SECRETARY KERRY, U.K. FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND MAKE REMARKS BEFORE MEETING

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond Before Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Carlton Gardens
London, United Kingdom
February 21, 2015

FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND: Well, it’s a great pleasure to welcome John Kerry here this morning. We have got a series of important challenges to the rules-based international system which is so important both for the United States and the United Kingdom, and our cooperation, our alliance, is at the heart of the response to those challenges.

We’re going to take the opportunity this morning to talk about the challenge we face in Ukraine from Russia’s continued aggression, the unacceptable way in which the cease-fire agreement that was signed just 10 days ago has been so systematically breached. We’re going to talk about how we maintain European Union unity and U.S.-European alignment in response to those breaches of that agreement.

We’ll also be talking about the challenges that we face from Islamist extremism, particularly now the challenges that we’re seeing in Libya, where the extremists are getting a foothold and the UN special representative initiative is making some progress, but we urgently need to see a government of national unity emerging in Libya so that the international community can put its weight behind that government in order to squeeze the terrorists out of the ungoverned space that’s currently available to them in Libya.

We’ve got a lot of challenges ahead of us, but we’re going to have, I know, very constructive discussions today, and we will make sure that our alliance remains at the heart of the international community’s response to those challenges. John.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, Philip, thank you very much. First of all, thank you for your welcome and thanks for being available to have this important discussion. I think the special relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States is really never more prominent than it is right now at this period where we are cooperating on so many different challenges all at the same time. We’re particularly appreciative for Britain’s home secretary’s presence at the White House summit on violent extremism just over the last few days.

And I have to say that I am personally encouraged by the unanimity of the response at that summit to steps that need to be taken over the course of the next months and years in order to counter violent extremism. But for the immediate moment, we face a series of very real, immediate challenges which we are determined to respond to. And we’re going to talk about each of them here today, and I will go on from here to discussions with respect to Iran. The P5+1 remains united on the subject of Iran. There is absolutely no divergence whatsoever in what we believe is necessary for Iran to prove that its nuclear program is going to be peaceful into the future.

But in the immediacy, Russia has engaged in an absolutely brazen and cynical process over these last days. There is no secret to any of us, not in this age of all kinds of visibility and technical means and satellites and the ability to watch what people are doing – we know to a certainty what Russia has been providing to the separatists, how Russia is involved with the separatists, and the ways in which Russia has cynically been willing to go to – even lead an effort at the UN, even simultaneously as it is continuing to do land grabbing in Ukraine. And what is happening with respect to Mariupol even now is just simply unacceptable.

So we are talking about additional sanctions, additional efforts. I’m confident that over the course of the next days, people are determined to make it clear we’re not going to play this game. We’re not going to sit there and be part of this kind of extraordinarily craven behavior at the expense of the sovereignty and integrity of a nation. This is behavior that is completely counter to everything that the global community has worked to achieve and to put in place ever since World War II. And I’m confident that the United Kingdom, the United States, and others are prepared to stand up to it.

With respect to ISIS/Daesh, there is a unanimity now that is even more determined than it was previously to put the people in the places that they need to be to get the job done, to commit the resources, and to continue to put the pressure on Daesh in Iraq and into Syria, and wherever they may be. And in Libya, there is an increasing determination – we had a meeting in Washington just the other day with the foreign minister of Egypt, with the EU high representative, with the secretary-general of the United Nations. I will have a discussion with Philip about that. And I’m confident that we’re going to have a unanimous approach over these next weeks that will begin to create an even more coordinated and effective response with respect to Libya itself.

And so there’s a great deal on the plate. We understand that. But one thing I think we know: We have the tools, we have the political will, we have the determination, and we are making gains in Iraq. Territory is increasingly beginning to come back into the hands of the Iraqi Government. The Iraqi military is now beginning to stand up with greater capacity. There is a fixed determination by every country in the region, every country in the region – even those with whom we have major disagreements – they are all standing in opposition to the brutality and to the extraordinary criminality of the Daesh enterprise wherever it is found. And I have genuine confidence in our ability to be able to continue to make that progress. So thank you all.

SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH U.K. FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Small Group Meeting
Remarks With U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond Before the Counter-ISIL Coalition Small Group Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Lancaster House
London, United Kingdom
January 22, 20R15


FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND: Good morning, everybody. I’m delighted to welcome Secretary Kerry and our other partners here today for this important coalition steering group meeting. It’s a remarkable achievement to have brought together over 60 nations in the coalition in the fight against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.

What we are doing with this meeting is bringing together the key members of that coalition, those that are most actively engaged in the front line, to take stock of our achievements over the last four or five months, to hear from General John Allen about what is happening on the ground, and to plan the next steps of this campaign which we’ve all recognized will be a long haul to restoring full Iraqi Government control of all the territory of Iraq.

So I look forward to a very constructive discussion today with our colleagues, and we hope this will be the first of a series of regular meetings to take stock and provide command and control of the overall coalition campaign. Thank you. John.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I want to thank Secretary Hammond and Great Britain for hosting us here today, and I’m pleased to co-host with him this important meeting of the most engaged, most involved leading-edge countries, though we are critically dependent on all 60-plus nations that are engaged in this effort.

But as we have put this together now in a matter of a few months, we have gone from zero at the end of September to now, in January, in our fourth month, having stopped ISIL’s advance in Iraq, having negated their resources, their capacity to move foreign fighters, to a significant degree, and changed their operations as a result of what we’ve been able to do. We still have a lot of work to do, and the purpose of coming here is to bring everybody’s best advice, everybody’s thoughts about where there may be weaknesses, everybody’s thoughts about things we can do better, put that together, improve our own performance and operation, and lay down the strategy for the days ahead.

And as Philip said, we will make this now a regular meeting almost on a monthly basis, not at the ministerial level. Ministers will meet as necessary. But it is important to coordinate. We have a tremendous amount of work to do.

I want to thank particularly our friends here in London. Prime Minister Cameron and the President, President Obama, met a few days ago in Washington. I think everybody sensed the power of our friendship and our cooperative partnership which has never been more important on so many different fronts as it is today, and that’s why we thought it was important to come together here to follow up as effectively as possible.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I don’t think people should be dismayed. I think they should be encouraged, in fact. Police forces, law enforcement community, intelligence community of many countries have come together in an incredibly effective way to fight against an insidious, long-time planning process that has been in place. And in a sense, we’re flushing them out. These sleeper cells have been there for years now. Many of these plans have been in place for a long period of time, long preceding what we’ve been doing with respect to ISIS.

But the truth is that these groups are planning and have been planning for a long period of time, going back to Usama bin Ladin and 9/11 in New York, to attack Western interests and to go after anybody that they disagree with. Their goal is to suppress and to take over and to expand a very nihilistic, unbelievably oppressive sense of how people ought to live. And we’ve seen them carried out in the most egregiously horrendous fashion with public beheadings. They’re now threatening to Japanese hostages.

I think this is a challenge for all of us. It’s a challenge of our time. And we need to step up and lead and be strong and be clear about what is at stake, and that’s exactly why we’re here and meet today.

FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND: I think if I could just add to that, this conference is not just about the military operation in Iraq. It’s about the other strands of this campaign as well. And we’re very clear that undermining the narrative of ISIL, interdicting the flow of foreign fighters, stopping the flow of financial funding to ISIL, is as important as the military campaign itself. So I think we – there are reasons to be optimistic about the military campaign. As John said, we’ve stopped ISIL’s advance. We’re now rebuilding the Iraqi forces. We always said this would take time, but they will be capable and ready at some point to push back against ISIL. And in the meantime, we have to continue the work to undermine ISIL’s message in our own countries and to protect our own homelands with security measures both here and across the continent, in collaboration with our partners.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks very much.

SECRETARY KERRY MAKES REMARKS WITH UK FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks With UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Wind Technology Testing Center

Boston,, Massachusetts

October 9, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you very much. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. First of all, there is nothing better than being home in Boston on a beautiful October day. The only thing that is missing, the Red Sox are not in the playoffs, not this time. Foreign Secretary Hammond, I want to share with you the four most important words in Boston sports are, “Just wait till next year.” (Laughter.) We’ll be back.

It’s very special for me to be back here for a lot of different reasons, and Deval, our superb governor, just hit on some of them. But since I’ve been privileged to be Secretary of State, I’ve now had occasion to travel and be either in the trail of or in the company of Deval Patrick. And we went to Panama together for the inauguration of the new president, and the reason Deval was there is he has been totally focused on jobs and opportunities for Massachusetts and for the United States, and he’s been a terrific ambassador in that cause. And I’m not at all surprised to hear that he has just come back from a clean energy conference in London, because as governor, he has made absolutely certain that Massachusetts is leading the way with respect to clean energy, future energy, renewable alternative, and together, with states like California, we really are setting the trend.

I might also point out the fact, which I’m very proud of as a Massachusetts citizen, that the governor has set the next big step of helping to move us forward by setting the goal for ending all reliance on conventional coal generation in the next four years, and that is something I don’t believe any other sitting governor in the United States has had the foresight to do. So Governor, thank you very, very much for that. (Applause.)

I also want to thank Massachusetts’s terrific Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Maeve Bartlett for her great work to help make Massachusetts more energy-efficient and the most energy-efficient state in the nation. As the governor just mentioned, not once, not twice, but for the third straight year in a row, we are leading the nation in energy efficiency, and I’m proud of that. I also want to brag on her brother for a minute. Those of you who don’t know it, but Maeve is the youngest sister of one of my oldest friends in politics and life, and a great citizen of our state, Tommy Vallely, and we will not hold that against you, Maeve. (Laughter.)

I want to also thank Alicia Barton, the CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, and Rahul Yarala, executive director of the Wind Technology Testing Center, for showing us this remarkable facility here today. And most of all, I want to express a very warm Massachusetts welcome to our guest, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. We’re really happy to have you here today. We’re grateful for your leadership, and I’ll say a little more about that, but thanks so much for being with us here. And Mr. Ambassador, Madam Consul General, thank you for being here with us too.

It was in a time of war and a time of challenge when exactly 70 years ago this year, Sir Winston Churchill first talked about the special relationship between the United States and Great Britain. And his deep conviction expressed then that unless we always kept the United States and the United Kingdom together in that special relationship untold destruction would be the result. Well, seven decades later, our two countries are confronting real danger together, taking it on, stopping it, and ultimately, we will defeat it – not just on the battlefield against ISIL, but we’re also together confronting what is a “gathering storm” of this century. The gathering storm that Sir Winston also warned about. And there is no element of that gathering storm more critical than climate change.

Together, both of our countries recognize that never before has a threat like climate change found in its solution such a level of opportunity – the opportunity to unleash the clean-energy economy that will get us out of this mess but also take us forward towards a safer, more sustainable future.

Now I know that climate change to some people can just seem like a very distant, future prospect, maybe even a future challenge. That’s dangerous, falling prey to that perception, because it’s not. And it would be very dangerous to lull ourselves into believing that you can wait with respect to any of the things that we need to do to meet this challenge.

Climate change is already impacting the world in very real and significant ways. This past August was the hottest August the planet has ever seen in recorded history. And each year of the last ten years, a decade, has been measured as being hotter than the last with one or two variations of which year followed which, but as a decade the hottest in our recorded history.

There are now – right now – serious food shortages taking place in places like Central America because regions are battling the worst droughts in decades, not 100-year events in terms of floods, in terms of fires, in terms of droughts – 500-year events, something unheard of in our measurement of weather.

Scientists now predict that with glaciers and melting of the ice at the current rates, the sea could rise now a full meter in this century. A meter might not seem like a whole lot, but let me tell you, think about it just in terms of Boston. It would mean about $100 billion worth of damage to buildings, to emergency costs, and so on.

And thinking about climate change as some distant challenge is dangerous for other reasons too. We still have in our hands a window of opportunity to be able to make the difference. We don’t have to face a future in which we’re unable to talk about anything except adaptation or mitigation, already present in our planning. But the window is closing quickly. That’s not a threat; that’s a fact. If all of us around the world do not move to push back against the current trend line of what is happening in climate change, we will literally lose any chance of staving off this threat.

The good news is that we actually know exactly how to do it. This is not a challenge which has no solution. This is not a challenge that’s out of our reach. The solution is staring us in the face. It’s very simple: clean energy. The solution to climate change is energy policy. And the best news of all is that investing in clean-energy economy doesn’t just mitigate the impacts of climate change and make our communities cleaner and healthier. It actually also reinvigorates our economies and creates millions of good jobs around the world.

Let me just share with you something. We in Massachusetts ought to be particularly tuned into this. In the 1990s, America created more wealth than at any other time in our history, more even than the famous 1920s and ’30s, when people read about the history of the Carnegies and the Mellons and the Rockefellers and the Fricks and so forth. We created greater wealth in the 1990s in America than we did when we had no income tax in the 1920s.

And the truth is that that came about as a $1 trillion market with 1 billion users – remember the one for one – in technology, in personal computers, in communications. And guess what? Every single quintile of income earner in America saw their incomes go up. Everybody did better. Well, the energy market that we are looking at today, in a nation that doesn’t even have a national grid, a nation that has an east coast grid, a west coast grid, a Texas grid, and a line that goes from Chicago out into the west towards Dakotas – that’s it. We have a huge, gaping hole in the middle of America. We can’t take energy from solar thermal in the Four Corners down there by New Mexico and Colorado and California and bring it to the northeast where we need it. We can’t take energy from those wind farms of Minnesota or Wisconsin or Iowa and sell it south, or our wind ultimately from Cape Wind because we don’t have a transmission system.

Guess what? $1 billion of investment in infrastructure is somewhere between 27,000 and 35,000 jobs. And if we were to do what we know we need to do to build the energy future of this country, we’ll put millions of people to work, and here’s the kicker: The market we’re looking at is a $6 trillion market with four to five billion users today, climbing to a potential 9 billion users by the year 2050. It is literally the mother of all markets. Governor Patrick understands that. Massachusetts has understood that. But we have not yet been able to translate that into our national policy.

So once again, I’m proud Massachusetts is setting the trend. Massachusetts is leading by example. And that’s why many in the United States and the UK who are leading by example. And as the governor said, we’re a little behind them in terms of some of the things we ought to be doing, behind Europe in some respects. But in the United States we’re now targeting emissions from transportation and power sources, which are 60 percent of dangerous greenhouse gases. And at the same time, we bumped our solar energy production on a national basis by ten times and we’ve upped our wind energy production on a national basis by more than threefold thanks in large part to facilities just like this one.

So because of the steps that we’re now taking, we’re in a position to put twice as many people to work in the energy sector, nearly double the amount of people currently employed by oil and gas industry. This is the future. It’s already a $10 billion chunk of the Massachusetts economy and growing; 90,000 – almost 100,000 – people employed here in Massachusetts; 6,000 companies statewide are defining this future. And the Massachusetts wind testing center that we’re in now helps ensure that the global wind power industry is deploying the most effective land-based offshore wind turbine technologies to be used around the world.

This is global, what’s happening here, and that’s why Philip Hammond and I wanted to come here today, to underscore not just to Massachusetts but to America and to the world what these possibilities are. And the fact is that there is a lab not unlike this, a Narec blade testing facility in the United Kingdom city of Blyth. So we share this vision in very real ways.

I’d just say to all of you here that people need to feel the pressure from you. You all know what politics is about. I’m not in it now, but I’m dependent on it to help make the right decisions so that we move in the right direction. A clean energy future is not a fantasy. Changing course and avoiding the worst impacts of climate change is not a fantasy. And supporting healthier communities and ecosystems and driving economic growth and job creation – none of that is a fantasy. And for those people who still stand in the way, for those people who even still today want to try to question whether or not their science is effective or not, I’d just ask you – ask a simple question: If we’re wrong about this future, what’s the worst that could happen to us for making these choices?

The worst that could happen to us is we create a whole lot of new jobs, we kick our economies into gear, we have healthier people, healthier children because we have cleaner air, we live up to our environmental responsibility, we become truly energy independent, and our security is stronger and greater and sustainable as a result. That’s the worst that happens to us.

What happens if they’re wrong? (Applause.) If they’re wrong – catastrophe. Life as you know it on Earth ends. Seven degrees increase Fahrenheit, and we can’t sustain crops, water, life under those circumstances.

So I know, with Philip Hammond and I and President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron and a whole bunch of leaders around the world know, we need to go to Lima, Peru this year and we need to push forward on an agreement, and next year in Paris we need to reach an agreement where we live up to our responsibility to future generations and make all the difference in the world.

I am proud that we have a great colleague to help us in this fight, an individual who understands the security connection of this better than most because he just finished serving as the Secretary for Defense in Great Britain and was transferred into this role as the Foreign Secretary for Great Britain.

So will you please welcome a terrific partner, a great colleague in this endeavor, Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary of Great Britain. (Applause.)

FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND: Well, thank you, John, for that introduction, and one of the great things about having just been Secretary of State for Defense is that I’m quite used to speaking in aircraft hangars, which have vaguely similar acoustics to this room today. John, it’s a huge privilege to be here, to be invited to visit your hometown. Thank you for that. Thank you for the things that you’ve shown me today. And thank you to our hosts for hosting this event in this world class facility. It’s a fascinating snapshot of the degree of global collaboration that is going on as the green energy business develops on a worldwide basis.

I know that we’re looking at a facility here that is testing blades made in Europe, in China, in Brazil, as well as in North America. And nothing could more encapsulate the global nature of the challenge and the global nature of the response to that challenge. This is a city with a worldwide reputation not only as a seat of learning, but also as a hub for cutting-edge technology, and it’s been a great pleasure to see some of that here today.

Those of you who are working in the low-carbon energy sector know that you are generating jobs and investment for the long term. But above all, you know that you’re in the front line in the battle against climate change. Secretary Kerry, the governor, and I are in complete agreement that this is a battle that we have to win for the sake of our long-term security. When we think about keeping our nation safe, we have to plan for the worst-case scenarios, and Secretary Kerry just spelled out in very, very graphic terms how that equation works. We have to take the precautionary principle, we have to plan for the worst possible outcome, and we have to protect future generations from the impacts of those.

In the case of unchecked climate change, even the most likely scenario could have catastrophic consequences: a rise in global temperature similar to the difference between the last ice age and today, leading to rising sea levels, huge movements of people fueling conflict and instability around the world, pressure on resources, and a multitude of new risks to global public health. The worst case is even more severe: a drastic change in our environment that could see heat stress in some areas surpass the limits of human tolerance, leaving as the legacy of our generation an unimaginably different and more dangerous world for our children and our grandchildren.

So we have to act on climate change, but by doing so we will not just protect the future from the worst effects of climate change; we will bring tangible benefits to our people here and now. We’ll get cleaner air, more efficient transport, better cities, better health. And more than that, the technological transformation that is required will provide a greater stimulus than the space program did 50 years ago, generating massive new opportunities for innovation, jobs, and economic growth.

For too long this debate has been dominated by purists and idealists, people who are happy with the notion that we would have to sacrifice economic growth to meet the climate challenge. I think you’ve heard from all three of us on this platform this morning that we reject that choice. We do not accept that we have to choose between our prosperity and the future of our planet. Indeed, we are demonstrating across the world – here in Massachusetts, in the UK – we are demonstrating that the response to climate change can be a generator of economic growth, innovation, and quality jobs.

In the UK, 92 percent of business leaders think that green growth is an opportunity for their own businesses. Demand for green goods and services is growing faster both here and in Europe than the general economy is growing. Globally, as Secretary Kerry has said, the green economy will be worth over $6 trillion by 2030, and it’s expanding all the time.

But the full range of benefits is beyond our ability to estimate. The dividends of technology are often unpredicted and unpredictable. The potential is immense. And by seizing the initiative now, we can take first-mover advantage.

Moreover, in addition to creating jobs and growth, embracing green technology increases our energy security. At a time of international turbulence, this is an advantage we should not underestimate. And we in Europe, facing Russian energy bullying on a grand scale as we approach the winter, understand that better than most people. ISIL’s assault on Iraq poses another serious threat to our energy security, which could have knock-on effects in global energy markets and the prices that we pay at the pump.

Here in the U.S., the shale revolution has eased worries about dependence on overseas oil and gas, and in the UK we are committed to exploiting the potential of shale as part of our energy mix. But over the longer term, renewable energy sources, like those being developed and tested here, will be critical to reducing our vulnerability to energy supply shocks.

So the benefits of addressing climate change are multiple, but it will not happen by itself. It requires leadership, leadership that is now, some would say, at last beginning to take shape. Britain is leading by enacting into our domestic law the most demanding emissions targets in the industrialized world. We’ve already reduced emissions by more than a quarter, putting us on track for an 80 percent reduction in emissions by 2050. We have the world’s leading carbon-trading center in London, and we’ve established the world’s first green investment bank.

Here on this side of the Atlantic, Boston is leading with its innovative technology. Northeastern states collectively are leading with their Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Other states, from Iowa to Texas to California, are leading in their separate ways. And John, if I may say so, you are leading with your tireless diplomacy on this issue.

The U.S. has begun to take on the leadership role, which, as the world’s biggest economy, is essential if we are going to make progress globally. And there are signs that these efforts are inspiring others to follow, with positive steps from China, from India, from Brazil. This is a momentum that we have to harness and increase if we are to secure an effective global climate deal in Paris next year. And I look forward to working with Secretary Kerry and our partners in the European Union in order to bring that about.

But it isn’t just about governments and diplomacy. Scientists and universities are shaping the debate. Ordinary people and civil society are helping to keep this issue in the spotlight through actions like the Climate March a few weeks ago, but also through their own individual choices as consumers, which in turn drives the vital role that businesses have to play, shaping their investment, channeling innovation to support the fight against climate change.

Both here and – in the U.S. and in the UK, business is at the heart of our approach. We will get this job done by going with the grain, by using the power of the market, by creating the necessary incentives and structures to mobilize the creativity of private businesses to respond to the challenges of climate change. It is a complex task, but as Secretary Kerry said, it is not rocket science; it is something that we know how to do, we just have to put our shoulders to the wheel and get it done.

Fifty years ago, the U.S. showed us how a strategic challenge – putting a man on the moon – could guarantee innovation through economy-transforming investments. Today, we have an opportunity to do that again in response to the challenge of climate change. If we are to achieve our common goal of limiting climate to two degrees Celsius, we need everyone to play their part. It is clear that we have no time to lose.

Secretary Kerry just repeated his oft-repeated remark, that the window of time is still open for us to be able to manage this threat. But as he, himself, observed, that window is fast beginning to close.

To counter the threat and to seize the opportunity that rising to the challenge of climate change represents we have to act now. And by acting now, we will not only maximize our changes of avoiding catastrophic climate change, we will increase our resilience and create huge new opportunities for growth and innovation in all our economies. That is what I call a true win-win situation. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

SECRETARY KERRY, U.K. FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND MAKE REMARKS ON ISIL, EBOLA CRISIS

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Secretary's Remarks: Remarks With U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond

10/08/2014 01:40 PM EDT

Remarks With U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

October 8, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. I’m very privileged to be here welcoming Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond to the State Department, and I’m even more privileged to work with him and to form a partnership that gives full gusto to the meaning of the special relationship that Great Britain and the United States share. So it is important for us to be continuing – I think we – Philip mentioned to me we’ve probably met eight times already in the course of a few weeks of his being on this job, having shifted from being defense secretary.

And we share a lot in this effort. In the fight against ISIL, the British people have already borne a very heavy burden, and it’s a pain felt personally by everybody in the United States and Great Britain as well. We’ve both seen our hostages brutally murdered in barbaric acts that shock the conscience of the world, but the response of both of our countries is not to wilt; it is to fight, to push back against this barbarity. And we are doing so.

I want to thank Foreign Secretary Hammond for the commitment the United Kingdom has made to the international coalition that will degrade and defeat ISIL over the next months, in the period ahead. The Royal Air Force is now conducting airstrikes on ISIL positions in Iraq, and the United Kingdom has provided some of the strongest humanitarian support in Iraq – more than $36 million in water and shelter, food, and medicine to save the lives of innocent people.

And the United States and the United Kingdom are also standing together as we battle Ebola in West Africa. And we are monitoring particularly this situation, and we’re very grateful for the way that Great Britain has now ramped up its efforts in Sierra Leone, including deploying a civil-military task force, constructing more than 700 beds in Ebola treatment unites, and providing essential supplies and personnel.

President Obama has made it crystal clear that Ebola is an urgent global crisis that demands an urgent global response. The United States has intensified every aspect of our engagement, and that includes providing Ebola treatment units, recruiting first responders, and supplying a critical set of medical equipment.

Just 48 hours ago, President Obama convened another strategy meeting at the White House in order to discuss where we are and where we need to get to, and I want to discuss that in a moment. But in addition to that, I have been in daily contact with Rajiv Shah and – the USAID director, and Deputy Secretary of State Heather Higginbottom, and our Ebola Coordinator Ambassador Nancy Powell, in order to make sure that we are bringing all of our resources to this effort.

I’m here this morning to make an urgent plea to countries in the world to step up even further. While we are making progress, we are not where we can say that we need to be. And there is additional – there are additional needs that have to be met in order for the global community to be able to properly respond to this challenge, and to make sure that we protect people in all of our countries.

There are specific needs, and I want to emphasize those needs by showing a few slides, if I can. As you’ll see in the first slide to my left here, we need more countries to move resources of specific kinds. It is not just a question of sending people, though it is vital to send people. But we need Ebola treatment units. We need health care workers. We need medevac capacity. We need mobile laboratory and staff. We need nonmedical support: telecommunications, generators, incinerators, public communications capacity, training, construction. We also need large assistance of health system strengthening, of cash that countries could contribute, budget support, food, other humanitarian efforts, and we need ways of getting that equipment to people.

All of these things are frankly urgent in order to be able to quickly move to contain the spread of Ebola. We need airlines to continue to operate in West Africa and we need borders to remain open. And we need to strengthen the medevac capacity. We need countries to contribute more Ebola treatment centers, and we need other African countries with the capacity to send responders to join the effort. And we need to make sure that the health care workers who go are properly trained, properly equipped, and supported in order to prevent additional infections.

Now, as you can see in the next slide to my left here, this gives you a sense of who has contributed and what they have contributed. And the fact is that the United Kingdom and the United States, between them, have contributed $120 million to the United Nations response. There are smaller countries that have stepped up to the plate – some quite remarkably. Some smaller countries are contributing way above their per capita population compared to other countries.

But the fact is more countries can and must step up in order to make their contributions felt, and this chart tells the story. Those are not enough countries to make the difference to be able to deal with this crisis. And we need more nations – every nation has an ability to do something on this challenge. And the next chart will show the – as you see, we have a shortfall still of some $300 million. The United Nations has identified $1 billion in urgent needs, which is what are reflected in that pie chart. The World Bank has put in 22 percent. The U.S.A. has put in 11 percent. Private sector, 10 percent. Others – you can see the tally.

But this unfunded is a critical component of our ability to be able to meet this challenge, and we need people to step up now. Now is the time for action, not words. And frankly, there is not a moment to waste in this effort.

Both Foreign Secretary Hammond and I also remain deeply committed on another issue, and that is the question of a Europe which is whole and free and at peace. Together with our partners in the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom are supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the Ukrainian Government’s efforts to implement important democratic reforms. We agree on the need for Russia to withdraw its forces immediately from Ukraine, to end its material support for separatists, and to meet its commitments under the Minsk ceasefire which they have agreed to, and to put in place the peace plan agreements.

Russia’s actions over the past months have challenged the most basic principles of our international system. Borders cannot and should not be redrawn at the barrel of a gun, and people have a right in their own country, within their sovereign borders, to determine their own future. So together with the G7, our European partners and other allies, we have made it clear that we are prepared to do even more to ensure that the international order prevails and that with one voice, we prove that we mean what we say and we say what we mean.

Finally, I want to mention that tomorrow morning, Foreign Secretary Hammond and I will travel to my hometown, Boston, to focus on an issue that animates President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron, both of whom – and which also demands all of our urgent attention, and that is our shared responsibility to confront climate change. I appreciate Foreign Secretary Hammond’s personal leadership on this issue. We can conclude a new international agreement that is ambitious, effective, and inclusive of all countries, particularly the largest greenhouse gas emitters, of which we are one. But we will also only get there in the end – even if one large emitter were to eliminate all of its emissions, that won’t do the job. We will only get there in the end if we make it clear that all countries must join in this effort and that inaction is not an option.

So Mr. Foreign Secretary, I’m delighted to welcome you here at this time of obvious significant global challenge. We greatly appreciate, as I said, your partnership, your leadership, and we look forward to continuing to work with you. Thank you.

FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND: Thank you. Thank you very much, John. It’s a great pleasure to be back here in Washington, this time in my new role as foreign secretary. When I came here many times as defense secretary, I was always clear that the U.S. is Britain’s most important military partner. As foreign secretary, I’m equally clear that the United States it the UK’s greatest foreign policy ally. And the range of issues that we’ve discussed today and that the Secretary has outlined reflects how closely we work together on a huge range of issues in foreign affairs.

That relationship is based on our shared history, our shared values, and our longstanding cooperation on a range of global issues, from fighting the threat of extremism, promoting stability in countries such as Libya, dealing with the challenge to the established order in Ukraine, addressing global crises like Ebola, and promoting an ambitious EU-U.S. free trade agreement.

I want to begin, if I may, by paying tribute to Secretary Kerry for his energy and resolve in dealing with some of the most challenging foreign policy issues the world has faced for a while. I’ve only been in this job for three months, but as John said, we’ve already met eight or so times. Every week, we seem to be in a different city somewhere discussing these challenging issues that we’re having to deal with. And I’ve observed him in action. I’ve seen his tireless commitment and inexhaustible enthusiasm, which is the personification of U.S. leadership on these many, many challenges that we have to deal with together around the world.

And our meeting today comes at a pivotal moment in addressing the situation in Iraq and Syria and responding to the atrocities that are being committed by ISIL – atrocities that have been visited upon UK and U.S. citizens, but are also being felt by ordinary Muslims in Iraq and Syria every day of every week. It is clear that tackling ISIL requires a strong military response from the international community, but that has to be combined with a clear diplomatic plan to support the new Iraqi Government’s inclusive program; to hamper ISIL’s access to funds, fighters, and resources; and a political strategy to combat the poisonous ideology that underpins ISIL; and counter those trying to spread sectarian violence and hatred across the region and beyond.

We now have those elements in place, and I am pleased that Britain is playing a key role in that response, leading efforts at the UN to cut off ISIL funding, a long-running counter-radicalization program at home, and now RAF combat jets and surveillance assets contributing to the military response. Britain will continue to work closely with coalition partners on further actions that we can take across the international community to ensure that we tackle ISIL not just through military action but through all those other strands of action which are essential to ensure our long-term success.

We have also, as Secretary Kerry has said, discussed the situation in Ukraine and the crucial importance of implementing the 12-point peace plan. Ukraine is a sovereign country; its people are entitled to make their decisions about their country’s future. There can be no Russian veto on Ukrainian democracy. And Ukraine’s President Poroshenko will need continuing international support to ensure stability within the country and to ensure that the Ukraine is able to go on making decisions about its own future. And we spent some time this morning discussing ways in which the UK and the U.S. can work with other partners, international partners particularly in the European Union, to continue to support President Poroshenko in those efforts.

And of course, we spoke about the appalling situation in West Africa where the spread of Ebola virus is a real cause for concern. Last week we held – I chaired a conference in London on defeating Ebola, and I said then that the disease is an unprecedented threat that knows no borders. We have to get ahead of this disease, but if we get ahead of it, if we rise to the challenge, we can contain it and beat it. We know how to do this. It is not complicated to do. It just requires a large focus of resource and effort to deliver it.

And Secretary Kerry and I discussed the increased measures that the U.S. is leading in Liberia and that the UK is leading in Sierra Leone. We now need, as the Secretary has said, the wider international community to step up to the plate and deliver that additional resource – not just money, but trained medical and clinical personnel to lead that effort on the ground. We all have to do more if we are going to prevent what is currently a crisis from becoming a catastrophe.

The UK has committed over $200 million to the program in Sierra Leone. We have military and civilian teams on the ground, a construction program to deliver 700 Ebola treatment beds. This morning, I joined a COBRA emergency committee meeting in London by video link from the British Embassy here, and we decided at that meeting to deploy the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Argus to Freetown with three Merlin helicopters embarked to provide a communication and transport capability on the ground. We’re also conducting trials in Sierra Leone of a new model of Ebola care unit, a primary care triaging system for those with early stage symptoms of Ebola.

It’s also important that we remember that our national security is dependent upon our economic security. We can’t have a strong defense without a strong economy underpinning it. Later this afternoon, I will be holding a discussion at the Atlantic Council here in Washington on the benefits of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the United States and the EU. The UK remains committed to this ambitious deal and will be a cheerleader for it within the European Union. If we achieve it, it will create the largest free trade zone in the world, bringing more jobs and more growth to both Europe and the United States, and setting the standards for trade deals for many years to come, allowing us to establish our international standards as the standards for trade patents in the coming decades.

And tomorrow, I look forward to our visit to Massachusetts to tour the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s wind blade testing facility in Charlestown. John and I agree that climate change represents a strategic threat to global prosperity and to global security. Innovation and investment in clean energy technology must be at the heart of our response and can help us turn a threat into an economic opportunity. The UK and the U.S. will work together to ensure the world responds to this threat before it is too late, including through the conclusion of an effective global climate deal at Paris at the end of next year.

So once again, John, I’m delighted to be here. Thank you again for your leadership on these multiple challenges that face us, and I very much look forward to working with you across all of these areas of activity to preserve and to strengthen this very special relationship. Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much.

MS. PSAKI: The first question will be from Elise Labott of CNN.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. The U.S. intensified airstrikes overnight on Kobani. Has there been a decision now to save Kobani from falling? Because yesterday, your spokesman and other officials suggested that you had larger strategic priorities than saving Kobani or any particular city or town.

And I’d like to talk to you about the reluctance of Turkey. They have tanks at the border, soldiers at the ready, but this NATO ally has not done really much to save this town inches from its border. What did you ask the prime minister to do in recent conversations? The president has said that they won’t do more unless you act to get rid of Assad. Is this an excuse, and – or are you deferring to Turkey here? Have you not been partnering with the Kurds, who have been battling ISIS for a year and are decidedly secular, to save the city?

And Foreign Secretary, you spoke a lot about what you’re doing for the coalition, particularly in Iraq. But I’m wondering whether you see Britain furthering that action into Syria, or is there a kind of disagreement on whether the British should take part in airstrikes and what the goals are in Syria? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thanks. Thank you. Thanks, Elise. Well, we’re deeply concerned about the people of Kobani, who are battling against ISIL terrorists. And indeed, we have talked to the leaders of Turkey. I talked with Prime Minister Davutoglu, I think, twice yesterday and the day before. We have conducted additional strikes in the region. We conducted strikes both Monday and Tuesday and now. But as horrific as it is to watch in real time what’s happening in Kobani, it’s also important to remember that you have to step back and understand the strategic objective and where we have begun over the course of the last weeks.

We’re literally just coming out of the UN meeting at which we announced the coalition, literally have just been deploying the first efforts to liberate – as you know, a few weeks ago – Sinjar Mountain, the siege on Amirli, the Haditha Dam, the Mosul Dam, and we were very successful in those efforts. And the Iraqi forces within Iraq are standing up and have had some successes – some setbacks too – but some successes over the course of the last days.

But General Allen is literally only on his first trip right now in the region. He will be going to Turkey tomorrow. He is going to have long meetings through tomorrow and Friday in which we hope to determine exactly how Turkey will now enter this having resolved their hostage crisis. Clearly, on their border, this is of enormous concern to Turkey and they recognize that.

QUESTION: But where are they?

SECRETARY KERRY: These things have to be done in a thoughtful and careful way so everybody understands who is doing what and what the implications are of their doing it and where you go as a result. And I am absolutely confident that tomorrow, the discussions will take place directly with Ambassador McGurk and General Allen and CENTCOM. General Lloyd Austin is very much involved in directing those strikes now and in doing what he can within the framework of the current structure. But this is a structure that is evolving on a daily basis, and notwithstanding the crisis in Kobani, the original targets of our efforts have been the command and control centers, the infrastructure. We’re trying to deprive the – ISIL of the overall ability to wage this, not just in Kobani but throughout Syria and into Iraq. So I think you will see over the next hours, days the fullness of that strategy evolving and decisions being made about the Turks and others as to exactly what role they’re going to play.

FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND: And following on from that, you asked about the UK’s position. We have – we were asked by the Iraqi Government to provide support in Iraq. We obtained parliamentary approval for that support and we’re already in action in Iraq. We absolutely have not ruled out playing a role in Syria. We will require further parliamentary approval if we decide that that is the right thing for us to do, but as Secretary Kerry said, this is a coalition. There are many players in it and many different tasks to be carried out. There’s some division of labor here, specialization of roles. And just as we wait to see exactly how Turkey will make its contribution to the coalition, so the UK is still considering whether the right way for us to make a contribution – the way in which we can most usefully add value to the coalition – is to extend our military permissions to operations in Syria. If we conclude that is the right thing to do, we’ll ask the British parliament for approval of that decision.

MS. PSAKI: The second question is from Peter Foster at Telegraph.

QUESTION: Thank you. My first question relates to Kobani and Syria. The French president has indicated he supports Turkish calls for a buffer zone. Do either have – either of you have any comment on that, and have any sense of what form a buffer zone might take and what purpose it might serve?

And just to follow up on British role – military role in the Iraq-Syria situation, the foreign secretary has indicated that Britain would be receptive to American requests if there was a specific military role that Britain could play. This question to Secretary Kerry: Do you see a useful role that Britain could play militarily in Syria? I think particularly if, say, Kobani, where our Brimstone missile could have a role in – it’s a very low-caliber missile. It could have a role in these very closed urban environments. Do you see America seeing a role for Britain in Syria?

FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND: May I answer that question first? We are at the stage of exploring – as the Secretary said, this is very new territory. I mean, we’re only in the first week or two of the coalition’s existence and operation. The idea of a buffer zone is one that has been floated. We’d have to explore with other allies and partners what is meant by a buffer zone, how such a concept would work, but I certainly wouldn’t want to rule it out at this stage.

In terms of the UK’s potential military contribution in Syria, we would see this as a military question: Is there a militarily useful role that UK assets could play? And Secretary Kerry may want to say something about that, but I think this is a question for the military people. General Allen has his role; CENTCOM will be in the lead on this. If CENTCOM commanders see a specific role for UK military assets, I’m sure that they will not be slow in requesting them.

SECRETARY KERRY: Look, in broad, generic terms, can Great Britain be useful? Absolutely, in so many different ways. But this is, as Philip has just said, a specific determination that has to be made with respect to a very specific mission, and it’s up to General Austin, our CENTCOM commander, to make that decision. And he will do so with the appropriate consultation with his counterparts and with the President with respect to the overall mission. But in – there’s no question that we are very happy to have our friend and ally Great Britain as part of this, and there’s all kinds of things that we can do together in this endeavor.

QUESTION: And the buffer zone, Secretary?

SECRETARY KERRY: The buffer zone – as Philip said, the buffer zone is an idea that’s been out there. It’s worth examining. It’s worth looking at very, very closely. There are a million-plus refugees who have crossed the border. There were another 180,000 or so driven out in the last few days from Kobani. This should not be a problem that is thrust onto Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, where they bear an incredible burden with respect to their societies. And if Syrian citizens can return to Syria and be protected in an area across the border, there’s a lot that would commend that. But at the same time, you’d have to guarantee safety, guarantee there wouldn’t be attacks by the government, other kinds of things would have to happen. So it needs a thorough examination. We’re all in favor of looking at this very closely, and that will clearly be one of the things that General Allen will be having discussions on and, subsequently, the active line authority commanders will have discussions on over the course of the next days.

MS. PSAKI: Thank you, everyone.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all.