthening of democratic institutions. Here, you have a very strong foundation on which to build. Your former president reminded me that they had lunch, that you had the first – the longest serving supreme court in all of Asia, and that you have one of the oldest parliaments. You have this extraordinary foundation on which to build. We simply offer our support to help you in any way that we can on this effort of capacity building and the challenge of restoring the tradition that you have always had with respect to the fullness of your democracy. We want to help support you in the upcoming electoral processes. Timely elections will be yet another sign of the government following through on its commitments.
Now, the people of Sri Lanka deserve great credit for the recent elections. And I want to congratulate all of you. They’re quite remarkable. You turned out in huge numbers to exercise your rights. Every vote was a victory for your country. And you insisted on historic reforms, including a constitutional amendment that was just restoring the independence of the electoral commission. But hard work remains, my friends, including devolving power to the provinces. The United States stands ready to provide technical assistance to make it easier to implement these measures and to strengthen such critical institutions as the ministries and parliament. We’re also ready to help with asset recovery and the enforcement of anti-corruption rules. Our investigators are prepared to work with your investigators. Our prosecutors are prepared to work with your prosecutors. And we commit that any stolen assets in the United States will be returned to their rightful owners.
We’ve seen in recent decades that free countries can learn from one another, and that, to prosper, they have to be prepared to help one another. And that is why I’m pleased to announce that our governments will launch a partnership dialogue to intensify our cooperation across the board. President Obama has nominated a new ambassador, and as a symbol of our renewed commitment to this relationship, I am happy to announce that we are going to build a new embassy compound. And our partnership dialogue and expanded bilateral assistance will help consolidate Sri Lanka’s very impressive gains. We also want to do this in a spirit of friendship and mutual respect. We’re not doing this as part of any global countering or whatever – make your choices. That’s your right as independent people. But we appreciate and respect and admire the steps that have been taken by you to give yourself a government that wants to restore that government. And in any way that we can help, we stand ready to do so.
So to sum up, Sri Lanka is at a pivotal point. Peace has come, but true reconciliation will take time. Your institutions of governance are regaining strength, but further progress will have to be made. The United States will help when and where we can. And no part of this transition, obviously, will be easy, but if Sri Lanka keeps moving forward, I have every confidence it will take its rightful place of respect and of influence on the world stage.
Sri Lankans should take enormous pride – I’m sure you do – in what has been happening within your borders. But every nation also has to look beyond its borders as well.
For Sri Lankans, that’s nothing new. Your country sits at the crossroads of Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. And for centuries, it’s served as a gateway for merchant ships. The Indian Ocean is the world’s most important commercial highway. Today, 40 percent of all seaborne oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz and half of the world’s merchant fleet capacity sails through the Straits of Malacca. And with its strategic location near deep-water ports in India and Myanmar, Sri Lanka could serve as the fulcrum of a modern and dynamic Indo-Pacific region.
The questions now are: How do we get there and what role can the United States play in that journey? Well, let me answer that question by saying that we see our role partly as a leader, because we have a strong economy and an ability to be able to project, but also we see our role as a convener, and most importantly, as a partner.
The United States is already providing leadership on maritime security in the India Ocean in association with close friends and allies across the region, including India, Australia, Indonesia, and Japan. And that requires, in part, a focus on counter-piracy and counter-trafficking operations. It requires investments in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, so that the next big storm doesn’t inflict catastrophic damage on coastal communities. The United States and Sri Lanka are also working together to oppose the use of intimidation or force to assert a territorial or maritime claim by anyone. And we reject any suggestion that freedom of navigation and overflight and other lawful uses of the sea and airspace are somehow privileges granted by big states to small ones. They’re not privileges; they’re rights. And these principles bind all nations equally. And the recent decision by India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh to submit to binding arbitration – that’s an example of how maritime claims can be resolved peacefully and through good-faith negotiations.
Now, I’ve said convene also – is a convener. The United States is also a convener when it comes to promoting economic integration. South Asia is one of the globe’s least economically integrated regions. Trade among its countries amounts to some 5 percent of total trade and the cost of doing business across borders due to non-tariff barriers, import duties, and bottlenecks at border crossings is a huge impediment to growth.
That is why the United States is promoting the Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor to connect South Asia to Southeast Asia and to spur sustainable development in both regions. IPEC will strengthen energy, transit, trade, and people-to-people ties – on land and sea. And the challenge is: What’s the pace going to be of this integration? If commerce across South Asia is going to become the economic driver that it ought to be, governments have to act with urgency, not settle for half-measures or wait for the next country to go first. And we look forward to working with the Sri Lankan Government as it increases trade and investment with its neighbors in the Indian Ocean and beyond.
So the United States I’ve described as a leader and convener. Most importantly, though, I want to talk about being a partner. We’re a partner in something like disaster relief, climate change, clean energy. Here in Sri Lanka, you lived through the devastating impact of the 2004 tsunami. I’ll never forget hearing the news. The images are absolutely extraordinary, gut-wrenching –entire towns obliterated; raging waters sweeping away people’s homes; hundreds of thousands killed and many more separated from families.
And after the devastation, the American people moved quickly and generously to provide relief. And I’m proud that the United States Marines were among the first responders in the recovery efforts. And USAID alone provided about $135 million of assistance, with many millions more coming from the American people’s personal donations.
The earthquake that caused the tsunami was unprecedented in its destructive impact. And as searing as images from Kathmandu this week remind us, the nations of this region have to find common cause in enhancing the preparedness for natural disasters. But we also know that because of climate change, we’re actually going to be facing more frequent and intense disasters across the board. I’m not drawing that out of thin air, and I hate to be the bearer of that kind of a warning, but it’s science that’s telling us – the IPCC of the United Nations, the world’s scientists. And we’re seeing the changes already in so many different places, including the Arctic, that I visited the other day. So the United States stands ready to help respond and prevent climate change by leading the world towards a global agreement at the end of this year in Paris.
I can’t tell whether one storm – nobody can – or another storm specifically was caused by climate change, but I can tell you that scientists are telling us unequivocally that there will be more storms of greater intensity unless we stop and reverse course in what we are doing to send greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Now, some people might shrug their shoulders and just say, “Well, there’s nothing that I can do about it.” That’s not true. There’s something everybody can do about it. In fact, all of us know exactly what we have to do. The solution to climate change is a transformed energy policy. Just as climate change presents the United States, Sri Lanka, and the region with a common threat, my friends, the need to develop secure and sustainable energy sources presents us with a remarkable shared opportunity – the greatest market in the history of humankind. It’s an opportunity to make the right choices about conservation, about wind power, or solar power, hydro – which you have, significantly – about fuel and utility standards, about efficiency standards, about building codes, about transportation. And we can – and with all those things – reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and save ourselves, save the planet, literally, from a catastrophe that would be the unrestrained effects of climate change.
Good energy solutions are good climate solutions. And the market represents a multi-trillion dollar opportunity, with 4 to 5 billion users around the world today. Just so you have a little comparison on that, the market of the 1990s that drove our economy to the greatest wealth creation since the early 1900s was a $1 trillion market, not multitrillion. And it had one billion users. And that was the technology, communications market. The energy market is 6, 7 trillion now and rising – maybe 9 by the mid part of the century. By 2040, investment in the energy sector is expected to reach nearly $20 trillion. That’s a lot of money, my friends – that’s a lot of jobs. So we want to see clean, accessible energy be the biggest slice of the economic pie.
Now, of course, Sri Lanka is much more of a marketplace for clean energy. It is much more than simply a market to attract clean energy, and you know that, and I know that. It’s a cultural model; it’s a huge economic mosaic. It could well become, as you march down this road with the effectiveness you have been these days, a model for democracy and the restoration of democracy. It could show unity in remarkable ways to the region. We see even now, regrettably, that there are signs – troubling signs that democracy is under threat in Maldives, where former President Nasheed has been imprisoned without due process. And that is an injustice that must be addressed soon. But Sri Lanka’s story carries the promise that people can hold their government accountable, use peaceful dissent, use the power of the ballot box and change the course of history. And we can already see here the power of that promise.
We see it in the hard work of a Sinhalese mother who struggles to give her child a good education. We see it in the dignity that comes when a young Tamil man secures a job in which he can take pride. We see it in the common desire of all Sri Lankans to live in a safe neighborhood and a secure nation. We see it in the demand that leaders protect the rights of people and be responsive to the basic needs and aspirations. Those are the values that connect all of us across every boundary, no matter our history, no matter our background, no matter our beliefs and our creed. That’s who we are. Now, I want to leave you with just one story of that kind of belief today.
Karthika is from a Tamil Hindu family. When she was 14, the Tigers kidnapped her and sent her north to Jaffna. She was forced to carry a gun and move through the jungle. She was given barely enough food to survive. And in a firefight one day, bullets and shrapnel blinded her in one eye. For 11 years, her family had no idea whether she was alive or dead.
Eventually, Karthika escaped that hell by fleeing through areas of heavy fighting. She returned home, but in many ways, her struggle was only just beginning. She had limited education, limited skills, having spent half her life surrounded by war. She had few friends, and even fewer prospects to find a job or even to start a life.
After several false starts, Karthika found a USAID program in the Eastern Province that offered her a way out. She trained for months and learned the skills she needed to get her a job in a new garment factory. She started earning an income. And she made an effort to befriend women from the Sinhalese community, something that would have been unimaginable for her just a few short years ago. Asked why she was able to find hope when others didn’t, Karthika said very simply, “Now, it has changed.”
My friends, everywhere there is an injustice, there are men and women who are ready to be the Karthikas of their moment. Men and women who survive a war that wrecks families, and then build their own. Men and women who see what the worst of what people can do, and then dedicate their lives to finding the best in others. You have all borne the costs of war. It’s now time for you to experience and hold onto the benefits of peace. “Now, it has changed” is a claim that each and every one of you can make together. And I am certain that you will make it a proud claim – a badge of merit and honor and success that will be heard and seen by your neighbors and friends all across the globe.
So thank you once again for welcoming me here. It’s an honor for me to be here at this point in your history. And I can tell you that we will not walk away from our pledge to work with you, to go together on this road and on this journey. Good luck to all. Godspeed on the road ahead. Thank you. (Applause.)
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH SRI LANKAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAMARAWEERA
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Samaraweera
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Colombo, Sri Lanka
May 2, 2015
FOREIGN MINISTER SAMARAWEERA: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It has been a great honor and our privilege to welcome the honorable John F. Kerry, Secretary of State of the United States of America, to the historic Republic building, which has been the home of the foreign minister of Sri Lanka since independence. In fact, Secretary Kerry’s visit is a momentous occasion for Sri Lanka, as it is the first official visit by a U.S. Secretary of State in nearly half a century – 43 years to be precise. And I believe that this important visit signifies the return of our little island nation to the center stage of international affairs.
This morning we continue the dialogue that began in Washington in February where I visited within one month of my appointment as foreign minister. In fact, during the talks held a little while ago, we agreed to build on a multifaceted, bilateral relationship and to forge stronger links between our peoples. And we also agreed to formalize our relationship through a partnership dialogue that will enable us to continue this engagement on a regular basis.
Relations between our two countries have existed since the adoption of the U.S. constitution, at which time records show that sailors from New England were anchored in the royal harbor. American missionaries, including Sir Henry Alcock, who jointly designed the Buddhist flag, which you will see everywhere today and tomorrow, had a vital role in founding and nurturing some of our best schools both in the north and the south of Sri Lanka.
Secretary Kerry’s visit to Sri Lanka also comes at a propitious moment. On one hand, Buddhists in every part of the country, and all over the world in fact, will be celebrating Lord Buddha’s philosophy of tolerance and non-violence tomorrow by lighting beautiful paper lanterns in their homes and on displays. And on the other hand, it also comes at a time when Sri Lanka is celebrating the passage of the 19th amendment to our constitution last Tuesday, which only one member of parliament opposed. This – and that was the apex of the 100-day program which introduced fair-reaching constitutional and democratic reforms.
Today Sri Lanka is well on its way to becoming a fully-fledged parliament democracy, laying the foundation for a new Sri Lanka, built on the pillars of democracy and ethnic harmony. This will allow us to reap the fruits of increased economic growth and prosperity, which had been eluding us for nearly two decades because of deadly conflict. Eventually, accountability in the new Sri Lanka will feature the
key component of the reconciliation (inaudible), and the architecture of a domestic accountability mechanism with international technical assistance, as promised by our manifesto, are now being planned.
In this context there are also several areas where the United States can assist us by enhancing local capacity and providing technical expertise. Sri Lanka, now a middle income country, can no longer, ladies and gentlemen, afford to rely solely on foreign aid. It is in our government’s best interest to attain foreign direct investment as part of our broader strategy to fix up the economy.
Sri Lanka has been considered a paradise for tourists for many years, but our government is now also keen to make Sri Lanka an investor’s paradise. In order to do so, we are in the process of cultivating a rules-based investment climate, and I hope that American investors will take advantage of the many new economic opportunities now opening up in Sri Lanka. Later today, Secretary Kerry will call on President Sirisena have discussions with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and I believe that these discussions will provide an opportunity for both sides to understand their respective priorities, and that the discussions will also heighten our existing close and friendly relations.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Assistant Secretary Nisha Biswal for her unrelenting belief in Sri Lanka and its potential and for the support and encouragement we have received from her over the last few months. I hope there will be many more high-level visits to come, and today is just the beginning of a very, very special friendship between Sri Lanka and the United States of America.
I wish you, Secretary Kerry, and your delegation a pleasant stay in Sri Lanka, and hope that you will visit us again soon and that you may have the extra time to go around our beautiful island and see for yourself its natural beauty. Thank you very much, indeed. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you very much, Mr. Foreign Minister. Is this working?
FOREIGN MINISTER SAMARAWEERA: It is.
SECRETARY KERRY: Can you hear me all right? It’s an enormous pleasure for me to be here with my friend, my colleague, Foreign Minister Samaraweera. And I want to thank him for an extraordinarily generous welcome here today. Is this not working?
FOREIGN MINISTER SAMARAWEERA: It is.
SECRETARY KERRY: Is it working?
PARTICIPANT: Not working.
SECRETARY KERRY: Not working back there. It’s working here. Let me just say – we’ll plow through it – I think my voice is loud enough that you’ll be able to hear me and we’ll go through.
I want to thank the foreign minister for an extraordinarily generous – good? Mangala has given me a really generous and very personal welcome here today, and it is an historic moment, one that I’m very proud and pleased to be able to share with him. And I’m grateful for his friendship and for the invitation, which he offered me when he came to Washington, to come here today in order to renew the relationship between the United States of America and Sri Lanka.
This is a paradise, a very beautiful island nation. It has enormous assets, wonderful, extraordinary people, and great, great promise for the future. And I pledged to him and to his delegation here today that the United States wants to work with Sri Lankans and help in any way we can to shape the future that the people of Sri Lanka want.
The foreign minister and I last met in February in Washington, and today we talked about the enormous progress that Sri Lanka has made in just a few short months – and progress that can be measured: progress on restoring democratic institutions; progress on creating more accountable governance; the passage of the 19th amendment, in which the president kept his promise to reduce the powers of the presidency and move them more to the people through a broader sharing, is an example of that; progress in combatting corruption; and progress on reconciliation that can lead to a much more enduring peace and to shared prosperity for all Sri Lankans.
So I am very mindful that as I stand here in Sri Lanka, more than 10 years after the tsunami on December of 2004, so many people are suffering in Nepal from the devastating earthquake that struck one week ago. And I want to commend the government and the people of Sri Lanka for quickly sending response teams to Kathmandu. The United States is also mobilizing a major response, but it’s indication of the sensitivity of this government and its sense of responsibility and its desire to be a part of the world community that it responded so quickly.
It is tragedies like the Asian tsunami, of the Nepal earthquake – or the Nepal earthquake – that underscore our need to work together to support one another in times of crisis, yes, but also in times of opportunity. And this is a time of opportunity for Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka today, I think many of us see a moment of extraordinary promise. The foreign minister recently gave a rousing speech to parliament, and I was particular inspired by his statement that the true safeguarding of sovereignty can be achieved only by fulfilling our obligations to our people and by preserving and upholding the multiethnic, multilingual, multireligious nature of our society.
He emphasized as well the importance of working closely together with other countries and with international organizations. Already we have seen those words actually backed up by actions. That’s what makes this government important, and it’s what makes this government different. Sri Lanka is now playing a role on everything from maritime security and trade to cyber issues and climate change. And I am particularly grateful to the foreign minister for hosting an event on cybercrime and for taking steps to become the first country in South Asia to accede to the Budapest convention.
But I know that you also have a tremendous amount of work to do here at home. You are working on creating an enduring peace and you’re working on providing prosperity for all of your people. Many challenges and difficult decisions obviously still lie ahead, and we talked about many of them this morning. But one thing that struck me was the readiness of this government to open its doors and to open its minds to different ideas and to new and more effective and efficient ways of doing things.
One thing about this Sri Lankan Government seems very clear: the president and the prime minister and the foreign minister are not afraid of tackling tough issues. They’re willing to make difficult decisions and they are committed to keeping their promises. We’ve seen that with the 100-day Plan. And as the government heads into the parliamentary elections this summer, Sri Lankans will continue to rely on their tremendous leadership and commitment.
So I am here today because I want to say to the people of Sri Lanka that in this journey to restore your democracy the American people will stand with you. We intend to broaden and to deepen our partnership with you. And to that end, the foreign minister and I agreed to establish an annual partnership dialogue between our two governments. I’ve also asked teams from across our government to mobilize quickly in order to provide technical assistance as the Government of Sri Lanka embraces these important reforms. And we will soon have members of that team from the Treasury Department and from the Commerce Department come here in order to work with the government on the economic measures that could be taken to provide for greater investment and greater growth. And as you know, President Obama recently nominated one of our most talented Foreign Serviceofficers – Atul Keshap – to be our ambassador to Sri Lanka.
So Mangala, thank you again for a very generous welcome. These are very important days here in Sri Lanka. And all of us need to rely on each other and we need to work together cooperatively. That’s exactly how we’re going to forge a stronger friendship, and that’s also how we’re going to forge a stronger partnership and an even better future for both of our countries.
What strikes me about Sri Lanka and the United States – and it got lost in the last years – is that the truth is we want the same thing for our people. We actually share the same values. We have the same aspirations for better jobs, for education, for health, for prosperity, for peace, for stability, for reconciliation. Those are the things that bring us together; that’s what brings me here today. And I’m very proud to be here to help renew the partnership and the friendship between the people of the United States and the people of Sri Lanka. Thank you, my friend.
Remarks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Samaraweera
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Colombo, Sri Lanka
May 2, 2015
FOREIGN MINISTER SAMARAWEERA: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It has been a great honor and our privilege to welcome the honorable John F. Kerry, Secretary of State of the United States of America, to the historic Republic building, which has been the home of the foreign minister of Sri Lanka since independence. In fact, Secretary Kerry’s visit is a momentous occasion for Sri Lanka, as it is the first official visit by a U.S. Secretary of State in nearly half a century – 43 years to be precise. And I believe that this important visit signifies the return of our little island nation to the center stage of international affairs.
This morning we continue the dialogue that began in Washington in February where I visited within one month of my appointment as foreign minister. In fact, during the talks held a little while ago, we agreed to build on a multifaceted, bilateral relationship and to forge stronger links between our peoples. And we also agreed to formalize our relationship through a partnership dialogue that will enable us to continue this engagement on a regular basis.
Relations between our two countries have existed since the adoption of the U.S. constitution, at which time records show that sailors from New England were anchored in the royal harbor. American missionaries, including Sir Henry Alcock, who jointly designed the Buddhist flag, which you will see everywhere today and tomorrow, had a vital role in founding and nurturing some of our best schools both in the north and the south of Sri Lanka.
Secretary Kerry’s visit to Sri Lanka also comes at a propitious moment. On one hand, Buddhists in every part of the country, and all over the world in fact, will be celebrating Lord Buddha’s philosophy of tolerance and non-violence tomorrow by lighting beautiful paper lanterns in their homes and on displays. And on the other hand, it also comes at a time when Sri Lanka is celebrating the passage of the 19th amendment to our constitution last Tuesday, which only one member of parliament opposed. This – and that was the apex of the 100-day program which introduced fair-reaching constitutional and democratic reforms.
Today Sri Lanka is well on its way to becoming a fully-fledged parliament democracy, laying the foundation for a new Sri Lanka, built on the pillars of democracy and ethnic harmony. This will allow us to reap the fruits of increased economic growth and prosperity, which had been eluding us for nearly two decades because of deadly conflict. Eventually, accountability in the new Sri Lanka will feature the
key component of the reconciliation (inaudible), and the architecture of a domestic accountability mechanism with international technical assistance, as promised by our manifesto, are now being planned.
In this context there are also several areas where the United States can assist us by enhancing local capacity and providing technical expertise. Sri Lanka, now a middle income country, can no longer, ladies and gentlemen, afford to rely solely on foreign aid. It is in our government’s best interest to attain foreign direct investment as part of our broader strategy to fix up the economy.
Sri Lanka has been considered a paradise for tourists for many years, but our government is now also keen to make Sri Lanka an investor’s paradise. In order to do so, we are in the process of cultivating a rules-based investment climate, and I hope that American investors will take advantage of the many new economic opportunities now opening up in Sri Lanka. Later today, Secretary Kerry will call on President Sirisena have discussions with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and I believe that these discussions will provide an opportunity for both sides to understand their respective priorities, and that the discussions will also heighten our existing close and friendly relations.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Assistant Secretary Nisha Biswal for her unrelenting belief in Sri Lanka and its potential and for the support and encouragement we have received from her over the last few months. I hope there will be many more high-level visits to come, and today is just the beginning of a very, very special friendship between Sri Lanka and the United States of America.
I wish you, Secretary Kerry, and your delegation a pleasant stay in Sri Lanka, and hope that you will visit us again soon and that you may have the extra time to go around our beautiful island and see for yourself its natural beauty. Thank you very much, indeed. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you very much, Mr. Foreign Minister. Is this working?
FOREIGN MINISTER SAMARAWEERA: It is.
SECRETARY KERRY: Can you hear me all right? It’s an enormous pleasure for me to be here with my friend, my colleague, Foreign Minister Samaraweera. And I want to thank him for an extraordinarily generous welcome here today. Is this not working?
FOREIGN MINISTER SAMARAWEERA: It is.
SECRETARY KERRY: Is it working?
PARTICIPANT: Not working.
SECRETARY KERRY: Not working back there. It’s working here. Let me just say – we’ll plow through it – I think my voice is loud enough that you’ll be able to hear me and we’ll go through.
I want to thank the foreign minister for an extraordinarily generous – good? Mangala has given me a really generous and very personal welcome here today, and it is an historic moment, one that I’m very proud and pleased to be able to share with him. And I’m grateful for his friendship and for the invitation, which he offered me when he came to Washington, to come here today in order to renew the relationship between the United States of America and Sri Lanka.
This is a paradise, a very beautiful island nation. It has enormous assets, wonderful, extraordinary people, and great, great promise for the future. And I pledged to him and to his delegation here today that the United States wants to work with Sri Lankans and help in any way we can to shape the future that the people of Sri Lanka want.
The foreign minister and I last met in February in Washington, and today we talked about the enormous progress that Sri Lanka has made in just a few short months – and progress that can be measured: progress on restoring democratic institutions; progress on creating more accountable governance; the passage of the 19th amendment, in which the president kept his promise to reduce the powers of the presidency and move them more to the people through a broader sharing, is an example of that; progress in combatting corruption; and progress on reconciliation that can lead to a much more enduring peace and to shared prosperity for all Sri Lankans.
So I am very mindful that as I stand here in Sri Lanka, more than 10 years after the tsunami on December of 2004, so many people are suffering in Nepal from the devastating earthquake that struck one week ago. And I want to commend the government and the people of Sri Lanka for quickly sending response teams to Kathmandu. The United States is also mobilizing a major response, but it’s indication of the sensitivity of this government and its sense of responsibility and its desire to be a part of the world community that it responded so quickly.
It is tragedies like the Asian tsunami, of the Nepal earthquake – or the Nepal earthquake – that underscore our need to work together to support one another in times of crisis, yes, but also in times of opportunity. And this is a time of opportunity for Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka today, I think many of us see a moment of extraordinary promise. The foreign minister recently gave a rousing speech to parliament, and I was particular inspired by his statement that the true safeguarding of sovereignty can be achieved only by fulfilling our obligations to our people and by preserving and upholding the multiethnic, multilingual, multireligious nature of our society.
He emphasized as well the importance of working closely together with other countries and with international organizations. Already we have seen those words actually backed up by actions. That’s what makes this government important, and it’s what makes this government different. Sri Lanka is now playing a role on everything from maritime security and trade to cyber issues and climate change. And I am particularly grateful to the foreign minister for hosting an event on cybercrime and for taking steps to become the first country in South Asia to accede to the Budapest convention.
But I know that you also have a tremendous amount of work to do here at home. You are working on creating an enduring peace and you’re working on providing prosperity for all of your people. Many challenges and difficult decisions obviously still lie ahead, and we talked about many of them this morning. But one thing that struck me was the readiness of this government to open its doors and to open its minds to different ideas and to new and more effective and efficient ways of doing things.
One thing about this Sri Lankan Government seems very clear: the president and the prime minister and the foreign minister are not afraid of tackling tough issues. They’re willing to make difficult decisions and they are committed to keeping their promises. We’ve seen that with the 100-day Plan. And as the government heads into the parliamentary elections this summer, Sri Lankans will continue to rely on their tremendous leadership and commitment.
So I am here today because I want to say to the people of Sri Lanka that in this journey to restore your democracy the American people will stand with you. We intend to broaden and to deepen our partnership with you. And to that end, the foreign minister and I agreed to establish an annual partnership dialogue between our two governments. I’ve also asked teams from across our government to mobilize quickly in order to provide technical assistance as the Government of Sri Lanka embraces these important reforms. And we will soon have members of that team from the Treasury Department and from the Commerce Department come here in order to work with the government on the economic measures that could be taken to provide for greater investment and greater growth. And as you know, President Obama recently nominated one of our most talented Foreign Serviceofficers – Atul Keshap – to be our ambassador to Sri Lanka.
So Mangala, thank you again for a very generous welcome. These are very important days here in Sri Lanka. And all of us need to rely on each other and we need to work together cooperatively. That’s exactly how we’re going to forge a stronger friendship, and that’s also how we’re going to forge a stronger partnership and an even better future for both of our countries.
What strikes me about Sri Lanka and the United States – and it got lost in the last years – is that the truth is we want the same thing for our people. We actually share the same values. We have the same aspirations for better jobs, for education, for health, for prosperity, for peace, for stability, for reconciliation. Those are the things that bring us together; that’s what brings me here today. And I’m very proud to be here to help renew the partnership and the friendship between the people of the United States and the people of Sri Lanka. Thank you, my friend.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH SYRIAN OPPOSITION COUNCIL PRESIDENT KHOJA
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Syrian Opposition Council President Khaled Khoja
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 30, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. I’m very pleased to welcome the president of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, President Khoja. And we’re very happy to be able to talk today about, obviously, a very compelling and tragic situation.
The situation on the ground in Syria and in the communities around it is simply unsustainable, catastrophic. It has a profound impact – negative – on each of the surrounding communities, particularly Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, but especially on the people of Syria. Three quarters of the population of Syria is now displaced people – and many of them, at least half, internally within Syria itself. Whole communities have been destroyed. Children, innocent medical personnel, women have barrel bombs dropped on them from the sky. This is a regime that has lost all sense of any kind of responsibility to its own people, and that is why there must be a transition from the Assad regime towards a government that represents all the people and can repair this extraordinary damage to Syria, unite the country, protect all minorities, and provide a legitimate future.
The other part of the problem is that as Assad is busy destroying the country in his own interests, he is enabling and attracting terrorists to the country who are having a further negative impact on the region. That’s why he has lost all legitimacy with respect to his ability to be able to be a part of the long-term future of the country.
So we will talk about this today. The Syrian opposition continues to fight difficult odds. They have agreed to be part of UN talks that will take place over the course of the next weeks and month. And we very much hope that in the immediate days ahead, that people will be able to find a new path by which to create an outcome that will restore the secular, united nature of Syria and be able to prevent this extraordinary humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding before the world’s eyes.
So, Mr. President, I welcome you here, delighted to have you, and I look forward to our conversation.
PRESIDENT KHOJA: (Via interpreter) I am here to thank the United States for its continued support to the Syrian people in its endeavor to achieve its – to realize its goals to freedom, democracy, and pluralism. The U.S. has given the Syrian people an excess of $3 billion in assistance and it has stood by the Syrian coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. I will be discussing with the Secretary of State the latest developments in Syria with regards to – on the political and military levels, and we are here also to ask the assistance of the U.S. in establishing safe havens in liberated areas. As Mr. Secretary has pointed out, President Assad has no legitimacy and he is not part of the future of Syria. And for that reason he needs to be prosecuted and subjected to fair trial for the crimes he has committed against the Syrian people.
Once again, I would like to thank the Secretary for this opportunity. Thank you.
Remarks With Syrian Opposition Council President Khaled Khoja
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 30, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. I’m very pleased to welcome the president of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, President Khoja. And we’re very happy to be able to talk today about, obviously, a very compelling and tragic situation.
The situation on the ground in Syria and in the communities around it is simply unsustainable, catastrophic. It has a profound impact – negative – on each of the surrounding communities, particularly Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, but especially on the people of Syria. Three quarters of the population of Syria is now displaced people – and many of them, at least half, internally within Syria itself. Whole communities have been destroyed. Children, innocent medical personnel, women have barrel bombs dropped on them from the sky. This is a regime that has lost all sense of any kind of responsibility to its own people, and that is why there must be a transition from the Assad regime towards a government that represents all the people and can repair this extraordinary damage to Syria, unite the country, protect all minorities, and provide a legitimate future.
The other part of the problem is that as Assad is busy destroying the country in his own interests, he is enabling and attracting terrorists to the country who are having a further negative impact on the region. That’s why he has lost all legitimacy with respect to his ability to be able to be a part of the long-term future of the country.
So we will talk about this today. The Syrian opposition continues to fight difficult odds. They have agreed to be part of UN talks that will take place over the course of the next weeks and month. And we very much hope that in the immediate days ahead, that people will be able to find a new path by which to create an outcome that will restore the secular, united nature of Syria and be able to prevent this extraordinary humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding before the world’s eyes.
So, Mr. President, I welcome you here, delighted to have you, and I look forward to our conversation.
PRESIDENT KHOJA: (Via interpreter) I am here to thank the United States for its continued support to the Syrian people in its endeavor to achieve its – to realize its goals to freedom, democracy, and pluralism. The U.S. has given the Syrian people an excess of $3 billion in assistance and it has stood by the Syrian coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. I will be discussing with the Secretary of State the latest developments in Syria with regards to – on the political and military levels, and we are here also to ask the assistance of the U.S. in establishing safe havens in liberated areas. As Mr. Secretary has pointed out, President Assad has no legitimacy and he is not part of the future of Syria. And for that reason he needs to be prosecuted and subjected to fair trial for the crimes he has committed against the Syrian people.
Once again, I would like to thank the Secretary for this opportunity. Thank you.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH EU HIGH REPRESENTATIVE MOGHERINI
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With EU High Representative Federica Mogherini
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 29, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. I am pleased to welcome the EU High Representative, Federica Mogherini, who is a key player in any number of priorities that we are engaged in right now, and a good friend. And I’m very, very appreciative for her contributions on any number of things that we’re working on. First of all, she is facilitating on behalf of the EU and the UN our meetings when we gather to try to work through the Iran nuclear negotiations. Perhaps more importantly immediately in terms of the challenges that we face, we are working together on Libya, which is at a critical moment where we believe that diplomacy is really being put to the test. And the EU, with the migrant situation, is particularly seized of this issue. And I appreciate Federica’s leadership and efforts to try to help galvanize some kind of diplomatic conference/meeting that can create a government under the UN mandate and begin to provide the stability that the people of Libya deserve and that the region needs in significant ways right now.
In addition, we are coordinating on the Mideast; we are coordinating with respect to Syria, humanitarian issues. We have the challenges, of course, of Ukraine. And here the EU is again critical to the sanctions regime that is essential to helping to impress on Russia the need to fully implement the Minsk agreements. There are some very important choices coming up in the next months regarding the continuation of the sanctions regime. It’s a critical moment for Russia to help implement that agreement fully. Right now there appear to be different views as to what the interpretation of the political requirements are. So we will be very engaged with the EU in working going forward with respect to the Minsk implementation.
So as you can see, with Yemen, with other issues, there is no end to the need for major EU-U.S. and other country coordination, and we’re very grateful to Federica for her leadership and for her willingness to be a key partner in helping to provide some solutions to these very thorny, tricky, complicated issues. So thank you for being here.
HIGH REPRESENTATIVE MOGHERINI: Thank you very much. It’s great to be back. It’s great to meet again and continue our work on all the issues you mentioned that are top priorities for the United States, as they are top priorities for the European Union. It is essential to us to work on this last mile of negotiations with Iran, and I am honored to facilitate to get an agreement that can improve the security of the region and of the entire world. And I would like to thank you personally for your leadership in this. It is essential in these times for the European Union to work together on saving lives of desperate people that are looking for a better future, fighting against the trafficking and smuggling of people, especially across the Mediterranean, in partnership with the UN, with the African Union, with the Arab countries, and also on the root causes of this, that in the end of the day are the many crises and wars we have around the region. We know as Europeans we live in one of the most complicated and dangerous places in the world today. We know we have a special responsibility in trying to prevent and face this crisis. We count on our cooperation, our strong friendship to do it more and more together as we’ve been doing in these months and years. And I thank you very much for welcoming here again.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, Federica.
HIGH REPRESENTATIVE MOGHERINI: It’s great to be back.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much. Thank you all.
Remarks With EU High Representative Federica Mogherini
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 29, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. I am pleased to welcome the EU High Representative, Federica Mogherini, who is a key player in any number of priorities that we are engaged in right now, and a good friend. And I’m very, very appreciative for her contributions on any number of things that we’re working on. First of all, she is facilitating on behalf of the EU and the UN our meetings when we gather to try to work through the Iran nuclear negotiations. Perhaps more importantly immediately in terms of the challenges that we face, we are working together on Libya, which is at a critical moment where we believe that diplomacy is really being put to the test. And the EU, with the migrant situation, is particularly seized of this issue. And I appreciate Federica’s leadership and efforts to try to help galvanize some kind of diplomatic conference/meeting that can create a government under the UN mandate and begin to provide the stability that the people of Libya deserve and that the region needs in significant ways right now.
In addition, we are coordinating on the Mideast; we are coordinating with respect to Syria, humanitarian issues. We have the challenges, of course, of Ukraine. And here the EU is again critical to the sanctions regime that is essential to helping to impress on Russia the need to fully implement the Minsk agreements. There are some very important choices coming up in the next months regarding the continuation of the sanctions regime. It’s a critical moment for Russia to help implement that agreement fully. Right now there appear to be different views as to what the interpretation of the political requirements are. So we will be very engaged with the EU in working going forward with respect to the Minsk implementation.
So as you can see, with Yemen, with other issues, there is no end to the need for major EU-U.S. and other country coordination, and we’re very grateful to Federica for her leadership and for her willingness to be a key partner in helping to provide some solutions to these very thorny, tricky, complicated issues. So thank you for being here.
HIGH REPRESENTATIVE MOGHERINI: Thank you very much. It’s great to be back. It’s great to meet again and continue our work on all the issues you mentioned that are top priorities for the United States, as they are top priorities for the European Union. It is essential to us to work on this last mile of negotiations with Iran, and I am honored to facilitate to get an agreement that can improve the security of the region and of the entire world. And I would like to thank you personally for your leadership in this. It is essential in these times for the European Union to work together on saving lives of desperate people that are looking for a better future, fighting against the trafficking and smuggling of people, especially across the Mediterranean, in partnership with the UN, with the African Union, with the Arab countries, and also on the root causes of this, that in the end of the day are the many crises and wars we have around the region. We know as Europeans we live in one of the most complicated and dangerous places in the world today. We know we have a special responsibility in trying to prevent and face this crisis. We count on our cooperation, our strong friendship to do it more and more together as we’ve been doing in these months and years. And I thank you very much for welcoming here again.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, Federica.
HIGH REPRESENTATIVE MOGHERINI: It’s great to be back.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much. Thank you all.
JAPAN TO HAVE GREATER INTERNATIONAL ROLE
Right: U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, far right, and U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, second from right, shake hands with Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, far left, and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida after a joint press conference in New York City, April 27, 2015. DoD screen shot.
Carter: U.S, Japan Defense Guidelines ‘Break New Ground’
By Jim Garamone
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
NEW YORK, April 27, 2015 – American and Japanese national security leaders unveiled the new guidelines for U.S.-Japan defense cooperation today, saying the new rules will promote peace and stability not only in the region, but worldwide.
Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Fumio Kishida and Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani announced the results of the Security Consultative Committee meeting here today.
Known as the “2-plus-2” meetings, the discussions covered all aspects of the U.S.-Japanese alliance, but the revision of the defense guidelines -- the first since 1997 -- took precedence.
The guidelines lay out how the United States and Japan will work together, and come after the Japanese government reinterpreted their constitution to allow a greater international role, including greater military cooperation.
Japanese leaders see the guidelines as strengthening the U.S. rebalance to the Asia-Pacific. “Though we live in different hemispheres, at opposite ends of the globe, the United States could ask for no better friend and ally than Japan,” Kerry said during a news conference.
He added that the U.S. alliance with Japan has been the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in Asia since the end of World War II.
“The guidelines will enhance Japan’s security, deter threats and contribute to regional peace and stability,” the secretary of state said. “The United States and Japan stand together in calling for disputes in the region to be resolved peacefully. We reject any suggestion that freedom of navigation, overflight and other lawful uses of the sea and airspace are privileges granted by big states to small ones.”
Guidelines Fit Japan’s Expanded Role
Carter stressed that the revisions were a necessary process, given how much has changed in the world since 1997. Both the United States and Japan have new capabilities, and new threats have emerged, including a whole new domain of warfare in cyberspace, he said.
“The Asia-Pacific region has changed,” the defense secretary said. “Its weight in world affairs has increased, and that is reflected in the U.S. rebalance to the Asia-Pacific including its expression in our own defense capabilities.”
Carter noted that Japan is taking on a bigger role in world affairs. “These guidelines allow us to modernize the U.S.-Japan alliance at the same time, by breaking new ground on existing areas of military cooperation and helping us open new areas of military cooperation both in the Asia-Pacific and around the globe,” he said.
Carter and Nakatani will continue their consultations in Washington tomorrow with discussion on establishing a bilateral space cooperation working group. “The approval of the defense guidelines mark an important step in the rebalance’s next phase,” Carter said. “There will be many more.”
Kishida said through an interpreter that the revisions reflect “the enhancement of solidarity and the expansion of cooperation between Japan and the United States.”
The guidelines are the logical outgrowth of Japan’s new policy of “proactive contribution to peace based on the principle of international cooperation and the rebalance policy on the U.S. side,” the foreign minister said. “The new guidelines will enhance synergies of both policies.”
Other Business
Other business in the meetings included the U.S. affirmation that the Senkaku Islands are territories of Japan and fall under the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security.
They also stressed the importance of cooperation in ballistic missile defense. This includes basing two more U.S. ballistic missile defense destroyers in Japan and continuing deployment of a second X-band radar in the country.
The two sides discussed ways to expand tri-lateral and multi-lateral cooperation. This includes Australia and South Korea and the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The ministers also talked about the realignment of U.S. forces based in Japan including relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on the island of Okinawa.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH PORTUGUESE MINISTER OF STATE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS RUI MACHETE
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Portuguese Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Rui Machete
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 21, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. Bom dia. It’s my pleasure to welcome Foreign Minister Machete here back to Washington, and I’m delighted to be able to have a chance to talk with him about important issues between our countries.
Portugal, as everybody knows, is an old and firm ally of the United States, a NATO ally. And we’re particularly grateful for Portugal’s many efforts of global responsibility, not the least of which now are their support in the coalition against ISIL, their commitment to counterterrorism, their support for sanctions with respect to the Russian activities in Ukraine and our efforts to try to implement the Minsk agreement, which we all believe will help to quiet things down and stabilize the region and be good for everybody. We also are grateful for their support for our efforts in Iraq. And there is a very significant effort by Portugal to exercise responsibility towards the environment, towards the oceans, particularly the Gulf of Guinea.
So we appreciate it – that leadership – very much. And I know recently Portugal, like other countries in Europe, has been making difficult economic choices. And I want to congratulate Portugal on the fact that it is growing. We want to see that continue. We have high hopes, but we welcome you here. So thank you very much. We’re happy to have you here.
FOREIGN MINISTER MACHETE: Thank you very much. For me, it’s a great pleasure to come back to Washington and to see John Kerry again. We will have to talk about important international issues such as terrorism, Iran and the nuclear negotiations, and to congratulate John Kerry by the results and the negotiable – strong-willed stand in which – with which he led the negotiations, with of course the problems of the Middle East and terrorism.
And we have to talk about the bilateral problems we have on agenda. We have some difficulties to settle, but they are not – this is natural among allies. So we expect to have a good conversation. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. Welcome. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
Remarks With Portuguese Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Rui Machete
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 21, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. Bom dia. It’s my pleasure to welcome Foreign Minister Machete here back to Washington, and I’m delighted to be able to have a chance to talk with him about important issues between our countries.
Portugal, as everybody knows, is an old and firm ally of the United States, a NATO ally. And we’re particularly grateful for Portugal’s many efforts of global responsibility, not the least of which now are their support in the coalition against ISIL, their commitment to counterterrorism, their support for sanctions with respect to the Russian activities in Ukraine and our efforts to try to implement the Minsk agreement, which we all believe will help to quiet things down and stabilize the region and be good for everybody. We also are grateful for their support for our efforts in Iraq. And there is a very significant effort by Portugal to exercise responsibility towards the environment, towards the oceans, particularly the Gulf of Guinea.
So we appreciate it – that leadership – very much. And I know recently Portugal, like other countries in Europe, has been making difficult economic choices. And I want to congratulate Portugal on the fact that it is growing. We want to see that continue. We have high hopes, but we welcome you here. So thank you very much. We’re happy to have you here.
FOREIGN MINISTER MACHETE: Thank you very much. For me, it’s a great pleasure to come back to Washington and to see John Kerry again. We will have to talk about important international issues such as terrorism, Iran and the nuclear negotiations, and to congratulate John Kerry by the results and the negotiable – strong-willed stand in which – with which he led the negotiations, with of course the problems of the Middle East and terrorism.
And we have to talk about the bilateral problems we have on agenda. We have some difficulties to settle, but they are not – this is natural among allies. So we expect to have a good conversation. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. Welcome. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH FORMER LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER HARIRI
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 22, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good morning, everybody. It’s my pleasure to welcome to Washington and to the State Department the former prime minister of Lebanon and a good friend personally. Each time that I have gone to Beirut, almost every time, I’ve had occasion to be able to visit with Saad Hariri. And he has worked for moderation and for thoughtful political compromise to try to move this country forward. He’s worked through very difficult challenges, obviously.
And we’re particularly, here in the United States, committed to Lebanon’s stability and security. We’re anxious to see the presidency ultimately filled and to try to see the effects of Daesh and Nusrah and Syria moved away from Lebanon so that Lebanon can really have its sovereignty respected and its future protected and guaranteed.
So we have a lot to talk about, because right now, there are some 1.2 million refugees who have spilled over from Syria into Lebanon that destabilizes the country. We are very opposed to entities like Hizballah and others using locations and places in Lebanon and nearby as pawns in this struggle. And we call on Iran and the Assad regime and others to respect the integrity of Lebanon, and permit it and its people to be able to find the peace and the stability that they have longed for so long.
So we have a lot to talk about, and I’m very, very happy to welcome the former prime minister here. I know he remains very active and is very important to the politics of his country. And we will continue to support the Lebanese Armed Forces and the forces of moderation and those who want to work together peacefully to provide the future that the people of Lebanon deserve.
Welcome.
MR. HARIRI: Thank you. I want to thank you, Mr. Secretary, for having me here. Yes, we do have a lot to talk about. Lebanon is living a very difficult time. The region also is in a very, very dangerous time also, I would say. The involvement of certain factions like Hizballah in Iran also – and in Lebanon or in Syria or in Iraq or in Yemen has grown to a point that is extremely dangerous. We believe that Iran has a good – a country that we all need to deal with, and we believe that interfering into Lebanon is not something that we would like as Lebanese people.
I would like to thank you for the support of the Lebanese army. This is something that we try to always help, because this is the basic of our security. We’re facing Daesh; we’re facing Nusrah; we’re facing al-Qaida on our borders. We have 1.2 million refugees, like you said, and we need to elect a president. So hopefully, we’ll have some good talks. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Look forward to it. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you very much, folks. Thank you.
Remarks With Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 22, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good morning, everybody. It’s my pleasure to welcome to Washington and to the State Department the former prime minister of Lebanon and a good friend personally. Each time that I have gone to Beirut, almost every time, I’ve had occasion to be able to visit with Saad Hariri. And he has worked for moderation and for thoughtful political compromise to try to move this country forward. He’s worked through very difficult challenges, obviously.
And we’re particularly, here in the United States, committed to Lebanon’s stability and security. We’re anxious to see the presidency ultimately filled and to try to see the effects of Daesh and Nusrah and Syria moved away from Lebanon so that Lebanon can really have its sovereignty respected and its future protected and guaranteed.
So we have a lot to talk about, because right now, there are some 1.2 million refugees who have spilled over from Syria into Lebanon that destabilizes the country. We are very opposed to entities like Hizballah and others using locations and places in Lebanon and nearby as pawns in this struggle. And we call on Iran and the Assad regime and others to respect the integrity of Lebanon, and permit it and its people to be able to find the peace and the stability that they have longed for so long.
So we have a lot to talk about, and I’m very, very happy to welcome the former prime minister here. I know he remains very active and is very important to the politics of his country. And we will continue to support the Lebanese Armed Forces and the forces of moderation and those who want to work together peacefully to provide the future that the people of Lebanon deserve.
Welcome.
MR. HARIRI: Thank you. I want to thank you, Mr. Secretary, for having me here. Yes, we do have a lot to talk about. Lebanon is living a very difficult time. The region also is in a very, very dangerous time also, I would say. The involvement of certain factions like Hizballah in Iran also – and in Lebanon or in Syria or in Iraq or in Yemen has grown to a point that is extremely dangerous. We believe that Iran has a good – a country that we all need to deal with, and we believe that interfering into Lebanon is not something that we would like as Lebanese people.
I would like to thank you for the support of the Lebanese army. This is something that we try to always help, because this is the basic of our security. We’re facing Daesh; we’re facing Nusrah; we’re facing al-Qaida on our borders. We have 1.2 million refugees, like you said, and we need to elect a president. So hopefully, we’ll have some good talks. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Look forward to it. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you very much, folks. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH TURKISH MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, MEVLUT CAVUSOGLU
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 21, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good afternoon, everybody. And I’m delighted to welcome this afternoon to Washington my friend and my colleague, Mevlut Cavusoglu. We run into each other in a lot of different places. Probably this is the longest gap we’ve had in the last few months. But I’m very, very delighted to welcome him here to Washington in the full bloom of springtime.
We are about to begin a meeting with a very typical U.S.-Turkey agenda which covers a vast range of security, political, and economic issues.
We’re going to talk, for example, about the Iran nuclear negotiation, including both the progress that was made at Lausanne and the urgency of working out the final details for a comprehensive plan and clarity about the road forward if we do that with respect to the security interests of the region, which everybody shares concerns about.
Neither the United States nor Turkey believe that it would be acceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, just as we are also united in our concern about Tehran’s support for activities in the region which can be disruptive and destabilizing, and particularly any kind of support for terrorism or other kinds of destabilizing activities.
Counterterrorism in general will be high on our list of discussion today. Mevlut and I met just three months ago at the Counter-ISIL Ministerial in London. And since then, ISIL – or Daesh as many people know it – has suffered numerous setbacks. But much remains to be done, and we’re aware of that and we are committed to doing it. We’re committed to doing everything necessary to push Daesh out of Iraq and ultimately out of Syria or any other place where it seeks a foothold for terror.
Now, much will be done over the course of these next months, and we will be discussing that. But it is obvious that Daesh’s forces are under increasing strain, its leadership has been degraded, its finances have been squeezed, and its hateful ideology has been discredited. Now Turkey – Turkey has been – excuse me – has been and remains a very essential partner in all of these efforts and it is co-chair of the Coalition’s Working Group on Foreign Terrorist Fighters. And that convened just earlier this month in Ankara.
As Daesh has weakened, it has become more dependent on new recruits, which means that we have to redouble our efforts to persuade – and if necessary to prevent – young people from making the fatal mistake of signing up and then traveling to and trying to cross the border into Syria. Turkey is stepping up its efforts by improving screening procedures, expanding and implementing a “no entry list,” detaining suspected terrorists. In February, the Turkish Government also agreed to host a U.S.-led train and equip mission for the members of the vetted Syrian opposition.
On the humanitarian front, our ally is also hosting nearly two million refugees now, creating a huge economic burden and a social burden also on Turkey. The United States is grateful for Turkey’s generosity and is urging international donors to help address the refugee needs, including access to health care, education, and employment. In the past four years, the United States has contributed more than $3.7 billion in order to provide aid to the region, including more than a quarter of a billion to support relief efforts in Turkey specifically.
Now meanwhile, I am personally looking forward to my visit next month to Turkey for the NATO ministerial in Antalya, which is a city with a booming economy and a fascinating history, with mountains on one side, the Mediterranean on the other, and Turkish hospitality everywhere. It’s sure to provide a very inspiring setting for our review of NATO priorities. And one of those priorities is Russian aggression against Ukraine in the east, and the threat that is posed by violent extremists to NATO’s south, where Turkey’s contributions are especially important.
Now, I want to emphasize this afternoon the importance of the ties between the United States and Turkey, and particularly the security relationship at this particular moment. Turkey is playing a very important role in Afghanistan as part of Operation Resolute Support. It is protecting NATO’s southern flank with its patrols in the Black Sea, and it’s been making important contributions in Iraq.
I will resume my conversations this afternoon with the foreign minister on such issues as the failed leadership of Assad in Syria, the conflict in Yemen, and the ongoing problems in Libya, including the tragic death this week of hundreds of migrants at sea. The foreign minister and I will also be talking about energy security, which is critical to the geostrategic interests of the entire region.
Last month a consortium of partners broke ground on the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline, the longest segment of the planned southern corridor that would bring gas from the Caspian through Turkey and into Europe. My government thinks it is absolutely essential to complete the southern corridor and also the transatlantic pipeline – the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which will connect to Greece, Albania, and Italy, and strengthen energy diversity in Europe, including with possible lines up to a place like Bulgaria or elsewhere.
Cyprus is also on our agenda here today. The United States and Turkey both support the UN-led negotiations to reunify the island as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation. Now, this is a problem that just has gone on for far too long, and it is begging for international efforts to try to help bring about a resolution, a lasting settlement. We hope together – and I talked with Mevlut’s predecessor, Ahmet Davutoglu, at great length about this, now the prime minister – we believe that the parties can make real and lasting progress in the year 2015. And that would be very positive for the region, and obviously a terrific boost in opportunity for a better life for all Cypriots.
As I’ve often said, foreign policy and economic policy are absolutely inseparable, and this is reflected in the U.S.-Turkey relationship. This coming November, leaders from around the world will assemble in Antalya for the annual summit of the G-20. And Turkey is currently serving as president of that meeting. In the past decade, the U.S.-Turkey trade has doubled, and I’m confident that we can and we will do a lot more in the future in order to strengthen our commercial ties.
Let me just say that the United States and Turkey are at our best when we are working to strengthen our democracies, including the fundamental rights and responsibilities that are enshrined in both of our nation’s constitutions, such as free speech and an independent press and judiciary. So as always, when representatives of the United States and Turkey get together, we are obviously going to have a very full plate of issues to discuss this afternoon.
And I’m pleased now to yield the floor to my friend and my colleague, the foreign minister of Turkey, Mevlut.
FOREIGN MINISTER CAVUSOGLU: Thank you so much, John. Ladies and gentlemen, I have the pleasure to be in Washington, D.C. and the State Department upon the kind invitation of Secretary and my dear friend John Kerry. And we are at a critical time for our region – our region in Middle East and also in Ukraine, and also around the Black Sea. And Turkish-American strategic relations are more indispensable today than ever.
As my dear friend John Kerry mentioned, during our bilateral meeting we will extensively discuss a number of important issues on our common agenda. Besides the bilateral issues – trade and economic cooperation and the political – to further deepening and strengthening our political affairs and cooperation, we will take up the situation in Yemen and Syria, Iraq, and the threat posed by (inaudible) terrorist organization Daesh. And we will focus on concrete steps for taking our operational cooperation on these issues even further. And the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and Crimea and Cyprus are also on our plates.
And we want to reach a last solution in Cyprus in this year. And as special advisor of United Nations, Secretary General Eide, mentioned the talks can restart or resume after the elections in Turkish Cyprus. And we are hoping to reach a solution within 2015, and we have the political will. Turkey and Turkish Cypriots have the political will for a solution, and they are – we are waiting at the negotiating table. Here, United States role – active role and involvement is very important. And we see this will in the United States and in the State Department and as well as in White House. And thanks to the efforts and the support of United States, we can finally reach a last and fair solution in Cyprus.
Of course, energy security and fight against terrorism is also on our agenda. And regarding the fight against terrorism, first we need to eradicate and we need to fight Daesh and other terrorist organizations on the ground, particularly in Syria and Iraq. And we need to also stop foreign terrorist fighters flow, and Turkey is one of the transit country for foreign fighters. We have been doing our best to stop them, and we have included more than 12,800 people into the no-entry list and we caught and deported 1,300 foreign fighters. But the source countries should also do their best to spot and to stop the foreign fighters before they leave those source countries.
And we need better cooperation. We need timely information sharing and also intelligence. And our cooperation regarding the foreign fighters with United States I can say excellent, and we can further improve, of course, this cooperation. And I appreciate the determination of the United States on our fight with foreign fighters and foreign fighter flows to Syria.
And Turkey and the United States are the two countries with important comparative advantages. This is what makes our partnership unique and valuable. In the past, we have proved that by working together on any common vision, our two countries can overcome any challenges. That is why I am confident that we can continue our significant contributions to the international peace and security by working together in close cooperation and coordination. Our meeting today will give us the opportunity to confirm our mutual determination and deepen our cooperation on all these issues through concrete steps.
Iran nuclear deal is also on the agenda, and first of all Turkey welcomes the tentative deal with Iran. And I appreciate Secretary Kerry for his tireless efforts and personal contribution to these achievements. And Turkey always for a political solution and we will be supporting the process. And we hope that by the end of June there will be a comprehensive deal, and I’m sure my dear friend Secretary Kerry will continue playing his important role to make that deal with Iran. We know that it is not easy, but we shouldn’t underestimate the achievements that are made, but we have to also be realistic that we have to do a lot more for the comprehensive settlement.
And I would like to also personally thank John Kerry for informing me. He kept me informed during all this process. He often called me and he updated me about the developments regarding this Iran nuclear deal. Turkey is against nuclear weapons. Turkey had never intention to have nuclear weapons, and Turkey is against that Iran might have – or Iran’s intention to have nuclear weapon, or Turkey is against nuclear weapons in our neighborhood. Therefore, we will continue giving our full support to this process.
Well, we have many issues to discuss in the room (inaudible), and once again, I would like to thank John Kerry for the kind invitation. I’m looking forward to hosting him in three weeks’ time in Antalya, my hometown. I brought some nice weather from Antalya today to Washington, D.C., but in three weeks’ time, we will have – we will also enjoy the beauty of Antalya as you described, John. Thank you very much once again. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all very much.
Remarks With Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 21, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good afternoon, everybody. And I’m delighted to welcome this afternoon to Washington my friend and my colleague, Mevlut Cavusoglu. We run into each other in a lot of different places. Probably this is the longest gap we’ve had in the last few months. But I’m very, very delighted to welcome him here to Washington in the full bloom of springtime.
We are about to begin a meeting with a very typical U.S.-Turkey agenda which covers a vast range of security, political, and economic issues.
We’re going to talk, for example, about the Iran nuclear negotiation, including both the progress that was made at Lausanne and the urgency of working out the final details for a comprehensive plan and clarity about the road forward if we do that with respect to the security interests of the region, which everybody shares concerns about.
Neither the United States nor Turkey believe that it would be acceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, just as we are also united in our concern about Tehran’s support for activities in the region which can be disruptive and destabilizing, and particularly any kind of support for terrorism or other kinds of destabilizing activities.
Counterterrorism in general will be high on our list of discussion today. Mevlut and I met just three months ago at the Counter-ISIL Ministerial in London. And since then, ISIL – or Daesh as many people know it – has suffered numerous setbacks. But much remains to be done, and we’re aware of that and we are committed to doing it. We’re committed to doing everything necessary to push Daesh out of Iraq and ultimately out of Syria or any other place where it seeks a foothold for terror.
Now, much will be done over the course of these next months, and we will be discussing that. But it is obvious that Daesh’s forces are under increasing strain, its leadership has been degraded, its finances have been squeezed, and its hateful ideology has been discredited. Now Turkey – Turkey has been – excuse me – has been and remains a very essential partner in all of these efforts and it is co-chair of the Coalition’s Working Group on Foreign Terrorist Fighters. And that convened just earlier this month in Ankara.
As Daesh has weakened, it has become more dependent on new recruits, which means that we have to redouble our efforts to persuade – and if necessary to prevent – young people from making the fatal mistake of signing up and then traveling to and trying to cross the border into Syria. Turkey is stepping up its efforts by improving screening procedures, expanding and implementing a “no entry list,” detaining suspected terrorists. In February, the Turkish Government also agreed to host a U.S.-led train and equip mission for the members of the vetted Syrian opposition.
On the humanitarian front, our ally is also hosting nearly two million refugees now, creating a huge economic burden and a social burden also on Turkey. The United States is grateful for Turkey’s generosity and is urging international donors to help address the refugee needs, including access to health care, education, and employment. In the past four years, the United States has contributed more than $3.7 billion in order to provide aid to the region, including more than a quarter of a billion to support relief efforts in Turkey specifically.
Now meanwhile, I am personally looking forward to my visit next month to Turkey for the NATO ministerial in Antalya, which is a city with a booming economy and a fascinating history, with mountains on one side, the Mediterranean on the other, and Turkish hospitality everywhere. It’s sure to provide a very inspiring setting for our review of NATO priorities. And one of those priorities is Russian aggression against Ukraine in the east, and the threat that is posed by violent extremists to NATO’s south, where Turkey’s contributions are especially important.
Now, I want to emphasize this afternoon the importance of the ties between the United States and Turkey, and particularly the security relationship at this particular moment. Turkey is playing a very important role in Afghanistan as part of Operation Resolute Support. It is protecting NATO’s southern flank with its patrols in the Black Sea, and it’s been making important contributions in Iraq.
I will resume my conversations this afternoon with the foreign minister on such issues as the failed leadership of Assad in Syria, the conflict in Yemen, and the ongoing problems in Libya, including the tragic death this week of hundreds of migrants at sea. The foreign minister and I will also be talking about energy security, which is critical to the geostrategic interests of the entire region.
Last month a consortium of partners broke ground on the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline, the longest segment of the planned southern corridor that would bring gas from the Caspian through Turkey and into Europe. My government thinks it is absolutely essential to complete the southern corridor and also the transatlantic pipeline – the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which will connect to Greece, Albania, and Italy, and strengthen energy diversity in Europe, including with possible lines up to a place like Bulgaria or elsewhere.
Cyprus is also on our agenda here today. The United States and Turkey both support the UN-led negotiations to reunify the island as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation. Now, this is a problem that just has gone on for far too long, and it is begging for international efforts to try to help bring about a resolution, a lasting settlement. We hope together – and I talked with Mevlut’s predecessor, Ahmet Davutoglu, at great length about this, now the prime minister – we believe that the parties can make real and lasting progress in the year 2015. And that would be very positive for the region, and obviously a terrific boost in opportunity for a better life for all Cypriots.
As I’ve often said, foreign policy and economic policy are absolutely inseparable, and this is reflected in the U.S.-Turkey relationship. This coming November, leaders from around the world will assemble in Antalya for the annual summit of the G-20. And Turkey is currently serving as president of that meeting. In the past decade, the U.S.-Turkey trade has doubled, and I’m confident that we can and we will do a lot more in the future in order to strengthen our commercial ties.
Let me just say that the United States and Turkey are at our best when we are working to strengthen our democracies, including the fundamental rights and responsibilities that are enshrined in both of our nation’s constitutions, such as free speech and an independent press and judiciary. So as always, when representatives of the United States and Turkey get together, we are obviously going to have a very full plate of issues to discuss this afternoon.
And I’m pleased now to yield the floor to my friend and my colleague, the foreign minister of Turkey, Mevlut.
FOREIGN MINISTER CAVUSOGLU: Thank you so much, John. Ladies and gentlemen, I have the pleasure to be in Washington, D.C. and the State Department upon the kind invitation of Secretary and my dear friend John Kerry. And we are at a critical time for our region – our region in Middle East and also in Ukraine, and also around the Black Sea. And Turkish-American strategic relations are more indispensable today than ever.
As my dear friend John Kerry mentioned, during our bilateral meeting we will extensively discuss a number of important issues on our common agenda. Besides the bilateral issues – trade and economic cooperation and the political – to further deepening and strengthening our political affairs and cooperation, we will take up the situation in Yemen and Syria, Iraq, and the threat posed by (inaudible) terrorist organization Daesh. And we will focus on concrete steps for taking our operational cooperation on these issues even further. And the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and Crimea and Cyprus are also on our plates.
And we want to reach a last solution in Cyprus in this year. And as special advisor of United Nations, Secretary General Eide, mentioned the talks can restart or resume after the elections in Turkish Cyprus. And we are hoping to reach a solution within 2015, and we have the political will. Turkey and Turkish Cypriots have the political will for a solution, and they are – we are waiting at the negotiating table. Here, United States role – active role and involvement is very important. And we see this will in the United States and in the State Department and as well as in White House. And thanks to the efforts and the support of United States, we can finally reach a last and fair solution in Cyprus.
Of course, energy security and fight against terrorism is also on our agenda. And regarding the fight against terrorism, first we need to eradicate and we need to fight Daesh and other terrorist organizations on the ground, particularly in Syria and Iraq. And we need to also stop foreign terrorist fighters flow, and Turkey is one of the transit country for foreign fighters. We have been doing our best to stop them, and we have included more than 12,800 people into the no-entry list and we caught and deported 1,300 foreign fighters. But the source countries should also do their best to spot and to stop the foreign fighters before they leave those source countries.
And we need better cooperation. We need timely information sharing and also intelligence. And our cooperation regarding the foreign fighters with United States I can say excellent, and we can further improve, of course, this cooperation. And I appreciate the determination of the United States on our fight with foreign fighters and foreign fighter flows to Syria.
And Turkey and the United States are the two countries with important comparative advantages. This is what makes our partnership unique and valuable. In the past, we have proved that by working together on any common vision, our two countries can overcome any challenges. That is why I am confident that we can continue our significant contributions to the international peace and security by working together in close cooperation and coordination. Our meeting today will give us the opportunity to confirm our mutual determination and deepen our cooperation on all these issues through concrete steps.
Iran nuclear deal is also on the agenda, and first of all Turkey welcomes the tentative deal with Iran. And I appreciate Secretary Kerry for his tireless efforts and personal contribution to these achievements. And Turkey always for a political solution and we will be supporting the process. And we hope that by the end of June there will be a comprehensive deal, and I’m sure my dear friend Secretary Kerry will continue playing his important role to make that deal with Iran. We know that it is not easy, but we shouldn’t underestimate the achievements that are made, but we have to also be realistic that we have to do a lot more for the comprehensive settlement.
And I would like to also personally thank John Kerry for informing me. He kept me informed during all this process. He often called me and he updated me about the developments regarding this Iran nuclear deal. Turkey is against nuclear weapons. Turkey had never intention to have nuclear weapons, and Turkey is against that Iran might have – or Iran’s intention to have nuclear weapon, or Turkey is against nuclear weapons in our neighborhood. Therefore, we will continue giving our full support to this process.
Well, we have many issues to discuss in the room (inaudible), and once again, I would like to thank John Kerry for the kind invitation. I’m looking forward to hosting him in three weeks’ time in Antalya, my hometown. I brought some nice weather from Antalya today to Washington, D.C., but in three weeks’ time, we will have – we will also enjoy the beauty of Antalya as you described, John. Thank you very much once again. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all very much.
Monday, April 20, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH ALBANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER DITMIR BUSHATI
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 20, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good morning, everybody. It’s my pleasure to welcome Foreign Minister Bushati of Albania, and particularly to do so because Albania is, first of all, a very strong friend and NATO ally. Beyond that, they’ve been really deeply involved in working with the United States and our partners on a number of different fronts. And today, we will have the pleasure of signing the U.S.-Albania – or Albania-U.S. Strategic Partnership, which is an effort to cooperate even more fully on our mutual interests against counterterrorism, for security in the region against ISIL, and other initiatives.
I had a chance in Wales at the summit last year to meet with Prime Minister Rama, where we discussed many of these issues, and now today we’re going to follow up on it. Albania has also been very helpful in terms of relocation of the MEK folks and other issues. We support their ascension to the EU as soon as possible, and they’re on the road to do the things necessary for that ascension. We’re also very pleased that Albania has agreed to host one of the follow-on ministerial meetings on the Countering Violent Extremism. And this is critical, obviously, to everybody’s interests, given the daily headlines and news with respect to what ISIL is engaged in. And finally, we are working very closely on the overall regional counter-ISIL efforts. Their cooperation on that has been, as a member of the coalition and a partner, absolutely essential.
So a lot of security issues. There will be, additionally, discussions with respect to other matters. Particularly in the EU ascension, there’s a lot of economic and domestic reform efforts – rule of law, other kinds of issues – where we’re working together.
So Ditmir, happy to have you here. Thank you very much for taking time to be with us, appreciate it. Welcome.
FOREIGN MINISTER BUSHATI: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I’m so happy to be here with you today. Albania and the United States are strategic partners and allies both in NATO and other international organizations. We are working closely together in Iraq, Afghanistan, and most recently on the fight against global terrorism and violent extremism. If our region is nowadays at peace and is looking towards EU membership, it is largely due to constant engagement of U.S. And I’m here today to discuss with Secretary Kerry also about the ways on how to further streamline our strategic cooperation on strategic sectors between Albania and the United States. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, my friend. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you all very much. Thank you.
Remarks With Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 20, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good morning, everybody. It’s my pleasure to welcome Foreign Minister Bushati of Albania, and particularly to do so because Albania is, first of all, a very strong friend and NATO ally. Beyond that, they’ve been really deeply involved in working with the United States and our partners on a number of different fronts. And today, we will have the pleasure of signing the U.S.-Albania – or Albania-U.S. Strategic Partnership, which is an effort to cooperate even more fully on our mutual interests against counterterrorism, for security in the region against ISIL, and other initiatives.
I had a chance in Wales at the summit last year to meet with Prime Minister Rama, where we discussed many of these issues, and now today we’re going to follow up on it. Albania has also been very helpful in terms of relocation of the MEK folks and other issues. We support their ascension to the EU as soon as possible, and they’re on the road to do the things necessary for that ascension. We’re also very pleased that Albania has agreed to host one of the follow-on ministerial meetings on the Countering Violent Extremism. And this is critical, obviously, to everybody’s interests, given the daily headlines and news with respect to what ISIL is engaged in. And finally, we are working very closely on the overall regional counter-ISIL efforts. Their cooperation on that has been, as a member of the coalition and a partner, absolutely essential.
So a lot of security issues. There will be, additionally, discussions with respect to other matters. Particularly in the EU ascension, there’s a lot of economic and domestic reform efforts – rule of law, other kinds of issues – where we’re working together.
So Ditmir, happy to have you here. Thank you very much for taking time to be with us, appreciate it. Welcome.
FOREIGN MINISTER BUSHATI: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I’m so happy to be here with you today. Albania and the United States are strategic partners and allies both in NATO and other international organizations. We are working closely together in Iraq, Afghanistan, and most recently on the fight against global terrorism and violent extremism. If our region is nowadays at peace and is looking towards EU membership, it is largely due to constant engagement of U.S. And I’m here today to discuss with Secretary Kerry also about the ways on how to further streamline our strategic cooperation on strategic sectors between Albania and the United States. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, my friend. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you all very much. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH GREEK FOREIGN MINISTER NIKOS KOTZIAS
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 20, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, all. It’s my pleasure to welcome the Foreign Minister Kotzias of Greece. I think everybody knows what incredible, strong, and long ties the United States has with Greece, and obviously Greek-Americans make an enormous contribution to our country. We have a very large Greek-American community in the state I was privileged to represent in the Senate in Massachusetts, but in many parts of our country – New York, California, elsewhere.
So we have strong ties and we are NATO partners, and obviously we are in challenging times. We are very aware of the sacrifices the people of Greece have been called on to make because of the challenges of the economy and also the challenges of terrorism and counterterrorism, but particularly the economy right now. We’re confident about Greece’s ability with reforms and with effort to be able to chart a new course ahead. I would hope very much, Mr. Minister, that we have an ability to be able to maintain the strong U.S.-European partnership with respect to our support for Ukraine, the need to be able to encourage Russia in every way possible to live up to the Minsk agreement and to help bring about peace in the region, and also to work together on longer-term challenges like energy, energy supplies, and diversification for the region.
And our efforts on counterterrorism could not be more important together in the future. Obviously, we’re very concerned that those who have committed acts of terrorism who’ve been incarcerated need to remain incarcerated. And we hope that we can work through all of our policy issues, because the relationship between us is so important, and obviously we wish the new government in this moment of challenge we wish it well and we look forward to being supportive and being helpful in the days ahead. Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER KOTZIAS: Thank you, (inaudible). Thank you, Secretary Kerry. Thank you for your invitation to come here in Washington. I’m here as a friend – as a friend with somebody who’s working together with us for democracy and peace against terrorism (inaudible). And I hope that our relations will be deepened and that we will find new feat of cooperation.
I think I can – we can be sure that the new law in Greece about the prisoners will not let any terrorists become free. It will be not only a test of the detention of – the way of this detention, nobody will become free. I am very thankful for this invitation.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, sir. Welcome.
FOREIGN MINISTER KOTZIAS: Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Good to have you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Remarks With Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 20, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, all. It’s my pleasure to welcome the Foreign Minister Kotzias of Greece. I think everybody knows what incredible, strong, and long ties the United States has with Greece, and obviously Greek-Americans make an enormous contribution to our country. We have a very large Greek-American community in the state I was privileged to represent in the Senate in Massachusetts, but in many parts of our country – New York, California, elsewhere.
So we have strong ties and we are NATO partners, and obviously we are in challenging times. We are very aware of the sacrifices the people of Greece have been called on to make because of the challenges of the economy and also the challenges of terrorism and counterterrorism, but particularly the economy right now. We’re confident about Greece’s ability with reforms and with effort to be able to chart a new course ahead. I would hope very much, Mr. Minister, that we have an ability to be able to maintain the strong U.S.-European partnership with respect to our support for Ukraine, the need to be able to encourage Russia in every way possible to live up to the Minsk agreement and to help bring about peace in the region, and also to work together on longer-term challenges like energy, energy supplies, and diversification for the region.
And our efforts on counterterrorism could not be more important together in the future. Obviously, we’re very concerned that those who have committed acts of terrorism who’ve been incarcerated need to remain incarcerated. And we hope that we can work through all of our policy issues, because the relationship between us is so important, and obviously we wish the new government in this moment of challenge we wish it well and we look forward to being supportive and being helpful in the days ahead. Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER KOTZIAS: Thank you, (inaudible). Thank you, Secretary Kerry. Thank you for your invitation to come here in Washington. I’m here as a friend – as a friend with somebody who’s working together with us for democracy and peace against terrorism (inaudible). And I hope that our relations will be deepened and that we will find new feat of cooperation.
I think I can – we can be sure that the new law in Greece about the prisoners will not let any terrorists become free. It will be not only a test of the detention of – the way of this detention, nobody will become free. I am very thankful for this invitation.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, sir. Welcome.
FOREIGN MINISTER KOTZIAS: Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Good to have you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
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