More high compliments for our Hillary. She is so loved and respected.
Remarks With EU High Representative Lady Catherine Ashton at the U.S.-EU Energy Council Meeting
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
European External Affairs Section Headquarters
Brussels, Belgium
December 5, 2012
HIGH REPRESENTATIVE ASHTON: I
can safely say that you, Hillary, have been a special friend to the
European Union in your four years as Secretary of State. Not only do you
represent the best of diplomacy, but for me it’s been a great honor and
privilege to get to know you and have the chance to cooperate closely
with you. I wish you every possible success in whatever amazing thing
you do next.
We’re here today for the fourth meeting of the EU-US
Energy Council. Mr. Oettinger and I are very much looking forward to
taking stock of what has been a very productive year in the work of the
Council and to look ahead to setting priorities for the future. We see
this council as an extremely valuable forum that operates at the highest
level. It helps both the EU and I would say the U.S., to shape the
policy and to respond to the challenges we face in energy and in climate
change. We know that we need stable and transparent global energy
markets if we are to ensure energy security. But we also have to work
together on the long-term challenge of laying a foundation for efficient
and sustainable use of energy. In particular, we’ll start looking at
clean energy so that we can create economic growth and jobs and address
the challenge of climate change.
So for me, I’m looking forward to
a very productive afternoon. And as I began, it is a special pleasure
to welcome you to the EEAS.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you so
much. Well, it’s a great pleasure for me to be here with you, Cathy,
and to have a chance to see this building for the first time. I
congratulate you on this beautiful building, and I enjoyed seeing a lot
of the people who work here on behalf of the EU as we walked through the
first floor.
And I am especially pleased that we could schedule
this fourth meeting of the US-EU Energy Council, which is an example of
the closer cooperation and new partnerships that have flourished between
the United States and the EU over the past recent years. And that is a
real reflection of your leadership, and I am grateful for the close
collaboration that we’ve had on so many issues. Whether it’s this Energy
Council or our recent trip together to the Balkans, we have been
working so closely together, and I am grateful to you for everything
that you have been doing that we’ve been able to participate in and
support.
So I’m looking forward to our Energy Council meeting. As
you said, this is an initiative we began in November of 2009, and I
think it’s already demonstrated its worthiness. Our working groups have
identified a lot of areas for mutual cooperation, and today we’ll be
able to review the significant accomplishments and identify goals for
our cooperation going forward. So thank you again for all of your
leadership and in particular for hosting this meeting.
