SECRETARY CLINTON:
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the State Department and a
very warm welcome to my friend and colleague, the foreign minister of
Estonia. We have been able to work closely together during my tenure,
and I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Tallinn several times. And I’m
delighted to have you here so that we can continue the conversation that
we started several years ago. And we have just finished a very
comprehensive discussion.
Over the last 20 years, Estonia has grown from a newly independent
democracy to an important and respected voice in the international
community, and the friendship between our two countries has only grown
stronger. We look to Estonia as an important ally, a leader in promoting
stability across the Euro-Atlantic area, a partner we can count on from
the battle space in Afghanistan to cyber space. We share a wide range
of concerns that we stay in close touch with each other about.
First, we discussed our shared effort to bring peace and stability to
Afghanistan. This has been an important partnership. In addition to
providing military personnel, Estonia has given critical support for
civilian, humanitarian, and democratic programs, and we will continue to
work closely with Estonia as we move toward the Chicago summit. We are
both committed to a smooth security, economic, and development
transition. So Chicago will be the next stop in this ongoing effort.
Despite these challenging economic times, it’s more important than ever
that NATO allies and partners come to Chicago with concrete commitments
to support Afghan security forces beyond 2014.
Just as Estonia has been a strong NATO ally in Afghanistan, the
United States takes our responsibilities to NATO very seriously,
particularly our Article 5 obligation for collective defense. That’s why
we strongly support the extension of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing Mission
on a continuing basis with periodic reviews. A mission such as this
underscores the importance of what Secretary General Rasmussen calls
smart defense, sharing resources to maximize each partner’s
contributions.
I also expressed our support to Urmas about Estonia’s work in helping
countries build effective, free market, and democratic institutions.
Estonia has maintained a strong assistance and development program in
Eastern partnership countries, particularly Georgia, Ukraine, and
Moldova. And in addition, Estonia is increasingly active in the world of
e-government, electronic government. From Eastern Europe to Africa to
Haiti, governments look to Estonia for guidance on how technology can
make them more efficient and effective.
And on that note, I am pleased to announce that the United States and
Estonia have agreed to co-chair a new initiative in the Community of
Democracies that will use technology to help strengthen democratic
institutions. This program that we call LEND, L-E-N-D, the Network for
Leaders Engaged in New Democracies, is an online platform that will
connect leaders from emerging democracies with former presidents, prime
ministers, and others who have helped lead democratic transitions in
their own countries. We are particularly focused on working together in
Tunisia. When the network is activated later this year, it will help
accelerate the exchange of ideas among leaders who have the experience
to share, and we’re very excited to be co-chairing this initiative with
Estonia.
So again, Foreign Minister, thank you for the great work that you do
on behalf of your country, and thanks to Estonia for the great
partnership we have.
Foreign minister Paet: Well, thank you very much for the very
positive and nice comments. And I also would like to start with thanking
– thanking you personally, Hillary, and the United States for
friendship and support and cooperation we have done between U.S. and
Estonia. And of course, we will continue.
Also for us, when we speak about upcoming NATO summit, it is
absolutely important to get clear decisions how to move forward with
Afghanistan. Estonia’s clear position here is that what concerns
military commitment then, of course we, together with our allies, and
also going to make next possible steps together with our allies, and
what concerns development, humanitarian cooperation, then we’re also
ready to continue our activities and our support after 2014 together
with our partners and allies in Afghanistan.
It’s also important to get strong, positive message to countries
which want to get NATO membership in foreseeable future, countries like
Georgia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. And of course,
once more, to stress the strong security of transatlantic relations, but
also strong security of Europe, including Article 5, it is also from
our point of view absolutely important as one of the outcomes of Chicago
summit.
We’re also very grateful for United States for their support to air
police mission in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and also thank you for
practical participation with your people and aircrafts. It’s also clear
that step-by-step we should and we are ready to increase the host nation
support and to make also for our partners it more convenient and
positive to have concrete rotation periods in air policing in Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania.
Cyber defense for us also important area where we see good chances to
develop cooperation with the United States, but also with other NATO
countries. In Estonia we have center for cyber defense accredited by
NATO, and here we also see that this center can be – or can give more
added value also to NATO cyber security issues and developments already
in foreseeable future.
We are glad that also bilateral cooperation, what concerns
development cooperation, for example, in Belarus. It works, and we’re
looking forward to continue with bilateral development cooperation work
in Tunisia, for example, and also I’m glad that U.S. participates in our
center for eastern partnership in Estonia, supporting and sharing our
experience to civil servants from Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, but also
many other countries.
And with pleasure we join U.S. in organization called Leaders Engaged
in New Democracies, or LEND. We see that there are many countries,
including us, which are able and ready to share our experience to
countries which want to change and which also want to share the values
we are sharing.
So to sum up once more, thank you for friendship and cooperation and
always glad to be also here in Washington and in the States. Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you so much.
MS. NULAND: We’ll take three questions today. We’ll start with CNN, Elise Labott.
QUESTION: Thank you, Madam Secretary. On Syria, what hopes do
you have that President Assad will make good on his commitments to
implement the Kofi Annan plan? And looking ahead towards Istanbul on
Sunday, what do you expect to come out of this conference? And in
particular, what are you looking for for the opposition to strengthen
their message of how they see a post-Assad Syria? Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, Elise. As you just referenced,
the Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan and the Syrian National Council both
said this morning that it is an important initial step that the Assad
regime has written the United Nations to accept the Annan plan. Let me
just pause here to say, however, that given Assad’s history of
over-promising and under-delivering, that commitment must now be matched
by immediate actions. We will judge Assad’s sincerity and seriousness
by what he does, not by what he says. If he is ready to bring this dark
chapter in Syria’s history to a close, he can prove it by immediately
ordering regime forces to stop firing and begin withdrawing from
populated areas. He can also allow international aid workers unfettered
access to those in need, and he can release political prisoners, permit
peaceful political activity, allow the international news media
unobstructed access, and begin a legitimate political process that leads
to a democratic transition.
Now, as the regime takes steps, which we have yet to see, but
assuming it does so, then Kofi Annan has pledged to work with the
opposition to take steps of its own so that the bloodshed ends, that
there won’t be violence coming from opposition forces, that humanitarian
aid will be permitted to come into areas where the opposition has been
holding, that the true political dialogue will begin, and that all
Syrians will be welcomed to participate in an inclusive process. Now
that’s a lot to look forward to seeing implemented, but given the
response that we have had, we are going to be working very urgently
between now and Istanbul to translate into concrete steps what we expect
to see. And I’m hoping that by the time I get to Istanbul on Sunday we
will be in a position to acknowledge steps that the Assad regime and the
opposition have both taken. We’re certainly urging that those occur.
Specifically with respect to the opposition, they must come forward
with a unified position, a vision if you will, of the kind of Syria that
they are working to build. They must be able to clearly demonstrate a
commitment to including all Syrians and protecting the rights of all
Syrians. And we are going to be pushing them very hard to present such a
vision at Istanbul. So we have a lot of work to do between now and
Sunday.
MS. NULAND: Next question, Neeme Raud, Estonian Public Broadcasting.
QUESTION: Madam Secretary, thank you very much. My question is
about our big neighbor, Russia. Today in the news, we hear news about
conversation Mr. President had with Russian President Medvedev. Russia
has accused you last year, Mr. Putin personally, intruding into their
internal affairs. U.S. Ambassador McFaul was not received very warmly in
Russia. At UN, when the talk is about Syria, there is a talk about new
Cold War even with Russia. What is the U.S.-Russian relationship at this
moment of transition in Russia? Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I think that we believe that it is a
complex relationship. We’ve seen some positive, concrete accomplishments
coming from the so-called reset. We are also engaged in a substantive
bilateral dialogue that is quite comprehensive with many levels of the
Russian Government and society. So we are committed to engagement with
Russia.
Regarding the President’s comments in Seoul, he spoke to those
himself and made clear that the issues we are dealing with concerning
Russia are difficult and complex ones. Technical discussions have been
ongoing with Russia over missile defense. That’s not a surprise to
anyone. We have been consistent, both bilaterally and through NATO, in
our invitation to the Russians to participate with us in missile
defense. But this is going to take time. And whether or not there can be
a breakthrough sometime in the future is yet to be determined, but we
certainly look at this as a long-term engagement.
When we negotiated the New START Treaty, we were engaging at the same
time in consultations with Congress, of course with all elements of the
United States Government, including the Defense Department, with our
allies in NATO and elsewhere, because you can’t do something as serious
as New START or missile defense without full buy-in from our government,
bipartisan support in the Congress, and understanding and acceptance by
our allies, particularly in NATO. So we will continue this effort. We
may be somewhat surprising in our persistence and our perseverance in
our engagement with Russia. It will continue with President-elect Putin,
as it has with President Medvedev.
But let me hasten to say in the meantime we continue with the
deployment of the Phased Adaptive Approach to missile defense that was
agreed to at the Lisbon summit. We expect to announce further progress
at the Chicago summit. And as the President made clear to President
Medvedev in Seoul, we do not see this missile defense system as a threat
to Russia; we do not see it as undermining Russia’s nuclear deterrent.
The interceptors are for defensive uses only. They have no offense
capability. They carry no explosive warheads, but they are part of our
Article 5 collective defense obligation. That is a clear, unmistakable
message that we have sent to our allies and that we continue to
reiterate.
So yes, we want to cooperate with Russia on missile defense. We think
it is in everyone’s interest to do so. But we will continue the work we
are doing with NATO and we will be looking to complete that process in
the years ahead.
MS. NULAND: Last question, Andy Quinn, Reuters.
QUESTION: Madam Secretary, if I could turn to Sudan, please.
You’ve seen the statement out of the White House today urging restraint,
but I was hoping I could get your analysis of what’s really going on
there, and specifically how dangerous you feel it is. Are we on the
brink of a new civil war? And what is the United States doing now to
prevent a possible humanitarian catastrophe in Southern Kordofan? Thank
you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Andy, this is deeply distressing to
us, because it was certainly our hope and expectation that with the
independence of South Sudan, the newest nation in the world, there would
be the opportunity to continue fulfilling the requirements of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement that included resolving border disputes,
allocations of oil revenues and other contested matters between Sudan
and South Sudan.
As you know, there has been almost continuing low-level violence in
Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, and it is our goal to end the violence
and to convince the parties to return to the negotiating table. We
believed we were making progress on two contested matters. In fact,
there was a summit between President Bashir and President Kiir scheduled
for next week to finalize understandings on borders and national
citizenship. We want to see that summit held. And we want to see both
sides work together to end the violence. We think that the weight of
responsibility rests with Khartoum, because the use of heavy weaponry,
bombing runs by planes and the like are certainly evidence of
disproportionate force on the part of the government in Khartoum.
At the same time, we want to see South Sudan and their allies or
their partners across into Sudan similarly participate in ending the
violence and working to resolve the outstanding issues. It is becoming a
very serious humanitarian crisis. We have been reaching out to the
government in Khartoum through international aid organizations. We stand
ready on behalf of the United States to provide assistance to people
fleeing the violence. It is compounded by the fact that the violence is
making it possible for people to get into their fields, and there’s
already adverse conditions because of drought that are compounded by the
unfortunate violence.
So the bottom line is that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that the
United States, Norway, and the United Kingdom helped to broker in 2005
ended a conflict that had cost more than 5 million lives. We have seen
the ongoing violence and displacement in Darfur, and now we are looking
at an upsurge in violence in two other parts of Sudan. So it is
incumbent upon the leaders of both countries to resume negotiations, and
the United States stands ready to assist in working out the contested
issues.
The final thing I would say – because I’ve been following this
closely and it’s been a painful problem to see the deterioration into
conflict again – there is a win-win outcome here. South Sudan has oil.
Sudan has the infrastructure and the transportation networks to get the
oil to market. Because of the feeling on the part of the South Sudan
Government that they were being treated unfairly by Sudan, they shut
down their oil wells and the pipelines. So the economic condition in
both countries is deteriorating. So I would call upon the leaders to
look for a way to resolve these very hard feelings. You don’t make peace
with your friends. There are decades of grievances that have to be
overcome in order to work through these very challenging issues. But it
is incumbent upon the leaders of both countries to attempt to do so.
Thank you.
MS. NULAND: Thank you very much.
FOREIGN MINISTER PAET: Thank you very much. Welcome to Estonia.
