REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY IN TACLOBAN, PHILIPPIINES

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks at USAID Tacloban
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
USAID Tacloban
Tacloban, Philippines
December 18, 2013

AMBASSADOR GOLDBERG: Good morning, everyone. I’m Philip Goldberg, the U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines. I’d like to first thank our distinguished colleagues from the Government of the Philippines who are here, Secretary of Defense Gazmin, Congressman Romualdez, Mayor Romualdez of Tacloban, Ambassador Cuisia, who is here from Washington, and Under Secretary Del Rosario.

So without going any further, let me introduce – we’re very proud and pleased that our Secretary of State is here this morning, and I’ll turn it over to him.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador. Before I begin to talk about Tacloban and what we’ve been seeing, I do want to say something about our concerns regarding the violence in South Sudan over the last 48 hours.

The United States believes very strongly that all parties should refrain from any actions that could further escalate the tensions. The people of South Sudan – and I know this well because I was very involved in the efforts to move to a referendum and to see the South become a nation. I saw it firsthand how devoted and dedicated the people of South Sudan were and are, and how they have endured many years of conflict and sacrifice, far too much for their country to now go backwards and descend back into violence. Political differences need to be resolved by peaceful and democratic means, and those have been hard fought for. The government should respect the rule of law, and the people of South Sudan should be able to realize their full potential in peace.

While I’ve been in Asia, I have stayed in very close touch with our team that is working on this issue and closely monitoring the situation in Juba. And the State Department is continuing to stay in close touch and monitor the situation on the ground. The safety and the security of our diplomats is paramount, and we are taking steps at this time in order to guarantee that security.

It’s impossible to have landed here in Tacloban on an airport that was once created by United States Armed Forces at the time of the liberation of the Philippines and not feel the dramatic impact of what is taking place here. It is really quite stunning. It looks like a war zone in every respect. And in many ways, for a lot of people, it is. You’d have to see this to really believe it and feel it and to understand it. You also have to see and feel the remarkable efforts of people coming together in order to try to respond to this. It is the best demonstration of humanity and of common love and sense of responsibility that people feel for each other.

The wreckage that has been left behind by Typhoon Haiyan, or as it’s known here, Typhoon Yolanda, is absolutely staggering. No words can do justice to the level of destruction that you see: the entire community leveled, water that goes up to the second story of an airport tower over there, all of this covered by water; the destruction of the trees all the way up the mountains; the leveling of homes and the taking of life. This is a devastation that is unlike anything I’ve seen at this kind of scale. It’s many tornadoes, that I have seen in America, wrapped into one.

On behalf of President Obama and American people, it’s my privilege to come here today to offer our condolences to the families of the more than 6,000 who perished in the storm, and to wish a very full and speedy recovery to the some-27,000 who were wounded. And we are keeping in our thoughts and prayers the nearly 1,800 people who still remain missing. The United States is committed to doing whatever we can as we go forward to try to help our friends in the Philippines to recover.

Last month’s typhoon broke the world’s heart, but what is certain is it didn’t break the spirit of the people here. The resilience, the courage, the determination to rebuild and to remake what was inspires all of us. And the truth is that what’s been happening here since the moment this storm passed away is inspiring to everybody.

For example, in the immediate wake of the typhoon, one of the most pressing tasks was to coordinate the opening of the city airport, just across the way here. And the logistical challenge of opening that airport was simply overwhelming.

But Philippine Navy SEAL Captain Roy Trinidad and Major Leo Liebreich of the U.S. Army and Major George Apalisok of the U.S. Air Force got right to work. And those three heroes worked and slept side-by-side for 10 days straight to oversee the enormous challenge of off-loading and distributing relief supplies. They spent their nights beneath a makeshift shelter made of nothing more than a tarp, some buckets, and boards. Their efforts saved hundreds of lives, and it inspired thousands of more people to do the same. And it demonstrated the enduring partnership between two allies – not only in good times, but in trying times as well.

USAID, the U.S. military, and the Departments of Defense and State, I can tell you unabashedly and with great pride, have done incredible work here together. And all of that has been done in very close partnership with the Philippine Government. Mr. Defense Minister and Mr. Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Congressman, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Under Secretary, we thank you for your efforts and the close partnership that you’ve demonstrated, and the leadership that you have shown in working to move us forward here.

Private corporations, NGOs, faith-based groups, the diaspora communities have shown a remarkable willingness of leadership and generosity to come together and deal with this catastrophe. And they all deserve an enormous amount of credit for working under the most difficult kinds of circumstances.

I’m proud to announce here in Tacloban today that the United States, through USAID, is providing an additional $24.6 million in humanitarian aid now. And this is on top – (applause). This is on top of the 62 million that we have already provided. And we are mindful that there is a donor conference taking place even as we are here today, and we will watch and work closely with the government to make further determinations as plans are laid out and as the future is defined by the Government of the Philippines.

The new aid is calculated to help ensure that the residents and the relief workers have immediate access to clean water, to sanitation and to hygiene services, and also to make sure that they get the food and the temporary shelter that are essential to being able to continue this work.

USAID, I’m also pleased to say, has also just signed an MOU with Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola, and they’ve created a public-private partnership that will help more than 2,000 small convenience stores to repair, restock, and rehabilitate their shops.

And the Citi Foundation just announced that it has raised $1 million for the recovery effort, and that it is contributing an addition half-million dollars to help the Philippines to rebuild.

These are just some of the examples of the good citizens of both of our countries who are working together and around the world in helping to step up to this challenge.

Let me single out a couple more people if I can, please. Illac Diaz, who I just was introduced to over here, standing beside his light fixture over there, is not only a brilliant innovator and an entrepreneur, but he is a generous human being. Illac took recycled materials and he made handheld, environmentally friendly, very simple solar lights – turning soda bottles into something that could be useful and a light for people to be able to have in their homes, into lanterns that served not only as the only source of light for Tacloban immediately after the typhoon, but as an important aid for people to be able to continue with their lives. I’m happy to note also – and I say this with some pride – that a few years ago, the U.S. Embassy in Manila gave Mr. Diaz a grant for this project, and we are very proud of the way he has put that funding to good use. In addition – and by the way, he distributes these lights free of charge, an example of the kind of effort that will make all the difference here. Thanks to his hard work and his kindness, a lot more lights will be on their way to reaching people here in this vicinity.

Let me also recognize Dave Bell. He’s an Embassy Warden and an American Legion Vice Commander. I just met him and chatted with him a little bit. He told me about his service out here, 1974 and ’75 was Vietnam, evacuation was taking place. And he has helped to locate veterans after the storm and checked in on survivors. Ken Holubeck, another Embassy Warden, who also served in 1966 and 1970 in Vietnam, is – has brought 56 people to live and find shelter in his damaged home. These are people who have helped to bring people together to clear debris in their neighborhood, and brought food to local workers and medical care to the injured. In addition, there’s another individual here who’s made an enormous difference. Dr. Ronald Arce, who – after losing his own home and two cousins in the storm – has served in the difficult task of being the lead mortician in recovering and identifying more than 2,000 victims. These folks are all of them local heroes, and there are many, many more who aren’t singled out here today. And they have meant – all of them together – the world to so many in such a dark time. They are an incredibly important part of the story of this storm.

And just as there are many examples of individuals stepping up, there is obviously an enormous challenge ahead. I could see that just driving by – the amount of wires and telephone poles and the level of destruction of homes along the way. Local fishermen have been among the hardest hit here. This was an enormous fishing community. Tens of thousands of small boats and fishing gear were destroyed or damaged in the typhoon, and the infrastructure that fishers, fisher people, rely on has been destroyed – the ports, the storage facilities, the markets – all flattened. So rebuilding the fishing industry here in a sustainable way, including by making sure that we’re not worsening the long-term challenge by overfishing, is a top priority and one that we need to all cooperate on.

We also know that while no single storm can be attributed to climate change, we do know to a certainty that rising temperatures will lead to longer and more unpredictable monsoon seasons and will lead to more extreme weather events. So looking around here, you see an unmistakable example of what an extreme weather event looks like, and a reminder of our responsibility to act to protect the future.

Looking around here you can also see how big a challenge remains. There’s no doubt in my mind, given the spirit that has already taken hold here, that we will get this job done. And in the past few weeks, the Philippines and the United States, joining together, have answered one of the worst challenges that Mother Nature provides, and in doing so they have shown the best of humanity.

So in the coming days and weeks and months – however long it takes – the United States will remain committed. We will work closely with our friends in the Philippines to rebuild this region even better and stronger and safer, and I’ve heard some people even talking about building a green community in its fullness. So that is what we will do, and we intend to be here by the side of our friends. Thank you all for your efforts, thank you for letting me come here today to see how we can work together to do better. Thank you. (Applause.)

REMARKS BY SECRETARY KERRY AND VIETNAMESE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER PHAM BINH MINH

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Joint Press Availability With Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh
Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Government Guest House
Hanoi, Vietnam
December 16, 2013

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Excellency John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh, ladies and gentlemen, correspondents; you may now have the honor to introduce Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to co-chair the press conference announcing the outcomes of the talk between the two sides.

To begin with, I’d like to invite His Excellency Phan Binh Minh to take the floor.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MINH: His Excellency Secretary of State John Kerry, dear correspondents, member of the press; first I would like to extend my warmest welcome to Mr. John Kerry for coming back to Vietnam in the capacity of the Secretary of State. I’d like to thank you, Mr. Secretary, for your warm sentiments and friendship toward Vietnam and its people. Once again, I would like to highly value and commend your significant contribution in the past capacity as the senator and in the current capacity as the Secretary of State to promoting bilateral relationship between Vietnam and U.S.

Mr. Secretary and I had an open, candid, and constructive, meaningful talk on many issues of bilateral relations in order to promote this relationship as well as in regional and international issues. We note with satisfaction the practical and meaningful development of bilateral relations and multilateral framework cooperation between the two countries ever since the establishment of comprehensive partnership between our two countries. In the official visit to the U.S. by His Excellency State President Truong Tan Sang, we have discussed specific measures to further promote comprehensive partnership between the two countries in all areas. The two sides have agreed to enhance and intensify exchange of high-level delegations and contacts, and further promote cooperation in economic trade and investment. The U.S. is currently the leading trading partners and the seventh largest investor in Vietnam, however many potential for further cooperation remain untapped between the two countries, especially in economic trade and investment. We should further promote this to the level of comprehensive partnership.

Mr. Secretary and I have agreed that we should further promote cooperation in science and technology, including the official signing of the 123 civilian nuclear agreement and further promote cooperation in education, health, climate change, humanitarian issues, and addressing the consequences of war in the coming time.

I would take this opportunity to express my high appreciation of the USAID signing of contract for the environment impact assessment at the hotspots in Bien Hoa Airport and fact that the USAID and MOLISA of Vietnam have signed MOU on resolving the unexploded ordnance.

Mr. Secretary and I also agreed that the two sides would maintain candid and positive and constructive dialogues on issues of differences, including human rights. We also exchanged on the further implementation and enhancement of cooperation within the framework of regional and international forums, and we reaffirmed the support for ASEAN’s centrality to an emerging regional architecture.

On the East Sea issue, we emphasized the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, and maritime safety, and we share the view that all territorial disputes in the East Sea must be resolved by peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the UNCLOS 1982, and the relevant party should strictly observe the DOC and soon move forward to the conclusion of a COC.

Thank you.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you very much, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister Pham Binh Minh. Next I would like to invite Secretary John Kerry.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much, Foreign Minister Minh. It’s a pleasure to be with you again. I’m happy to be with you here. And I’m delighted to be in Hanoi for the first time as Secretary of State and to see with my own eyes how our relationship with Vietnam is deepening and moving forward. It’s meaningful to me personally to be here, obviously, because of the history, but frankly, much more so right now because of the future.

I want to thank my friend, the Deputy Prime Minister now and Foreign Minister Minh, for his hospitality and for a very productive discussion, continuing discussions which we had in New York and at the conferences, the ASEAN, as well as my meetings with the president, President Sang, and with the Prime Minister, Prime Minister Dung. I’m also looking forward to meeting with Prime Minister Dung in a little while, and with General Secretary Trong later today.

This is my fourth visit to Asia since I became Secretary, and I want to re-emphasize that the U.S. rebalance toward the Asia Pacific has been a top priority for President Obama from day one when he came into office. And today, our economic, our diplomatic, our strategic, and our people-to-people initiatives throughout the region are stronger than ever. What some are calling our rebalance within the rebalance, which is an intensified focus on Southeast Asia, is now a central part of our policy, as is our engagement with ASEAN, which sits at the heart of the Asia Pacific’s regional architecture. Nowhere is this more important or more visible, frankly, than in the heightened investment and engagement than right here in Vietnam.

When I touched down in Hanoi in 1991 for the first time as a civilian and as a senator, I have stark memories of a very, very different Hanoi. There were still laws that then restricted people’s interactions with foreigners. There was none of the vibrancy and energy that you see today in terms of the stores and shops and entrepreneurial activity. There were actually very, very few cars back then. Almost everybody was on a bicycle, bicycles all over; the streets were literally filled with bicycles. And there were very few motorbikes, very few motorcycles, not even that many hotels. I remember staying in the Government Guest House.

Today, the energy of this city is absolutely remarkable, as is the energy of this country, and the transformation is nothing short of amazing. In the years since we lifted the embargo and normalized relations, Vietnam has become a modern nation and an important partner of the United States. And it is a nation today with almost 40 percent of its population under the age of 25, all people teeming with energy and enthusiasm for the potential of the future.

Last July, President Obama and President Sang signed a new level of collaboration with the announcement of the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership. And I want to briefly touch on four specific areas where we are deepening our bilateral relationship.

First and foremost, we know that education, education of our people-to-people ties, are laying the foundation for a close U.S.-Vietnam partnership in years to come. And we’ve made great progress in strengthening those ties. Today, more than 16,000 Vietnamese students are studying in the United States, more than almost every other country in the world. In Ho Chi Minh City, I had the opportunity to meet and talk and listen to some of the impressive young men and women who were the alumni among the 4,000 alumni of the Fulbright program here in Vietnam. I take special pride in this program because when I was a younger senator I initiated efforts in the Senate to start this program. And before long, it became the largest Fulbright program in the world. Today, it is the second-largest program in the world. It has been an extraordinary success so far, and we look forward to building on that success by continuing to work with the Vietnamese Government to establish a full-fledged Fulbright University in Vietnam in the near future.

The second area that we are focusing on is trade. Trade is perhaps the clearest example of how far our nations have come in the 18 years since we normalized relations. Two-way trade between the United States and Vietnam has increased since 1995 more than 50-fold. Last week, we launched the Governance for Inclusive Growth program, through which the United States will help support Vietnam’s ongoing transition to a more inclusive, market-based economy that is based on the rule of law.

And as I told business leaders in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday, the assistance that we provide through this program, this new program, will also help Vietnam to implement the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Once finalized, TPP will raise standards, including labor standards, open markets up. It will create millions of new jobs, not just in the United States and Vietnam but throughout the Asia Pacific. We are working very closely with Vietnam and other regional partners in order to complete the TPP negotiations as quickly as possible. But to realize our potential as a partner and for Vietnam to realize its potential as a thriving economy – and this is something we talked about openly and frankly – Vietnam needs to show a continued progress on human rights and freedoms, including the freedom of religion, the freedom of expression, and the freedom of association. I made this point clearly to Deputy Prime Minister Minh, as I have in all my previous discussions with Vietnamese officials.

Third, we are collaborating closely on the environment. Climate change is perhaps the single greatest threat facing most nations on the planet today. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit the same waters in the Mekong Delta that I patrolled 45 years ago, and I saw firsthand the ways in which the United States and Vietnam are now working hand in hand to pursue development in a way that is sustainable for the environment, for local economies, and most importantly, sustainable for the climate.

And finally, we are working to strengthen regional security. We are expanding our collaboration on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts as well as on search-and-rescue capabilities. We’re also working more closely than ever on peacekeeping efforts. Next year, Vietnam, for the first time, will participate in the United Nations global peacekeeping operations.

No region can be secure in the absence of effective law enforcement in territorial waters. And because of that, today I am also pleased to announce $32.5 million in new U.S. assistance for maritime law enforcement in Southeast Asian states. This assistance will include, among other things, training and new fast-patrol vessels for coast guards. Building on existing efforts like the Gulf of Thailand initiative, this assistance will foster greater regional cooperation on maritime issues and ultimately provide the ability of Southeast Asian nations to carry out humanitarian activities and to police and monitor their waters more effectively.

In particular, peace and stability in the South China Sea is a top priority for us and for countries in the region. We are very concerned by and strongly opposed to coercive and aggressive tactics to advance territorial claims. Claimants have a responsibility to clarify their claims and to align their claims with international law and to pursue those claims within international peaceful institutions. Those countries can engage in arbitration and other means of negotiating disputes peacefully. We support ASEAN’s efforts with China to move quickly to conclude a code of conduct. And while a code of conduct is necessary for the long term, nations can also reduce the risk of miscommunication and miscalculation by taking steps today to put crisis prevention arrangements in place. That is an easy way to try and reduce tensions and try to reduce the potential for conflict.

Nowhere is that kind of effort more necessary today than it is in the East China Sea. President Obama and I are obviously very concerned about recent actions that have increased tensions between China and Japan, and we call for intensified negotiations and diplomatic initiatives.

Lastly, in discussing territorial disputes, I raised our deep concerns about China’s announcement of an East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone. This move clearly increases the risk of a dangerous miscalculation or an accident, and it could escalate tensions even further. I told the deputy prime minister that the United States does not recognize that zone and does not accept it. China’s announcement will not change how the United States conducts military operations in the region.

This is a concern about which we have been very, very candid, and we’ve been very direct with the Chinese. The zone should not be implemented, and China should refrain from taking similar unilateral actions elsewhere in the region, and particularly over the South China Sea.

In the months and years ahead, I am really confident that this relationship is going to grow stronger, that we are going to make progress. Today, Vietnam is a country that is committed to a different future, to a better future. And despite the difficult history that our nations have shared, I have always been impressed in the many, many visits that I have made here, from working on POW/MIA to working on lifting the embargo to working on normalization, and now working on trying to truly give full definition, full blossom if you will, to the peaceful possibilities between our countries. As we begin to approach the 20th anniversary of normalized relations, we know that a strong, prosperous, and independent Vietnam that respects the rule of law and human rights will be a critical partner for the United States on many regional and global challenges that we face together.

So thank you very much, Mr. Minister, for welcoming me and my delegation here. I am grateful for our discussions thus far. We’ll have more time to talk over dinner tonight, and I look forward to my meeting with the prime minister and the chairman. Thank you.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MINH: (Via interpreter) Thank you, Secretary John Kerry. Now I’d like to give some time for questions from correspondents. Please, from Vietnam News Agency.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) (Inaudible) from Vietnam News Agency. I’d like to have a question for both foreign ministers. Would you give your view about the prospects of cooperation between Vietnam and the U.S. in economic trade and investment in the future?

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MINH: (Via interpreter) I’d like to address the question from Vietnam News Agency. In terms of economic trade and investment, this is one of the priorities in bilateral relationship between Vietnam and the U.S. (Inaudible) bilateral trade (inaudible) it has (inaudible) bilateral relations (inaudible) any country (inaudible) the U.S., it’s the seventh-largest investor to Vietnam. And we have great potential for economic trade and investment cooperation, during the talks we have exchanged on this issue. And we have (inaudible) promote specific measures to further enhance cooperation (inaudible) in the future. Because we have great potential (inaudible) in this area.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you, Minister. As I mentioned, the trade between the United States and Vietnam since 1995 has increased 50 times and it is growing on a constant basis. And we believe that if we can quickly come to agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP trade agreement, that will create a trade alliance where you have almost 40 percent of the GDP of the world combined in this region, which is a very, very powerful trading entity. And if you raise the standards with respect to trade – the transparency, accountability, the labor standards and so forth – what you wind up doing is bringing everybody else along. They have to raise their standards in order to be able to partake in that, but also to be able to compete effectively.

So we think that this trade agreement is really one of the most significant steps that both of our nations can take to create jobs at home. Jobs will be created in America, jobs will be created in Vietnam, and we will both do better as a result. Just earlier this month, our U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Froman, and the team from his shop met with representatives from the 11 TPP partner countries. And we’re confident that that meeting is building momentum, that the work can move ahead quickly, that the negotiators will keep working hard. And the ministers plan to meet again in early January. So we’re very, very hopeful that achieving an ambitious, comprehensive, high-standard agreement is really critical for creating jobs and promoting growth.

Now, one thing I did raise with the minister is that we believe – we happen to believe that Vietnam will be even more energized economically, more competitive, and more powerful if it begins to transition some of its state-owned enterprises into private sector and begin to compete in the private sector in a way that most other countries are embracing. We think that’ll make a difference, but obviously, Vietnam needs to make its own decision about its schedule or its intentions. But we believe the TPP can define a very strong economic growth rate for this region and we really hope countries will rapidly move to close the agreement and to implement it.

MODERATOR: (In Vietnamese.)

QUESTION: Hello, Lesley Wroughton from Reuters. Mr. Secretary, how does your announcement today on maritime security – how does your announcement today on increased assistance for maritime security fit into these increased tensions with China? If anything, those tensions seem to have escalated not only in the East China Sea but also in the South China Sea.

And to the deputy prime minister, how – do you at all feel threatened by China, and how will this assistance help you deal with that threat?

Another one for Mr. Secretary on TPP: When you departed Washington, 47 lawmakers sent you a letter to say – to ask you to tie the TPP talks with Vietnam in with progress on human rights. Did you get any assurances today of any improvements coming up in that record, in the human rights record?

SECRETARY KERRY: With respect to the maritime announcement that we’ve made today, quite simply and directly let me tell you that this maritime announcement has nothing to do with any recent announcements by any other country or any of the tensions in the region. It is simply not a response to those recent announcements. This is part of a gradual and deliberate expansion that has been planned for some period of time which we have been working on. It expands on existing agreements and programs that we have now and it builds on a commitment to strengthen maritime capacity within ASEAN and within this region. So this is really an ongoing policy and not some kind of quickly conceived reaction to any events in the region.

With respect to the letter, I am very cognizant of the issue. As I said in my opening comments, we discussed it. I raised the issue with the foreign minister. There is some progress that is being made, and we have encouraged more progress to be made. There are increased number of church registrations. There have been increases within the new constitutional process of some additional rights. There are some things that we would have liked to have seen embraced that weren’t, and we’ve raised those. But this is an ongoing conversation, absolutely. I also raised individual cases of individual people and situations, and we had a very direct and healthy exchange about this. And I’ll let the foreign minister speak for himself about it, as he no doubt will.

But our need is to see progress on that, and I made it clear that TPP, the 123 agreement, the congressional readiness to move forward on any number of initiatives will be, obviously, affected by the degree of progress that is perceived.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MINH: (Via interpreter) (Inaudible.) We have comprehensive, as the Secretary mentioned, (inaudible) relations, and there has been recent (inaudible). We have differences at sea. We also have agreements on six guiding principles on resolving issues at sea, including (inaudible) the United Nations welcomes the (inaudible) in ASEAN countries who are also implementing the DOC and well on the way to formulate DOC. And these are the kind of measures that are going to maintain peace, stability, maritime security, and safety. Thank you.

MODERATOR: (In Vietnamese.)

U.S. MILITARY CONTINUES PROVIDING RELIEF TO VICTIMS OF TYPHOON HAIYAN

Right:  A U.S. Navy MH-60S Seahawk helicopter, center, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 prepares to drop supplies over Tacloban Airfield in Tacloban, Leyte province, Philippines, Nov. 14, 2013, in support of Operation Damayan. U.S. military forces were deployed to the Philippines to support  humanitarian efforts in response to Typhoon Haiyan. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ricardo R. Guzma.

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2013 – U.S. military assets have as of early today delivered approximately 655,000 pounds of relief supplies provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development since the start of Operation Damayan, the relief effort in support of the government of the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda.

The duration and extent of U.S. military support will depend on the request from the government of the Philippines. American forces will be present as long as they are needed, but no longer than required.

In addition to the delivery of relief supplies, U.S. military aircraft have to date logged nearly 650 flight hours, moved nearly 1,200 relief workers into Tacloban and have airlifted nearly 4,900 survivors from typhoon-impacted areas.
Over the last 24 hours, more than 66,000 pounds of food, water and shelter items have been delivered to Tacloban, Borongan and Guiuan -- some of the hardest-hit regions.

At the request of the government of the Philippines, international military forces in the region are also ramping up their support. Australia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are currently providing aircraft and/or medical personnel to assist in the relief operations. Similar military support from Brunei, Great Britain, New Zealand and Thailand is also expected.
U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific is coordinating efforts by Marine forces in the U.S. Pacific Command area of responsibility and working with the Philippine government to rapidly deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to the areas the Philippine government deems most in need. The U.S.-Philippines visiting forces agreement helped facilitate the speed of this response.

U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific’s ability to coordinate with all available Defense Department resources in Pacom’s area of responsibility to respond rapidly to the Philippine government’s request reaffirms the value of the close cooperation the two nations share.

The people of the Philippines are responding to the typhoon’s impact with characteristic resilience, aided by the effective measures their government took to help prepare them for the storm.

In the immediate aftermath of the typhoon, the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade deployed a humanitarian assistance survey team to conduct assessments of impacted areas.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S STATEMENT ON AFFORDABLE CARE ACT IMPLIMENTATION

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE
Statement by the President on the Affordable Care Act
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
12:02 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Today I want to update the American people on our efforts to implement and improve the Affordable Care Act, and I’ll take a couple of your questions.  But before I do, I just want to say a few words about the tragedy that's unfolded in the Philippines.

Over the past few days, I think all of us have been shaken by the images of the devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan.  It’s a heartbreaking reminder of how fragile life is, and among the dead are several Americans.  So our prayers are with the Filipino people, and with Filipino Americans across our country who are anxious about their family and friends back home.

One of our core principles is, when friends are in trouble, America helps.  As I told President Aquino earlier this week, the United States will continue to offer whatever assistance we can.  Our military personnel and USAID team do this better than anybody in the world, and they’ve been already on the ground working tirelessly to deliver food, water, medicine, shelter, and to help with airlift.  Today, the aircraft carrier USS George Washington and other ships arrived to help with search- and-rescue, as well as supplies, medical care and logistical support.  And more help is on the way.

America’s strength, of course, has always been more than just about what our government can do –- it’s also about what our citizens can do.  It’s about the big-heartedness of the American people when they see other folks in trouble.  So today, I would encourage everybody who wants to help, to visit WhiteHouse.gov/typhoon -- that's WhiteHouse.gov/typhoon -- and that will offer you links to organizations that are working on the ground and ways that you can support their efforts.  Our friends in the Philippines will face a long, hard road ahead, but they’ll continue to have a friend and partner in the United States of America.

Now, switching gears, it has now been six weeks since the Affordable Care Act’s new marketplace has opened for business.  I think it's fair to say that the rollout has been rough so far.  And I think everybody understands that I'm not happy about the fact that the rollout has been wrought with a whole range of problems that I've been deeply concerned about.  But today I want to talk about what we know after these first few weeks and what we're doing to implement and improve the law.

Yesterday, the White House announced that in the first month, more than 100,000 Americans successfully enrolled in new insurance plans.  Is that as high a number as we’d like?  Absolutely not.  But it does mean that people want affordable health care.  The problems of the website have prevented too many Americans from completing the enrollment process.  And that’s on us, not on them.  But there is no question that there’s real demand for quality, affordable health insurance.

In the first month, nearly a million people successfully completed an application for themselves or their families.  Those applications represent more than 1.5 million people.  Of those 1.5 million people, 106,000 of them have successfully signed up to get covered.

Another 396,000 have the ability to gain access to Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.  That’s been less reported on, but it shouldn’t be.  Americans who are having a difficult time, who are poor, many of them working, may have a disability; they're Americans like everybody else, and the fact that they are now able to get insurance is going to be critically important.

Later today, I’ll be in Ohio, where Governor Kasich, a Republican, has expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.  And as many as 275,000 Ohioans will ultimately be better off because of it.  And if every governor followed suit, another 5.4 million Americans could gain access to health care next year.

So bottom line is, in just one month, despite all the problems that we've seen with the website, more than 500,000 Americans could know the security of health care by January 1st -- many of them for the first time in their lives.  And that’s life-changing and it's significant.

That still leaves about 1 million Americans who successfully made it through the website, and now qualify to buy insurance, but haven’t picked a plan yet.  And there’s no question that if the website were working as it’s supposed to, that number would be much higher of people who have actually enrolled.  So that’s problem number one –- making sure that the website works the way it's supposed to.  It’s gotten a lot better over the last few weeks than it was on the first day, but we’re working 24/7 to get it working for the vast majority of Americans in a smooth, consistent way.

The other problem that has received a lot of attention
concerns Americans who have received letters from their insurers that they may be losing the plans they bought in the old individual market, often because they no longer meet the law’s requirements to cover basic benefits like prescription drugs or doctors’ visits.

Now, as I indicated earlier, I completely get how upsetting this can be for a lot of Americans, particularly after assurances they heard from me that if they had a plan that they liked, they could keep it.  And to those Americans, I hear you loud and clear.  I said that I would do everything we can to fix this problem.  And today I'm offering an idea that will help do it.

Already, people who have plans that predate the Affordable Care Act can keep those plans if they haven’t changed.  That was already in the law.  That's what's called a grandfather clause.  It was included in the law.  Today, we're going to extend that principle both to people whose plans have changed since the law took effect, and to people who bought plans since the law took effect.

So state insurance commissioners still have the power to decide what plans can and can’t be sold in their states.  But the bottom line is, insurers can extend current plans that would otherwise be canceled into 2014, and Americans whose plans have been canceled can choose to re-enroll in the same kind of plan.

We’re also requiring insurers to extend current plans to inform their customers about two things.  One, that protections -- what protections these renewed plans don’t include.  And number two, that the marketplace offers new options with better coverage and tax credits that might help you bring down the cost.

So if you’ve received one of these letters, I’d encourage you to take a look at the marketplace.  Even if the website isn’t working as smoothly as it should be for everybody yet, the plan comparison tool that lets you browse costs for new plans near you is working just fine.

Now, this fix won’t solve every problem for every person.  But it’s going to help a lot of people.  Doing more will require work with Congress.  And I’ve said from the beginning, I’m willing to work with Democrats and Republicans to fix problems as they arise.  This is an example of what I was talking about.  We can always make this law work better.

It is important to understand, though, that the old individual market was not working well.  And it’s important that we don’t pretend that somehow that’s a place worth going back to.  Too often, it works fine as long as you stay healthy; it doesn’t work well when you’re sick.  So year after year, Americans were routinely exposed to financial ruin, or denied coverage due to minor preexisting conditions, or dropped from coverage altogether -- even if they paid their premiums on time.

That’s one of the reasons we pursued this reform in the first place.  And that’s why I will not accept proposals that are just another brazen attempt to undermine or repeal the overall law and drag us back into a broken system.  We will continue to make the case, even to folks who choose to keep their own plans, that they should shop around in the new marketplace because there’s a good chance that they’ll be able to buy better insurance at lower cost.

So we’re going to do everything we can to help the Americans who have received these cancellation notices.  But I also want everybody to remember there are still 40 million Americans who don’t have health insurance at all.  I’m not going to walk away from 40 million people who have the chance to get health insurance for the first time.  And I’m not going to walk away from something that has helped the cost of health care grow at its slowest rate in 50 years.

So we’re at the opening weeks of the project to build a better health care system for everybody -- a system that will offer real financial security and peace of mind to millions of Americans.  It is a complex process.  There are all kinds of challenges.  I’m sure there will be additional challenges that come up.  And it’s important that we’re honest and straightforward in terms of when we come up with a problem with these reforms and these laws, that we address them.  But we’ve got to move forward on this.

It took 100 years for us to even get to the point where we could start talking about and implementing a law to make sure everybody has got health insurance.  And my pledge to the American people is, is that we’re going to solve the problems that are there, we’re going to get it right, and the Affordable Care Act is going to work for the American people.

So with that, I’m going to take your questions, and I’m going to start with Julie Pace of AP.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.  The combination of the website problems and the concerns over the policy cancellations has sparked a lot of worry within your own party, and polls also show that you’re taking some hits with the public on both your overall job approval rating and also on factors like trust and honesty.  Do you feel as though the flawed health care rollout has led to a breach in the public trust and confidence in government?  And if so, how do you plan to resolve that?

THE PRESIDENT:  There is no doubt that people are frustrated.  We just came out of a shutdown and the possibility that for the first time in over 200 years, we wouldn’t pay our bills.  And people breathed a sigh of relief when that finally got done, and the next thing they know is, is that the President’s health care reform can’t get the website to work and that there are these other problems with respect to cancellation notices.

And I understand why folks are frustrated.  I would be, too.  Because sometimes people look at what’s taking place in Washington and they say, not enough is getting done that helps me with my life.  And regardless of what Congress does, ultimately I’m the President of the United States and they expect me to do something about it.

So in terms of how I intend to approach it, I’m just going to keep on working as hard as I can around the priorities that the American people care about.  And I think it’s legitimate for them to expect me to have to win back some credibility on this health care law in particular, and on a whole range of these issues in general.

And that’s on me.  I mean, we fumbled the rollout on this health care law.  There are a whole bunch of things about it that are working really well which people didn’t notice because they weren’t controversial -- so making sure kids could stay on their parents’ plans until they were -- through the age of 25, and making sure that seniors got more discounts on their prescription drugs.  There were a whole bunch of stuff that we did well over the first three years.

But we always knew that these marketplaces, creating a place where people can shop and through competition get a better deal for the health insurance that their families need, we always knew that that was going to be complicated and everybody was going to be paying a lot of attention to it.  And we should have done a better job getting that right on day one -- not on day 28 or on day 40.

I am confident that by the time we look back on this next year, that people are going to say this is working well, and it’s helping a lot of people.  But my intention in terms of winning back the confidence of the American people is just to work as hard as I can; identify the problems that we’ve got, make sure that we’re fixing them.  Whether it’s a website, whether it is making sure that folks who got these cancellation notices get help, we’re just going to keep on chipping away at this until the job is done.

Major Garrett.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.  You said while the law was being debated, “if you like your plan, you can keep it.”  You said after the law was implemented or signed, “if you like your plan, you can keep it.”  Americans believed you, sir, when you said that to them over and over.  Do you not believe, sir, the American people deserve a deeper, more transparent accountability from you as to why you said that over and over when your own statistic published in the Federal Register alerted your policy staff -- and I presume you -- to the fact that millions of Americans would, in fact, probably fall into the very gap you’re trying to administratively fix now?

That's one question.  Second question.  (Laughter.)  You were informed, or several people in this building were informed two weeks before the launch of the website that it was failing the most basic tests internally, and yet a decision was made to launch the website on October 1st.  Did you, sir, make that test?  And if so, did you regret that?

THE PRESIDENT:  Okay, on the website, I was not informed directly that the website would not be working the way it was supposed to.  Had I been informed, I wouldn’t be going out saying, boy, this is going to be great.

I’m accused of a lot of things, but I don't think I’m stupid enough to go around saying, this is going to be like shopping on Amazon or Travelocity a week before the website opens if I thought that it wasn’t going to work.  So clearly, we and I did not have enough awareness about the problems in the website.  Even a week into it, the thinking was that these were some glitches that would be fixed with patches, as opposed to some broader systemic problems that took much longer to fix and we’re still working on them.

So that doesn't excuse the fact that they just don't work.  But I think it’s fair to say that, no, Garrett -- Major, we would not have rolled out something knowing very well that it wasn’t going to work the way it was supposed, given all the scrutiny that we knew was going to be on the website.

With respect to the pledge I made that if you like your plan, you can keep it, I think -- and I’ve said in interviews -- that there is no doubt that the way I put that forward unequivocally ended up not being accurate.  It was not because of my intention not to deliver on that commitment and that promise.  We put a grandfather clause into the law, but it was insufficient.

Keep in mind that the individual market accounts for 5 percent of the population.  So when I said you can keep your health care, I’m looking at folks who’ve got employer-based health care; I’m looking at folks who’ve got Medicare and Medicaid -- and that accounts for the vast majority of Americans.  And then for people who don't have any health insurance at all, obviously that didn't apply.  My commitment to them was, you're going to be able to get affordable health care for the first time.

You have an individual market that accounts for about 5 percent of the population.  And our working assumption was -- my working assumption was that the majority of those folks would find better policies at lower costs or the same costs in the marketplaces, and that the universe of folks who potentially would not find a better deal in the marketplaces, the grandfather clause would work sufficiently for them.  And it didn't.  And again, that's on us.  Which is why we’re -- that's on me.  And that's why I’m trying to fix it.

And as I said earlier, I guess last week, and I will repeat, that's something I deeply regret because it’s scary getting a cancellation notice.

Now, it is important to understand that out of that population, typically there is constant churn in that market.  This market is not very stable and reliable for people.  So people have a lot of complaints when they're in that marketplace.  As long as you're healthy, things seem to be going pretty good.  And so a lot of people think, I’ve got pretty good insurance -- until they get sick -- and then suddenly they look at the fine print, and they’ve got a $50,000 out-of-pocket expense that they can't pay.

We know that on average over the last decade, each year, premiums in that individual market would go up an average of 15 percent a year.  I know that because when we were talking about health care reform, one of the complaints was:  I bought health care in the individual market and I just got a notice from the insurer, they dropped me after I had an illness; or my premium skyrocketed by 20 or 30 percent, why aren’t we doing something about this?

So part of what our goal has been is to make sure that that individual market is stable and fair, and has the kind of consumer protections that make sure that people don’t get a rude surprise when they really need health insurance.  But if you just got a cancellation notice, and so far you’re thinking, my prices are pretty good, you haven’t been sick, and it fits your budget, and now you get this notice -- you’re going to be worried about it.  And if the insurer is saying the reason you’re getting this notice is because of the Affordable Care Act, then you’re going to be understandably aggravated about it.

Now, for a big portion of those people, the truth is they might have gotten a notice saying, we’re jacking up your rates by 30 percent.  They might have said, from here on out, we’re not going to cover X, Y and Z illnesses, we’re changing the -- because these were all 12-month policies.  The insurance companies were under no obligation to renew the exact same policies that you had before.

But, look, one of the things I understood when we decided to reform that health insurance market, part of the reason why it hasn’t been done before and it’s very difficult to do, is that anything that’s going on that’s tough in the health care market, if you initiated a reform, can be attributed to your law.  And so what we want to do is to be able to say to these folks, you know what, the Affordable Care Act is not going to be the reason why insurers have to cancel your plan.

Now, what folks may find is the insurance companies may still come back and say, we want to charge you 20 percent more than we did last year; or we’re not going to cover prescription drugs now.  But that’s in the nature of the market that existed earlier.

Q    Did you decide, sir, that the simple declaration was something the American people could handle, but this nuanced answer you just gave now was something that you couldn’t handle and you didn’t trust the American people with a fuller truth?

THE PRESIDENT:  No.  I think, as I said earlier, Major, my expectation was that for 98 percent of the American people, either it genuinely wouldn't change at all, or they'd be pleasantly surprised with the options in the marketplace, and that the grandfather clause would cover the rest.

That proved not to be the case.  And that's on me.  And the American people -- those who got cancellation notices do deserve and have received an apology from me.  But they don't want just words.  What they want is whether we can make sure that they are in a better place, and that we meet that commitment.

And, by the way, I think it's very important for me to note that there are a whole bunch of folks up in Congress and others who made this statement, and they were entirely sincere about it.  And the fact that you've got this percentage of people who have had this impact -- I want them to know that their senator or congressman, they were making representations based on what I told them and what this White House and our administrative staff told them.  And so it's not on them.  It's on us.  But it is something that we intend to fix.

Steve Collinson.

Q    Do you have reason to believe that Iran would walk away from nuclear talks if Congress draws up new sanctions?  And would a diplomatic breakdown at this stage leave you no option but military action?  And how do you respond to your critics on the Hill who say that it was only tough sanctions that got Iran to the table, but only tougher sanctions will make it capitulate?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, let me make a couple of points.  Number one, I've said before and I will repeat:  We do not want Iran having nuclear weapons.  And it would be not only dangerous to us and our allies, but it would be destabilizing to the entire region, and could trigger a nuclear arms race that would make life much more dangerous for all of us.  So our policy is Iran cannot have nuclear weapons.  And I'm leaving all options on the table to make sure that we meet that goal.

Point number two:  The reason we've got such vigorous sanctions is because I and my administration put in place, when I came into office, the international structure to have the most effective sanctions ever.  And so I think it's fair to say that I know a little bit about sanctions, since we've set them up, and made sure that we mobilize the entire international community so that there weren't a lot of loopholes and they really had bite.

And the intention in setting up those sanctions always was to bring the Iranians to the table so that we could resolve this issue peacefully, because that is my preference.  That's my preference because any armed conflict has cost to it, but it's also my preference because the best way to assure that a country does not have nuclear weapons is that they are making a decision not to have nuclear weapons, and we're in a position to verify that they don't have nuclear weapons.

So as a consequence of the sanctions that we put in place  -- and I appreciate all the help, bipartisan help, that we received from Congress in making that happen -- Iran's economy has been crippled.  They had a -5 percent growth rate last year.  Their currency plummeted.  They're having significant problems in just the day-to-day economy on the ground in Iran.  And President Rouhani made a decision that he was prepared to come and have a conversation with the international community about what they could do to solve this problem with us.

We've now had a series of conversations, and it has never been realistic that we would resolve the entire problem all at once.  What we have done is seen the possibility of an agreement in which Iran would halt advances on its program; that it would dilute some of the highly enriched uranium that makes it easier for them to potentially produce a weapon; that they are subjecting themselves to much more vigorous inspections so that we know exactly what they’re doing at all their various facilities; and that that would then provide time and space for us to test, over a certain period of months, whether or not they are prepared to actually resolve this issue to the satisfaction of the international community -- making us confident that, in fact, they’re not pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

In return, the basic structure of what’s been talked about, although not completed, is that we would provide very modest relief at the margins of the sanctions that we’ve set up.  But importantly, we would leave in place the core sanctions that are most effective and have most impact on the Iranian economy, specifically oil sanctions and sanctions with respect to banks and financing.  And what that gives us is the opportunity to test how serious are they, but it also gives us an assurance that if it turns out six months from now that they’re not serious, we can crank -- we can dial those sanctions right back up.

So my message to Congress has been that, let’s see if this short-term, phase-one deal can be completed to our satisfaction where we’re absolutely certain that while we’re talking with the Iranians, they’re not busy advancing their program.  We can buy some additional months in terms of their breakout capacity.  Let’s test how willing they are to actually resolve this diplomatically and peacefully.

We will have lost nothing if, at the end of the day, it turns out that they are not prepared to provide the international community the hard proof and assurances necessary for us to know that they’re not pursuing a nuclear weapon.  And if that turns out to be the case, then not only is our entire sanctions infrastructure still in place, not only are they still losing money from the fact that they can’t sell their oil and get revenue from their oil as easily, even throughout these talks, but other options remain.

But what I’ve said to members of Congress is that if, in fact, we’re serious about trying to resolve this diplomatically -- because no matter how good our military is, military options are always messy, they’re always difficult, always have unintended consequences, and in this situation are never complete in terms of making us certain that they don’t then go out and pursue even more vigorously nuclear weapons in the future -- if we’re serious about pursuing diplomacy, then there’s no need for us to add new sanctions on top of the sanctions that are already very effective and that brought them to the table in the first place.

Now, if it turns out they can’t deliver, they can’t come to the table in a serious way and get this issue resolved, the sanctions can be ramped back up.  And we’ve got that option.

All right.  Roger Runningen.  Roger, it’s his birthday, by the way.  So that’s not the reason you got a question, but I thought it was important to note that.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT:  Happy birthday.

Q    Back to health care.  Can you guarantee for the American people that the health care website is going to be fully operational for all people, not just the vast majority, by November 30?  And second, more broadly, this is your signature domestic piece of legislation.  You hear criticism on the Hill that you and your White House team are too insular.  Is that how this mess came to be?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think there is going to be a lot of evaluation of how we got to this point.  And I assure you that I’ve been asking a lot of questions about that.  The truth is that this is, number one, very complicated.  The website itself is doing a lot of stuff.  There aren’t a lot of websites out there that have to help people compare their possible insurance options, verify income to find out what kind of tax credits they might get, communicate with those insurance companies so they can purchase, make sure that all of it’s verified.  So there’s just a bunch of pieces to it that made it challenging.

And you combine that with the fact that the federal government does a lot of things really well.  One of the things it does not do well is information technology procurement.  This is kind of a systematic problem that we have across the board.  And it is not surprising then that there were going to be some problems.

Now, I think we have to ask ourselves some hard questions inside the White House as opposed to why we didn't see more of these problems coming earlier on -- A, so we could set expectations; B, so that we could look for different ways for people to end up applying.

So ultimately, you’re right.  This is something that's really important to me, and it’s really important to millions of Americans who have been waiting for a really long time to try to get health care because they don't have it.  And I am very frustrated, but I’m also somebody who, if I fumbled the ball, I’m going to wait until I get the next play, and then I’m going to try to run as hard as I can and do right by the team.  So ultimately, I’m the head of this team.  We did fumble the ball on it, and what I’m going to do is make sure that we get it fixed.

In terms of what happens on November 30th or December 1st, I think it’s fair to say that the improvement will be marked and noticeable.  The website will work much better on November 30th, December 1st than it worked certainly on October 1st.  That's a pretty low bar.  It will be working a lot better than it is -- it was last week, and it will be working better than it was this week, which means that the majority of people who go to the website will see a website that is working the way it’s supposed to.

I think it is not possible for me to guarantee that 100 percent of the people 100 percent of the time going on this website will have a perfectly seamless, smooth experience.  We’re going to have to continue to improve it even after November 30th, December 1st.  But the majority of people who use it will be able to see it operate the way it was supposed to.

One thing that we’ve discovered, though, that I think is worth noting:  A lot of focus has been on the website and the technology, and that's partly because that's how we initially identified it -- these are glitches.  What we’re discovering is that part of the problem has been technology -- hardware and software -- and that's being upgraded.  But even if we get the hardware and software working exactly the way it’s supposed to with relatively minor glitches, what we’re also discovering is that insurance is complicated to buy.

And another mistake that we made I think was underestimating the difficulties of people purchasing insurance online and shopping for a lot of options with a lot of costs and a lot of different benefits and plans, and somehow expecting that that would be very smooth.  And then they’ve also got to try apply for tax credits on the website.

So what we’re doing even as we’re trying to solve the technical problems is also what can we do to make the application a little bit simpler; what can we do to make it in English as opposed to bureaucratese; are there steps that we can skip while still getting the core information that people need

And part of what we’re realizing is that they are going to be a certain portion of people who are just going to need more help and more handholding in the application process.  And so I guess part of the continuous improvement that I’m looking at is not just a technical issue.  It’s also, can we streamline the application process; what are we doing to give people more assistance in the application process; how do the call centers and the people who are helping folks in-person; how are they trained so that things can go more smoothly.

Because the bottom line ultimately is, I just want people to know what their options are in a clear way.  And buying health insurance is never going to be like buying a song on iTunes.  It’s just a much more complicated transaction.  But I think we can continue to make it better -- all of which is to say that on December 1st, November 30th, it will be a lot better, but there will still be some problems.  Some of those will not be because of technological problems -- although I’m sure that there will still be some glitches that have to be smoothed out.  Some of it’s going to be how are we making this application process more user-friendly for folks.

And one good example of this, by the way, just to use an analogy -- when we came into office, we heard a lot of complaints about the financial aid forms that families have to fill out to get federal financial aid.  And I actually remember applying for some of that stuff and remember how difficult and confusing it was.  And Arne Duncan over at Education worked with a team to see what we could do to simplify it, and it made a big difference.

And that's part of the process that we’ve got to go through.  And in fact, if we can get some focus groups and we sit down with actual users and see how well is this working, what would improve it, what part of it didn't you understand --  that all I think is part of what we’re going to be working on in the weeks ahead.

Q    What about the insularity criticism that you hear on the Hill?

THE PRESIDENT:  I’ve got to say I meet with an awful lot of folks, and I talk to an awful lot of folks every day.  And I have lunches with CEOs and IT venture capitalists and labor leaders and pretty much folks from all walks of life on a whole bunch of topics.  And if you looked at my schedule on any given day, we’re interacting with a whole lot of people.

And I think it’s fair to say that we have a pretty good track record of working with folks on technology and IT from our campaign where, both in 2008 and 2012, we did a pretty darn good job on that.  So it’s not -- the idea that somehow we didn't have access or were interested in people’s ideas, I think isn’t accurate.  What is true is that, as I said before, our IT systems, how we purchase technology in the federal government is cumbersome, complicated, and outdated.

And so this isn’t a situation where on my campaign I could simply say, who are the best folks out there; let’s get them around a table, let’s figure out what we’re doing, and we’re just going to continue to improve it and refine it and work on our goals.  If you're doing it at the federal government level, you're going through 40 pages of specs and this and that and the other, and there are all kinds of laws involved, and it makes it more difficult.  It's part of the reason why, chronically, federal IT programs are over budget, behind schedule.

And one of the -- when I do some Monday morning quarterbacking on myself, one of the things that I do recognize is -- since I know that the federal government has not been good at this stuff in the past -- two years ago, as we were thinking about this, we might have done more to make sure that we were breaking the mold on how we were going to be setting this up.  But that doesn't help us now.  We've got to move forward.

Jeff Mason.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.  Today's fix that you just announced leaves it up to state insurance commissioners and insurance companies to ultimately decide whether to allow old policies to be renewed for a year.  How confident are you that they will do that?  And secondly, how concerned are you that this flawed rollout may hurt Democrats' chances in next year's midterm elections, and your ability to advance other priorities such as immigration reform?

THE PRESIDENT:  On the first question, traditionally, state insurance commissioners make decisions about what plans can be or cannot be sold, how they interact with insurers.  What we're essentially saying is the Affordable Care Act is not going to be the factor in what happens with folks in the individual market.  And my guess is right away you're going to see a number of state insurance commissioners exercise it.

Part of the challenge is the individual markets are different in different states.  There are some states that have individual insurance markets that already have almost all the consumer protections that the Affordable Care Act does.  They match up pretty good.  It's not some big jump for folks to move into the marketplace.  In others, they're pretty low standards, so you can sell pretty substandard plans in those markets.  And that's where people might see a bigger jump in their premiums.

So I think there's going to be some state-by-state evaluation on how this is handled.  But the key point is, is that it allows us to be able to say to the folks who received these notices:  Look, I, the President of the United States and the insurance –- that the insurance model, the Affordable Care Act, is not going to be getting in the way of you shopping in the individual market that you used to have.  As I said, there are still going to be some folks who over time, I think, are going to find that the marketplaces are better.

One way I described this to -- I met with a group of senators when this issue first came up -- and it's not a perfect analogy -- but we made a decision as a society that every car has to have a seatbelt or airbags.  And so you pass a regulation.  And there are some additional costs, particularly at the start of increasing the safety and protections, but we make a decision as a society that the costs are outweighed by the benefits of all the lives that are saved.  So what we're saying now is if you're buying a new car, you got to have a seatbelt.

Well, the problem with the grandfather clause that we put in place is it's almost like we said to folks, you got to buy a new car, even if you can't afford it right now.  And sooner or later, folks are going to start trading in their old cars.  But we don't need -- if their life circumstance is such where, for now at least, they want to keep the old car, even if the new car is better, we should be able to give them that option.  And that's what we want to do.

And, by the way, that's what we should have been able to do in drafting the rules in the first place.  So, again, these are two fumbles on something that -- on a big game, which -- but the game is not over.

With respect to the politics of it, I'll let you guys do a lot of the work on projecting what this means for various political scenarios.  There is no doubt that our failure to roll out the ACA smoothly has put a burden on Democrats, whether they're running or not, because they stood up and supported this effort through thick and thin.  And I feel deeply responsible for making it harder for them rather than easier for them to continue to promote the core values that I think led them to support this thing in the first place -- which is, in this country, as wealthy as we are, everybody should be able to have the security of affordable health care.  And that's why I feel so strongly about fixing it.

My first and foremost obligation is the American people, to make sure that they can get what's there -- if we can just get the darn website working and smooth this thing out -- which is plans that are affordable, and allow them to take advantage of tax credits and give them a better deal.

But I also do feel an obligation to everybody out there who supported this effort.  When we don't do a good job on the rollout, we're letting them down.  And I don't like doing that.  So my commitment to them is, we're going to just keep on doing better every day until we get it done.

And in terms of the impact on me -- I think to some extent I addressed it when I talked to Julie -- there are going to be ups and downs during the course of my presidency.  And I think I said early on when I was running -- I am not a perfect man, and I will not be a perfect President, but I'll wake up every single day working as hard as I can on behalf of Americans out there from every walk of life who are working hard, meeting their responsibilities, but sometimes are struggling because the way the system works isn't giving them a fair shot.

And that pledge I haven't broke.  That commitment, that promise, continues to be -- continues to hold -- the promise that I wouldn't be perfect, number one, but also the promise that as long as I've got the honor of having this office, I'm just going to work as hard as I can to make things better for folks.  And what that means specifically in this health care arena is we can't go back to the status quo.

I mean, right now everybody is properly focused on us not doing a good job on the rollout, and that’s legitimate and I get it.  There have been times where I thought we were kind of slapped around a little bit unjustly.  This one is deserved.  Right?  It’s on us.

But we can’t lose sight of the fact that the status quo before the Affordable Care Act was not working at all.  If the health care system had been working fine, and everybody had high-quality health insurance at affordable prices, I wouldn’t have made it a priority; we wouldn’t have been fighting this hard to get it done -- which is why, when I see sometimes folks up on Capitol Hill, and Republicans in particular, who have been suggesting repeal, repeal, let’s get rid of this thing, I keep on asking what is it that you want to do?  Are you suggesting that the status quo was working?  Because it wasn’t, and everybody knows it.  It wasn’t working in the individual market and it certainly wasn’t working for the 41 million people who didn’t have health insurance.

And so what we did was we chose a path that was the least disruptive, to try to finally make sure that health care is treated in this country like it is in every other advanced country -- that it’s not some privilege that just a certain portion of people can have, but it’s something that everybody has some confidence about.  And we didn’t go far left and choose an approach that would have been much more disruptive.  We didn’t adopt some more conservative proposals that would have been much more disruptive.  We tried to choose a way that built off the existing system.  But it is complicated, it is hard, but I make no apologies for us taking this on -- because somebody sooner or later had to do it.  I do make apologies for not having executed better over the last several months.

Q    And do you think that execution and the flaws in the rollout will affect your ability to do other things, like immigration reform and other policy priorities?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, look, if it comes to immigration reform, there is no reason for us not to do immigration reform.  And we’ve already got strong bipartisan support for immigration reform out of the Senate.  You’ve got -- I met with a number of traditionally very conservative clergy who are deeply committed to immigration reform.  We’ve got the business community entirely behind immigration reform.  So you’ve got a bunch of constituencies that are traditionally much more -- have leaned much more heavily towards the Republicans who are behind this.

So if people are looking for an excuse not to do the right thing on immigration reform, they can always find an excuse --  we’ve run out of time, or this is hard, or the list goes on and on.  But my working assumption is people should want to do the right thing.  And when you’ve got an issue that would strengthen borders, make sure that the legal immigration system works the way it’s supposed to, that would go after employers who have been doing the wrong thing when it comes to hiring undocumented workers, and would allow folks who are here illegally to get right with the law and pay a fine, and learn English and get to the back of the line, but ultimately join fully our American community -- when you’ve got a law that makes sense, you shouldn’t be looking for an excuse not to do it.  And I’m going to keep on pushing to make sure it gets done.

Am I going to have to do some work to rebuild confidence around some of our initiatives?  Yes.  But part of this job is the things that go right, you guys aren’t going to write about; the things that go wrong get prominent attention.  That’s how it has always been.  That’s not unique to me as President.  And I’m up to the challenge.  We’re going to get this done.

All right?  Thank you, everybody.

END

U.S.-VIETNAM IMPROVING RELATIONS, TRADE .

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE
Four Months Ago
July 25, 2013

Joint Statement by President Barack Obama of the United States of America and President Truong Tan Sang of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

President Barack Obama welcomed President Truong Tan Sang of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to the White House on July 25, 2013.  During their meeting, the two Presidents affirmed their commitment to opening a new phase of bilateral relations between Vietnam and the United States based on mutual respect and common interests.  President Truong Tan Sang’s visit comes at an important time for both nations, reflecting a shared desire to build a forward-looking relationship between the two countries.

President Obama and President Truong Tan Sang decided to form a U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership to provide an overarching framework for advancing the relationship.  They underlined the principles of the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership, including respect for the United Nations Charter, international law, and each other’s political systems, independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.  They stated that the Comprehensive Partnership is intended to contribute to peace, stability, cooperation, and prosperity in each country, in the region, and in the world.  The new Comprehensive Partnership will create mechanisms for cooperation in areas including political and diplomatic relations, trade and economic ties, science and technology, education and training, environment and health, war legacy issues, defense and security, protection and promotion of human rights, and culture, sports, and tourism.

Political and Diplomatic Cooperation

As part of the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership, the two sides agreed to increase high level exchanges as well as contacts at all levels, and to intensify dialogue and cooperation mechanisms.  President Obama affirmed the United States’ support for Vietnam’s independence, sovereignty, prosperity, and integration into the international community.  President Truong Tan Sang welcomed the United States’ enhanced cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, which contributes to the peace, stability, and prosperity of the region.

The Presidents welcomed the establishment of a regular dialogue between their two foreign ministers, and encouraged dialogues and exchanges between entities associated with political parties in both countries.

President Obama and President Truong Tan Sang agreed to enhance cooperation at regional and international forums including The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the East Asia Summit (EAS), and the ASEAN Defense Ministerial Meeting Plus (ADMM+) to support peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the Asia-Pacific region.  The two Leaders reaffirmed their support for the settlement of disputes by peaceful means in accordance with international law, including as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea .  The Presidents also reaffirmed their support for the principle of non-use of force or threat-of-force in resolving territorial and maritime disputes.  The Presidents underscored the value of full observance of the Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and the importance of launching negotiations to conclude an effective Code of Conduct (COC).

President Truong Tan Sang expressed his appreciation for the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI).  The two Presidents agreed that the two sides would work together with other member countries and the Friends of the Lower Mekong to further strengthen regional cooperation to promote prosperity and sustainable development, narrow the development gap, enhance connectivity, and respond to transnational challenges in the region.

The two Presidents instructed relevant agencies to conclude as soon as possible a bilateral agreement on the construction of new embassies and missions.  The Leaders affirmed that the United States’ and Vietnam’s diplomatic presence in their respective capitals should reflect the development of their bilateral ties.

Trade and Economic Ties

Recalling their discussions in Cambodia in November 2012, President Obama and President Truong Tan Sang reaffirmed their commitment to conclude a comprehensive, high-standard Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement as soon as possible this year.  A 21st-century TPP agreement will advance regional economic integration, further development objectives, and lead to the creation of jobs in the United States, Vietnam, and all TPP countries, while taking into account the diversity of the participants’ levels of development in the context of a comprehensive and balanced package.

The Presidents welcomed continued efforts to further bilateral economic, commercial, and investment ties, and President Obama noted Vietnam’s reform efforts as a developing economy.  They underlined the critical value of these efforts to advancing the bilateral relationship, and the importance of economic cooperation as a foundation and engine for the new U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership.  The Presidents agreed to enhance cooperation under the U.S.-Vietnam Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council as well as under the ASEAN Enhanced Economic Engagement initiative and in APEC to increase economic and trade engagement in line with the bilateral Comprehensive Partnership and shared objectives in the World Trade Organization (WTO), APEC, and ASEAN fora.  President Obama applauded Vietnam’s progress in economic reform President Obama noted Vietnam’s interest in pursuing market economy country status and is committed to intensifying the United States’ constructive engagement with Vietnam on its economic reforms.  The Presidents acknowledged Vietnam’s intention to accede to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (CTC).

Both Presidents noted the importance of growing commercial ties between the two economies, and made special mention of: the MOU signed between PetroVietnam and U.S. Export-Import Bank to support trade and investment in the petroleum and energy sectors in Vietnam; the Framework Heads Agreement on the Ca Voi Xanh offshore Vietnam development project between Exxon Mobil Corporation and PetroVietnam; the Cooperation Agreement between Murphy Oil Corporation and PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP); an MOU between Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife) and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV);  and the Vietnam Ministry of Finance's approval in principle for establishment of a fund management company by ACE Insurance.  The Presidents welcomed U.S. Department of Agriculture support for capacity building and training programs designed to help Vietnam adopt and apply sound science and technology to the benefit of Vietnamese farmers, agricultural companies, and consumers.  The two leaders recognized the importance of protecting the most vulnerable populations while pursuing economic development, including working together to combat child and forced labor.

Science and Technology Cooperation

President Obama and President Truong Tan Sang discussed the importance of scientific and technological cooperation.  They welcomed the 8th meeting of the Joint Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation to be held this autumn, and highlighted efforts to build ties between the scientific communities in the United States and Vietnam to strengthen bilateral relations, respond to climate change and other global challenges, and foster innovation-driven economic growth.  President Obama and President Truong Tan Sang reiterated their intention to continue scientific cooperation, including in the areas of civil nuclear energy, space technology, and maritime research.  The Presidents highlighted the successful conclusion of a joint effort to remove all highly enriched uranium from Vietnam.  The two leaders agreed to continue cooperation to support Vietnam’s aspirations for a peaceful nuclear energy program with the highest standards of safety, safeguards, and security.

Education Cooperation

The Presidents agreed on the need to enhance educational, cultural, and people-to-people ties between the United States and Vietnam.  They remarked on the rapid growth of Vietnamese students studying at U.S. universities and colleges, and expressed hope that more U.S. students will pursue study abroad opportunities in Vietnam.  They agreed that close cooperation on education and training are critical elements to the next phase of the relationship.  They also noted that robust English language instruction will help Vietnam compete in the 21st century global economy.  President Obama and President Truong Tan Sang noted the success of bilateral education and exchange initiatives, especially the Fulbright program and the Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP).  The two Presidents noted the success of the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program and President Truong Tan Sang welcomed the initiative establishing a Fulbright University in Vietnam.

Environment and Health

President Obama and President Truong Tan Sang welcomed increasing bilateral cooperation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Vietnam through promotion of clean energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable forestry, and to strengthen Vietnam’s resilience to climate change, rising sea level and natural disasters, including through the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Clean Energy Program and Forests and Deltas Program.  President Obama reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to providing further medical and other care and assistance for persons with disabilities, regardless of cause.

The two leaders also agreed to work together, along with their LMI partners, to promote scientific research, capacity-building, and dialogue to ensure the long-term health and sustainability of the Mekong Delta and the Lower Mekong River Basin.  President Obama expressed appreciation for Vietnam’s leadership as the co-chair of the LMI Environment and Water Pillar, which has included two joint research proposals from Vietnam on water resources management in the basin.  The two leaders expressed satisfaction with the recent conclusion of the Agreement on Healthcare and Medical Sciences Cooperation and looked forward to enhanced public health cooperation to promote global health security.  President Truong Tan Sang expressed his appreciation for the U.S. government’s continued support through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for Vietnam’s efforts to build sustainable systems for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care.

War Legacy Issues

The two Presidents agreed that extensive cooperation in addressing war legacy issues to deepen mutual trust has allowed both countries to develop a relationship that looks to the future.  President Obama expressed his appreciation for Vietnam’s continued cooperation in providing for the fullest possible accounting for U.S. personnel missing in action (MIA).  President Obama reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to assist Vietnam in its MIA accounting efforts.  President Truong Tan Sang noted the U.S. Government’s contributions to Vietnam’s efforts to clean up unexploded ordnance (UXO), assist those injured by UXO, and prevent future casualties.  The Presidents expressed satisfaction with progress on USAID and the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense’s project to clean up dioxin contamination at Danang International Airport.  President Truong Tan Sang welcomed plans by the U.S. Government to conduct an environmental assessment of dioxin contamination at Bien Hoa Air Base.

Defense and Security

The two leaders agreed that the United States and Vietnam would continue to cooperate on defense and security.  They expressed satisfaction with the Memorandum of Understanding on Advancing Bilateral Defense Cooperation of 2011 and reaffirmed their commitment to its full implementation.  The Presidents agreed to continue the U.S.-Vietnam Defense Policy Dialogue and the bilateral Political, Security, and Defense dialogue as opportunities to review the defense and security relationship and discuss future cooperation.  The two Presidents agreed to expand mutually beneficial cooperation to enhance capabilities such as search and rescue and disaster response.  The Presidents also underscored the importance of enhanced cooperation in non-traditional security matters and agreed to work more closely to counter terrorism; enhance maritime law enforcement cooperation; combat transnational crime including piracy, and narcotics, human, and wildlife trafficking; and address high-tech crime and cyber security.  President Obama welcomed Vietnam’s decision to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations and emphasized the United States’ desire to assist with training and other support for this effort through the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI).

Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

The Presidents took note of the benefits of a candid and open dialogue to enhance mutual understanding and narrow differences on human rights.  They emphasized the importance of protection and promotion of human rights.  President Truong Tan Sang informed President Obama of Vietnam’s efforts and achievements in promoting human rights and rule of law and in protecting the rights of religious believers.  President Truong Tan Sang also affirmed that Vietnam was prepared to sign the United Nations Convention Against Torture by the end of the year and stated that Vietnam would invite the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2014.  Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to uphold the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Culture, Tourism and Sports

President Truong Tan Sang and President Obama highlighted the importance of enhanced cooperation on culture, sports and tourism to strengthening people-to-people exchange and mutual understanding.  They took note of the success of the Vietnamese-American community in the United States and their important contributions to the growth of bilateral ties.  The two Presidents encouraged more people-to-people exchange through art performances, concerts, exhibitions and other cultural and sports events between the two countries.

SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS AT EQUAL FUTURES PARTNERSHIP MEETING

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks at a Meeting of the Equal Futures Partnership

Remarks

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Waldorf Astoria Hotel

New York City

September 23, 2013

---

SECRETARY KERRY: (In progress) and to the distinguished ministers, I want to thank you. I want to thank you for being here, all of you, very, very much. We appreciate it.

As Cathy mentioned, this is the third high-level meeting of the Equal Futures Partnership, and we’re delighted to have former heads of state as well as some other distinguished leaders, foreign ministers. All of you are so (inaudible) to this mission.

Some of you may not be sports aficionados, (inaudible), but I’ll tell you, I can tell you from just common sense that no team can ever win if half of its players are on the bench. And that is effectively where we are in so many parts of the world with respect to women and women’s ability, opportunity, capacity to be able to take part and share in all aspects of society. We know that a country’s economic competitiveness increases as the gender gap decreases, and that’s clear to us in health and education, political participation, and in economic inclusion. And while we’ve made remarkable progress in the first two areas, health and education, I think everybody understands that we’re still far from where we need to be when it comes to civic involvement and also economic opportunity for women. Even here in our country, we still have a huge differential in pay for the same work – the same work, less pay. Those are the barriers that we need to try to continue to break.

And the State Department, which I am very proud to say, has been led by smart, capable, female diplomats for many of the past years – Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine Albright, my immediate predecessor Hillary Clinton. Indeed, I joked that when I came into the building, that part of my task was to prove that a man could still do the job. (Laughter.) But each of those individuals are clear examples of the very powerful impact that women who are involved in civic enterprise and government can have throughout the world. And I’m proud to say my wife here, Teresa Heinz, is here, who is one of the champions of that notion and has been for a long period of time.

The same is true in business. When researchers from the Harvard Business Review conducted a global study of business leadership, they found that women were rated by their peers in fully 12 of the 16 competencies that go into outstanding leadership ahead of men. And despite this fact – pretty good ratio, 12 out of 16 – despite that fact, the study also found that more than 60 percent of business leaders are still men. And the higher you go up the career ladder, the more men you find.

In joining Equal Futures, our nations have committed to taking bold steps to close the gender gap and to sharing the progress that we make with each other so that local practices can be replicated all over the world. And we’ve taken a commitment to try to increase our work with private and public sector partners to remove the obstacles that make it harder for women to get an equal seat at the table.

President Obama and I share powerfully – if you look at our families, we both have two daughters, and two strong wives. I firmly believe, as he does, that the opportunities for women in all of our countries, as they grow, so will the possibility for prosperity, for stability, and most importantly, if you look around the world, for peace. That’s exactly what this partnering here is all about.
And today, I am very pleased to welcome Japan – Fumio, Fumio Kishida, the Foreign Minister of Japan here – thank you very much, Fumio; Italy – Emma Bonino, the Foreign Minister – thank you for being here, Emma; Switzerland, and Mexico. We are delighted to have everybody aboard. These are the newest nations to join this effort, and I know that each of our member countries are going to significantly benefit from your participation.

I also want to welcome Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who – did I get it close to --

MS. MLAMBO-NGCUKA: Close.

SECRETARY KERRY: Close? All right. (Laughter.) Ngcuka – that’s how you say it – who recently became the Executive Director of UN Women, and Dr. Jim Kim, who is the head of the World Bank. And both organizations play really critical roles in the work of the Partnership, and their insights are going to be particularly important as we chart the future for the program.
We are particularly interested in examining how we can better address sexual and gender-based violence. Up to seven of every 10 women in the world report having experienced physical or sexual assault sometime in their lives. Think about that – seven out of 10. It’s plain and simply, flatly unacceptable. It’s an insult. And for women and girls to take advantage of new opportunities, first and foremost they must be able to live free from the fear of violence.
With that goal in mind, I’m proud to announce today, on behalf of President Obama, a new U.S. initiative called Safe from the Start. And our initial commitment of $10 million will help the ICRC, the UNHCR, and other organizations to hire staff to develop new programs to protect women and girls in the face of emergencies and implement these programs as quickly as possible. And I hope this will be one more initiative which brings us all together and that we can all cooperate on.

I want to emphasize that high-level meetings like this are critical to our ability to be able to identify where and how we can generate systemic change. It helps all of us to organize and coordinate our energies to that end. And so I regret that, because of the schedule, I’ll be leaving here to go – I’m meeting shortly with President Obama – but I ask that all of you to feed in in the course of this meeting so that we can have your sense of direction as to how we can best implement this and support the work of Equal Futures over the course of the next months and years.
We look forward very, very much to working to develop a strategic plan for the partnership and to create working groups that break out and pull together a roadmap, if you will, for all of us to embrace and work on over the course of these days. And I – it goes without saying that I think all of us who have come here with this one purpose long for the day when our daughters’ dreams are just as valued as our sons’.
Let me introduce Valerie Jarrett, who has led an extraordinary career through her life. She was the chairman of a business called Habitat Chicago. She was the Commissioner of Planning and Development for the city of Chicago. She was the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Mayor. And somehow, in the course of all of that, she found time to be at two law firms and a whole bunch of other things. Everybody knows she is a very close friend of the President – more importantly, perhaps, in terms of this work, a huge collaborator and leader with respect to these issues, and it’s my privilege to introduce her now.
Thanks, Valerie.

MS. JARRETT: Thank you very much, Secretary Kerry. I want to begin by showing my appreciation for your commitment and strong leadership in promoting the role of women and girls around the world. And good afternoon, everyone. It’s just a pleasure to be here with all of you. It’s good to be back.

This time last year, many of you would recall that I was here with Secretary Clinton, and together we announced Equal Futures with just 12 original nations. And so I’m so happy to return after a year of collective progress and to welcome now 23 additional nations. I’m delighted to report that the United States has made great headway since we gathered at the World Bank in April, and I look forward to hearing about the tremendous work being done by all of our member countries.

It has been a true pleasure for me to work with the President, who really understands the value of empowering women and girls. Whether assessing complex social policy, public safety, or setting economic priorities, President Obama understands the importance of women and girls not just as a President, but as Secretary Kerry alluded to, but as a husband, a loving father of two little girls, and as a son of a single mother. That is why he formed the White House Council on Women and Girls, which I am so proud to chair, and why he is committed to the success of Equal Futures.

Today, I’d like to begin by announcing that in addition to the Safe from the Start initiative just announced by Secretary Kerry, that there are several new efforts that will be launched by the United States to strengthen our Equal Futures commitments and to move us closer to our collective goals.

First, I am thrilled to announce that next spring, President Obama will convene a summit on working families at the White House. In preparation, we are already holding discussions with working families, employers, business leaders, economists, and advocates to seek new ideas for ensuring fair pay for women – women in the United States still only earn 77 cents on the dollar, far less for women of color – encouraging family-friendly workplaces, increasing productivity, and strengthening our economy, all of our goals for the working family summit. Our summit will be an important event, and I’m confident, will lead to bold, concrete actions to strengthen opportunities for working families.

On other fronts, Girls Inc. and Discovery Education are working together to help girls receive science, technology, engineering, and math education that they will need to prepare for high quality, high-paying jobs in the future. NASA and the National Science Foundation are also working in pursuit of this important goal.

Our federal agencies are supplying survivors of domestic violence with the support and the tools that they need to achieve economic independence and regain their lives. The federal government along with our civil partners from George Washington University and MissRepresentation.org are working together to ensure women and girls receive the education and training they need to reach the highest ranks of leadership in government and in elected office.

Private sector partners are also stepping up, and we’re excited to announce a few of those new partnerships here today. Just this month, USAID and the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, signed a Global Memorandum of Understanding committing to work together in support of women’s economic empowerment. The partnership will kick off in Bangladesh, helping 40,000 women farmers there play a more prominent role in agricultural production and marketing.
The Cherie Blair Foundation – and I see Cherie Blair is here with us, thank you for being here – WEConnect International, Intel, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, and the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and the Bluedrop Performance Learning company will help women obtain education, training, and mentoring that they need to start and grow their own businesses in many Equal Future partner countries, including right here in the United States.
I’d like to ask all of our private sector and civil society partners to please stand so that we can recognize you and show our thanks. Please stand. Thank you. (Applause.)
We sincerely look forward to your continued partnership and to the growth of this group as more and more governments and private sector stakeholders commit and invest in the political and economic empowerment of women and girls. I want to thank you all for an impressive first year, and I cannot wait for the years to follow.

And now I’d like to turn it back over to Secretary Kerry.

SECRETARY KERRY: Again, my apologies. I really would like to be here. I think Teresa’s going to stay here and represent me and come back with all the goodies that you’re going to put on the table. But I generally appreciate the expansion of this group in a short period of time and the commitment that has been made here. And to our friends from Mexico and Bangladesh and Belgium and elsewhere, thank you so much for being part of this.
With that, I need to join the President for a meeting, but thank you very much.

MS. JARRETT: Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Madam Ambassador, it’s yours and Valerie’s. Thank you. (Applause.)