Hillary Clinton's Bilaterals Today

Remarks With Latvian Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins Before Their Meeting

Remarks

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

July 14, 2009

---

SECRETARY CLINTON: Hello. I’m very pleased to welcome the foreign minister from Latvia. I’m very grateful for the extraordinary support and assistance that Latvia has provided on many issues that are of importance to us mutually, and I’m delighted to receive him for the purpose of going in depth into a range of issues that are concerns to us. We are partners in NATO; we are partners in so many of the security issues. We know that Latvia is facing a very challenging economic time and we look forward to discussing ways that we can work more closely together.
FOREIGN MINISTER REIKSTINS: Thank you very much, Madame Secretary. It’s good to be back here in Washington. Thank you for inviting me for these political consultations. I think it would be fair to say that our bilateral relations have enjoyed an excellent atmosphere since August ’91, when we regained independence. And definitely, we are willing to continue this cooperation in the same spirit.
As we speak, today, our soldiers are working very hard, shoulder to shoulder, in Afghanistan and other international peacekeeping operations and missions, and we are committed to be a good ally, together working within the NATO alliance and other international organizations, and I’m looking forward to our discussions today.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, sir.
FOREIGN MINISTER REIKSTINS: Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you all very much.

Remarks With Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen Before Their Meeting

Remarks

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

July 14, 2009

---

SECRETARY CLINTON: Good afternoon. Today, I am privileged once again to host the foreign minister of the Netherlands. We had an excellent meeting with the prime minister and the President in the Oval Office today. The Dutch and the Dutch Government are among our greatest friends and allies on so many important matters. And we had a very broad-ranging discussion on a number of critical issues this morning, which we will get into even more depth on again this afternoon. So I welcome Maxime back to the State Department.
FOREIGN MINISTER VERHAGEN: Thank you very much indeed, Hillary. I would like to thank Madame Secretary for her warm hospitality. Indeed, we had very good discussions this morning, the President and my prime minister. And we will continue to discuss on these issues.
We share a lot of values and we have a lot in common, a common history for 400 years, as the first Dutchman landed on the shores of Manhattan. And we’ve also seen this morning, in the discussions between the prime minister and the President, that on issues like the Middle East, like Afghanistan, we have a lot to do in common. We share the same challenges, but we have also the same ideas on how to deal with these issues.
So I look forward to the second meeting with you and to continue the discussions we had this morning.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER VERHAGEN: Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you all very much.