FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 8, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good afternoon, everybody, and it’s my great pleasure to welcome Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, the foreign minister of Algeria. And I’m really happy to welcome him and his entire delegation here. (Inaudible) happy to have you here.
Ramtane and I met last September to discuss regional security issues in Algiers a year ago, I guess, we met during our second annual Strategic Dialogue. So we’ve had a chance to be able to share thoughts and to find common ground, and I’m very, very appreciative for the relationship that we have. And I thank him very much for his hospitality when I was in Algiers. I had a chance to be able to play soccer with a bunch of young kids at a clinic. And I’m very happy that a lot of them were much too young to remember Landon Donovan’s extra-time goal for America that won the – (laughter). I won’t even repeat it. Diplomacy – (laughter) – diplomacy brings countries together and overcomes last-minute World Cup goals. (Laughter.) So thank God for that.
I am very, very grateful to Ramtane for his very generous hospitality, but most importantly, President Obama and our entire Administration are very grateful for the very significant cooperation that we have. It’s a difficult region. There are enormous challenges today. Partners need to work together effectively, and we have been doing so with Algeria, and we thank you for that.
The ties between the United States and Algeria are actually very, very long and longstanding. Many people are not aware that the city of St. Augustine, Florida was founded 450 years ago, and it was named in honor of a man who lived in what is now Algeria, the great scholar Augustine of Hippo. And ever since 1783, when Algeria became one of the very first nations to officially recognize the now-United States, the people of our two countries have actually had a great deal in common.
Those shared interests were reflected today throughout the Strategic Dialogue that has been taking place, and that included expert discussions on four critical sets of issues: energy and commerce; security collaboration; education and cultural exchanges; and the political cooperation. So I just want to offer very quickly a thought on each.
First, we are committed to strengthening the economic and energy ties between our two countries. And just last month, Assistant Secretaries Patterson and Rivkin of the State Department and Jadotte of the Commerce Department led a trade delegation to Algeria. And these delegations enabled top-level American firms to share insights with their Algerian counterparts and to be able to explore new ways of doing business together.
I should emphasize that we’ve been working very intensively with our partners in Algeria to identify and to remove barriers that impede increased trade and investment, including the trade and investment framework, the agreement – the trade and investment agreement council that was reached on February – I think February 17th. And today’s dialogue, Ramtane, contributed to the progress and moving in the right direction on that.
We also appreciate enormously Algeria’s leadership in the climate negotiations that are going to take place in the final meeting in Paris later this year. We’re particularly grateful for your partnership as the co-chair of this important process. And as you know, the United States just submitted its emission reduction target and we strongly encourage Algeria now to also join in putting forward its target. In order for this agreement to succeed – and it is vital for everybody that this agreement does succeed – we need to have everybody participate. And President Obama is deeply engaged, as I am, in crisscrossing the world in order to encourage people to come to Paris ready to make an agreement.
Second, security cooperation is a cornerstone of the U.S.-Algeria relationship. And as we were reminded tragically in Kenya last week, terrorist groups such as Daesh, al-Qaida, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram all pose a serious challenge to every single one of us. And that is why the United States welcomes Algeria’s plan to host an international summit this summer on the issue of de-radicalization, one of several follow-on events to the conference on Countering Violent Extremism that President Obama held here in Washington in February.
I’m grateful to Algeria for agreeing to share the lessons from its own battle against violent extremists, and we greatly appreciate Algeria’s engagement in the Global Counterterrorism Forum and its partnership with us in the leaders meeting in September on the margins of the UN General Assembly.
Our counterterrorism coordinator, who I see sitting here with Ambassador Patterson, Ambassador Kaidanow and Algerian Minister-Delegate Masaha (ph) will continue to work together closely on counterterrorism issues. And we’re going to deepen all the aspects of our security partnership with Algeria, and I look forward to building on our work to promote justice sector reform, the rule of law, and border security.
Third, it is vital for us to continue to strengthen people-to-people ties. The United States is committed to supporting Algeria with more English language learning opportunities, expanding our cultural exchanges, and making it easier for Algerian students to study in the United States. And every person in Algeria who wants to learn English should have the chance to do so. That’s what we believe and we’re going to work on making that a reality. And we’ll continue our efforts to promote citizen engagement with the government and a strong, active, and independent civil society, including through the Middle East Partnership Initiative.
Finally, our political cooperation remains absolutely critical, especially in the face of the growing instability throughout the region. Here Algeria is playing an important, highly constructive role, and we’re grateful for that. I especially appreciate Ramtane’s mediation efforts in support of the inter-Malian peace agreement, a blueprint for restoring security, supporting economic development, and promoting good governance, as well as reconciliation and justice.
Going forward, we believe the parties must abide by their pledge to resolve peacefully their remaining differences and to work together to promote good governance and security for their people.
Algeria has also been a vital backer of UN-led efforts to reach a political solution in the embattled and deeply divided nation of Libya. The recent meeting of Libyan political parties and activists in Algiers was a very important milestone. It underscored not only Algeria’s leadership in the region, but also the commitment of the parties to dialogue as the only viable solution to this crisis. So the United States, I pledge to you, will continue to support this process, the goal of a stable and united Libya at peace with both its neighbors and itself.
Obviously, our delegations had a lot to talk about today, as you can tell from my comments. This dialogue could not be more timely. We value deeply our friendship and we believe strongly that an Algeria that is stable, that is increasingly prosperous and working in partnership with the international community is vital for the region and vital really for the world.
So I warmly welcome our guests today, particularly the new Algerian ambassador here in Washington, Madjid Bouguerra, and I thank them for a very productive and useful set of discussions today. We have to build off of these discussions. I’m confident that we will, and I look forward to visiting with all of you in Algiers sometime in the not-too-distant future.
Now it is my pleasure to recognize Foreign Minister Lamamra. (Applause.)
FOREIGN MINISTER LAMAMRA: Thank you very much, John. Thank you for reminding us of so many commonalities and including those fond memories that we keep of your not-too-distant stay in Algeria, though we would have loved to have you again in between. And I’m delighted that we had so many things to discuss, including between yourself and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is sending his greetings as well as his best wishes to you and through you to President Barack Obama.
I was of the view that we could set aside things, but I think that now it’s better for me also to take advantage of my speaking notes so that I would cover as much ground as you have so ably done. (Laughter.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, you should have told me ahead of time. I would have saved time. (Laughter.)
FOREIGN MINISTER LAMAMRA: So it’s nice to be here again during this cherry blossom season. I would like to thank you, John, for your warm welcome and promising remarks. My team is pleased to be part of the third session of the Algeria-U.S. Strategic Dialogue and ready to engage with a positive spirit in a wide-ranging discussion about the implementation of what they have been working on during the day’s session.
Since its inception three years ago, the Algeria-U.S. Strategic Dialogue is having a tangible and positive impact in terms not only of its achievements, but more importantly with regard to the new spirit it had infused to our multidimensional cooperation. This forum has been, indeed, very instrumental in providing the needed holistic approach to our bilateral interactions, and I’m glad to see that we share the same desire and commitment to reinforce them in order to serve the best interests of our two countries. Our ambition is to enlarge the scope of this forum, thus making it an oriented action, policy and decision-making body. Algeria is satisfied indeed with the way this dialogue is evolving and with the results so far achieved.
Dear John, dear friends and colleagues, your visit, John, to Algeria last year was fruitful and it has opened many avenues for both countries to work closely together. In the political field, the two countries have developed strategic partnership that covers many areas. We can say today, safely, that the Algeria-American partnership is effective.
Let me add that Algeria is committed to deepen its political, security, economic and commercial relationship with the United States. Moreover, thanks to the trust, mutual respect and shared values that characterize our relations, Algeria and the United States have been able to maintain continued political dialogue and close consultations on international and regional issues of mutual interest.
On the issue of terrorism, the quality and effectiveness of our cooperation are a source of satisfaction. Indeed, Algeria and the U.S. are playing a leading role in shaping a coordinated global response to this multifaceted threat to the international peace and security. Both our countries are founding members of the Global Forum Against Terrorism. Last month, we hosted a meeting of the Working Group on the Sahel that Algeria co-chairs with Canada. In the months ahead, Algiers will, as you mentioned, host a high-level conference organized by the African Union on the issue of terrorism financing. While the fight against terrorism groups – against terrorist groups must continue to be waged vigorously, there is an urgent need for the international community, we believe, to adjust its preventive strategy in order to be in a better position to counter what we see as a shift in the modus operandi and the targets of these terrorist groups.
In this context, the recently-held White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism was timely. It was also very useful as it sought to consider the phenomenon of the radicalization especially among the youth in a multidimensional approach. Algeria expressed during that meeting its readiness to share the lessons it has learned the hard way from its own experience in dealing with this very sensitive problem, by organizing a very important international meeting devoted to de-radicalization.
We are of the view that to be successful in this endeavor, we must effectively combat Islamophobia throughout the world. The stigmatization of Muslims is not only unacceptable, but it further damages our collective efforts to countering the propaganda of violent extremism.
Our economic cooperation has reached, during the last months, an unprecedented dynamic in terms of exchange of high-level visits and the holding of business forums and trade missions. These interactions between our respective government representatives and business communities are of the utmost importance. I do believe that the visit of the Algerian minister of industry and mining to the United States last October and the holding last February in Algiers of the second session of Algeria-U.S. Council on Trade and Investment can be considered as a significant progress. I welcome in this regard the holding of this session, and I do hope that the council will be able to meet annually, as stipulated.
Algeria has endeavored to fulfill its obligations under this agreement, and particularly, those obligations relating to the setting of an open and predictable environment for trade and investment, the elimination of non-tariff barriers, and the protection of intellectual property rights. At the same time, Algeria expects that this agreement will effectively encourage investments that are generating wealth, job creation, and transfer of technology. The Algerian Government seeks to diversify the national economy, and it has consequently taken significant and concrete measures for setting up a friendly environment for national and foreign investments. As a matter of fact, we have already asked our international partners, including the U.S., obviously, to support us in this challenging process.
Ladies and gentlemen, in leading an international mediation effort for the resolution of the crisis in Mali – an action that you have mentioned, and I thank you for the kind words you have used in this respect to describe my own personal role in it – Algeria designed a solution that ensures the preservation of the unity and territorial integrity of the Republic of Mali and creates the necessary conditions for its national reconstruction and economic development. The recently-concluded Algiers Agreement represents the best compromise, which serves the interests of Mali while recognizing the legitimate claims and aspirations of the populations of the northern Mali regions.
Algeria is convinced that the restoration of a lasting peace in Mali will have a positive impact on the whole situation in the Sahel region, as well as on the global fight against terrorism. Algeria is committed to building an integrated, united and prosperous Maghreb beyond mere rhetoric. My country has demonstrated in deeds its act of solidarity whenever any one of our neighbors was in need of it. We lent our support, full support to Tunisia to successfully go through the democratic transition and take its responsibilities in the face of terrorism and instability. We are guided by the same spirit of solidarity with regard to the tragic situation prevailing in Libya. Algeria has constantly pleaded for a political solution as the only way to preserve the unity and territorial integrity of Libya. Any military intervention would further exacerbate the conflict and would more than likely annihilate the chances of a peaceful settlement based on national reconciliation. We are glad that Algeria and the U.S. share the same vision and stand by the same position.
In close coordination with the UN Secretary-General Special Representative Bernardino Leon, Algeria has already hosted the meeting of leaders of political parties and prominent Libyan personalities. We see this as a promising step in a process that needs to be supported by the international community as a whole.
On Syria, we believe that there can be no military solution to the conflict. We think also the time has come for the international community to engage all the political actors in an inclusive dialogue with the aim of finding a consensual solution to this destructive and senseless war.
Concerning the situation in the Middle East, Algeria supports the legitimate of the Palestinian people to a state with East Jerusalem, Al-Quds, as its capital. We urge the international community to live up to its obligations towards the peace process, which should resume without delay in order to achieve the just and lasting solution the Middle East is so desperately looking for. I certainly take this opportunity to salute your personal efforts, John, in these regards.
With respect to Western Sahara, Algeria continues to support the UN secretary general and his personal envoy, Chris Ross, in their efforts to achieve a mutually acceptable political solution which provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara in accordance with the UN Charter and relevant resolutions.
Algeria strongly believes that there is no other alternative for the settlement of this conflict than the holding of a free and fair referendum of self-determination for the people of Western Sahara.
Let me conclude, John, by expressing once again my sincere appreciation for you, to you, and for all your colleagues, bearing in mind that the outcomes of this third session of our strategic dialogue are so positive and so promising. I believe that these outcomes will give a real impetus to the already strong and mutually beneficial strategic partnership between our two countries. I very much look forward to receiving you again and again in Algiers. (Applause.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you.
Showing posts with label TRADE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TRADE. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Monday, April 6, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS IN PANAMA CITY
FROM: THE STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks at "Foro de Rectores de Las Americas"
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Panama City, Panama
April 9, 2015
Thank you so much. Thank you. Muchas gracias and buenos tardes. I’m very honored to be here. University rectors and the Ministry of Education representatives and students, distinguished guests: It’s really a pleasure for me to be here at this historic Summit, and I deeply appreciate the chance to share a few thoughts with you here this afternoon.
Let me begin by thanking Education Minister Marcela Paredes not just for her generous introduction, which I could have listened to all night – (laughter) – but for her remarkable commitment to educational opportunities throughout the hemisphere. She is a great leader and a great spokesperson for what we’ve come here to talk about today.
And I met Minister Paredes when I came here – it was my first meeting with her during President Varela’s inauguration. And I brought with me at that time as a guest the now former governor of Massachusetts – he was then the governor – Deval Patrick, and he’s a huge education passionate advocate. And I want you to know that when the two of them got together and started talking about what they were able to do to promote education, it took over the whole meeting; it was finished.
Minister Varela summed up the challenge that we face when she said that we must “reflect on our starting points on where we stand, on where we want to go, and how to better invest our resources in order to adapt them to the needs of children’s education.”
Now, I think everyone in this room shares that conviction. In a world that is changing faster and becoming more interconnected than ever before, education more so than ever before, is the ladder of opportunity for people all across the planet. And that is why the expansion of educational opportunity has, from the beginning, been a central focus of the Summit of the Americas. It is why President Obama launched 100,000 Strong in the Americas to increase the number of young people from the region who are studying in the United States and the number of students from the United States attending universities in the region. It is why, here in Panama, President Varela began the Panama Bilingue program, which sends more than a thousand school teachers each year to universities in the United States and the United Kingdom for professional training. And I hope we will all say thank you to Eneida Lopez and Marta Lewis de Cardoze of the Galindo Foundation for their leadership of Panama Bilingue. We are grateful for what they do. (Applause.)
In 1994, when President Clinton invited 33 democratically elected leaders to Miami for the first Summit of the Americas, those leaders had a shared understanding of the mission. Together, they pledged to open new markets, create free trade zones, strengthen democratic institutions, respect human rights, and invest in the building blocks of social progress – including health care and education at all levels. President Clinton said simply: “If we’re successful, the summit will lead to more jobs, opportunity and prosperity for our children and for generations to come.”
Today, as we gather in Panama City for the Seventh Summit, we find ourselves encouraged by the progress that has been made. We also find ourselves determined to close the gaps that still exist, and more aware than ever that we will go forward together or we’ll fall back together.
Now, the progress has not always been steady. It hasn’t always been fast. But progress has been hard won. I think about the first trip that I made to Central America as a United States Senator. This was almost 30 years ago now, a time when much of the hemisphere seemed to wind up in the headlines for only for the wrong reasons – for wars, military governments, narcotics cartels – you name it. Few people back then were certain of a brighter future. Fewer probably thought we could turn the tide.
Well, today, the tide has turned and it has been turning for some time, thanks to the efforts of everybody in the region itself.
In country after country, the people of the Americas have strengthened their democracies and taken steps to ensure the fundamental freedoms of their citizens. And in many places, democracy has brought not only freedom from fear, but freedom from want. In the last decade, the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean grew at a rate of 4 percent a year. Incomes are rising. The middle class is growing. And the gap, the gap between the rich and poor – though still far too wide – is narrowing faster than in any other region.
We’ve also learned an important lesson since 1994 – and that is the extent to which progress depends not only on what governments do on their own, but on how willing they are to listen, to experiment, and to act in partnership with the private sector, civil society, educators, leaders from the scientific community. In our era, in this day and age, each day we wake up to a new world. We have to move forward constantly just to keep pace. And our democracies, frankly – ours too in the United States – need to be more agile; they need to be more responsive to citizens’ demands for greater opportunity and for greater accountability. And to get ahead, it is imperative that we set ambitious goals. We have to pursue them relentlessly. We have to hold people in public office like myself accountable. And we have to mean -- sometimes we have to actually upset some people and take a few risks. None of us should be willing to settle for the status quo. It’s unacceptable.
And that is why this first-ever Rectors’ Forum at the Summit of the Americas is so important. And the question we have to ask ourselves is: How do we together best work to create jobs, to create opportunity, to build prosperity for our children and for generations to come?
Well, let me offer an answer to the questions I just asked. There’s really a three-word answer to that question: Education, innovation, conservation.
Now make no mistake: These three words articulate not separate, but rather interlocking challenges. Without learning, our citizens will lack the knowledge and the skills that they have to have to compete in the 21st century in this new, fast-moving information age, information management economy. And without innovation, many of those who graduate from top universities will still be unable to find good jobs. And without clean energy, our economies will be held hostage to costly, unpredictable, nonrenewable resources of power, and that will lead to uneven growth and ultimately, I promise you, it will threaten the very future of all of us. What this means is that we have to tackle these three challenges simultaneously, and believe me, that’s what we intend to do.
Start with education.
We all know that education is a lifelong process. But it has to begin in the earliest days. It has to begin correctly – the earliest days. The brain of a child grows mostly in the first three years, certainly the first three to seven to eight years are the most important in terms of ability to learn for a lifetime. In the United States, we have seen a big push in recent years in order to try to move towards expanding access to kindergarten, so that children start learning as soon as they are able to. Globally, one of the Millennium Development Goals has been to ensure that every child – girls and boys – are able to attend primary school. Enormous progress has been made in that direction, and in our hemisphere, primary school attendance is now very near universal. That’s the good news.
Other areas are more troublesome, and this is true in my country as well as many of yours.
For example, we have to be sure that between the time that our children enter school each morning and the time that they leave in the afternoon, they actually learn something. Sitting in a classroom and getting an education are not the same things. There is no shortcut to investing in good teachers, providing quality professional development, and compensating people fairly for the work that they do.
We also have to find better ways to incorporate new curriculum methods and technology into the learning process; just giving a child a tablet or a laptop is not enough. You have to instill the desire in that child to want to learn more, to think critically, and the belief that success in school will actually translate into success in life. And if and only if we are able to do those things will we reduce the alarming number of students who enter the system but then they drop out before graduating from college, from secondary school or – in too many cases – even the seventh or eighth grade.
Another major task that we face in education today is to strengthen the connection between report cards that we give to kids and the paychecks that they’re able to earn afterwards. As this remarkable gathering reflects, there are fine colleges and universities in every part of our hemisphere, from the University of Sao Paulo to the Monterrey Institute of Technology to the Catholic University of Chile. But there is a troubling gap between the skills that schools teach and the expertise that the job market demands. Many of the region’s young people graduate with degrees that leave them ill-suited for available positions. And this gap is as frustrating to our students as it is to potential employers – and we’re working to bridge it and we all need to work to bridge it together.
Given the number of young people in the region, this basically ought to be a fixable problem. In the United States, we have developed a very strong community college system, and it is empowered by direct involvement in the curriculum design and hands-on career counseling from the private sector. And that’s how we try to bridge the gap, by getting the private sector involved in the curriculum. And that’s why President Obama has proposed to Congress the enactment of legislation that would guarantee access to community college for every student who applies for it, regardless of their ability to pay. It’s why, in Jamaica earlier today, President Obama announced $68 million in new funding for programs that will expand education, training, and employment programs for youth throughout Central America and the Caribbean.
And I am especially pleased that we are joined this evening by the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. The Secretary is here with a number of Puerto Rican rectors whose universities are ready to welcome Latin American and Caribbean students to an American educational experience on the Isla del Encanto.
So we’re approaching this issue with the urgency that it deserves. At the 2009 Summit of the Americas, the United States launched our Scholarships for Economic Growth program, which provided $50 million for 1,300 students from Latin America and the Caribbean to be able to get vocational training in the United States. President Obama’s 100,000 Strong in the Americas builds on that effort, and the results speak for themselves: Already, more than 72,000 students are coming to the United States each year from Latin America and the Caribbean. And nearly 47,000 U.S. students benefit from studying abroad in the region. Students like Natascha Moscoa from Costa Rica and Day Moore from Connecticut, who started a joint venture to empower women entrepreneurs. Students like Luis Santiago from the Dominican Republic, who studied in Chicago and then returned home to promote innovation and expand information in his community.
Their success reflects a very important truth. Students who are able to spend a portion of their time learning in other countries have a significant advantage: They return home equipped with greater confidence, new skills, the ability to speak a foreign language and they work the ability to also work in a foreign culture. And guess what – they come back with friends and contacts that will last a lifetime. I cannot tell you how many foreign ministers I have met in the course of serving as Secretary of State who say to me: I so enjoyed my time learning at Columbia or California or wherever it was, and vice versa; I meet people who tell me how much they learned when they went to study in another country. It makes all the difference in the world.
That’s why the United States isn’t just continuing the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative. Guess what – we’re doubling down on that initiative. We’ve already raised millions of dollars from the private sector for the Innovation Fund, which awards grants to universities to promote study abroad and programs between the United States and other countries in the Western Hemisphere. We’ve awarded 47 grants to more than 100 higher education institutions across the region in order to expand their capacity to send and to host exchange students. We believe in this program. And today, I am pleased to congratulate the most recent Innovation Fund grant winners in the United States, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, and Paraguay. These university partnerships will create new exchange programs for students that can have a transformative impact, which is exactly why they are such a high priority for me as Secretary of State.
Now, all of this leads to the second big challenge that I want to just say a word about today – and that concerns the jobs of the future. Nothing will be meaningful, no expectations will be met, without jobs – good jobs that genuinely open the doors of opportunity and improve the quality of life. What are these jobs? Where are they going to come from? How are they going to be developed? Who is going to benefit from them the most?
I’m willing to bet that at the heart of any story that you have heard about someone lifting themselves out of poverty, there’s a new job, a new opportunity to make a better living that came to them. Well, in Latin America and in the Caribbean, as in the United States and Canada, more than half of the new jobs are created by small and medium-size businesses. So if our goal is to reduce poverty, expand the middle class, help families create a better life for their children, the answer’s pretty simple – we need to innovate. And that means doing more to help small businesses create jobs and tap into global markets.
Now, you think I’m making this up, that this is not a reality? Believe me, we are – I’m able to say this to you because we’re doing it.
America is fortunate – the United States is fortunate to possess one of the world’s most extensive small business support networks. I saw this firsthand when I served as Chairman of the Small Business Committee in the United States Senate. The Small Business Administration, led by my colleague Maria Contreras-Sweet, provides training and counseling services to a million small businesses every year at more than 1,000 small business development centers that we have created across our country. And I’m proud that the agency has become a model for the region.
Just run the list: Brazil’s SEBRAE centers support more than a million small businesses across Brazil. Mexico has created a new National Entrepreneurship Institute, which is working to integrate hundreds of incubators and small business development centers. In Chile, President Bachelet has undertaken a new initiative to create 50 small business development centers. And El Salvador has shown great leadership in Central America by dedicating scarce resources to support 12 centers.
So we really have a great foundation to build on. But the fact is, you can never do too much to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. You just can’t. And that is exactly why President Obama launched the Small Business Network of the Americas to connect thousands of centers across the hemisphere and help entrepreneurs get the training and the counseling and the support that they need in order to enter new markets. One of the things that I learned when I was chairman of the committee was a lot of people have no idea how actually easy it is to access a global marketplace. And with a little bit of help, a mom or a pop enterprise of two or three people can become 12, and 15, and 20, and grow into a larger business. Many of these connection points that I’m talking about are located on university campuses. And I encourage all of you to speak to your counterparts in El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Chile, and the United States, and other countries that are embracing this kind of concept and that are getting the benefits of it as a result.
Now, without doubt, I’m sure you’ll all agree, one of the smartest investments that we can make is on the promise of women and girls. In too many parts of the world still, there’s a discrimination and they’re left behind. No country – no country can make it in today’s world leaving half of its population on the bench. No economy can thrive when women are not given a seat at the table. And that’s why President Obama launched the Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Americas Initiative: To give women and girls the training and the tools that they need to become the next presidents, CEOs, and entrepreneurs in their communities. And one thing that we know for certain: Empowering women is an investment that is guaranteed to show enormous returns, not just in terms of the balance sheet but in terms of the social structure, and often in terms of peace and stability.
So education and innovation are critical. But we also need to think ahead and realize that the strongest economies will be built on the power sources of the future, not the past. Many of the clean energy technologies that will help ignite whole new industries are far cheaper, more readily available, and better performing than they were just 10 years ago – and we can use them, we must use them, to curb climate change even as we know they have all the benefits on the upside of creating new jobs. The solution to climate change, my friends, which is real and coming at us fast, is energy policy – good energy policy makes good climate solutions. It’s that simple.
Just imagine the possibilities. We were blessed in America to see more growth in the 1990s than at any recent time in American history – in recent history, since the 1920s, the great age of wealth creation when there was no income tax, and the early part of the Industrial Revolution. But the market of the 1990s, which saw every single income level in America go up, was a 1 trillion dollar market, with 1 billion users. The global energy market we are looking at today is a 6 trillion dollar market already with 4 to 5 billion users, and it’s going to go up to 9 billion users as the population of the planet grows in the next 30, 40 years. Think of that: 9 billion users in the next decades. By 2040, investment in the power sector is expected to reach nearly $20 trillion. That is an enormous amount of investment. And we want to see clean, accessible energy be the biggest slice of that pie.
So how do realize the full potential of this opportunity?
To begin, we need leaders with the political courage to set us on the right path. And I am proud to serve with a President who has accepted that challenge. Today, thanks to President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the United States is well on its way to meeting our international commitments to cut greenhouse gases emissions by 2020. And that’s because we’re going straight to the largest sources of pollution. We’re targeting emissions from cars, trucks, utilities, which account for about 60 percent of greenhouse gases that we release. And we’re also tackling more modest opportunities so that we cover every sector of the economy and every variety of greenhouse gas.
We’re also investing in cleaner alternatives. Since President Obama took office, the United States has upped its wind energy production by three times. We’ve increased our solar energy generation more than ten times. We’ve also become smarter about the way we use energy in our homes and in our businesses. And all of these are big steps.
But I can’t emphasize this fact enough: No single country – not China, not the United States, not India – no single country can solve this problem or foot this bill alone. Climate change is not an abstract future concern. Its effects are already on us right now. I think we had something like $110 billion of costs last year to make up for the fires and the floods and the extraordinary storms and all of the damage that was done by increased tides and so forth.
Here in Panama, extreme weather events are creating cycles of flood and drought and they’re threatening the water supplies that enable the Panama Canal to operate effectively and supply electricity. Just a few years ago, due to a record storm, the canal had to close for only the third time in its 100-year history, disrupting one of the world’s most important economic lifelines. In Peru, where I attended the climate change conference in December, tropical glaciers and fisheries are under threat. We’ve seen sea level rise contribute to the erosion of Puerto Rico’s coastline around Rincon. And coral reefs are at risk from warming waters and ocean acidification. The number of major hurricanes in the Atlantic basin has increased and then it increased some more, and that hurts tourism. Some of your nations, especially those in this region and in the Caribbean, climate change may well be the single gravest danger to security and prosperity. So when I say we need a global solution, I mean it. Anything less won’t work.
But still in our hemisphere, there are several steps that we can take without waiting for the rest of the world. You don’t have to wait for the rest of the world, and we can’t afford to wait for the rest of the world.
Governments can follow the United States and Mexico and commit to strong post-2020 plans that mitigate the impacts of climate, and that will increase the chances that we can have a successful outcome at the Paris negotiations that will take place this December. All the countries of the world will be coming together in Paris to try to deal with climate change, and we all need to live up to our responsibility to set the targets now so this can be successful.
Second, we can encourage governments, businesses, and consumers to rely less on costly fossil fuels. That means investing more in mass transit, in renewable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal, sustainable hydro. It’s why, in Jamaica earlier today, President Obama launched a new Clean Energy Finance Facility for Central America and the Caribbean and a task force to do everything that we can do in order to promote clean energy development and energy security.
Third, we can push for the world’s highest standards in the environmental chapters of the trade agreements that some of us are pursuing, and that includes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP, which will build prosperity throughout our hemisphere, and it will do so based on shared principles and shared values. It’s not just a technical trade agreement. It’s a strategic opportunity for all of us, and we need to seize it.
Finally, we can bring the private and public sectors together with our leading academic institutions – with all of you – to make the most of the innovative clean energy technology that entrepreneurs are developing today, including technology that increases the efficiency of appliances, vehicles, and machines.
So there we have it, ladies and gentlemen: Education, innovation, conservation. Three words. One big challenge. And I have absolute confidence in our ability to succeed. But it is going to take all of us, working together, getting rid of the ideology, getting rid of the politics, looking at each other and talking common sense and coming together to make our shared vision a reality for this hemisphere. And in the doing of it, there are millions of jobs to be created. Life will be better. Health will be better. The environment will be better. The economy will be better. And security will be better.
More than a century ago, one of my predecessors visited Panama at a time of great challenge and opportunity in the region. On his tour through the entire region, he spoke at a meeting of the American Republics in Rio de Janeiro. And he said simply this, I quote: “Not in a single conference, nor by a single effort, can very much be done. You labor more for the future than for the present; but if the right impulse be given, if the right tendency be established, the work you do here will go on among all the millions of people in the American continents long after your final adjournment, long after your lives, with incalculable benefit to all of our beloved countries.” That’s the challenge.
The seventh Summit of the Americas may be just a single conference, but it reflects an energy and a determination and a set of hopes and aspirations that connects the present to the future in a way that could not be more uplifting or real. Because when we join together to expand the boundaries of education, to unleash the spirit of innovation that is so widely present in our young, and to harness clean and renewable sources of power – when we change what tomorrow will look like for hundreds of millions of people from the Chilean foothills to the furthest reaches of Alaska’s North Slopes – when we do that, we’re meeting our obligations as citizens, not just of our countries but of the world.
Obviously, we are looking at a time of great challenge, with particular parts of the world witnessing upheaval and violence. Governance is more demanding as it deals with greater cultural, religious, ideological complexity in a world of instant communications. But the same thing that brings us the complexity actually brings us greater opportunity, and we have, all of us, learned lessons from the past.
So here at the dawn of the 21st century, here at the seventh Summit of the Americas, I hope we will overcome the stereotypes and not fall victim to the cynicism, but rather make the most of this extraordinary period of innovation, entrepreneurial activity, and individual opportunity. And I have great faith in the Americas’ ability to lead the world in doing that. Thank you all very, very much.
Remarks at "Foro de Rectores de Las Americas"
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Panama City, Panama
April 9, 2015
Thank you so much. Thank you. Muchas gracias and buenos tardes. I’m very honored to be here. University rectors and the Ministry of Education representatives and students, distinguished guests: It’s really a pleasure for me to be here at this historic Summit, and I deeply appreciate the chance to share a few thoughts with you here this afternoon.
Let me begin by thanking Education Minister Marcela Paredes not just for her generous introduction, which I could have listened to all night – (laughter) – but for her remarkable commitment to educational opportunities throughout the hemisphere. She is a great leader and a great spokesperson for what we’ve come here to talk about today.
And I met Minister Paredes when I came here – it was my first meeting with her during President Varela’s inauguration. And I brought with me at that time as a guest the now former governor of Massachusetts – he was then the governor – Deval Patrick, and he’s a huge education passionate advocate. And I want you to know that when the two of them got together and started talking about what they were able to do to promote education, it took over the whole meeting; it was finished.
Minister Varela summed up the challenge that we face when she said that we must “reflect on our starting points on where we stand, on where we want to go, and how to better invest our resources in order to adapt them to the needs of children’s education.”
Now, I think everyone in this room shares that conviction. In a world that is changing faster and becoming more interconnected than ever before, education more so than ever before, is the ladder of opportunity for people all across the planet. And that is why the expansion of educational opportunity has, from the beginning, been a central focus of the Summit of the Americas. It is why President Obama launched 100,000 Strong in the Americas to increase the number of young people from the region who are studying in the United States and the number of students from the United States attending universities in the region. It is why, here in Panama, President Varela began the Panama Bilingue program, which sends more than a thousand school teachers each year to universities in the United States and the United Kingdom for professional training. And I hope we will all say thank you to Eneida Lopez and Marta Lewis de Cardoze of the Galindo Foundation for their leadership of Panama Bilingue. We are grateful for what they do. (Applause.)
In 1994, when President Clinton invited 33 democratically elected leaders to Miami for the first Summit of the Americas, those leaders had a shared understanding of the mission. Together, they pledged to open new markets, create free trade zones, strengthen democratic institutions, respect human rights, and invest in the building blocks of social progress – including health care and education at all levels. President Clinton said simply: “If we’re successful, the summit will lead to more jobs, opportunity and prosperity for our children and for generations to come.”
Today, as we gather in Panama City for the Seventh Summit, we find ourselves encouraged by the progress that has been made. We also find ourselves determined to close the gaps that still exist, and more aware than ever that we will go forward together or we’ll fall back together.
Now, the progress has not always been steady. It hasn’t always been fast. But progress has been hard won. I think about the first trip that I made to Central America as a United States Senator. This was almost 30 years ago now, a time when much of the hemisphere seemed to wind up in the headlines for only for the wrong reasons – for wars, military governments, narcotics cartels – you name it. Few people back then were certain of a brighter future. Fewer probably thought we could turn the tide.
Well, today, the tide has turned and it has been turning for some time, thanks to the efforts of everybody in the region itself.
In country after country, the people of the Americas have strengthened their democracies and taken steps to ensure the fundamental freedoms of their citizens. And in many places, democracy has brought not only freedom from fear, but freedom from want. In the last decade, the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean grew at a rate of 4 percent a year. Incomes are rising. The middle class is growing. And the gap, the gap between the rich and poor – though still far too wide – is narrowing faster than in any other region.
We’ve also learned an important lesson since 1994 – and that is the extent to which progress depends not only on what governments do on their own, but on how willing they are to listen, to experiment, and to act in partnership with the private sector, civil society, educators, leaders from the scientific community. In our era, in this day and age, each day we wake up to a new world. We have to move forward constantly just to keep pace. And our democracies, frankly – ours too in the United States – need to be more agile; they need to be more responsive to citizens’ demands for greater opportunity and for greater accountability. And to get ahead, it is imperative that we set ambitious goals. We have to pursue them relentlessly. We have to hold people in public office like myself accountable. And we have to mean -- sometimes we have to actually upset some people and take a few risks. None of us should be willing to settle for the status quo. It’s unacceptable.
And that is why this first-ever Rectors’ Forum at the Summit of the Americas is so important. And the question we have to ask ourselves is: How do we together best work to create jobs, to create opportunity, to build prosperity for our children and for generations to come?
Well, let me offer an answer to the questions I just asked. There’s really a three-word answer to that question: Education, innovation, conservation.
Now make no mistake: These three words articulate not separate, but rather interlocking challenges. Without learning, our citizens will lack the knowledge and the skills that they have to have to compete in the 21st century in this new, fast-moving information age, information management economy. And without innovation, many of those who graduate from top universities will still be unable to find good jobs. And without clean energy, our economies will be held hostage to costly, unpredictable, nonrenewable resources of power, and that will lead to uneven growth and ultimately, I promise you, it will threaten the very future of all of us. What this means is that we have to tackle these three challenges simultaneously, and believe me, that’s what we intend to do.
Start with education.
We all know that education is a lifelong process. But it has to begin in the earliest days. It has to begin correctly – the earliest days. The brain of a child grows mostly in the first three years, certainly the first three to seven to eight years are the most important in terms of ability to learn for a lifetime. In the United States, we have seen a big push in recent years in order to try to move towards expanding access to kindergarten, so that children start learning as soon as they are able to. Globally, one of the Millennium Development Goals has been to ensure that every child – girls and boys – are able to attend primary school. Enormous progress has been made in that direction, and in our hemisphere, primary school attendance is now very near universal. That’s the good news.
Other areas are more troublesome, and this is true in my country as well as many of yours.
For example, we have to be sure that between the time that our children enter school each morning and the time that they leave in the afternoon, they actually learn something. Sitting in a classroom and getting an education are not the same things. There is no shortcut to investing in good teachers, providing quality professional development, and compensating people fairly for the work that they do.
We also have to find better ways to incorporate new curriculum methods and technology into the learning process; just giving a child a tablet or a laptop is not enough. You have to instill the desire in that child to want to learn more, to think critically, and the belief that success in school will actually translate into success in life. And if and only if we are able to do those things will we reduce the alarming number of students who enter the system but then they drop out before graduating from college, from secondary school or – in too many cases – even the seventh or eighth grade.
Another major task that we face in education today is to strengthen the connection between report cards that we give to kids and the paychecks that they’re able to earn afterwards. As this remarkable gathering reflects, there are fine colleges and universities in every part of our hemisphere, from the University of Sao Paulo to the Monterrey Institute of Technology to the Catholic University of Chile. But there is a troubling gap between the skills that schools teach and the expertise that the job market demands. Many of the region’s young people graduate with degrees that leave them ill-suited for available positions. And this gap is as frustrating to our students as it is to potential employers – and we’re working to bridge it and we all need to work to bridge it together.
Given the number of young people in the region, this basically ought to be a fixable problem. In the United States, we have developed a very strong community college system, and it is empowered by direct involvement in the curriculum design and hands-on career counseling from the private sector. And that’s how we try to bridge the gap, by getting the private sector involved in the curriculum. And that’s why President Obama has proposed to Congress the enactment of legislation that would guarantee access to community college for every student who applies for it, regardless of their ability to pay. It’s why, in Jamaica earlier today, President Obama announced $68 million in new funding for programs that will expand education, training, and employment programs for youth throughout Central America and the Caribbean.
And I am especially pleased that we are joined this evening by the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. The Secretary is here with a number of Puerto Rican rectors whose universities are ready to welcome Latin American and Caribbean students to an American educational experience on the Isla del Encanto.
So we’re approaching this issue with the urgency that it deserves. At the 2009 Summit of the Americas, the United States launched our Scholarships for Economic Growth program, which provided $50 million for 1,300 students from Latin America and the Caribbean to be able to get vocational training in the United States. President Obama’s 100,000 Strong in the Americas builds on that effort, and the results speak for themselves: Already, more than 72,000 students are coming to the United States each year from Latin America and the Caribbean. And nearly 47,000 U.S. students benefit from studying abroad in the region. Students like Natascha Moscoa from Costa Rica and Day Moore from Connecticut, who started a joint venture to empower women entrepreneurs. Students like Luis Santiago from the Dominican Republic, who studied in Chicago and then returned home to promote innovation and expand information in his community.
Their success reflects a very important truth. Students who are able to spend a portion of their time learning in other countries have a significant advantage: They return home equipped with greater confidence, new skills, the ability to speak a foreign language and they work the ability to also work in a foreign culture. And guess what – they come back with friends and contacts that will last a lifetime. I cannot tell you how many foreign ministers I have met in the course of serving as Secretary of State who say to me: I so enjoyed my time learning at Columbia or California or wherever it was, and vice versa; I meet people who tell me how much they learned when they went to study in another country. It makes all the difference in the world.
That’s why the United States isn’t just continuing the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative. Guess what – we’re doubling down on that initiative. We’ve already raised millions of dollars from the private sector for the Innovation Fund, which awards grants to universities to promote study abroad and programs between the United States and other countries in the Western Hemisphere. We’ve awarded 47 grants to more than 100 higher education institutions across the region in order to expand their capacity to send and to host exchange students. We believe in this program. And today, I am pleased to congratulate the most recent Innovation Fund grant winners in the United States, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, and Paraguay. These university partnerships will create new exchange programs for students that can have a transformative impact, which is exactly why they are such a high priority for me as Secretary of State.
Now, all of this leads to the second big challenge that I want to just say a word about today – and that concerns the jobs of the future. Nothing will be meaningful, no expectations will be met, without jobs – good jobs that genuinely open the doors of opportunity and improve the quality of life. What are these jobs? Where are they going to come from? How are they going to be developed? Who is going to benefit from them the most?
I’m willing to bet that at the heart of any story that you have heard about someone lifting themselves out of poverty, there’s a new job, a new opportunity to make a better living that came to them. Well, in Latin America and in the Caribbean, as in the United States and Canada, more than half of the new jobs are created by small and medium-size businesses. So if our goal is to reduce poverty, expand the middle class, help families create a better life for their children, the answer’s pretty simple – we need to innovate. And that means doing more to help small businesses create jobs and tap into global markets.
Now, you think I’m making this up, that this is not a reality? Believe me, we are – I’m able to say this to you because we’re doing it.
America is fortunate – the United States is fortunate to possess one of the world’s most extensive small business support networks. I saw this firsthand when I served as Chairman of the Small Business Committee in the United States Senate. The Small Business Administration, led by my colleague Maria Contreras-Sweet, provides training and counseling services to a million small businesses every year at more than 1,000 small business development centers that we have created across our country. And I’m proud that the agency has become a model for the region.
Just run the list: Brazil’s SEBRAE centers support more than a million small businesses across Brazil. Mexico has created a new National Entrepreneurship Institute, which is working to integrate hundreds of incubators and small business development centers. In Chile, President Bachelet has undertaken a new initiative to create 50 small business development centers. And El Salvador has shown great leadership in Central America by dedicating scarce resources to support 12 centers.
So we really have a great foundation to build on. But the fact is, you can never do too much to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. You just can’t. And that is exactly why President Obama launched the Small Business Network of the Americas to connect thousands of centers across the hemisphere and help entrepreneurs get the training and the counseling and the support that they need in order to enter new markets. One of the things that I learned when I was chairman of the committee was a lot of people have no idea how actually easy it is to access a global marketplace. And with a little bit of help, a mom or a pop enterprise of two or three people can become 12, and 15, and 20, and grow into a larger business. Many of these connection points that I’m talking about are located on university campuses. And I encourage all of you to speak to your counterparts in El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Chile, and the United States, and other countries that are embracing this kind of concept and that are getting the benefits of it as a result.
Now, without doubt, I’m sure you’ll all agree, one of the smartest investments that we can make is on the promise of women and girls. In too many parts of the world still, there’s a discrimination and they’re left behind. No country – no country can make it in today’s world leaving half of its population on the bench. No economy can thrive when women are not given a seat at the table. And that’s why President Obama launched the Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Americas Initiative: To give women and girls the training and the tools that they need to become the next presidents, CEOs, and entrepreneurs in their communities. And one thing that we know for certain: Empowering women is an investment that is guaranteed to show enormous returns, not just in terms of the balance sheet but in terms of the social structure, and often in terms of peace and stability.
So education and innovation are critical. But we also need to think ahead and realize that the strongest economies will be built on the power sources of the future, not the past. Many of the clean energy technologies that will help ignite whole new industries are far cheaper, more readily available, and better performing than they were just 10 years ago – and we can use them, we must use them, to curb climate change even as we know they have all the benefits on the upside of creating new jobs. The solution to climate change, my friends, which is real and coming at us fast, is energy policy – good energy policy makes good climate solutions. It’s that simple.
Just imagine the possibilities. We were blessed in America to see more growth in the 1990s than at any recent time in American history – in recent history, since the 1920s, the great age of wealth creation when there was no income tax, and the early part of the Industrial Revolution. But the market of the 1990s, which saw every single income level in America go up, was a 1 trillion dollar market, with 1 billion users. The global energy market we are looking at today is a 6 trillion dollar market already with 4 to 5 billion users, and it’s going to go up to 9 billion users as the population of the planet grows in the next 30, 40 years. Think of that: 9 billion users in the next decades. By 2040, investment in the power sector is expected to reach nearly $20 trillion. That is an enormous amount of investment. And we want to see clean, accessible energy be the biggest slice of that pie.
So how do realize the full potential of this opportunity?
To begin, we need leaders with the political courage to set us on the right path. And I am proud to serve with a President who has accepted that challenge. Today, thanks to President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the United States is well on its way to meeting our international commitments to cut greenhouse gases emissions by 2020. And that’s because we’re going straight to the largest sources of pollution. We’re targeting emissions from cars, trucks, utilities, which account for about 60 percent of greenhouse gases that we release. And we’re also tackling more modest opportunities so that we cover every sector of the economy and every variety of greenhouse gas.
We’re also investing in cleaner alternatives. Since President Obama took office, the United States has upped its wind energy production by three times. We’ve increased our solar energy generation more than ten times. We’ve also become smarter about the way we use energy in our homes and in our businesses. And all of these are big steps.
But I can’t emphasize this fact enough: No single country – not China, not the United States, not India – no single country can solve this problem or foot this bill alone. Climate change is not an abstract future concern. Its effects are already on us right now. I think we had something like $110 billion of costs last year to make up for the fires and the floods and the extraordinary storms and all of the damage that was done by increased tides and so forth.
Here in Panama, extreme weather events are creating cycles of flood and drought and they’re threatening the water supplies that enable the Panama Canal to operate effectively and supply electricity. Just a few years ago, due to a record storm, the canal had to close for only the third time in its 100-year history, disrupting one of the world’s most important economic lifelines. In Peru, where I attended the climate change conference in December, tropical glaciers and fisheries are under threat. We’ve seen sea level rise contribute to the erosion of Puerto Rico’s coastline around Rincon. And coral reefs are at risk from warming waters and ocean acidification. The number of major hurricanes in the Atlantic basin has increased and then it increased some more, and that hurts tourism. Some of your nations, especially those in this region and in the Caribbean, climate change may well be the single gravest danger to security and prosperity. So when I say we need a global solution, I mean it. Anything less won’t work.
But still in our hemisphere, there are several steps that we can take without waiting for the rest of the world. You don’t have to wait for the rest of the world, and we can’t afford to wait for the rest of the world.
Governments can follow the United States and Mexico and commit to strong post-2020 plans that mitigate the impacts of climate, and that will increase the chances that we can have a successful outcome at the Paris negotiations that will take place this December. All the countries of the world will be coming together in Paris to try to deal with climate change, and we all need to live up to our responsibility to set the targets now so this can be successful.
Second, we can encourage governments, businesses, and consumers to rely less on costly fossil fuels. That means investing more in mass transit, in renewable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal, sustainable hydro. It’s why, in Jamaica earlier today, President Obama launched a new Clean Energy Finance Facility for Central America and the Caribbean and a task force to do everything that we can do in order to promote clean energy development and energy security.
Third, we can push for the world’s highest standards in the environmental chapters of the trade agreements that some of us are pursuing, and that includes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP, which will build prosperity throughout our hemisphere, and it will do so based on shared principles and shared values. It’s not just a technical trade agreement. It’s a strategic opportunity for all of us, and we need to seize it.
Finally, we can bring the private and public sectors together with our leading academic institutions – with all of you – to make the most of the innovative clean energy technology that entrepreneurs are developing today, including technology that increases the efficiency of appliances, vehicles, and machines.
So there we have it, ladies and gentlemen: Education, innovation, conservation. Three words. One big challenge. And I have absolute confidence in our ability to succeed. But it is going to take all of us, working together, getting rid of the ideology, getting rid of the politics, looking at each other and talking common sense and coming together to make our shared vision a reality for this hemisphere. And in the doing of it, there are millions of jobs to be created. Life will be better. Health will be better. The environment will be better. The economy will be better. And security will be better.
More than a century ago, one of my predecessors visited Panama at a time of great challenge and opportunity in the region. On his tour through the entire region, he spoke at a meeting of the American Republics in Rio de Janeiro. And he said simply this, I quote: “Not in a single conference, nor by a single effort, can very much be done. You labor more for the future than for the present; but if the right impulse be given, if the right tendency be established, the work you do here will go on among all the millions of people in the American continents long after your final adjournment, long after your lives, with incalculable benefit to all of our beloved countries.” That’s the challenge.
The seventh Summit of the Americas may be just a single conference, but it reflects an energy and a determination and a set of hopes and aspirations that connects the present to the future in a way that could not be more uplifting or real. Because when we join together to expand the boundaries of education, to unleash the spirit of innovation that is so widely present in our young, and to harness clean and renewable sources of power – when we change what tomorrow will look like for hundreds of millions of people from the Chilean foothills to the furthest reaches of Alaska’s North Slopes – when we do that, we’re meeting our obligations as citizens, not just of our countries but of the world.
Obviously, we are looking at a time of great challenge, with particular parts of the world witnessing upheaval and violence. Governance is more demanding as it deals with greater cultural, religious, ideological complexity in a world of instant communications. But the same thing that brings us the complexity actually brings us greater opportunity, and we have, all of us, learned lessons from the past.
So here at the dawn of the 21st century, here at the seventh Summit of the Americas, I hope we will overcome the stereotypes and not fall victim to the cynicism, but rather make the most of this extraordinary period of innovation, entrepreneurial activity, and individual opportunity. And I have great faith in the Americas’ ability to lead the world in doing that. Thank you all very, very much.
Friday, February 13, 2015
RICHARD HOAGLAND'S REMARKS AT ROUNDTABLE ON EAST-WEST CORRIDOR FOR TRADE & ECONOMIC COOPERATION
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Roundtable on East-West Transport Corridor for Trade and Economic Cooperation
Remarks
Richard E. Hoagland
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
As Prepared
Embassy of Azerbaijan
Washington, DC
February 10, 2015
As we continue our discussion of regional trade and economic issues, I would first like to thank Ambassador Suleymanov for hosting today’s roundtable and for being such a gracious host.
It is a very timely discussion, and I want to use this opportunity to provide U.S. perspectives on how trade and transport are developing in the region. I will offer a few thoughts and then turn to my colleague Deputy Assistant Secretary Rubin for his perspective.
We recognize all the work countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus are doing to diversify trade routes across the Caspian Sea, through Turkey and into Europe.
But to expand the region’s potential as a trade corridor, countries in the region must work together to limit border delays and reduce transport costs. If we look solely at the World Bank’s Doing Business report to gauge the number of days and costs associated with importing and exporting containers of goods, we miss examples of how the region is changing to make trade and transport easier. I believe it is important to recognize those changes.
We see the construction and expansion of port facilities in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan mirrored across the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan. New rail lines linking Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have come at the same time as the development of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.
We have seen the benefits of the rail line from Uzbekistan to Mazar-e Sharif in Afghanistan, and note the Asian Development Bank’s development of plans for a rail line from Turkmenistan, through Afghanistan, and toTajikistan with Mazar-e Sharif serving as the link in the middle. We have watched Kazakh wheat being exported not only south into Afghanistan, but also west across the Caspian along faster export routes.
We applaud additional efforts by countries in the region to enhance regional trade and transportation, and we encourage you to work more closely with your neighbors to diversify and expand the trade and transport routes that build economic growth throughout the region.
To advance regional connectivity, you have likely heard the Secretary highlight the importance of our New Silk Road initiative, a theme underscored in Assistant Secretary Biswal’s recent Wilson Center speech.
Through development of a regional energy network, better trade and transport links, streamlined customs and border procedures, and greater people-to-people and business-to-business ties, the New Silk Road initiative supports a more stable, secure and prosperous future for Afghanistan and its neighbors in Central and South Asia.
Through the Northern Distribution Network, we have seen inbound and outbound flows of goods to and from Afghanistan pass through Central Asia and the Caucasus. This experience provides the foundations for viable commercial corridors between Europe and Asia. Upgrading east-west linkages across the Caspian as well as north-south transit corridors from Central to South Asia facilitate trade across the region.
To expand these connections, the United States supports the Asian Development Bank-led Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program, which aims to construct or renovate nearly 7,800 kilometers of roads and close to 3,800 kilometers of rail lines in the CAREC region by 2020. As a result of work already completed, we have seen the speed of transport increase and measurable progress in reducing the costs of crossing regional borders.
Through USAID assistance, our International Narcotics and Law Enforcement and Export Control and Related Border Security and programs, the customs working group under the U.S. - Central Asia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement and numerous other measures, the United States continues to pursue activities that lay the foundation for greater regional connections. Our support for Kazakhstan, Afghanistan and other countries seeking World Trade Organization membership represents the value we see in global trade standards. Cross-border cooperation among border and customs officials is an area where we need to concentrate our efforts in the future. We are aware of security concerns and we will continue to offer our support through joint training programs organized in the region or in the United States. At the same time, we need to see a stronger commitment from all governments in the region to implement streamlined standards that reduce time and costs at the borders. It can be done, but it takes political will.
We value the role of our partners in the region. As we focus on greater regional trade and economic cooperation, we should also recognize the important role the European Union plays in the region. Latvia, as the current chair of the EU presidency, has made deepening EU-Central Asian ties a top priority. We recognize the value of additional steps, such as the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement initialed in Brussels last month between Kazakhstan and the EU, to broaden Central Asia’s links with its western neighbors.
The extension of the EU’s Border Management Program in Central Asia coincides with our own bilateral efforts to streamline and improve border and customs practices as well as our collective efforts through the Asian Development Bank CAREC program I mentioned earlier. All these efforts increase the opportunities for expanded and diversified trade flows in the region.
Although we are discussing Central Asia’s trade and transport links across the Caucasus and Turkey into Europe, I should also mention two other countries that are active in Central Asia. Through its own Silk Road Economic Belt, we see China seeking to develop infrastructure and trade links that we agree can complement our efforts and those of the international community in the interest of a more secure, stable and prosperous future for the region.
Russia has historical ties to Central Asia. Unfortunately, Russia’s actions in Ukraine have not contributed to a more secure, stable and prosperous future for anyone. With Russia’s economy on the cusp of recession, today’s interconnected world means that problems in Russia impact its economic partners.
We know that Russia will continue to be a major economic force in the region. At the same time, Central Asian states are best placed to decide for themselves how to further their economic development, expand their trade ties, and deepen their integration with global markets.
The expansion of the Eurasian Economic Union, for example, should not come at the expense of the ability of countries in the region to fulfill their existing international commitments, including commitments to the World Trade Organization, nor should it restrict their ability to enter into other bilateral or multilateral trade relationships.
I want to reiterate the importance of countries in the region taking steps to diversify and expand their trade and commercial outlooks. Key events in just the past two months have signaled the interest of Central Asian states to reshape their economic futures.
In December, senior officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and the Kyrgyz Republic met in Istanbul to complete price agreements for the sale of Central Asian hydropower to sustain economic growth in Afghanistan and Pakistan – creating a sustainable regional energy market. In January, officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan agreed to take steps to remove trade and transit barriers to allow the freer flow of goods across the region. Later this month, under the Heart of Asia Istanbul Process, regional countries will gather in Ashgabat to discuss regional infrastructure issues.
Looking at the countries of Central Asia, the United States will continue to support efforts for greater regional economic connectivity. Today’s focus on Central Asia’s links to the Caspian, the Caucasus, Turkey, Europe and beyond is important for not only the United States, but - more importantly - for the future of the countries in the region.
At this point, I would like to turn to my colleague, Deputy Assistant Secretary Eric Rubin, for additional insights and perspectives on trade and economic cooperation issues in the region.
Roundtable on East-West Transport Corridor for Trade and Economic Cooperation
Remarks
Richard E. Hoagland
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
As Prepared
Embassy of Azerbaijan
Washington, DC
February 10, 2015
As we continue our discussion of regional trade and economic issues, I would first like to thank Ambassador Suleymanov for hosting today’s roundtable and for being such a gracious host.
It is a very timely discussion, and I want to use this opportunity to provide U.S. perspectives on how trade and transport are developing in the region. I will offer a few thoughts and then turn to my colleague Deputy Assistant Secretary Rubin for his perspective.
We recognize all the work countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus are doing to diversify trade routes across the Caspian Sea, through Turkey and into Europe.
But to expand the region’s potential as a trade corridor, countries in the region must work together to limit border delays and reduce transport costs. If we look solely at the World Bank’s Doing Business report to gauge the number of days and costs associated with importing and exporting containers of goods, we miss examples of how the region is changing to make trade and transport easier. I believe it is important to recognize those changes.
We see the construction and expansion of port facilities in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan mirrored across the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan. New rail lines linking Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have come at the same time as the development of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.
We have seen the benefits of the rail line from Uzbekistan to Mazar-e Sharif in Afghanistan, and note the Asian Development Bank’s development of plans for a rail line from Turkmenistan, through Afghanistan, and toTajikistan with Mazar-e Sharif serving as the link in the middle. We have watched Kazakh wheat being exported not only south into Afghanistan, but also west across the Caspian along faster export routes.
We applaud additional efforts by countries in the region to enhance regional trade and transportation, and we encourage you to work more closely with your neighbors to diversify and expand the trade and transport routes that build economic growth throughout the region.
To advance regional connectivity, you have likely heard the Secretary highlight the importance of our New Silk Road initiative, a theme underscored in Assistant Secretary Biswal’s recent Wilson Center speech.
Through development of a regional energy network, better trade and transport links, streamlined customs and border procedures, and greater people-to-people and business-to-business ties, the New Silk Road initiative supports a more stable, secure and prosperous future for Afghanistan and its neighbors in Central and South Asia.
Through the Northern Distribution Network, we have seen inbound and outbound flows of goods to and from Afghanistan pass through Central Asia and the Caucasus. This experience provides the foundations for viable commercial corridors between Europe and Asia. Upgrading east-west linkages across the Caspian as well as north-south transit corridors from Central to South Asia facilitate trade across the region.
To expand these connections, the United States supports the Asian Development Bank-led Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program, which aims to construct or renovate nearly 7,800 kilometers of roads and close to 3,800 kilometers of rail lines in the CAREC region by 2020. As a result of work already completed, we have seen the speed of transport increase and measurable progress in reducing the costs of crossing regional borders.
Through USAID assistance, our International Narcotics and Law Enforcement and Export Control and Related Border Security and programs, the customs working group under the U.S. - Central Asia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement and numerous other measures, the United States continues to pursue activities that lay the foundation for greater regional connections. Our support for Kazakhstan, Afghanistan and other countries seeking World Trade Organization membership represents the value we see in global trade standards. Cross-border cooperation among border and customs officials is an area where we need to concentrate our efforts in the future. We are aware of security concerns and we will continue to offer our support through joint training programs organized in the region or in the United States. At the same time, we need to see a stronger commitment from all governments in the region to implement streamlined standards that reduce time and costs at the borders. It can be done, but it takes political will.
We value the role of our partners in the region. As we focus on greater regional trade and economic cooperation, we should also recognize the important role the European Union plays in the region. Latvia, as the current chair of the EU presidency, has made deepening EU-Central Asian ties a top priority. We recognize the value of additional steps, such as the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement initialed in Brussels last month between Kazakhstan and the EU, to broaden Central Asia’s links with its western neighbors.
The extension of the EU’s Border Management Program in Central Asia coincides with our own bilateral efforts to streamline and improve border and customs practices as well as our collective efforts through the Asian Development Bank CAREC program I mentioned earlier. All these efforts increase the opportunities for expanded and diversified trade flows in the region.
Although we are discussing Central Asia’s trade and transport links across the Caucasus and Turkey into Europe, I should also mention two other countries that are active in Central Asia. Through its own Silk Road Economic Belt, we see China seeking to develop infrastructure and trade links that we agree can complement our efforts and those of the international community in the interest of a more secure, stable and prosperous future for the region.
Russia has historical ties to Central Asia. Unfortunately, Russia’s actions in Ukraine have not contributed to a more secure, stable and prosperous future for anyone. With Russia’s economy on the cusp of recession, today’s interconnected world means that problems in Russia impact its economic partners.
We know that Russia will continue to be a major economic force in the region. At the same time, Central Asian states are best placed to decide for themselves how to further their economic development, expand their trade ties, and deepen their integration with global markets.
The expansion of the Eurasian Economic Union, for example, should not come at the expense of the ability of countries in the region to fulfill their existing international commitments, including commitments to the World Trade Organization, nor should it restrict their ability to enter into other bilateral or multilateral trade relationships.
I want to reiterate the importance of countries in the region taking steps to diversify and expand their trade and commercial outlooks. Key events in just the past two months have signaled the interest of Central Asian states to reshape their economic futures.
In December, senior officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and the Kyrgyz Republic met in Istanbul to complete price agreements for the sale of Central Asian hydropower to sustain economic growth in Afghanistan and Pakistan – creating a sustainable regional energy market. In January, officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan agreed to take steps to remove trade and transit barriers to allow the freer flow of goods across the region. Later this month, under the Heart of Asia Istanbul Process, regional countries will gather in Ashgabat to discuss regional infrastructure issues.
Looking at the countries of Central Asia, the United States will continue to support efforts for greater regional economic connectivity. Today’s focus on Central Asia’s links to the Caspian, the Caucasus, Turkey, Europe and beyond is important for not only the United States, but - more importantly - for the future of the countries in the region.
At this point, I would like to turn to my colleague, Deputy Assistant Secretary Eric Rubin, for additional insights and perspectives on trade and economic cooperation issues in the region.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
ASSISTANT SECRETARY RUSSEL'S REMARKS ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks to the Business Council for International Understanding
Remarks
Daniel R. Russel
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
New York City
January 13, 2015
As prepared for delivery
Thank, Richard, you for the introduction. It’s great to be here at the Business Council for International Understanding. Your organization is a great supporter of shared prosperity – helping to promote wise policies that create jobs and opportunities both here at home, and for America’s partners and friends around the world. And the individual companies you represent are leaders in fields from health care, to food, to banking and more.
Prosperity and security are inseparable
My portfolio covers the full range of American interests in the Asia-Pacific – namely implementing President Obama’s “rebalance” policy of increased engagement and attention to the region. So while I don’t focus exclusively on economics, as Secretary Kerry says, every Foreign Service Officer is an economics officer.
You understand the importance of America’s commercial relations with the East Asia-Pacific region, which has over half a billion middle class consumers and accounts for $1.4 trillion in trade with the U.S.
You’re here because you understand that America’s prosperity and Asia’s prosperity are inseparable.
You also understand that our shared prosperity and shared security are just as tightly linked. And that’s why I’m here.
The most important thing we can do for U.S.-Asia relations this year, for both prosperity and security, is completing the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. And I’m here to ask for your help. But first, a little background.
Diplomacy and prosperity have enabled each other throughout the Obama administration. Just a few examples:
The global financial crisis of 2008 was the worst global downturn since the Great Depression. Perhaps the decisive difference between the 1930s and this time was that international cooperation in the last six years helped to avoid worst effects. Coordinated action through the G-20 was essential. We’ve also acted to enhance prosperity through our leadership in APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. And we’ve supported ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is driving economic integration at the sub-regional level.
America’s alliances and partnerships guarantee security within the region, as they have for seven decades. And they have supported growing economic relationships with many countries – trade nearly doubling in the last decade under our FTA with Australia, implementation of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, our Open Skies agreement to liberalize air travel with Japan, and more.
Our work with Asia also supports security and prosperity beyond the region, as we jointly tackle global issues such as climate change, violent extremism now including ISIL, and infectious disease now including Ebola. The economic consequences of all these threats have been clear for many years: the increased costs of natural disasters; the Bali bombings and their devastating effect on tourism; the disruptions to business and travel from SARS. East Asia learned from all these past incidents, and the region’s smart contributions to address today’s global crises helps us reduce the impact of bad disruptions to the regional and global economies.
These are all areas of government-to-government cooperation, but there’s also a huge role for the private sector to play. Businesses like yours are essential to building resilient global supply chains that serve consumers, and also help provide relief in emergencies and support long-term recovery.
Now, let me focus for a bit on what we’ve done recently to support business with one particular country that I know you’re interested in: China. Our diplomacy with China has allowed us to expand the areas where we work together, while managing our clear differences. And that diplomacy over many years, including bringing China into the WTO, has supported China’s economic rise, enabling trade and increased exports to China. In 2014 alone, we made important progress in at least five specific ways:
Let’s start with the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meetings in Chicago. There, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman made great progress in getting China to open to imports of U.S. biotech corn and soy; medical devices and pharmaceuticals; and fair treatment of U.S. businesses facing the competition regulators.
Second, at the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, our biggest bilateral annual gathering held over the summer in Beijing, we intensified negotiations on a Bilateral Investment Treaty. The “negative” list is next, and we’re insisting that it be very high quality – narrowly tailored and widely open to foreign investment, especially since our openness to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has allowed new Chinese FDI into the U.S. to surpass our FDI in China.
Third, during President Obama’s trip to Beijing, we reached a key agreement to expand visa validity for business visitors to ten years, a boon for our tourism industry and a win for our companies with interests in China. We also achieved an important bilateral understanding to help the WTO’s International Technology Agreement move forward. We subsequently suffered a setback and there’s still a lot of work to do, but we remain hopeful.
Fourth, our landmark climate progress, also during the trip, is important for long-term public health, and economic health, and it supports the green economy.
That’s 2014. So what’s next, not just with China, but with the entire region? The United States will continue to, one, underwrite regional security; and two, advocate for American business.
We are watching general security and economic conditions that could affect U.S.-Asia-Pacific commercial relations in 2015.
There’s the continuing risk of tensions in the South China Sea. Diplomacy in this area is “a work in progress.” It’s calm on the surface, but militarization and reclamation of disputed outposts and other drivers of tension remain. ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has floated ideas to manage the tensions and we’ll remain strongly supportive of these diplomatic efforts, such as establishing a binding Code of Conduct sooner rather than later. We raise concerns over tensions on these issues at the highest levels, including with Chinese leaders.
In a welcome development, China and Japan have said they’ll implement crisis management mechanisms and restore relations. Substantive follow-through to these diplomatic steps will be essential for the region to reap the fruits of rapprochement between these two economic powerhouses.
We’ll continue to push for respect for universal rights and freedoms, which are essential for prosperity in places like Burma, Cambodia, and of course, China. They are essential everywhere.
And we will continue our vigilant and active diplomacy with our five-party partners on North Korea. We had a big 2014 in terms of spotlighting the North’s human rights abuses. We continue to make clear that North Korea will not achieve the security and prosperity it claims to want while it pursues banned nuclear weapons and missile programs. And we’re increasingly vigilant against the North’s offensive cyber programs.
We are working actively to ensure that a stable security environment underwrites economic growth for the Asia-Pacific, instead of instability threatening progress. No country can provide the public good of regional security in the way the United States can.
Now, to business. At the top of our business agenda for 2015 is the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In this uncertain political environment, and with growth flat in the EU and slowing in China, the importance of the TPP could not be clearer – it is central to the rebalance.
It will strengthen America’s role as one of the most competitive, most innovative economies in the world, as well as one of the biggest trading partners, and source and destination of foreign investment in the region. TPP will be a big boost to the U.S. economy, advancing President Obama’s top priority of creating good jobs in America. Exports already account for over 11 million jobs, and have contributed nearly a third of U.S. growth in recent years. By expanding access to some of the largest and most dynamic economies in the world, TPP will make those numbers even stronger, including for New York.
Some 977,000 New York jobs are supported by trade with the TPP region. Those workers – many of them at your companies – are exporting nearly $15 billion in services and nearly $18 billion in goods.
Just as important, a high-quality TPP will strengthen our partner economies – other regional economies that share the priority we place on labor, environmental, and intellectual property standards, and on fair competition. Every decade or two, our economic model is challenged, and we must renew it and advocate for it. History didn’t end 25 years ago.
In short: We need TPP to strengthen growth and create jobs and to advance our values and show that our ongoing commitment to the region extends beyond security. This is important to long-time allies like Australia, with whom we’ve had an FTA for a decade now. It’s important to Japan as PM Abe works on structural reforms, the “third arrow” of his domestic economic recovery program. And it’s important to newer partners like Vietnam; 2015 marks 20 years of normalized relations, and TPP will take us to the next level, driving labor reforms and reducing its economic dependence on China.
And as a regional platform, TPP is also important to those regional economies that are not yet part of it, because the promise of open markets and high standards can propel reforms that will enhance the competitiveness of future TPP candidates in the entire Asia-Pacific economy, as well as in the supply and value chains that operate throughout the region.
Our negotiators have made a lot of progress on the talks in recent months, and we believe the end of the negotiations is coming into focus. And when it’s time to go to Congress, we’ll need a broad range of support to help get TPP, and the supporting tool of Trade Promotion Authority, passed.
As we pursue TPP, we’re also working with the countries outside that group, including the world’s second largest economy: China. We’re working on the BIT, as I mentioned, and pushing for fair application of their competition laws and trade enforcement.
That’s a lot of business-related diplomacy, and we haven’t even gotten to the rest of the region, which includes partners like Taiwan and Indonesia. Taiwan is our 10th largest trading partner, and a great example of an economy that has flourished with our security support.
Indonesia is a country with enormous potential. U.S. companies have invested $65 billion there in the last eight years, and the new President, Jokowi, has a business background and is off to a quick start. His interest in improving infrastructure and education should provide substantial opportunities for foreign investment in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
In Indonesia, and across the region, there’s a lot of interest in business and investment. And the quality of the investments matters. You are among the best advocates for American values. As we work for you, we appreciate the way you practice the ideals that support sustained success – investing in the workforce through training, and in communities and infrastructure; planning for long term sustainability and environmental protection; avoiding corrupt practices. These are some of the reasons American businesses are often the preferred partner for countries and local businesses across the region.
Take Burma. Our rapprochement has resulted in remarkably rapid market opening since 2012. GE, a storied New York company, is helping modernize Burma’s national airline fleet and power grid, and investing $3 million in public health. Pepsi is working on vocational training and exploring agriculture investments.
Coca-Cola has invested $200 million and is working to economically empower Burmese women. Coke also won the State Department’s Award for Corporate Excellence last year for providing disaster relief to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan. And there are many more examples of companies ploughing a portion of their profits back into corporate social responsibility activities across the region. This year, we intend to explore how APEC might help expand the practice of CSR to promote more inclusive economic growth in the region.
I believe the United States and the Asia-Pacific region will continue to grow and prosper together, but it depends on wise leadership – in both our political and commercial capitals here and in the region. And it depends on you, the business community, continuing to make and strengthen your connections with businesses and people across the Pacific. Thank you.
Remarks to the Business Council for International Understanding
Remarks
Daniel R. Russel
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
New York City
January 13, 2015
As prepared for delivery
Thank, Richard, you for the introduction. It’s great to be here at the Business Council for International Understanding. Your organization is a great supporter of shared prosperity – helping to promote wise policies that create jobs and opportunities both here at home, and for America’s partners and friends around the world. And the individual companies you represent are leaders in fields from health care, to food, to banking and more.
Prosperity and security are inseparable
My portfolio covers the full range of American interests in the Asia-Pacific – namely implementing President Obama’s “rebalance” policy of increased engagement and attention to the region. So while I don’t focus exclusively on economics, as Secretary Kerry says, every Foreign Service Officer is an economics officer.
You understand the importance of America’s commercial relations with the East Asia-Pacific region, which has over half a billion middle class consumers and accounts for $1.4 trillion in trade with the U.S.
You’re here because you understand that America’s prosperity and Asia’s prosperity are inseparable.
You also understand that our shared prosperity and shared security are just as tightly linked. And that’s why I’m here.
The most important thing we can do for U.S.-Asia relations this year, for both prosperity and security, is completing the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. And I’m here to ask for your help. But first, a little background.
Diplomacy and prosperity have enabled each other throughout the Obama administration. Just a few examples:
The global financial crisis of 2008 was the worst global downturn since the Great Depression. Perhaps the decisive difference between the 1930s and this time was that international cooperation in the last six years helped to avoid worst effects. Coordinated action through the G-20 was essential. We’ve also acted to enhance prosperity through our leadership in APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. And we’ve supported ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is driving economic integration at the sub-regional level.
America’s alliances and partnerships guarantee security within the region, as they have for seven decades. And they have supported growing economic relationships with many countries – trade nearly doubling in the last decade under our FTA with Australia, implementation of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, our Open Skies agreement to liberalize air travel with Japan, and more.
Our work with Asia also supports security and prosperity beyond the region, as we jointly tackle global issues such as climate change, violent extremism now including ISIL, and infectious disease now including Ebola. The economic consequences of all these threats have been clear for many years: the increased costs of natural disasters; the Bali bombings and their devastating effect on tourism; the disruptions to business and travel from SARS. East Asia learned from all these past incidents, and the region’s smart contributions to address today’s global crises helps us reduce the impact of bad disruptions to the regional and global economies.
These are all areas of government-to-government cooperation, but there’s also a huge role for the private sector to play. Businesses like yours are essential to building resilient global supply chains that serve consumers, and also help provide relief in emergencies and support long-term recovery.
Now, let me focus for a bit on what we’ve done recently to support business with one particular country that I know you’re interested in: China. Our diplomacy with China has allowed us to expand the areas where we work together, while managing our clear differences. And that diplomacy over many years, including bringing China into the WTO, has supported China’s economic rise, enabling trade and increased exports to China. In 2014 alone, we made important progress in at least five specific ways:
Let’s start with the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meetings in Chicago. There, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman made great progress in getting China to open to imports of U.S. biotech corn and soy; medical devices and pharmaceuticals; and fair treatment of U.S. businesses facing the competition regulators.
Second, at the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, our biggest bilateral annual gathering held over the summer in Beijing, we intensified negotiations on a Bilateral Investment Treaty. The “negative” list is next, and we’re insisting that it be very high quality – narrowly tailored and widely open to foreign investment, especially since our openness to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has allowed new Chinese FDI into the U.S. to surpass our FDI in China.
Third, during President Obama’s trip to Beijing, we reached a key agreement to expand visa validity for business visitors to ten years, a boon for our tourism industry and a win for our companies with interests in China. We also achieved an important bilateral understanding to help the WTO’s International Technology Agreement move forward. We subsequently suffered a setback and there’s still a lot of work to do, but we remain hopeful.
Fourth, our landmark climate progress, also during the trip, is important for long-term public health, and economic health, and it supports the green economy.
That’s 2014. So what’s next, not just with China, but with the entire region? The United States will continue to, one, underwrite regional security; and two, advocate for American business.
We are watching general security and economic conditions that could affect U.S.-Asia-Pacific commercial relations in 2015.
There’s the continuing risk of tensions in the South China Sea. Diplomacy in this area is “a work in progress.” It’s calm on the surface, but militarization and reclamation of disputed outposts and other drivers of tension remain. ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has floated ideas to manage the tensions and we’ll remain strongly supportive of these diplomatic efforts, such as establishing a binding Code of Conduct sooner rather than later. We raise concerns over tensions on these issues at the highest levels, including with Chinese leaders.
In a welcome development, China and Japan have said they’ll implement crisis management mechanisms and restore relations. Substantive follow-through to these diplomatic steps will be essential for the region to reap the fruits of rapprochement between these two economic powerhouses.
We’ll continue to push for respect for universal rights and freedoms, which are essential for prosperity in places like Burma, Cambodia, and of course, China. They are essential everywhere.
And we will continue our vigilant and active diplomacy with our five-party partners on North Korea. We had a big 2014 in terms of spotlighting the North’s human rights abuses. We continue to make clear that North Korea will not achieve the security and prosperity it claims to want while it pursues banned nuclear weapons and missile programs. And we’re increasingly vigilant against the North’s offensive cyber programs.
We are working actively to ensure that a stable security environment underwrites economic growth for the Asia-Pacific, instead of instability threatening progress. No country can provide the public good of regional security in the way the United States can.
Now, to business. At the top of our business agenda for 2015 is the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In this uncertain political environment, and with growth flat in the EU and slowing in China, the importance of the TPP could not be clearer – it is central to the rebalance.
It will strengthen America’s role as one of the most competitive, most innovative economies in the world, as well as one of the biggest trading partners, and source and destination of foreign investment in the region. TPP will be a big boost to the U.S. economy, advancing President Obama’s top priority of creating good jobs in America. Exports already account for over 11 million jobs, and have contributed nearly a third of U.S. growth in recent years. By expanding access to some of the largest and most dynamic economies in the world, TPP will make those numbers even stronger, including for New York.
Some 977,000 New York jobs are supported by trade with the TPP region. Those workers – many of them at your companies – are exporting nearly $15 billion in services and nearly $18 billion in goods.
Just as important, a high-quality TPP will strengthen our partner economies – other regional economies that share the priority we place on labor, environmental, and intellectual property standards, and on fair competition. Every decade or two, our economic model is challenged, and we must renew it and advocate for it. History didn’t end 25 years ago.
In short: We need TPP to strengthen growth and create jobs and to advance our values and show that our ongoing commitment to the region extends beyond security. This is important to long-time allies like Australia, with whom we’ve had an FTA for a decade now. It’s important to Japan as PM Abe works on structural reforms, the “third arrow” of his domestic economic recovery program. And it’s important to newer partners like Vietnam; 2015 marks 20 years of normalized relations, and TPP will take us to the next level, driving labor reforms and reducing its economic dependence on China.
And as a regional platform, TPP is also important to those regional economies that are not yet part of it, because the promise of open markets and high standards can propel reforms that will enhance the competitiveness of future TPP candidates in the entire Asia-Pacific economy, as well as in the supply and value chains that operate throughout the region.
Our negotiators have made a lot of progress on the talks in recent months, and we believe the end of the negotiations is coming into focus. And when it’s time to go to Congress, we’ll need a broad range of support to help get TPP, and the supporting tool of Trade Promotion Authority, passed.
As we pursue TPP, we’re also working with the countries outside that group, including the world’s second largest economy: China. We’re working on the BIT, as I mentioned, and pushing for fair application of their competition laws and trade enforcement.
That’s a lot of business-related diplomacy, and we haven’t even gotten to the rest of the region, which includes partners like Taiwan and Indonesia. Taiwan is our 10th largest trading partner, and a great example of an economy that has flourished with our security support.
Indonesia is a country with enormous potential. U.S. companies have invested $65 billion there in the last eight years, and the new President, Jokowi, has a business background and is off to a quick start. His interest in improving infrastructure and education should provide substantial opportunities for foreign investment in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
In Indonesia, and across the region, there’s a lot of interest in business and investment. And the quality of the investments matters. You are among the best advocates for American values. As we work for you, we appreciate the way you practice the ideals that support sustained success – investing in the workforce through training, and in communities and infrastructure; planning for long term sustainability and environmental protection; avoiding corrupt practices. These are some of the reasons American businesses are often the preferred partner for countries and local businesses across the region.
Take Burma. Our rapprochement has resulted in remarkably rapid market opening since 2012. GE, a storied New York company, is helping modernize Burma’s national airline fleet and power grid, and investing $3 million in public health. Pepsi is working on vocational training and exploring agriculture investments.
Coca-Cola has invested $200 million and is working to economically empower Burmese women. Coke also won the State Department’s Award for Corporate Excellence last year for providing disaster relief to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan. And there are many more examples of companies ploughing a portion of their profits back into corporate social responsibility activities across the region. This year, we intend to explore how APEC might help expand the practice of CSR to promote more inclusive economic growth in the region.
I believe the United States and the Asia-Pacific region will continue to grow and prosper together, but it depends on wise leadership – in both our political and commercial capitals here and in the region. And it depends on you, the business community, continuing to make and strengthen your connections with businesses and people across the Pacific. Thank you.
Monday, January 12, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS AT VIBRANT GUJARAT
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks at the Vibrant Gujarat Opening Ceremony
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar
Gujarat, India
January 11, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much. Prime Minister Modi and Secretary General Ban, many famous ministers, trade representatives, the prime ministers – ladies and gentlemen, I fear we have reached that magical moment in an event when just about everything has been said, but not everybody has said it. (Laughter.) For me it is a privilege to be able to be here for many reasons, but perhaps most importantly, I’m personally delighted to be back in India, and to join you for the seventh Vibrant Gujarat summit. Particularly because this is the home state of your visionary prime minister, your prime minister who has brought a particular energy to this transformational moment, but also because he has already made the name Gujarat synonymous with possibilities, with change, with energy. (Applause.)
And I know it is because of his reputation for what he achieved in the course of his leadership here in Gujarat, that the people of India have now given him this very special mandate to help make this the moment that we all come together to achieve the goals that Secretary Ban Ki-moon, World Bank President Jim Kim, and others have described here this morning.
It is also particularly exciting for me, I’m told that this morning we are all of us talking to you about 95 percent of the people responsible for 95 percent of the GDP of India. So this is an amazing opportunity.
I know that President Obama is very excited and particularly pleased with the fact that he will be the first United States president to be honored as Chief Guest on Republic Day – (applause) – and he will be the first sitting United States president to visit India twice while in office. (Applause.) Let me make it clear: We believe that that purposefully says something important about the value that both countries place on our critically important relationship.
There are an amazing number of thoughtful leaders here today, some of whom like our friends from the Netherlands, the Dutch who have made themselves particularly visible and energetic this morning. (Laughter.) But let me just say something that I feel that I think everybody shares. We may all come from different walks of life, but we stand together this morning with the people of France as they march in tribute to the victims of last week’s murderous attack on the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo in Paris. And we stand together not just in anger and outrage, but in solidarity and commitment to the cause of confronting extremism and in the cause that extremists fear so much and that has always united our countries – freedom. We stand together in freedom and together we make it clear that no act of terror will ever stop the march of freedom. (Applause.)
I want to emphasize, not to the exclusion of any other country – there are many countries here who share this particular belief – but the United States and India are two countries, literally defined in our documents that create us as a nation, defined by our commitment to freedom, to innovation, to the belief that all things are possible. President Obama often tells people that only in America would his particular journey have been possible. And Prime Minister Modi’s journey from a young man who sold tea right by the railroad right here in Gujarat to the Prime Minister’s residence on Race Course Road seems no less improbable. (Applause.) So we join you in celebrating the extraordinary chapter of India that is being written today.
I am especially pleased to be joined here today by two key leaders from our Administration, the leaders of the U.S.-India relationship: Ambassador Rich Verma and Assistant Secretary Nisha Desai Biswal. Half a century ago, Ambassador Verma’s parents left India – a country they loved and have never stopped loving – to build a life in the United States. Today, I couldn’t be more pleased that we have returned the favor by sending Rich Verma, our first Indian-American Ambassador, to India. (Applause.) And Nisha, who is here today, was born right here in Gujarat, and she is now here as the Assistant Secretary of State of the United States and my principal adviser on strengthening the U.S.-India partnership. (Applause.)
Every nation prides itself in any number of different things. One of the things that we share with a number of nations, but we particularly pride ourselves in, is the benefit that our country gains from diversity. And frankly, this belief in opportunity, even against long odds, is unique to India and the United States in many ways. Our founding documents begin with exactly the same three words: “We the people.” (Applause.) And our innovators and entrepreneurs are constantly pushing the curve of discovery, constantly believing in the possibilities of the future.
I’ve been coming to India now for many years. In fact, I remember traveling here at the end of the Cold War, a young senator, when nerves were still raw and suspicions still lingered. But as a senator, I began to see how profoundly this relationship could change quickly.
When I traveled to Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore with executives from companies and high-tech industries, I was immediately overwhelmed by the sense of possibility, by the promise, by the entrepreneurial passion. And I believe very strongly that today the moment has literally never been more ripe to deliver on the incredible possibilities of relationships between all of our countries.
If we work together, with partners who are here and some who are not here today, I am convinced that the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest democracy can help to forge a new era of shared possibility and security for hundreds of millions of people in India, but indeed, across Asia, and across the world. We can do exactly what Jim Kim said: We could end extreme poverty in our lifetimes. (Applause.)
In fact, our economic partnership is already growing stronger by the day. Annual trade in goods and services between the United States and India has grown nearly five-fold since 2000 alone. Bilateral foreign direct investment now stands at nearly $30 billion. And our trade and investment supports hundreds of thousands of jobs in both of our countries and in other countries that are partnering here. The fruits of this kind of partnership are extraordinary, and the supply chain for goods and services now stretches not just one country to another but between many different countries.
Here’s the truth, and this is what is important at a meeting like this: We can do more together, and we must do more together, and we have to do it faster. That’s why I’m here this week, because I want to ensure that our economic relationship grows stronger in every respect. We share Prime Minister Modi’s goal of increasing our countries’ annual trade fivefold in the years ahead, and we want to expand our commercial ties and change the way our businesses talk with one another so we can take this relationship, and these relationships is plural, to the new heights that we envision.
And I want to emphasize, we do not view this as a zero-sum competition where we have to fight exclusively for what we want or what India, United States would have – all of us have an ability to take charge of the opportunities that are staring us in the face. When you consider – I think Jim Kim mentioned these numbers – the number of people living in extreme poverty around the world today, the numbers of schools that need to be built, the number of hospitals that need to be built, the roads that need to be built, the energy grids that need to be changed, the unbelievable opportunity to tourism by (inaudible) travel, we are building an endless set of possibilities, and it through this kind of meeting that we will harness the energy to make the most of those possibilities.
I am convinced, as we look to the relationship of the future though, just as Ban Ki-moon mentioned a few minutes ago, there is one enormous cloud hanging over all of us which requires responsibility from leaders. Global climate change is already violently affecting communities not just across India but around the world. It is disrupting commerce, development, and economic growth. It’s costing farmers crops. It’s costing insurance companies unbelievable payouts. It’s raising the cost of doing business, and believe me, if it continues down the current trend-line, we will see climate refugees fighting each other for water and seeking food and new opportunity.
So this is a relationship between India and the United States where we believe very deeply that we could turn sustainable economic growth opportunities into a prosperity we have ever seen before. And it means one very simply thing: Unlike many problems in public life where you struggle sometimes between the plusses and minuses of a particular choice you make – and leaders here all know and business leaders all know what I’m talking about – the choices of climate change offer an unprecedented number of plusses, and frankly, almost no downside. If we make the choices that are staring us in the face, the fact is that a solution to climate change is already here. It’s called energy policy. Sustainable energy policy. And in a sustainable energy policy comes a whole set of benefits to our economy, something many countries of the world are screaming for today.
The world that changed the United States creation of wealth in the 1990s was a $1 trillion market with 1 billion users. And we created wealth through every single sector of the American economy. It was the technology revolution – communications, principally. The world we’re looking at today, the energy market, is a $6 trillion market with four to five billion users today, potentially, and up to 9 billion users by the year 2050, if population meets the current trends. My friends, that’s the greatest market human beings have ever known. And if we seize it properly, our ability to bring modern resources to the task is unlimited.
That means we need to join together to take advantage of the challenge that was laid down by Prime Minister Modi who has now committed to greatly expand India’s wind resources, make your agricultural systems more resilient, increase your national solar mission fivefold. And together, we can create an environment where all of our companies play leading roles in bringing cutting-edge technologies, equipment, capital, and know-how not just to India but to countless countries that need this growth and development now. That’s how we will turn Prime Minister Modi’s “Make in India” initiative a win-win opportunity for the planet as a whole. (Applause.)
So I just close by saying to all of you that I can’t think of a moment in the years I’ve been in public life when our destinies are converging as significantly as they are today. India and the United States I think have a common responsibility, together with our other country partners, a common opportunity to prove that democracies can deliver for their citizens, and frankly, that by doing so that is when we are at our strongest. It is also when we’re at our most secure. And that’s how we will capitalize on the full potential inherent in this partnership now and for generations to come.
I was very taken during Prime Minister Modi’s campaign by (in Hindi) – (applause) – participate in the (inaudible). I tell you what, that sounds like a pretty good slogan for all of us to adopt, and if we adopt it, we can get the job done. Thank you very, very much. (Applause.)
Remarks at the Vibrant Gujarat Opening Ceremony
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar
Gujarat, India
January 11, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much. Prime Minister Modi and Secretary General Ban, many famous ministers, trade representatives, the prime ministers – ladies and gentlemen, I fear we have reached that magical moment in an event when just about everything has been said, but not everybody has said it. (Laughter.) For me it is a privilege to be able to be here for many reasons, but perhaps most importantly, I’m personally delighted to be back in India, and to join you for the seventh Vibrant Gujarat summit. Particularly because this is the home state of your visionary prime minister, your prime minister who has brought a particular energy to this transformational moment, but also because he has already made the name Gujarat synonymous with possibilities, with change, with energy. (Applause.)
And I know it is because of his reputation for what he achieved in the course of his leadership here in Gujarat, that the people of India have now given him this very special mandate to help make this the moment that we all come together to achieve the goals that Secretary Ban Ki-moon, World Bank President Jim Kim, and others have described here this morning.
It is also particularly exciting for me, I’m told that this morning we are all of us talking to you about 95 percent of the people responsible for 95 percent of the GDP of India. So this is an amazing opportunity.
I know that President Obama is very excited and particularly pleased with the fact that he will be the first United States president to be honored as Chief Guest on Republic Day – (applause) – and he will be the first sitting United States president to visit India twice while in office. (Applause.) Let me make it clear: We believe that that purposefully says something important about the value that both countries place on our critically important relationship.
There are an amazing number of thoughtful leaders here today, some of whom like our friends from the Netherlands, the Dutch who have made themselves particularly visible and energetic this morning. (Laughter.) But let me just say something that I feel that I think everybody shares. We may all come from different walks of life, but we stand together this morning with the people of France as they march in tribute to the victims of last week’s murderous attack on the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo in Paris. And we stand together not just in anger and outrage, but in solidarity and commitment to the cause of confronting extremism and in the cause that extremists fear so much and that has always united our countries – freedom. We stand together in freedom and together we make it clear that no act of terror will ever stop the march of freedom. (Applause.)
I want to emphasize, not to the exclusion of any other country – there are many countries here who share this particular belief – but the United States and India are two countries, literally defined in our documents that create us as a nation, defined by our commitment to freedom, to innovation, to the belief that all things are possible. President Obama often tells people that only in America would his particular journey have been possible. And Prime Minister Modi’s journey from a young man who sold tea right by the railroad right here in Gujarat to the Prime Minister’s residence on Race Course Road seems no less improbable. (Applause.) So we join you in celebrating the extraordinary chapter of India that is being written today.
I am especially pleased to be joined here today by two key leaders from our Administration, the leaders of the U.S.-India relationship: Ambassador Rich Verma and Assistant Secretary Nisha Desai Biswal. Half a century ago, Ambassador Verma’s parents left India – a country they loved and have never stopped loving – to build a life in the United States. Today, I couldn’t be more pleased that we have returned the favor by sending Rich Verma, our first Indian-American Ambassador, to India. (Applause.) And Nisha, who is here today, was born right here in Gujarat, and she is now here as the Assistant Secretary of State of the United States and my principal adviser on strengthening the U.S.-India partnership. (Applause.)
Every nation prides itself in any number of different things. One of the things that we share with a number of nations, but we particularly pride ourselves in, is the benefit that our country gains from diversity. And frankly, this belief in opportunity, even against long odds, is unique to India and the United States in many ways. Our founding documents begin with exactly the same three words: “We the people.” (Applause.) And our innovators and entrepreneurs are constantly pushing the curve of discovery, constantly believing in the possibilities of the future.
I’ve been coming to India now for many years. In fact, I remember traveling here at the end of the Cold War, a young senator, when nerves were still raw and suspicions still lingered. But as a senator, I began to see how profoundly this relationship could change quickly.
When I traveled to Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore with executives from companies and high-tech industries, I was immediately overwhelmed by the sense of possibility, by the promise, by the entrepreneurial passion. And I believe very strongly that today the moment has literally never been more ripe to deliver on the incredible possibilities of relationships between all of our countries.
If we work together, with partners who are here and some who are not here today, I am convinced that the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest democracy can help to forge a new era of shared possibility and security for hundreds of millions of people in India, but indeed, across Asia, and across the world. We can do exactly what Jim Kim said: We could end extreme poverty in our lifetimes. (Applause.)
In fact, our economic partnership is already growing stronger by the day. Annual trade in goods and services between the United States and India has grown nearly five-fold since 2000 alone. Bilateral foreign direct investment now stands at nearly $30 billion. And our trade and investment supports hundreds of thousands of jobs in both of our countries and in other countries that are partnering here. The fruits of this kind of partnership are extraordinary, and the supply chain for goods and services now stretches not just one country to another but between many different countries.
Here’s the truth, and this is what is important at a meeting like this: We can do more together, and we must do more together, and we have to do it faster. That’s why I’m here this week, because I want to ensure that our economic relationship grows stronger in every respect. We share Prime Minister Modi’s goal of increasing our countries’ annual trade fivefold in the years ahead, and we want to expand our commercial ties and change the way our businesses talk with one another so we can take this relationship, and these relationships is plural, to the new heights that we envision.
And I want to emphasize, we do not view this as a zero-sum competition where we have to fight exclusively for what we want or what India, United States would have – all of us have an ability to take charge of the opportunities that are staring us in the face. When you consider – I think Jim Kim mentioned these numbers – the number of people living in extreme poverty around the world today, the numbers of schools that need to be built, the number of hospitals that need to be built, the roads that need to be built, the energy grids that need to be changed, the unbelievable opportunity to tourism by (inaudible) travel, we are building an endless set of possibilities, and it through this kind of meeting that we will harness the energy to make the most of those possibilities.
I am convinced, as we look to the relationship of the future though, just as Ban Ki-moon mentioned a few minutes ago, there is one enormous cloud hanging over all of us which requires responsibility from leaders. Global climate change is already violently affecting communities not just across India but around the world. It is disrupting commerce, development, and economic growth. It’s costing farmers crops. It’s costing insurance companies unbelievable payouts. It’s raising the cost of doing business, and believe me, if it continues down the current trend-line, we will see climate refugees fighting each other for water and seeking food and new opportunity.
So this is a relationship between India and the United States where we believe very deeply that we could turn sustainable economic growth opportunities into a prosperity we have ever seen before. And it means one very simply thing: Unlike many problems in public life where you struggle sometimes between the plusses and minuses of a particular choice you make – and leaders here all know and business leaders all know what I’m talking about – the choices of climate change offer an unprecedented number of plusses, and frankly, almost no downside. If we make the choices that are staring us in the face, the fact is that a solution to climate change is already here. It’s called energy policy. Sustainable energy policy. And in a sustainable energy policy comes a whole set of benefits to our economy, something many countries of the world are screaming for today.
The world that changed the United States creation of wealth in the 1990s was a $1 trillion market with 1 billion users. And we created wealth through every single sector of the American economy. It was the technology revolution – communications, principally. The world we’re looking at today, the energy market, is a $6 trillion market with four to five billion users today, potentially, and up to 9 billion users by the year 2050, if population meets the current trends. My friends, that’s the greatest market human beings have ever known. And if we seize it properly, our ability to bring modern resources to the task is unlimited.
That means we need to join together to take advantage of the challenge that was laid down by Prime Minister Modi who has now committed to greatly expand India’s wind resources, make your agricultural systems more resilient, increase your national solar mission fivefold. And together, we can create an environment where all of our companies play leading roles in bringing cutting-edge technologies, equipment, capital, and know-how not just to India but to countless countries that need this growth and development now. That’s how we will turn Prime Minister Modi’s “Make in India” initiative a win-win opportunity for the planet as a whole. (Applause.)
So I just close by saying to all of you that I can’t think of a moment in the years I’ve been in public life when our destinies are converging as significantly as they are today. India and the United States I think have a common responsibility, together with our other country partners, a common opportunity to prove that democracies can deliver for their citizens, and frankly, that by doing so that is when we are at our strongest. It is also when we’re at our most secure. And that’s how we will capitalize on the full potential inherent in this partnership now and for generations to come.
I was very taken during Prime Minister Modi’s campaign by (in Hindi) – (applause) – participate in the (inaudible). I tell you what, that sounds like a pretty good slogan for all of us to adopt, and if we adopt it, we can get the job done. Thank you very, very much. (Applause.)
Friday, August 1, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH INDIAN MINISTER FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS SWARAJ
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj After Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan
New Delhi, India
July 31, 2014
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: Thanks. We have just completed an excellent discussion on the main areas of our partnership: security; energy; trade and investment; science and technology; regional and border issues. The extent to which our cooperation is an impact on the wellbeing of our people, our economies, and our respective regional and global interests, makes us a truly defining partnership. And the extent to which revitalized India-U.S. ties contribute to peace, security, and prosperity of our neighborhood, the Asian region and beyond, makes our relationship truly strategic.
We recognized that today, both sides stand at an important turning point. Today, we can once again realize the latent potential of our partnership, which is based on common fundamental values and converging long-term strategic interests.
Secretary Kerry and Secretary Pritzker were generous in their assessment of what our new government will be able to do to realize the expectations of our people. They recognize that there’s much hard work ahead to realize the people’s mandate in an election of hope. My colleagues and I underlined that, for our part, we see great potential for the United States as a global partner. We underlined our interest in seeing a much more robust American presence in the Indian economy – as investors, as trade partners, in skill development, in defense, and in science and technology.
We also recognized that the regional and global aspect of our strategic partnership has great value for both sides, especially in the current situation of global and regional flux. We are delighted that there is a growing global dimension in our partnership. We agreed that the visit of Defense Secretary Hagel next Friday is an important opportunity to energize our defense partnership and begin the process of giving it a new strategic content.
We also recognized that the majority of our strategic relationship has given both sides the capacity to treat issues where we diverge as an opportunity for further conversation and dialogue. Towards this end, we discussed scheduling our long-pending commercial dialogue, our ministerial trade policy forum, and other bilateral dialogue mechanisms to address outstanding trade and economic issues that arise as a natural result of different perceptions.
Today, at the conclusion of this Fifth Strategic Dialogue, we can take satisfaction in the fact that within the few years since we raised our relationship to a strategic plane, our bilateral dialogue, as in all of the (inaudible), a new energy that our meeting today has imparted to partner departments and ministries should lead to determined efforts to ensure that the summit meeting in September between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Obama raises our partnership to a new level.
I want to thank our distinguished guests for their presence here in India. We appreciate the commitment to this partnership and the substantive contributions made on both sides today. While I’m pleased at the current effort to build on the momentum of our elections, we can be truly satisfied if we sustain this effort to ensure the best possible outcomes from the summit this September and through the rest of the year.
I now request Secretary Kerry to address you, after which we’ll take a few questions. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you very much, Minister Swaraj. I want to thank you, first of all, for your leadership and I particularly want to thank you for the important perspective you brought to the discussions here today, as well as your very, very generous welcome. Thank you very much.
And in fact, the minister was extremely generous in permitting me to make a number of must-do phone calls during our session, and I’m very grateful to her for her indulgence.
I also want to acknowledge and thank the many members of the United States delegation joining me here today. Secretary Penny Pritzker is as good a Commerce Secretary as you could ever find, and I’m blessed to have her not only as a friend but as a colleague in this endeavor. And I saw firsthand today how important her leadership is in all that we are trying to undertake – science and technology, trade, all of our commercial activity and our economic issues.
Before I begin to discuss what we’ve accomplished in the past few days – and it has been a few days, because a number of members of our delegation arrived here several days ago and began meetings in Mumbai and here in Delhi. So there have been a lot of conversations taking place leading up to today. But I particularly wanted to share on behalf of President Obama and the United States our condolences with the families and the loved ones of the dozens of men and women who lost their lives in the Pune mudslide. There are many who remain missing. I know the Indian Government is investing enormous resources and effort in order to engage in the recovery effort, and the United States certainly is prepared to do anything that we might be able to if indeed help is needed.
I have been coming to India for many years. I’ve come here many times. In fact, I remember traveling here at the end of the Cold War, and it was a moment when nerves were still raw and suspicions still lingered. But as a Senator, I began to see how the relationship could quickly change, and in fact did. When I began to travel to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, with the executives from companies and high-tech industries or in aerospace, it was very clear to me the breadth of the potential of the relationship between India and the United States, the potential of a real partnership. And I feel today, particularly after these two days of in-depth discussions, that the moment has never been more ripe to deliver on the incredible possibilities of the relationship between our nations.
Now that India’s new government has won an historic mandate to deliver change and reform, together we have a singular opportunity: to help India to meet its challenge; to boost two-way trade; to support South Asia’s connectivity; to develop cleaner energy; to deepen our security partnership in the Asia Pacific and beyond.
The United States and India can and should be indispensable partners in the 21st century. Of course, delivering on the potential of this moment is the key. The words are easy; it’s the actions we need to take that will really define the relationship in the days ahead. And I think it’s safe to say that I said to the foreign minister that we all have a lot of homework to do coming out of this meeting, many bilateral initiatives that will continue, but clearly, an importance to put specifics on the table for the trip of Prime Minister Modi to Washington in September to meet with President Obama.
I think we share a clear understanding of where we can begin. The new – in the new government’s plan for (in Hindi) – “together with all, development for all,” is a concept and a vision that is not unlike that expressed by President Obama and is one that we support wholeheartedly. Our private sector is very eager to be a catalyst for India’s development, and our government will enthusiastically support those kinds of development efforts. The opportunities are really clear, and they’re quite dramatic. American companies lead in key sectors that India wants to grow in: high-end manufacturing in infrastructure, in healthcare, and in information technology.
Still, we know we have a lot of work yet to do in breaking down barriers to trade and in encouraging the talent that we both have to be able to go to work. By limiting those obstacles, which we talked about over the course of these two days, whether they’re tariffs or price controls or preferential treatment for certain products in large, influential markets, we can build a more competitive market as well as build the bridges of opportunity that our young people in both of our countries want so much. When 10 million Indians enter the workforce each year, the Indian Government clearly understands this imperative.
Another topic that we spent a great deal of time discussing today was climate change. In past months, we have begun to find more common ground on this important global issue. There is no place where the challenges posed by climate change and the economic opportunities of renewable energy converge like they do in India today. We want to help India to be able to meet this challenge, to make the connections, and to be able to help supply clean electricity to the 400 million Indians who today live without power. I know this is a priority for the prime minister, and it’s a priority that we’re prepared to try to share.
This morning, I had the privilege of visiting IIT, the Indian Institute of Technology. And I met with some of the young doctorate candidates – doctoral candidates and master’s candidates who are doing fascinating research and development. This is one of India’s and the world’s premier institutions where students and researchers are – and their professors obviously are experimenting and working with the use of biomass and algae as sources of green energy, also new means of water treatment and cleaning water. It was really encouraging to see what is happening there, and I hope that we’ll be able to see Indian and American institutions coming together in a more formalized and productive way in order to be able to encourage that kind of joint research and innovation.
We also want to be clear: Climate change and energy shortages are not something that might happen way off in the future; it’s here with us now. Extreme weather, blackouts, scarce resources, all of these things endanger human health, prosperity, and they ultimately endanger security for all of us. Prime Minister Modi has stated clearly that he understands the urgency of this issue. He’s called for a saffron revolution, because the saffron color represents energy. He said that this revolution should focus on renewable energy sources such as solar energy in order to meet India’s growing energy demand. He is absolutely right. The United States could not agree with him more, and together, we believe that we can at last begin a new and constructive chapter in the United States-India climate change relationship.
Lastly, in this century, one that will continue to be defined by competing models of governance, India and the United States have a common responsibility. It is to prove that democracies can deliver the full expectations of their citizens. Our two nations believe that when every citizen, no matter their background, no matter their beliefs, can make their full contribution, that is when a nation is strongest and most secure, and that certainly applies to India and the United States. We are two confident nations. We are connected by core values. And we are optimistic nations should never lose sight of how much we can and must achieve. From women’s rights to minority rights, there is room to go further for both of us. We must also speak with a common voice that violence against women in any shape or form is a violence against our deepest values.
The United States and India are two nations that begin our founding documents with the exact same three words: We The People, We The People. By working together so that all people in our nations can pursue their aspirations, we believe we can come closer to achieving our founding dreams.
For both India and the United States, investing in each other’s success is frankly one of our smartest long-term strategic bets. We have the capacity, we have the resources, we have the open and resilient societies that can help us compete and win in an interconnected world, and we have remarkable and talented citizens in both of our countries waiting to do so. In the weeks to come, we will take a series of concrete steps to pave the way for Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Washington in September, and hopefully – hopefully – to pave the way for a new chapter in the ties between our two great democracies.
And I am also prepared to answer a few questions.
MODERATOR: The first question will be from Mr. Ashish Singh, ABP News.
QUESTION: Greetings, Secretary Kerry and greetings (inaudible). My question is for both ministers. (In Hindi.)
And Secretary, I would also request you respond to the same question about the concerns raised in India or the (inaudible) – on the Indian political parties, specifically parties (in Hindi). Thank you.
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: (Via interpreter) Yes, I raised this issue with Secretary John Kerry when the matter was published in Indian newspapers. I have also conveyed to him that this act on the part of U.S. authorities is completely unacceptable to us, since our two countries are friendly nations and we happen to share dialogue with each other.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, we have a policy in the United States that with respect to intelligence matters, we do not discuss intelligence matters in public. But let me just say, very clearly, we value our relationship with India, our bilateral relationship in all the ways that I’ve just described. And we also value the sharing of information between each other regarding counterterrorism and other threats to both of our countries. We’ve had conversations, as the minister has stated, with government officials about these reports, and usually we try to have our intelligence communities work to resolve any questions or any differences that may exist.
But let me say this: President Obama has undertaken a unique and unprecedented review that he ordered of all of our intelligence and intelligence gathering and activities, and unlike any prior president, he has put out a memorandum clearly articulating in a speech – excuse me – he gave a speech in which he clearly articulated America’s approach going forward and the standards that we will apply. We will continue to work actively with India wherever we see a threat to our shared interests, and we fully respect and understand the feelings expressed by the minister.
MS. PSAKI: The next question will be from Shaun Tandon of AFP.
QUESTION: Thank you. I wanted to ask for further elaboration. You mentioned a growing role of India and the United States in the Asia- Pacific region. Can you be more specific about what you meant by that? Could you, for example, see Indian activity more in the South China Sea disputes?
And if I could touch on another global issue, Secretary Kerry, Gaza. The United States has authorized further ammunition for the Israeli forces. You’ve also called for an immediate ceasefire. I was wondering if you thought that this was consistent and whether you thought that a ceasefire is still possible at this point, particularly with all the personal attacks that have been leveled against you.
And if I could ask the external affairs minister on this same issue: When the BJP was last in power, India moved a little bit more closely – a little bit closer to Israel. I was wondering if you see that same momentum now between India and Israel, or whether the Gaza conflict affects that. Thanks.
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: Your first question – strategic partnership has definite definition. If you have partnership in the area of trade, defense, and space, then that partnership is called strategic partnership. So is there no ambiguity about that.
As regards Gaza, India’s policy is very specific: We fully support the cause of Palestinians, but we have good relations with Israel.
SECRETARY KERRY: I just reaffirm what the minister just said. We have a very strong strategic partnership. It is evidenced by the fact that the United States supports India’s hopes to be able to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council. That’s something we support, and we wouldn’t support that if we didn’t believe in the breadth of India’s capacity and reach, and in its values. And I talked about those values. We cooperate significantly on many different issues in the region: counterterrorism, Afghanistan, nonproliferation. India has been a significant, responsible steward of nuclear power, and those are things which we respect and, obviously, work with very closely.
So there are a great deal of interests that tie us together, and we all acknowledge that there have been ups and downs in the relationship for some period of years. But much more ups and much more involvement over the past 10 to 15 years. And that’s why I said we see this as such a ripe moment.
Prime Minister Modi has clearly made it a prime objective to deal with the question of jobs, the question of reform, providing efficiency to decisions and other kinds of things. He wants the market to be more accessible. They’re considering different things that they need to share with you, but we’re impressed by the breadth of their thoughts about the economic changes that are possible, and we certainly want to see those implemented. And we’ll wait to see. The proof is always in the pudding, obviously.
With respect to Gaza, we’ve never stopped working towards the notion that a ceasefire at some point is essential. And even today, I’ve been on the telephone on the plane flying over here. We’ve been continuing discussions. And yes, the United States remains hopeful that it is achievable. And sooner is better because of the needs to get to the table and begin the negotiation that could ultimately, hopefully, resolve issues. There’s no promise in that, I want to make that clear. No promise in that. But I think everybody would feel better if there was a bona fide effort to try to see that happen.
MS. PSAKI: The next question is from Lara Jakes of AP.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary, a moment ago you spoke about barriers to trade. I’m wondering if you can update us on whether there was an agreement with India for keeping food subsidies as part of the WTO trade deal.
I also wanted to ask you whether the U.S. has asked India to follow the spirit of the sanctions against Russia, given India’s years of purchasing Russian arms.
And Madam Minister, has there been any shift in that long-time Indian policy, especially now with the shoot-down of Malaysian Airlines flight 17? Thank you.
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: You asked three questions in a row. To your first question, consultations are underway in Geneva. Let us wait for the final outcome.
To your second question, there is no change in our policy because we think that the foreign policy is in continuity. Foreign policy does not change with a change in government.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, we obviously – I think there’s a meeting – I’m not sure when. Have they already met in Geneva?
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: They’ve met. They’ve already --
SECRETARY KERRY: They already did.
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: They’re meeting.
SECRETARY KERRY: They already did. They already met. They’re meeting now. I thought so. Right around now.
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: That’s what (inaudible).
SECRETARY KERRY: Our feeling is obviously that the agreement that was reached in Bali is an agreement that importantly can provide for food security for India. We do not dismiss the concerns India has about large numbers of poor people who require some sort of food assurance and subsistence level, but we believe there’s a way to provide for that that keeps faith with the WTO Bali agreement. And so we are obviously encouraging our friends in India to try to find a path here where there is a compromise that meets both needs. And we think that’s achievable and we hope it’s achievable.
With respect to the issue of the sanctions, the focus of our meetings here today is bilateral fundamentally, and the ways the U.S. and India can grow the relationship with respect to trade, clean energy cooperation, counterterrorism, science, technology and so forth. Now, we would obviously welcome India joining in with us with respect to that, but it’s up to them. It’s India’s choice. India has its relationships. We’d support and welcome them in dealing with the challenge that Russia is presenting, but it’s really up to India. It’s not something that entered into the bilateral relationship in the context of today’s discussion.
MODERATOR: Last question. Rajeev Sharma from the Firstpost.
QUESTION: Thank you. My question is to both Minister Swaraj and Mr. Kerry. (Inaudible), what is India’s view on Senate bill 744, whether this issue was discussed with Mr. Kerry by you? And what is his assurance, if any?
And question to Mr. Kerry is: Don’t you think that this 744 is a rather protectionist measure? And even American companies are seeing it as a protectionist measure. Is there a mood to amend it or dilute it? Thank you.
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: Let me first answer. Yes, I raised the issue with Secretary Kerry about the bill number 744. And our minister of commerce, Shrimati Nirmala Sitharaman, also raised this issue in the plenary session. I told Secretary Kerry that we are not against the bill per se. Immigration is your internal matter. But we are certainly concerned with the provisions which will affect the Indian IT industry if the bill is passed in the present form. And I also told Secretary Kerry that it will give a very negative signal, and that too at a time when India is opening up its economy for the foreign players. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: So I’m going to confess something to you that I probably shouldn’t confess to you, but when I was in the United States Senate for 29 years, I never identified a bill by its number. (Laughter.) It was the immigration bill or it was the something bill. So thank God the minister knew that that was the number to that. (Laughter.)
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: Yes, that was the number.
SECRETARY KERRY: We did talk about the immigration bill, and it’s a critical priority for President Obama. And we are very aware of the need to make sure that there are more people able to travel, more people able to become part of the commerce that we just talked about – all of these areas, including education and so forth.
But the way it left the Senate leaves that in need of some amending. The House has not taken it up yet, and it really appears as if they won’t, certainly, before the election, which is in three months. The Administration – President Obama – would support some changes that will deal with some of the issues that you’ve just raised and other issues, but at the moment, it does not appear as if this bill – not “appear” – it will not move in the next several months. One has to hope that after the election is over, there may be the possibility of rebuilding support for it.
It’s a critical bill for us in many, many ways, way beyond those that you just articulated. And President Obama would really like to see it done as a matter of fairness, as a matter of morality, as a matter of commercial and business interests, as a matter of family interests. There are many compelling reasons for why this needs to pass, and I’m confident that at some point in time, we will get appropriate immigration reform.
MODERATOR: Thank you very much. With that, we come to the end of this event.
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