Let me say it one more time.
I love this woman!
Meeting With Consulate Staff and Families
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
U.S. Consulate
Vladivostok, Russia
September 9, 2012
SECRETARY CLINTON: Hi, everybody. (Applause.)
PARTICIPANT: Madam Secretary, I give you your Vlad consulate team.
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Oh, excellent. Wow. Great to see all of you. I thank you for coming by
this afternoon on Sunday to – come around this way. (Laughter.) I can
see more of you without having my eyes go that way. (Laughter.) I want
to thank the consul general. Thank you, Sylvia, for your leadership and
your work here. (Applause.) I want to thank our ambassador, Ambassador
McFaul. Thank you for all your hard work.
Somebody told me
that I am the first Secretary of State to ever come here while I was
Secretary of State. Is that true? You think so? (Laughter.) Excellent.
(Applause.) Well, that gives me a chance to say thank you.
Thank you to Americans and Russians alike. Because although this may be a
small consulate, your responsibilities are large, and I think they’re
going to get larger, because I think there are tremendous opportunities
here in Vladivostok and in the Russian Far East. There’s a lot of good
work to be done on the economic front working with businesses, American
and Russian alike. The Exxon Mobil project is one example of that, but I
think there are many others, and I believe that we have already
demonstrated the benefits of having all of you here.
You serve people in some of the most far-flung places on the earth. I
know it’s not always easy, but just in the past few months, you’ve done
everything from helping a tiger conservation expert retain his Russian
residency to facilitating tens of billions of dollars in investment for
multinational companies. And then, of course, you did so much
work and preparation for the APEC Summit. And thank you, thank you,
thank you for all you did. You have literally – some of you have been
working for years. You’ve overcome all the obstacles. When you needed
computers, you flew them in from Moscow. When you needed coffee, you
enlisted the coffeemaker from the consul general’s residence. You really
were innovative and creative, all good hallmarks of getting the job
done.
And I know, too, that sometimes you can see – you
can feel like you’re very far away, particularly the Americans who are
here. But I think you’ve demonstrated – and Sylvia certainly has told me
– that this is a very interesting place to live, lots of good
culture and art and this new university that I hope is going to be a
great success. It certainly has wonderful facilities, and I’m excited
because I think you’re going to be in the center of a lot of action
between now and the years to come.
I want to thank
particularly the local staff, all of our Russian staff. Some of you have
been with this consulate since it opened 20 years ago. You’ve been
through the ups and the downs and all of the changes. And I am so
grateful to you, because really, we could not do this work without you
. Consul generals and ambassadors and even secretaries come and go, but
you guys, you’re the nerve center, you’re the memory bank, you’re the
ones who are the ones who keep the continuity of this work going.
I
am sure sometimes it may not be the most popular thing to be working at
the American consulate, but I am very grateful to you because this
relationship is worth it. It is so important. I am one of those
who believe that despite our differences, which are real – different
cultures, different experiences, different histories; I know all of that
– that as we move forward in the future, our young people are going to
have so much in common. And that’s what I want us to foster, that kind
of future for bright, creative, hard-working, young Russians and
Americans.
So I really wanted to come to say thank you. I
mean, I could have just left the island and gone to the airport, but I
knew who did the work, and I wanted you to know that we’re very
appreciative and how much we value the relationship between the
United States and Russia. I think it’s one of the most exciting times
to serve in Russia, and I really just wish the very best for the
Russian people who have been so resilient, so courageous, gone through
so much, and deserve such a bright future with all that God has to
offer. So bless you all. Let me shake your hands and thank you
personally. Thank you so much. (Applause.)
