Hillary Clinton at the Opening of the AUSMIN Ministerial
Remarks at the Opening of the AUSMIN Ministerial
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
State Reception Center
Perth, Australia
November 14, 2012
Well,
thank you, Foreign Minister Carr and Defense Minister Smith for
welcoming us and our delegation for this AUSMIN meeting here in Perth.
We are delighted to have this opportunity once again in this setting to
exchange views on a broad range of issues.
Let me begin by
congratulating Australia on your election to the United Nations Security
Council. That achievement opens the door to even closer cooperation
between us and lends an additional dimension to our AUSMIN agenda.
We will be speaking, of course, about bilateral issues, but also on
matters where Australia’s voice has been important, but now Australia’s
membership on the Security Council will be essential, for example on
Iran, where the international community remains firm and united in our
efforts to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and on Syria,
where we need to stand together now to increase pressure on the Assad
regime and expand humanitarian assistance to people in need.
We
will, of course, be discussing the important work we do together in
Afghanistan. After great sacrifices, ISAF is on track to transition
responsibility for security to the Afghan Government in 2014 and bring
our combat mission to a close. But that will not mark the end of our
commitment to the people of Afghanistan, because we will be discussing
ways in the next months that the United States and Australia will have
to work closely together with international partners to support
Afghanistan’s continued progress so that it never again becomes a
staging ground for international terrorism.
Now, all of our
work together, whether it’s on the world stage or here in the Asia
Pacific or the Indo Pacific, is driven by the values and the vision we
share. You can see that in Prime Minister Gillard’s recent white paper.
And we recognize that stability and security increasingly depend on
balanced and vibrant economies. We’re also committed to working hand in
hand with Australia to build a more mature and effective multilateral
architecture for the region that can help settle disputes peacefully,
promote universal rights, spur greater trade and commerce within an
economic system that is open, free, transparent, and fair.
That
means finalizing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which will lower trade
barriers, raise labor and environmental standards, and drive growth
across the region. And it includes, of course, working closely together
at the upcoming East Asia Summit to advance a shared agenda.
Now,
there is much that we will be discussing that concerns the region and
the world, but certainly bilaterally we are very pleased at the close
cooperation between us. And I applaud the approval by your parliament of
the new U.S.-Australian Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty. We can now
move forward together implementing it and it will make it easier for our
militaries to work together and further boost the two-way commerce that
has soared since our Free Trade Agreement was signed seven years ago.
We also are eager to implement, in a continuing fashion, the agreements
reached by President Obama and Prime Minister Gillard last November,
which are helping the United States move to a more geographically
distributed, operationally resilient, and politically sustainable force
posture in the region.
So we have a very busy agenda, but that’s
what the AUSMIN Ministerial is all about. It’s why I think we started 27
years ago with then Minister now Ambassador Beazley in the lead, and
it’s why we value so greatly the partnership we have every day, but
especially at this annual gathering, where we can really take stock of
where we are and the way forward.
So again, thank you for having us here.
