REMARKS BY SECRETARY KERRY AND TUNISIAN FOREIGN MINISTER HAMDI

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks With Tunisian Foreign Minister Mongi Hamdi Before Their Meeting

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

August 4, 2014

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SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon. Very happy to welcome my friend, the foreign minister of Tunisia, Foreign Minister Hamdi. He and I have had long discussions already, and we agreed earlier in my visit to Tunisia and in our previous conversations to launch a U.S.-Tunisia security dialogue in advance of our interests with respect to a secure and stable and prosperous Tunisia and stability in the region.

The foreign minister has just talked to me about the dangers of what is happening in Libya, and he is particularly concerned about extremism that is creating a failed state there and the challenges that it presents in terms of security on their border. So we have a lot to talk about here.

Tunisia really remains a beacon of hope, and we are very grateful to Tunisia, particularly in the last days, as we decided for safety and security reasons only to temporarily move personnel from Tripoli in Libya to Tunisia, and the Tunisian Government was extremely helpful to us in that and we’re very grateful to them. But perhaps more importantly in the long run, Tunisia is the beacon of hope because it is going through a transition to democracy, and it is holding the line. It has been successful against tough challenges, but it needs help.

There is the threat always of foreign fighters coming back from Syria to create trouble internally in the country, and the United States is deeply committed to supporting Tunisia as it works through to build its own foundations for success in the future, and we intend to work with them.
So Mr. Foreign Minister, I’m happy to welcome you here. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER HAMDI: Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary of State. We are grateful to this opportunity to meet with you here to talk a little bit about the situation in Tunisia and in neighboring Libya. We are determined to deepen our relationship with the United States. Our relation with the U.S. has always been extremely good, and we want it to be, at this particular juncture of our history, a strategic one – a strategic one. We all believe in peace. We all believe in no extremism. Extremism and terror has no place in Tunisia, and we are determined to fight it. And we are reaching out to our friends and partners to assist us in times of need, and these are the times of need for Tunisia – to assist us particularly to secure our borders against – to safeguard our borders against those people who do not wish Tunisia to be a stable country, for those people who want to see instability in Tunisia and the rest of the country.

As you said, Mr. Secretary of State, Tunisia is the only – or one of the beacons of hope in that region, and if Tunisia fails, I think the whole region will not be secure. And it is in the interest of everyone that Tunisia succeeds its transition. We are at the last phase of our democratic transition, and we want to succeed. We are determined to succeed, and it’s in the interest for everyone to see Tunisia succeed, to see Tunisia a success story for the region, because if Tunisia does not succeed, the aspirations of hundreds of millions of people will go down the drain for democracy and freedom. Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, Mongi. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER HAMDI: Thanks.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thanks, my friend. Thank you very much. Thank you. Let’s go meet with our gang. All right. Thank you.

WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY FOR ROLE IN ETHIOPIAN ADOPTION FRAUD SCHEME

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Manager of Adoption Agency Pleads Guilty to Ethiopian Adoption Fraud Scheme

A former foreign program director of International Adoption Guides Inc. (IAG), an adoption agency, pleaded guilty today to conspiring with others to defraud the United States by paying bribes to foreign officials and submitting fraudulent documents to the State Department for adoptions from Ethiopia.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney William N. Nettles for the District of South Carolina made the announcement.   The guilty plea was entered by U.S. District Court Judge Sol Blatt Jr. of the District of South Carolina.

Alisa Bivens, 42, admitted as part of her plea that she and her co-conspirators submitted fraudulent documents to the State Department to facilitate adoptions of Ethiopian children by U.S. parents from 2006 until 2009.  In support of U.S. visa applications for the Ethiopian children, Bivens and others submitted false documentation, including contracts of adoption signed by orphanages that could not properly give the children up for adoption because, for example, the child in question was never cared for or never resided at the orphanage.

In entering her guilty plea, Bivens also admitted that she and others paid bribes to two Ethiopian officials so that those officials would help with the fraudulent adoptions.   The first of these two foreign officials, an audiologist and teacher at a government school, accepted money and other valuables in exchange for providing non-public medical information and social history information for potential adoptees to the conspirators.   The second foreign official, the head of a regional ministry for women’s and children’s affairs, received money and all-expenses-paid travel in exchange for approving IAG’s applications for intercountry adoptions and for ignoring IAG’s failure to maintain a properly licensed adoption facility.   Sentencing for Bivens will be scheduled at a later date.

This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.   The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John W. Borchert of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie Lea Schoen for the District of South Carolina.

7/7/14: White House Press Briefing

U.S. CONGRATULATES THE PEOPLE OF COTE d'LVORE ON THEIR NATIONAL DAY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Cote d'Ivoire's National Day

Press Statement

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

August 7, 2014

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On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Cote d’Ivoire as you celebrate your national independence on August 7.

Our two nations have been partners since independence peacefully arrived in Cote d’Ivoire over half a century ago. As your new flag flew over Abidjan, one of the first congratulations to arrive was a letter from U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower. Robert Kennedy was in Cote d’Ivoire that next August to celebrate one year of peace and independence with your proud nation.

Our bonds of friendship have only grown stronger in the years since as we promote democracy and prosperity for the entire West Africa region.

Following a long tradition of mutual warmth and regard, I extend the United States’ best wishes to the people of Cote d’Ivoire on your day of celebration.

U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CONTRACTS FOR AUGUST 7, 2014

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

CONTRACTS

MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY

Lockheed Martin Corporation Missiles and Fire Control, Dallas, Texas, was awarded a $124,600,000 fixed-price contract for the manufacturing and delivery of U. S. government Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ground components. This contract provides for the delivery of U.S. government THAAD launchers, peculiar support equipment, THAAD fire control and communication spares, and launcher spares. Work will be performed at Dallas, Texas; Lufkin, Texas; Huntsville, Alabama; Sunnyvale, California; and Camden, Arkansas, with an expected completion date of Aug. 7, 2017. Fiscal 2014 procurement funds in the amount of $124,600,000 are being obligated at time of award. This contract was a sole-source acquisition and one offer was received. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (HQ0147-14-C-0011).

NAVY

Concurrent Technologies Corp., Johnstown, Pennsylvania (N00189-14-D-Z035); Consolidated Safety Service Inc., Fairfax, Virginia (N00189-14-D-Z036); and URS Group Inc., Washington, District of Columbia (N00189-14-D-Z037), are each being awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide industrial hygiene support services for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED). The maximum contract value for all three contracts combined is $78,554,443. These services will focus on industrial hygiene testing and monitoring services for the Navy and Marine Corps commands/activities in direct support of BUMED’s comprehensive Industrial Hygiene Program. The services include conducting periodic surveys, workplace monitoring and ventilation surveys, exposure monitoring surveys, conducting exposure claim investigations and occupational illness investigations conduct workplace assessments, and reviewing hazardous materials. These three contractors will compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contracts. Work will be performed at shore-based Navy and Marine Corps locations throughout the United States (85 percent) and various contractor facilities (15 percent); work is expected to be completed by Sept 14, 2017. Fiscal 2014 Navy Defense Health Program operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $250,000 will be obligated at the time of award, and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This requirement was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with nine offers received in response to this solicitation. The NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity.

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded a $34,185,625 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-09-C-6250) to migrate the AN/BYG-1 Tactical Control System from a Technology Insertion (TI-12) baseline to a TI-14, integrate Advanced Processing Build (APB-13 and APB-15) and deliver this capability to multiple submarine platforms. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy (91.22 percent) and Royal Australian Navy (8.78 percent). Work will be performed in Fairfax, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by July 2015. Fiscal 2013 and 2014 research, development, test and evaluation; fiscal 2014 other procurement (Navy); fiscal 2009, 2011 and 2012 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and Royal Australian Navy funding (non-Foreign Military Sales) contract funds in the amount of $7,582,405 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia is the contracting activity. (Note: This contract was awarded Aug. 5, 2014.)

ARMY

Swinerton Builders, Arvada, Colorado was awarded a $57,611,751 firm-fixed-price contract with options for construction of the 4th Infantry Division, Combat Aviation Brigade, General Support Aviation Battalion maintenance hangar. Work will be performed at Fort Carson, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 10, 2016. Bids were solicited via the Internet with 14 received. Fiscal 2014 military construction funds in the amount of $57,611,751 are being obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska, is the contracting activity (W9123F-14-C-0031).

Swinerton Builders, Arvada, Colorado was awarded a $53,699,643 firm-fixed-price contract with options to design-bid-build a distributed common ground support operations facility. Work will be performed at Beale Air Force Base, California, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 26, 2016. Bids were solicited via the Internet with six received. Fiscal 2014 military construction funds in the amount of $53,699,643 are being obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento, California, is the contracting activity (W91238-14-C-0046).

Clover Leaf Solutions, Inc.,* Albuquerque, New Mexico (W9126G-14-D-0052); Gulf South Research Corp.,* Baton Rouge, Louisiana (W9126G-14-D-0053); JESCO Environmental & Geotechnical Services, Inc.,* Jennings, Louisiana (W9126G-14-D-0054); and Quaternary Resource Investigations, L.L.C.,* Baton Rouge, Louisiana (W9126G-14-D-0055), were awarded a $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award task order contract for environmental consulting services for projects within the Southwest Division or projects assigned to the Southwest Division. Funding and work location will be determined with each order with an estimated completion date of Aug. 6, 2019. Bids were solicited via the Internet with 26 received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth, Texas, is the contracting activity.

L-3 Communications Corporation, SFS, Madison, Mississippi, was awarded a $15,832,848 modification (P00124) to contract W58RGZ-10-C-0107 to add eight C-12s to the life cycle contractor support maintenance contract for the Army's fleet of C-12/RC-12/UC-35 aircraft. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $15,832,848 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Jan. 31, 2015. Work will be performed in Madison, Mississippi. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Odyssey International Inc.,* Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $15,000,000 modification (P00003) to contract W911N2-12-D-0040 for construction, renovation, maintenance and repair at Letterkenny Army Depot, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Funding will be determined with each order. Estimated completion date is Aug. 26, 2015. Army Contracting Command - Letterkenny Army Depot, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania is the contracting activity.

Vali Cooper International, LLC, Covington, Louisiana, was awarded a $7,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery contract for architectural and engineering services for construction management in the Mobile District and South Atlantic Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 6, 2019. Funding and exact work location will be determined with each order. Bids were solicited via the Internet with 98 received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W91278-14-D-0074).

AIR FORCE

Innovative Scientific Solutions, Inc., Dayton, Ohio, has been awarded a $45,005,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for fundamental and applied combustion and component research. Contractor will establish and conduct basic, applied, and advanced combustion experiments using both independent and collaborative approaches to push the state-of-the-art in combustion sciences. The goal is to design, fabricate, assemble, instrument and develop apparatus to perform research experiments in the areas of basic flame chemistry, emissions formation, heat transfer-fluid mechanics-combustion interaction, and related fields, as well as develop and test new combustion technologies and components that are of interest to the Air Force. Collaboration with multiple entities from government, industry, and academia is expected. Work will be performed at the experimental laboratories and test facilities located within the Air Force Research Laboratories Aerospace Systems Directorate research complex at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 6, 2022. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal 2013 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $40,000 for task order 0001 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Research Laboratories Wright Research Site Aerospace Systems Contracting Branch for Turbine Engines, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8650-14-D-2414 and task order 0001).

Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded an $11,929,705 cost-plus-award-fee delivery order modification (DO 021501). This non-competitive delivery order modification is being issued under previously awarded contract F04701-02-D-0006 for the Unified S-Band Development Phase II at Transportable Remote Tracking Station Block Change. Work will be performed at Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is expected to be completed Sept. 30, 2016. Fiscal 2014 and 2015 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $6,450,678 are being obligated at time of award. Space and Missile Systems Center/Range Network Systems Directorate, Los Angeles Air Force Base, El Segundo, California, is the contracting activity.

*Small business

REMARKS: SECRETARY KERRY WITH AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION CHAIRPERSON DR. DLAMINI-ZUMA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks With African Union Commission Chairperson Dr. Dlamini-Zuma Before Their Meeting

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

August 5, 2014

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SECRETARY KERRY: Let me just say to everybody that it’s a huge pleasure for me to welcome Dr. Dlamini-Zuma, who is the chairperson of the African Union. And it’s fair to say that the United States has a very special relationship with the African Union that we respect and appreciate enormously – in fact, so much so that we are the only – we are one of only two countries that have sent a U.S. mission to the African Union outside of Africa, African countries themselves. So we’re proud of that. We’re proud of the work we’re doing to develop democracy, to work on economic development, on human rights, on security. And this has just been an essential value added to our ability to be able to find cooperative channels to deal with crises, to bring people together, to convene, and to help chart a path forward.
So Dr. Dlamini-Zuma, I’m really pleased to see you. Thank you. And I was very appreciative of your comments a moment ago about the energy and the sense you feel from this conference that you see Africa being treated as an entity and here as Africa, which I gather makes a difference to you.

CHAIRPERSON DLAMINI-ZUMA: Yes, I think it does, because I think to some extent Africa is sometimes seen from the – what catches the news. But I think this week, we are discussing more about the substance of Africa: what it can offer through the cooperation with the government, but more importantly, what it can offer to U.S. investors coming to Africa and what it can offer to business people who really want to get – do business in Africa; to financial markets who want the best return. I think the best return is in Africa.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, it’s proving itself now.

CHAIRPERSON DLAMINI-ZUMA: Yes.

SECRETARY KERRY: Anyway – well, thank you for being with us. We appreciate it. Thank you all very much.

REMARKS: SECRETARY KERRY AND GHANAIAN PRESIDENT MAHAMA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Remarks With Ghanaian President John Mahama and Millennium Challenge Corporation CEO Dana Hyde at the Signing of the Ghana Power Compact

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

August 5, 2014

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MS. HYDE: Good afternoon. Mr. President and Secretary Kerry, Mr. Minister, and friends of Ghana: I am delighted to welcome you here for the signing of Ghana’s $498 million compact with the U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation. This agreement represents a major milestone in the U.S.-Ghanaian partnership, and I want to thank both teams, from Ghana and from MCC, who worked tirelessly to develop this investment aimed at overcoming one of Ghana’s key constraints to growth.

The compact we sign today takes a system-wide approach to transforming Ghana’s power sector. It invests in projects focused on distribution to make Ghana’s energy sector financially viable and capable of attracting private investment, and it funds initiatives supporting greater energy efficiency and cleaner renewable energy. These investments will provide Ghanaian homes, schools, and hospitals with access to the reliable electricity they need to thrive. And by encouraging entrepreneurship and supporting the productivity of Ghanaian businesses, these investments will help generate growth.

At $498 million, the compact we sign today represents the largest U.S. Government transaction to date under the Obama Administration’s Power Africa initiative. In addition, we estimate this $498 million will catalyze at least $4 billion in private investment and activities from U.S. and other businesses in Ghana’s energy sector over the coming years. We also think this compact can serve as a powerful anchor and a platform for overall U.S. assistance and engagement aimed at driving growth in Ghana and throughout West Africa.

In Ghana, the Millennium Challenge Corporation has chosen a partner who is fully committed to good governance. I applaud the Mahama Administration for its courage and steady conviction to take on bold reforms that will lead to growth and opportunity for millions.

As part of this compact, Ghana has made and will continue to make critical policy and regulatory reforms in the power sector. These reforms will sustain our efforts and will give global, American, and Ghanaian businesses greater confidence to invest. As a reformer, Ghana is truly a shining example and a model of an effective partner for MCC and for the U.S. Government.

So today is a win-win for the people of Ghana and the people of the United States. I want to congratulate all who made this partnership possible and who will work very hard now to realize its promise. With that, I’d like to introduce the Secretary of State, Secretary Kerry. (Applause.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much. Well, Dana, thank you. Welcome, everybody. We are really delighted to see everybody here and delighted to see this continuing cascade of announcements of deals that have been made, people coming together, business opportunities that are being taken advantage of. And I am really personally enormously energized by what’s been going on the last 36 hours and what will continue tonight at the White House and tomorrow here at the State Department.
I’m particularly grateful to Dana for her leadership at the MCC. She knows the power of transformational development, which is what this is all about, and she’s worked with PEPFAR, she’s worked on the 9/11 Commission, and she knows that development is not just about prosperity; it’s about building opportunity and stability, security. And she now leads the MCC programs that are combatting poverty all around the world, and we’re very proud of those efforts and I’m proud to have the pleasure of being the chair of the board. And when we meet, it’s always an exciting discussion about development.

I’m particularly delighted to welcome my former colleague, Senator Johnny Isakson, here. Johnny, thank you very much for being here with us. We appreciate it. (Applause.) Representatives Karen Bass and Chris Smith, these are three leaders who without any exaggeration have been incredibly important to our ability to be able to do what we’re doing. They’ve been critical to the subcommittees of Africa in both houses of the Congress, and I’m telling you not just as a former member but now as Secretary, without their focused attention and the commitment of the Congress on this, we’re just not able to do the kinds of things that we’re trying to do. And they do not get distracted by the day-to-day headlines and the kind of tug of war that sometimes depresses everybody.

It’s a great pleasure for me to be back with President Mahama. This is the Mahama-Obama axis here, folks. (Laughter.) And I’m also happy to be here with the Foreign Minister Hanna Tetteh and Minister of Finance Seth Terkper is here. I last – I saw – I was with the president yesterday because he very kindly took part as a panelist in the civil society town hall, so to speak, meeting. But I saw him before that in New York at the UN General Assembly, where we discussed security in the Sahel and also Ghana’s plans for energy independence. And since then, our partnership has literally only grown except for 90 minutes during the World Cup, folks – (laughter) – when it wasn’t so friendly. (Laughter.) Anyway.

But we are taking our partnership to a next level here signing a second Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact with Ghana. Nearly 60 years ago, Ghana became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to peacefully earn its independence when Kwame Nkrumah declared Ghana free forever. And the United States has been at Ghana’s side ever since, I’m proud to say. When the Organization of African Unity first met in Ghana, the American Embassy lent the conference paper and the typewriters. And when your first president arrived in Washington, D.C., President John F. Kennedy was at the tarmac to greet him as he came down the steps. Imagine that today.

We live in a different time, a different press of business, but five years ago President Obama went to Accra and he did so to declare that the 21st century will not be shaped just by Washington; it’ll be shaped in Accra as well. And that’s what brings us here today, that reality. Ghana’s second compact is another link in the long chain of friendship between our countries. And the first compact helped to pave highways and supported farmers in the export market. This second compact will transform the energy sector and help to provide reliable power with 10 percent coming from renewable resources.

I say it all the time, but a responsible energy policy is not a brake on the economy. It is, in fact, the engine of an economy. And people I think are now waking up to that fact. It’s an enormous $6 trillion market, folks, and the market that made America so wealthy in the 1990s where every income level saw their incomes go up was a $1 trillion market. I think everybody understands the differential and the value of our going after it.

Many years ago, Ghana sparked an independence movement that swept all across the continent like wildfire. And today, this compact is proof positive that Ghana is once again leading with its commitment to good governance and to economic prosperity. So it’s my great pleasure to welcome here to the podium a man who now needs no introduction, the President of the Republic of Ghana John Mahama. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT MAHAMA: Thank you. Senator Kerry, Secretary of State, honorable members of Senate and Congress, ministers and secretaries, ladies and gentlemen: I’m very honored to be present here today on this occasion of the signing of a new Millennium Challenge Compact between the governments of Ghana and the United States of America. Indeed, it seems like just yesterday when our two governments successfully executed and implemented our first compact. The first compact, by all measures, brought a transformational change in the agricultural landscape of Ghana. It also represented a refreshingly new strategy for the transformation of agriculture in Ghana. It also targeted sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction among the majority of rural dwellers who rely on agriculture for their livelihood by focusing on transport infrastructure and rural development. The achievements and success of the first compact include 66,930 farmer received training in commercial agricultural practices, enhancing their productivity and skills. Four irrigation schemes were rehabilitated, providing irrigation to 2,435 hectares of agricultural farmlands. Twenty post-harvest facilities were constructed, providing storage so crops would not get spoiled in the field. Thousands of farmers were provided with agricultural credit worth $23.1 million. Many roads, including the now famous George Bush Highway, were constructed, and 44 school blocks were fully rehabilitated while 206 new school blocks were constructed, totaling 250. All rural banks in Ghana and their agencies were interconnected and computerized and automated, provided with generators, computers, and wide area networks.

It’s extremely gratifying to note that on the heels of the first compact, which came to closure on June 30th, 2012, Ghana was selected to benefit from a second compact that specifically targets the energy sector. No one can deny the fact that energy is the engine of growth that has propelled many of the world’s leading economies into wealth and prosperity. Ghana is currently experiencing challenges with energy availability, sufficiency, and reliability, and so it was only logical that this new compact would focus on the energy sector.

The objectives of this new compact is to reduce poverty through economic growth in Ghana with direct interventions in the energy sector. This will not only enhance our own efforts at improving the sector, but would hopefully accelerate it. It’s not been an easy road because over the past two years our agencies and their USA counterparts have focused attention on addressing this critical constraint to economic growth in Ghana through a series of protocols, exchanges, and meetings. Indeed, initiatives such as the Partnership for Growth, the first compact, and Power Africa have also provided increased access and opportunity to deepen collaboration with 12 specialized agencies of the U.S. Government. And these are the USAID, USTDA, the MCC, US ExIm, OPIC, U.S.-African Development Foundation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Energy, Commerce, Treasury, Agriculture, and Department of State – so many of them. (Laughter.)

This new compact will bring cutting-edge U.S. technology and solutions to expand access to affordable, sustainable electric power. Thanks to the efforts of the above agencies and their Ghanaian counterparts who have collectively and assiduously worked hard to prepare this compact, we are here to sign the compact today.

Today, therefore, marks another historic moment in the bilateral relationship between the United States of America and Ghana, because we see Ghana rising a little higher to achieve its overarching policy goals for the energy sector. Ghana’s total energy supply has to grow significantly in order to achieve the developmental goals we’ve set ourselves. The main challenge is how to increase the energy supply and also expand the energy infrastructure in the country in a way that is sustainable. The power sub-sector needs to increase installed power generation capacity quickly from the current about 2,800 megawatts today to 5,000 megawatts, while at the same time increasing access to electricity from the current 76 percent to universal access, and all this hopefully by the end of the implementation of the compact.

We have also been considering how to attract investments to build the necessary infrastructure for the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity throughout our country. This investment is key to ensuring the sustainable, efficient development of Ghana’s energy sector. Our energy policy focuses on institutional and human resource capacity building as well as regulatory reforms required to create a competitive electricity market. Creating the right environment for private-public partnerships in the development of new power plants is essential to the growth of the power sector.

The biggest obstacle to achieving this objective is the issue of cost recovering, a challenge that our policy tries to directly address. Government is keen to and has already initiated actions towards reforms to attract more private sector participation in the energy and power sectors. These include a transparent framework for the development and management of natural gas resources, movements toward a least-cost transparent process of competitive bidding for power generation, and the allocation and pricing of legacy hydro power.

We must also achieve an integrated resource and resiliency planning among the generation, transmission, and distribution sectors; transition to a wholesale electricity market; distribution and commercial loss reduction; promotion of energy efficiency and demand-side management; and support for the expansion of renewable energy projects. Other pressing near-term action is to improve the creditworthiness of the Electricity Company of Ghana and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company, NEDCo, the nation’s off-takers and distributors of electric power.

I note with satisfaction the numerous ongoing endeavors between the Government of Ghana and the agencies of the United States Government, and I hope the compact we execute shortly will pave the way for greater engagement in even more areas with other U.S. state agencies.
I wish to take this opportunity to reiterate the full support and commitment of the Government of Ghana to the Partnership for Growth, the Joint Country Action Plan, Power Africa initiatives, and especially this new compact.

And so on behalf of the people of Ghana, I wish to express our immense gratitude to the Government of the United States of America and the people of America for partnering with Ghana through these laudable initiatives. I thank you, and God bless Ghana and God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

(The compact was signed.)

(Applause.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Well done.

COURT IMPOSES $35 MILLION IN SANCTIONS AGAINST DEFENDANTS FOR ROLES IN PRECIOUS METALS FRAUD SCHEME

FROM:  U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION 

Federal Court in Florida Imposes over $35 Million in Sanctions against Florida Company AmeriFirst Management LLC and its Principals, John P. D’Onofrio, George E. Sarafianos, and Scott D. Piccininni, for Fraudulent Precious Metals Scheme

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) obtained a federal court Supplemental Consent Order requiring Defendants John P. D’Onofrio of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, George E. Sarafianos of Lighthouse Point, Florida, Scott D. Piccininni of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and their Florida company AmeriFirst Management LLC jointly and severally to pay more than $25 million in restitution and a $10 million civil monetary penalty in connection with operating a fraudulent precious metals scheme (see CFTC Press Release and Complaint 6655-13, July 30, 2013).

The Supplemental Order was entered on July 24, 2014, by Judge William P. Dimitrouleas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Previously, on September 18, 2013, Judge Dimitrouleas entered a Consent Order of permanent injunction against the Defendants, finding them liable for illegal, off-exchange precious metals transactions and fraud, as charged in the CFTC’s Complaint. The Consent Order also imposes permanent trading and registration bans against the Defendants and requires them to pay restitution and a civil monetary penalty, as provided in a Supplemental Order.

According to the Consent Order, Defendants operated an illegal, off-exchange precious metals scheme and made numerous fraudulent misrepresentations, false reports, and statements in connection with the scheme.

Furthermore, the Consent Order, which incorporates the Complaint, finds that AmeriFirst was a purported precious metals clearing and financing firm for precious metals dealers and that AmeriFirst used a network of dealers to solicit retail customers to invest in financed, precious metals transactions.  Defendants created documents related to such transactions, such as trade confirmations and account statements, with misrepresentations designed to mislead customers, including (1) the customer bought, and the dealer sold, precious metals, (2) the dealer held the precious metals on behalf of the customer, and (3) the customer received, and the dealer made, a loan so that the customer could purchase precious metal on finance.  These representations were false, the Consent Order finds, as the dealer did not sell metal to the customer, did not store metal for the customer, and did not provide a loan to the customer.  Likewise, AmeriFirst did not sell metal to the customer; did not store metal for the customer; and did not provide a loan to the customer.

The Defendants’ scheme lasted from at least November 2011 through February 2013, when Defendants voluntarily closed the business in the wake of another Florida federal court’s entry of a preliminary injunction against Hunter Wise, another metals dealer that had been sued by the CFTC (see CFTC Press Release 6522-13, February 27, 2013).  In May 2014, the CFTC subsequently prevailed in a jury trial against Hunter Wise and obtained a judgment for more than $108 million in sanctions (see Press Release 6935-14, May 22, 2014).

The CFTC cautions victims that restitution orders may not result in the recovery of money lost because the wrongdoers may not have sufficient funds or assets. The CFTC will continue to fight vigorously for the protection of customers and to ensure the wrongdoers are held accountable.

CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are David Chu, Mary Elizabeth Spear, Ava Gould, Scott Williamson, Rosemary Hollinger, and Richard Wagner.

PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM-CONTINUATION OF U.S. DRUG INTERDICTION ASSISTANCE TO COLOMBIA

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Presidential Memorandum -- Continuation of U.S. Drug Interdiction Assistance to the Government of Colombia

August 7, 2014

Presidential Determination

No. 2014-12

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

                                       THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

SUBJECT: Continuation of U.S. Drug Interdiction Assistance to the Government of Colombia

By the authority vested in me as President by section 1012 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2291-4), I hereby certify, with respect to Colombia, that: (1) interdiction of aircraft reasonably suspected to be primarily engaged in illicit drug trafficking in that country's airspace is necessary, because of the extraordinary threat posed by illicit drug trafficking to the national security of that country; and (2) Colombia has  appropriate procedures in place to protect against innocent loss of life in the air and on the ground in connection with such interdiction, which shall at a minimum include effective means to identify and warn an aircraft before the use of force is directed against the aircraft.

The Secretary of State is authorized and directed to publish this determination in the Federal Register and to notify the Congress of this determination.

BARACK OBAMA

U.S CONGRATULATES PEOPLE OF SINGAPORE ON THEIR INDEPENDENCE DAY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Singapore National Day

Press Statement

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

August 7, 2014

---

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I would like to congratulate the people of Singapore as you celebrate the 49^th anniversary of your independence on August 9.

The United States values its close relationship with Singapore. We enjoy a warm friendship, strengthened by our cooperation in confronting shared concerns and advancing shared interests.

From free trade to regional stability, we are working together to promote peace, prosperity, and growth in one of the most dynamic regions of the world.

The United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement – which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year – is a shining example of the many partnerships we have with Singapore, all of which continue to reap benefits for both of our countries.

The United States looks forward to further strengthening those partnerships in the years ahead.
I send my warmest wishes and congratulations to all Singaporeans and wish you continued success and prosperity in the coming year.

SECRETARY KERRY'S STATEMENT AFTER VERDICT AGAINST TWO MEMBERS OF KHMER ROUGE

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Verdict from the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Press Statement

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

August 7, 2014

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More than 30 years after the Khmer Rouge slaughtered some 1.7 million people, Cambodians have received a small measure of justice and a reminder that justice may not be swift, but justice is resolute. Today’s verdict against two of the most senior surviving members of the Khmer Rouge is a milestone for the Cambodian people who have suffered some of the worst horrors of the 20th century.

Of all the work I was a part of as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 29 years, I’m especially proud to have traveled so many miles between Phnom Penh and Washington to work with Cambodians to create the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). This issue mattered deeply to me as someone who experienced American foreign policy in a personal way as a young man, serving in the region, and I wanted to be just as personally engaged in the work to find closure decades later.

The effort to try those most responsible for these horrific crimes was long overdue and absolutely vital.

I’ll never forget the inspiring story of the photojournalist Dith Pran, whose survival during those bloody years was a triumph of the human spirit. He once said, “The dead are crying out for justice.” And believe me: through the ECCC, the international community is working together to make sure that those cries are finally heard.

The United States will continue to support the efforts of the ECCC to secure justice and shed light on the darkest chapter of Cambodian history. Today’s verdict is a historic, if long delayed, step along the path for Cambodia. We must now help Cambodia’s people see the job through as they usher in a new era of justice, accountability, and reconciliation.

ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF GEN. ODIERNO ISSUES STATEMENT ON INSIDER ATTACK

REMARKS BY SECRETARY KERRY AND BURUNDI PRESIDENT PIERRE NKURUNZIZA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks With Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza Before Their Meeting

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

August 4, 2014

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SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody. It’s my great pleasure to welcome President Nkurunziza of Burundi, and I’m delighted to be able to have a chance to share some thoughts with him today.

We – the United States engages with our Burundi partners on a number of different fronts. First, we are working with them to augment their capacity with respect to law enforcement, the judiciary and military, to develop the institutions and the procedures that will protect citizens and establish a foundation for long-term national and regional stability, and this is a key effort; working on the protection of human rights and countering politically motivated violence; and we’ve been working very hard with our friends in Burundi on that.

We’re also working with the Independent National Electoral Commission to improve the quality of voter education and to enhance the training of electoral officials, as well as develop an electoral dispute resolution procedure in order to build confidence among the citizens in the electoral process. It’s still up to Burundi to secure the notion that elections are going to be free and fair and transparent and peaceful, but the U.S. intends to help where we can.

Finally, the United States provided more than 53 million in Fiscal Year 2013 funding for Burundi primarily to support health-related programs, including those directed at combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, malnutrition, and to provide increased maternal and child health and voluntary family planning efforts.

We also engaged with Burundi on a broader set of issues like conflict mitigation with youth, with very vulnerable youth; the Burundi deployment of peacekeeping missions, which we’re grateful for; and also improved productivity and profitability of the agriculture cycle. So we have a lot going on. There’s a lot of good work, and I look forward to talking with the President about those ways in which we can enhance this partnership. Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT NKURUNZIZA: (Via interpreter.) First of all, I would like to thank the United States of America for having hosted me and my delegation today. At the same time, I would like to use this opportunity to thank you for all of the support that the United States is providing us in Burundi to support us. And we are a post-conflict country which has had many difficulties in the past, but today we are happy the fact that we are back in peace and we have defense and security agreements. And we are helping other countries that are in difficulty, such as Somalia, Central Africa, or Cote d’Ivoire, but also South Sudan. And very soon, we will also be deployed in South Sudan. That proves that we are at peace, so everything that we receive from the United States, it’s a way of supporting us to move forward. And so I’m very happy that today we are being hosted by the Secretary of State to have an exchange together and to show how the United States and Burundi continue to work together to deal with all of the programs that we work on together. And we would like to thank you for the support that you’re providing Burundi for development and the stability of our country. Thank you very much.

U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CONTRACTS FOR AUGUST 6, 2014

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

CONTRACTS

AIR FORCE

Lockheed Martin Corp., Marietta, Georgia, has been awarded a $116,717,704 firm-fixed-price modification (P00001) to FA8625-14-C-6450 for advance procurement funding for long lead parts for production aircraft associated with 14 fiscal 2015 C-130J aircraft. Work will be performed at Marietta, Georgia, and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2015. Fiscal 2014 advance procurement funds in the amount of $116,717,704 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center/WLNNC, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.

ARMY

Kiewit-Pittman JV, Metairie, Louisiana, was awarded a $65,794,195 firm-fixed-price contract for dredging a new bypass channel; constructing a new flood gate and supporting structures with associated mechanical and electrical systems; and the demolition of existing systems for the Bank Back Levee, Empire Floodgate, in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. Work will be performed in Empire, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of July 27, 2017. Bids were solicited via the Internet with six received. Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $65,794,195 are being obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-14-C-0038).

NAVY

Geomorph Information Systems, LLC,* San Diego, California (N62473-14-D-1422); Gulf South Research Corporation,* Baton Rouge, Louisiana (N62473-14-D-1423); Hercules Joint Venture,* National City, California (N62473-14-D-1424); and Vernadero Group Inc.,* Phoenix, Arizona (N62473-14-D-1425), are each being awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contract for natural resources related services at various Navy and Marine Corps installations within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest area of responsibility (AOR) and in the states of Oregon and Washington. The maximum dollar value, including the base period and four option years for all four contracts combined, is $50,000,000. Natural resources related services include research, botanical, ornithological, mammal, amphibian, reptile and vertebrate surveys, wetland delineations, biological monitoring, natural resources plans, native plant community planning and restoration, wild land erosion control plans, fire management plans, analysis of the effects of military training or similar extensive land uses on natural resources at species, community, and landscape scale, geographic information system, research on natural resource related topics, and preparation of interpretive materials on natural resources. No task orders are being issued at this time. All work on this contract will be performed within the NAVFAC Southwest AOR which includes California (94 percent); Arizona (1 percent); Colorado (1 percent); Nevada (1 percent); New Mexico (1 percent); Oregon (1 percent); and Washington (1 percent). The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of August 2019. Fiscal 2014 operation and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $20,000 are being obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website with 11 proposals received. These four contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity.

Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, is being awarded a $21,235,744 modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-11-D-0004) to provide AIM-9X Sidewinder mission support and sustainment activities for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and the governments of Singapore, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Turkey, South Korea, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, and Poland. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed in August 2015. Funds are not being obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Air Force ($8,511,899; 40.08 percent); U.S. Navy ($8,501,000; 40.03 percent); and the governments of Singapore ($469,205; 2.21 percent); Australia ($469,205; 2.21 percent); Denmark ($469,205; 2.21 percent); Finland ($469,205; 2.21 percent); Turkey ($469,205; 2.21 percent); South Korea ($469,205; 2.21 percent); Switzerland ($469,205; 2.21 percent); Saudi Arabia ($469,205; 2.21 percent); and Poland ($469,205; 2.21 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales Program. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

PAE Applied Technologies, LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded an $8,728,547 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to procure support services for air vehicle modification and instrumentation efforts, to include design, engineering, acquisition, integration, installation, operational support and in-service engineering. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in March 2015. Fiscal 2014 Navy working capital funds in the amount of $1,560,000 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-14-C-0045).

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

Draeger Medical, Inc., Telford, Pennsylvania, has been awarded a maximum $60,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for patient monitoring systems, subsystems and components. This contract was a competitive acquisition with eight offers received. This is a one-year base contract with nine one-year option periods. Location of performance is Pennsylvania with an Aug. 5, 2015 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2D1-14-D-0004).

Sopakco Packaging,* Mullins, South Carolina, has been awarded a maximum $23,874,720 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for tailored operational training meals. A competitive contract with three offers received, this is a five-year base contract with no option periods. Location of performance is South Carolina with an Aug. 6, 2019, performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE3S1-14-D-Z012).

The Wornick Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, has been awarded a maximum $12,919,200 fixed-price with economic price adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for tailored operational training meals. A competitive contract with three offers received, this is a five-year base contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Ohio with an Aug. 6, 2019, performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE3S1-14-D-Z011).

Valley Apparel,* Knoxville, Tennessee, has been awarded a maximum $7,549,725 firm-fixed-price contract for various men’s cold weather and summer flyers’ jackets. This is a competitive contract with three offers received. This is a one-year base contract with three one-year option periods. Location of performance is Tennessee with an Aug. 6, 2015, performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2015 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-14-D-1067).

U.S. TRANSPORTATION COMMAND

MCR Federal, LLC, McLean, Virginia, was awarded a $15,481,427 indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for comprehensive financial support services. This contract provides for financial management and analysis, program cost analysis, operational cost analysis, billing rate development, billing and revenue, resource advisor (budget), command initiatives and business processes, financial systems analyst familiar with configuration and implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems, Financial Improvement Audit Readiness, quality assurance/internal controls, accounting analysis, and analytical expertise using data analysis tools for data marts and cubes to analyze financial and logistics information. Work will be performed at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, with an expected completion date of July 31, 2015. Fiscal 2014 transportation working capital funds in the amount of $1,910,591 are being obligated at time of award; the remainder will be obligated on individual task orders. This contract was a competitive acquisition and four offers were received. The U.S. Transportation Command Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity (HTC711-14-D-D004).

*Small business

ASSOCIATE AG WEST DELIVERS REMARKS AT PROGRESSIVE NATIONAL BAPTIST CONVENTION

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Associate Attorney General Tony West Delivers Remarks at the Progressive National Baptist Convention

Fort Lauderdale, Florida ~ Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Dr. [Carroll] Baltimore, for that kind introduction.  I salute you for your leadership of this convention and I congratulate you on this successful convening.

I have to say, I feel very much at home here, being the great-grandson of two South Florida Baptist preachers – although clearly, the program organizers were unaware of my Baptist pedigree as they only allotted me 10 minutes to speak.

It is such an honor to address this convention.  I was thinking on the way down here about the living history that this convention represents: About the fact that this was the denominational home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; about how we cannot talk about the Civil Rights Movement and not in the same breath speak of this organization, and about the leadership of Dr. Taylor, Rev. Booth, Rev. Chambers and so many others.

And I thought about how much I owe to this convention, as an African-American man: too young to remember first-hand the Civil Rights Movement’s most dramatic, seminal moments; yet too old not to feel the weight of responsibility for preserving, protecting, defending and promoting the movement's legacy in the public service I am now privileged to perform.

We’re in a time when we're celebrating a number of significant anniversaries – milestones that make all the more salient the historic centrality of this great, Progressive National Baptist Convention:

Fifty years since they came by the hundreds of thousands to gather peacefully on the Washington Mall, marching for jobs and freedom;

Since college students, black and white, boarded buses in the North and rode them deep into the South, riding with the certainty of danger but the faith of Paul;

Since the ’64 Civil Rights Act and Mississippi’s “Freedom Summer.”

And as we think about the those anniversaries, we have reason to rejoice in the great progress forged by ordinary men and women in shattering boundaries once thought unbreakable – enormous change wrought in the short space of five decades.

And yet, I am struck by the fact that at the heart of what Dr. King, his contemporaries and this convention were grappling with back then remain, fundamentally, the same challenges facing us today:

How do we build a society that allows all people the freedom to realize fully their own potential?

How do we ensure that, in Dr. King’s words, “[l]aw and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice” and not as “dams that block the flow of social progress?”

How do we make certain that this bold experiment in self-government is inclusive, responsive and maintains its legitimacy in the eyes of those it serves?

The opening lines of our story as one nation begin with a promise:  a promise that we are all created equal.  And nowhere is this promise manifest more tangibly than in the right to vote.

That sacred franchise – the right to choose who will speak and act in our names; the right to express sovereignty over our government; a right that is, to paraphrase Lincoln, the foundation on which the temple of liberty is built because it protects all other rights – that right, more than any other, is what defines us as joint and equal members of this unique, democratic idea called the United States of America.

And next year, we’ll mark 50 years since the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.  You know, after President Lyndon signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, there were those – many of them his close allies – who told him to wait, to slow down; that it was too soon to start work on another major piece of civil rights legislation.

But President Johnson knew that 100 years after the franchise had been promised to African-Americans – a commitment forged by Civil War and consummated by constitutional amendment – Johnson knew that the time for waiting had run out.

Instead of waiting, Johnson acted, saying, “About this there can and should be no argument.  Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote.”

So it is a sad irony that five decades later, we find ourselves working overtime to hold onto to that promise.  It is ironic that 50 years later, we are battling efforts that make it harder, not easier, for people to cast their votes.  It is ironic that in 2014, we must litigate against laws that impede voter registration that curtail democratic participation; or impose restrictive voter ID requirements that we know have a disproportionate effect on poor people and people of color, making it harder for them to exercise the franchise.

Now, I don’t want there to be any confusion about this so let me be clear: where there’s evidence of voter fraud, we won’t tolerate it.  Voter fraud undermines our democracy.  Nobody believes we should accept that.

But public policy studies from across the political spectrum come to the same conclusion that in-person voter fraud is extremely rare.  Too often, the fervor surrounding voter ID laws seems more like a solution in search of a problem.  And so we need to be mindful that “the real voter fraud,” as the president says, “is people who try to deny our rights by making bogus arguments about voter fraud.”

The right to vote faces other challenges, as well.  Repeatedly, a bipartisan Congress of the United States reauthorized Sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act – most recently in 2006 with unanimous support in the Senate and near-unanimous support in the House.  And repeatedly, Republican and Democratic Administrations used these provisions to secure the franchise for all American citizens.

Yet notwithstanding this bipartisan history, last year we lost an important tool in our anti-discrimination toolbox when the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a key part of the Voting Rights Act.

So, on the eve of the 50 th anniversary of the ’65 Voting Rights Act – in the middle of a season where we remember Mississippi’s “Freedom Summer” – we know that our work is far from done.  We know that the perennial lesson of history is that the triumphs won by Dr. King, by Fannie Lou Hamer, by the Progressive National Baptist Convention and by so many others – those triumphs must be won anew in this generation, because the hard reality is that the right to vote faces threats today as stark and serious and urgent as any it faced 50 years ago.

And that is why we must continue to act.  That is why protecting the fundamental right to vote for all Americans remains one of the Justice Department’s highest priorities.  Because standing by as the voices of some Americans are shut out of the democratic process is simply not an option.

So at the Department of Justice, we are continuing to monitor jurisdictions around the country, and we're watching for changes in their voting laws that may hamper voting rights.

Our message is unequivocal: we will use every legal tool that remains available to us, against any jurisdiction that seeks to hinder eligible citizens’ full and free right to vote.

When we see something that causes us concern, we won't hesitate to make it plain.  In Texas, we have gone to court to challenge a voter ID law and a congressional redistricting map that we contend discriminate against Latino voters.  In North Carolina, we have sued the state over discriminatory voting laws that restrict access to the polling place and make it harder for voters to case their ballots.

Last week, we submitted filings in voting rights cases in two different states: Wisconsin and Ohio.  In Wisconsin, we're contending that the federal judge there got it right when she struck down Wisconsin’s strict photo voter ID requirement due to its adverse effects on minority voters under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

In Ohio, in a case challenging that state’s law curtailing early voting and same-day registration, we filed a statement in support of the NAACP's position, arguing that Ohio has misinterpreted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in defending its law.

And while we will continue to use all the legal authority we have to protect vigorously the right to vote, the fact is there is no substitute – as the president has made clear – for strong congressional action which guarantees that every American has equal access to the polls.  That is why the Justice Department is providing assistance to Congress to formulate potential legislative proposals to address voting rights discrimination.

And, importantly, this work is bipartisan, because the fundamental right to vote must be above party or partisanship – too much hard work has been done, too much blood has been shed, too many lives lost and voices silenced for this to be simply about partisan politics.

No, this is about something much deeper, much more important.  We know what this is about.  It’s about who we are as a nation – who we are as a free and fair democratic society.

Because if a government of, by and for the people means anything at all, it means that a ballot has the power to give equal voice to the high and the low; the weak and the strong; those at the bottom as well as the top.  It means that in the polling place, the line is just as long for the richest among us as it is for those who often work the hardest but have the least.

And just as in 1965, those of us in the federal government – we cannot win this battle alone.  We will need your help.  We will need your hands.  We will need your voices to help us walk and not grow faint; to push us on and not get discouraged; to lift us up and carry us forward.  We will need your leadership to help us pull our nation out of its acquiescence and, in the proud tradition of this great convention, push it into action once again.

Thank you and God bless you.

SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS AT AFRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY ACT (AGOA) MINISTERIAL

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks at the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Ministerial

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

World Bank

Washington, DC

August 4, 2014

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Well, President Kim, Jim, thank you very, very much for your welcome. Welcome to all of you here, and I appreciate your – the substance of your comments. And I also appreciate your generous comments regarding my privilege of being here as Secretary. (Laughter.)
This is a very exciting week for us here in Washington, and we are really thrilled to welcome everybody here on this particular discussion and many others that are going to take place. And I need to beg your indulgence at the beginning of my comments. I have to speak and run, so to speak, because I have a series – we have so many presidents in the city over the next few days, that I am beginning a marathon of bilat meetings this morning, as well as trying to fit in the number of events that we have. I know you will understand that.

I thank Jim Kim for his tremendous leadership of the bank and for hosting us here today. I want you all to know that one of the things I admire most about Dr. Kim is that wherever he has been in his life, whatever leadership role he has served in, this is a man who’s been willing to challenge the status quo. And that was true when he found innovative ways to deliver healthcare in the Partners in Health. It was true when he applied himself to finding new ways to provide care for HIV and AIDS at the World Health Organization, and when I was in the Senate I did some work with him on that. And then it was true when he balanced the budget and led Dartmouth College through its critical period of transition. So we welcome his leadership here.
What I think many of you may not know is that when he was in high school, he was a quarterback. And those of you who know American football have to just imagine what it was like for this young guy about 10 years after he arrived in America. He was facing down big, Midwestern linebackers – (laughter) – and there’s no better preparation for today’s world and life than that.

A few decades later, he was working – revolutionizing, really, how HIV and AIDS was going to be dealt with. And I was in the Senate, and we were working then to try to find a way to create stronger trade links with Africa, particularly with sub-Sahara Africa.

And for several years, with the help of somebody you all know well, I think – Jim McDermott, a former Foreign Service officer and member of Congress at the time – we discussed creative ideas about how to break down the barriers to trade while at the same time lifting up the standards for governance and for transparency. And the result of those early efforts was, in fact, the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act that President Clinton signed into law in the last months of his presidency.

So for 14 years now – as Michael Froman said, this is the 13th meeting annually – but for 14 years, AGOA has been one of the primary tools to push forward greater trade and investment in Africa. And guess what? It is working. We’ve seen imports from AGOA nations grow by 300 percent. Whether it’s cocoa and cashews from Ghana or textiles from Mauritius or petrochemical products from Angola, AGOA has served as a catalyst for greater trade and prosperity, and it’s helped to promote greater protections for the African workforce.
And yes, we do have some of our own interests on the line here too, and I say it upfront. For instance, AGOA has made it possible for Ford Motor Company to export engines duty-free from South Africa, where Ford has invested over $300 million so they can supply engines worldwide. And the efficiencies of that operation have allowed Ford to create 800 new jobs at their Kansas City plant as part of the global production line. This is how it works, and this is what Africa’s witnessing now with I think something like 10 of the 15 fastest-growing countries in the world in Africa.

From day one in the White House, President Obama’s number-one priority has been creating strong middle class jobs here at home, but the President has always understood that the best way to do that is to strengthen our international economic ties and foster broad growth globally. Everybody here understands how interconnected we all are. Our populations are increasingly, all of them, walking around – in some countries more than others – with mobile devices. Everybody is connected to everybody every moment of the day, and that is changing the way people think. It’s changing their sense of possibilities. It’s changing aspirations and it’s changing realities of politics on the ground.

As President Obama has said, “Africa is a new center of global growth.” Since 2000, banking assets have more than doubled. The telecommunications market has doubled since 2004 alone. And we know that Africa will have a larger workforce than India or China by 2040. So it’s time simply to get ahead of the curve, to invest in education above all for the vast numbers of young people, and the increasing numbers of people who because of today’s interconnectedness are demanding their part of the future. That is much of what has been happening in places where we’ve seen tremendous upheaval of recent days, whether it’s been Tunisia or Egypt or Syria, elsewhere. It’s young people who motivated and energized those initiatives initially because of their sense of desire, frustration for the possibilities of the future.
So it’s time to build a more open exchange of ideas and information. That’s part of the reason President Obama thought of doing the summit that he’s having this week here in Washington. It’s to lead to greater partnership, to build our capacity for innovation, and AGOA is one of the best tools – most vital tools for pushing forward the dramatic transformation that we’re seeing today in parts of Africa.

So this is clearly a moment of opportunity for all Africans. It’s also, I say to you frankly, a moment of decision. Because it’s the decisions that are made or the decisions that are deferred that will ultimately determine whether Africa mines the continent’s greatest natural resource of all, and that is not platinum, it's not gold, it's not oil; it’s the talent and capacity and aspirations of its people.

The entire Obama Administration wants to unleash the potential, both for the benefit of the people of Africa, and to create greater prosperity for the world. President Obama is committed to that transformation, and with a seamless renewal of AGOA, the question is: Will we continue to create shared prosperity and a better future for both the people of the United States and the people of Africa and all of the others who benefit as a consequence? That is really the bottom line of what we are working to achieve today, and what we will work towards in anticipation of next year’s AGOA Forum in Gabon, the first ever in Central Africa, is to achieve this goal.
So I say unabashedly: We want and we will work hard to get more American companies to invest in Africa. We also want more African companies to invest here in the United States, and there’s no reason that they shouldn’t. The fact is, today, Africa is increasingly a destination for American investment and tourism, and African institutions are increasingly leading efforts to solve African problems. All of this underscores that dramatic transformation is possible, and it’s possible in the next few years. Prosperity can actually replace poverty, and cooperation can actually triumph over conflict.

So we know that our cooperation, all of us, is essential in order to promote economic growth that is shared by all Africans. I will say to you fighting corruption is a definitive, critical part of that process. To do so will take courage, and yes, it sometimes means assuming risks. But fighting corruption lifts more than a country's balance sheet. Transparency and accountability attract greater investment. Transparency and accountability create a more competitive marketplace, one where ideas and products are judged by the market and by their merits, and not by a backroom deal or a bribe. The market always works better with transparency, with the sunshine of accountability. That is an environment where innovators and entrepreneurs can flourish, and I guarantee you it is an environment where capital makes a decision to move according to its sense of security and its sense of risk.

So ladies and gentlemen, Africa can be the marketplace of the future. Africa has the resources. Africa has the capacity. Africa has the know-how. The questions Africa faces are similar to those confronting countries all over the world: Is there the political will, the sense of common purpose to address challenges? Are we all prepared together to make the hard choices that those challenges require?

We firmly believe – and I think you will sense, those of you who are here for all of the next three days, at the end of this summit, the end of these meetings, I believe you will have a clear sense of the fullness of the commitment of President Obama and the Obama Administration and the United States to the notion that Africa is a natural partner of the United States and vice versa. And we believe that the United States can be a vital catalyst in Africa’s continued transformation.

It’s exciting, the possibilities are endless, and we really look forward to working with you to fulfill the full measure of possibilities. So now I’d like to introduce a – reintroduce the person who opened this. He doesn’t need another introduction, but he’s been working on these things, the ties between the United States and Africa, for a long time within the Treasury Department, at the National Security Council, at Citibank, and he now serves as President Obama’s principal advisor on international trade, Ambassador Michael Froman.

SCIENTISTS STUDY CHANGES IN MERCURY LEVELS IN OCEANS

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Mercury in the world's oceans: On the rise

New results show three times as much in upper oceans since Industrial Revolution times

Little was known about how much mercury in the environment was the result of human activities, or how much "bioavailable" mercury was in the world's oceans. Until now.

The first direct calculation of mercury pollution in the world's oceans, based on data from 12 oceanographic sampling cruises during the last eight years, is reported in this week's issue of the journal Nature.

The scientists involved are affiliated with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts, Wright State University in Ohio, the Observatoire Midi-Pyréneés in France and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research in the Netherlands.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the European Research Council. It was led by WHOI marine chemist Carl Lamborg. The results offer a look at the global distribution of mercury in the marine environment.

"Mercury is an environmental poison that's detectable wherever we look for it, including the ocean abyss," says Don Rice, director of the NSF's Chemical Oceanography Program.

"These scientists have reminded us that the problem is far from abatement, especially in regions of the world's oceans where the human fingerprint is most distinct."

Mercury is a naturally occurring element as well as a by-product of such human activities as burning coal and making cement.

"If we want to regulate mercury emissions into the environment and in the food we eat, we should first know how much is there and how much human activity is adding every year," says Lamborg.

"At the moment, however, there is no way to look at a water sample and tell the difference between mercury that came from pollution and mercury that came from natural sources. Now we at least have a way to separate the bulk contributions of natural and human sources over time."

The group started by looking at data that reveal details about ocean levels of phosphate, a substance that is better studied in the oceans than mercury and that behaves in much the same way as mercury.

Phosphate is a nutrient that, like mercury, is taken up into the marine food web by binding with organic material.

By determining the ratio of phosphate-to-mercury in water deeper than 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) that has not been in contact with Earth's atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, the researchers were able to estimate mercury in the oceans that originated from natural sources such as the breakdown, or weathering, of rocks on land.

Their findings agreed with what they would expect to see given the pattern of global ocean circulation.

North Atlantic waters, for example, showed the most obvious signs of mercury pollution because that's where surface waters sink to form deep and intermediate water flows.

The tropical and Northeast Pacific, on the other hand, were relatively unaffected; it takes centuries for deep ocean water to circulate to these regions.

Determining the contribution of mercury from human activity required another step.

To obtain estimates for shallower waters and to provide numbers for the amount of mercury in the oceans, the scientists needed a tracer--a substance that could be linked with major human activities that release mercury into the environment.

They found it in one of the most well-studied gases of the past 40 years: carbon dioxide. Databases containing information on carbon dioxide in ocean waters are extensive and readily available for every ocean at all depths.

Because much of the mercury and carbon dioxide from human sources comes from the same activities, the team was able to derive with an index relating the two.

The results show that the oceans contain about 60,000 to 80,000 tons of mercury pollution.

Ocean waters shallower than about 100 meters (300 feet) have tripled in mercury concentration since the Industrial Revolution. Mercury in the oceans as a whole has increased roughly 10 percent over pre-industrial times.

"The next 50 years could very well add the same amount we've seen in the past 150," says Lamborg.

"We don't know what that means for fish and marine mammals, but likely that some fish contain at least three times more mercury than 150 years ago. It could be more.

"The key is that now we have some solid numbers on which to base continued work."

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas, NSF