SECRETARY CLINTON:
Hi, everyone. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Let me tell you how
pleased I am to be back in Santo Domingo. And I am grateful to our
hosts, the Government, and people of the Dominican Republic for the
leadership in making the Pathways to Prosperity ministerial a success.
I’m also pleased to be here with our ambassador to the Dominican
Republic, who understands firsthand how important it is that we continue
to stress our efforts to help people escape poverty, achieve
prosperity, and build better lives for themselves and their families.
And
through the Pathways program, that is exactly what we are doing, by
sharing best practices, by embracing good policies, by making it clear
that we are going to close the inequality gap in this region, that we’ve
had good economic growth, but it hasn’t done enough to lift the many
millions of people who are still living in poverty into a better life.
We have refocused our objectives. We’ve strengthened our partnerships.
We’re working with the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organization
of American States, and the United Nations Economic Commission for
Latin America and the Caribbean.
Today at the ministerial, we have
adopted a declaration and a plan of action that clearly lay out both
the mission of Pathways and the concrete steps we are taking, and we are
looking forward to meeting next year in Colombia. We have four pillars
for our work: empowering small businesses, facilitating trade, building a
modern workforce, and promoting sustainable business practices and
environmental cooperation. And I applaud those nations who are serving
as co-chairs for these pillars: the Dominican Republic, Chile, Costa
Rica, Honduras, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay.
We are going to keep
working together to translate our intentions into actions. And to help
make that progress, earlier today I announced that the United States
will commit up to $17.5 million to fund projects that foster inclusive
economic growth in the Americas. We already dedicated $5 million during
the past year to support a number of successful projects under Pathways.
And we’re going to work to increase trade, which is why just a few days
ago President Obama submitted to Congress three pending free trade
agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. We are hopeful that
the Congress will act swiftly to approve them, along with trade
adjustment assistance.
Well, we know what works. We’ve got the
models that are proving themselves. Now we have to replicate, adapt, and
expand those to all of our citizens.
Again, let me say how good
it is to be back in the Dominican Republic. I am blessed to have a
number of friends here. And this country is a close partner and friend
to the United States. We work together closely to pursue our shared
security and prosperity through Pathways, the Caribbean Basin Security
Initiative, the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement,
the Open Government Partnership, and so much else. This is a
relationship we highly value. So again, I am pleased to be here and to
have this opportunity to make progress together on our shared goals.
Now I would be happy to take some questions. So, Mike, let me turn it over to you.
MR. HAMMER:
We have time for two questions from the U.S. side and two questions
from the Dominican side. Is Brad Klapper from the AP – pose the first
question.
QUESTION: Thank you. Madam Secretary,
could you describe your feelings after Russia and China vetoed the UN
resolution condemning Syria last evening in New York? I wonder if it’s
particularly disappointing to you after the lobbying effort you pushed
with Foreign Minister Lavrov. And with this route effectively blocked
off, where do the United States and its international partners go from
here to stem the bloodshed?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, Brad, frankly, we believe that the Security Council abrogated its
responsibility yesterday. It has a responsibility to protect
international peace and the security of civilians. The resolution voted
on yesterday represented the bare minimum that the international
community should have said in response to the months of violence that
the Asad regime has inflicted on the Syrian people.
The countries
that chose to veto the resolution will have to offer their own
explanations to the Syrian people, and to all others who are fighting
for freedom and human rights around the world. We note the striking
distinction between those Syrians who stand peacefully for change every
day in cities across their country and those countries that would not
stand with them on even one day in one city yesterday. So the United
States and our European allies have made very clear where we stand on
this issue, and we think that the people who joined with us from four
continents to express our condemnation and call for an end to the
violence, and to begin a peaceful transition to a new democratic,
non-sectarian Syria are on the right side of history.
In the
meantime, those countries that continue to send weapons to the Asad
regime that are turned against innocent men, women, and children should
look hard at what they are doing. Those nations are standing on the
wrong side of history. They are protecting the wrong side in this
dispute, and the Syrian people are not likely to forget that, and nor
should they.
MR. HAMMER: All right. The next question (in Spanish).
QUESTION: (In Spanish.)
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, first, let me say that every country in our region is
unfortunately affected by the scourge of drug trafficking and the
criminality of drug traffickers. No country is immune, and every country
must do more to prevent the spread of drug trafficking and the criminal
elements who profit from the misery of people.
So we work closely
with our colleagues and counterparts in the Dominican Republic. We will
continue to do so. Strengthening security for citizens and against
criminal elements remains a very high priority. That’s why we are
working together in the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative. We are
partnering with the Dominican Republic’s military to help strengthen its
ability to combat narco-trafficking, and we will be very clear about
what our expectations are because we know that the people of the
Dominican Republic deserve to lead safe, secure, peaceful lives free of
the terrible violence that drug traffickers inflict.
We also know
that drug trafficking goes hand-in-hand with corruption. And corruption
is a cancer in any society. It needs to be addressed and eliminated. So
we do support the Dominican Republic’s participatory Anti-Corruption
Initiative, which is the kind of program that can help to strengthen
governance and increase transparency and improve the institutional
capacity of the security forces in the Dominican Republic to defeat the
challenge posed by drug traffickers.
So we will continue to work
together, but we will also continue to expect that those who are on the
front lines of protecting the people of the Dominican Republic or
anywhere in the region, are held to a high standard of accountability.
Otherwise, we will not be successful.
MR. HAMMER: All right. The next question goes to Andy Quinn of Reuters.
QUESTION:
Madam Secretary, UNESCO said today that it will allow its full
membership to vote on a Palestinian bid for membership later this month,
which some say could be a back door to UN recognition of their
statehood. Do you think the U.S. should withhold its funding for UNESCO
or even drop out of the organization if this happens?
And we are
now almost halfway through the one-month timeline that the Quartet gave
for resuming direct peace talks. Do you have any reason to be optimistic
now that the Israelis and the Palestinians will make that deadline?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, first, with regard to the action in UNESCO, I have to state that I
find it quite confusing and somewhat inexplicable that you would have
organs of the UN making decisions about statehood or quasi-statehood
status while the issue has been presented to the United Nations. I think
that that is a very odd procedure indeed, and would urge the governing
body of UNESCO to think again before proceeding with that vote because
the decision about status must be made in the United Nations and not in
auxiliary groups that are subsidiary to the United Nations.
Having
said that, you know where I stand. It is unfortunate that there is a
policy to pursue recognition of whatever sort through the United Nations
rather than returning to the negotiating table to resolve the issues
that will result in a real Palestinian state, something that the United
States strongly supports and wants to see as soon as possible. But we
know that there cannot be a state without negotiations.
What is
the boundary of this state that is being considered by UNESCO? What
authorities does it have? What jurisdiction will it be endowed with? Who
knows? Nobody knows because those are the hard issues that can only be
resolved by negotiation. And unfortunately, there are those who, in
their enthusiasm to recognize the aspirations of the Palestinian people,
are skipping over the most important step, which is determining what
the state will look like, what its borders are, how it will deal with
the myriad of issues that states must address.
With respect to the
question about the United States’s response, we are certainly aware of
strong legislative prohibition that prevents the United States from
funding organizations that jump the gun, so to speak, in recognizing
entities before they are fully ready for such recognition. So it is
still our hope and our strong recommendation that we take this to the
appropriate forum, which is the negotiating table, and take it out of
international organizations that are basically engaged in actions that
are not going to change the lives of the people that deserve a state of
their own, namely the Palestinians.
MR. HAMMER: Okay. The last question (in Spanish).
QUESTION: (In Spanish.)
SECRETARY CLINTON:
I think that we should start with the recognition that the Dominican
Republic was extraordinarily generous and helpful to Haitians after the
terrible earthquake. The Dominican Republic, both through the
government, through its military, through its private sector, through
private citizens, was one of the earliest responders to the terrible
tragedy that befell on the Haitian people. So we know that in its most
terrible time of need, Haiti received help from the neighbor who shares
this beautiful island with it.
I’m well aware that there are very
serious concerns about the human rights of Haitians, and in particular
those who have been here long enough to be – to have been born here and
lived here. And we don’t dispute that every nation has a right, a
sovereign right, to establish the laws concerning its border security,
concerning its nationality, but we also believe that every nation has an
obligation to protect the human rights of migrants. And therefore,
there must be a resolution that recognizes those human rights, and we
hope that we can encourage the Government of the Dominican Republic to
look for ways to resolve these outstanding issues of residency and
citizenship.
I know there’s a debate about what would happen to
migrants who were stripped of their naturalized residency rights. I know
that the Haitian constitution seems to suggest that once a Haitian,
always a Haitian, and always the right to be considered a citizen of
Haiti. So these are very difficult, complex issues, and the United
States is a friend to both Haiti and to the Dominican Republic, and we
want to encourage the fair resolution of these issues so that people’s
rights are recognized, but also a nation’s right to control its borders
and its internal laws is also respected. Thank you.
MR. HAMMER: That concludes our press conference.
Meeting With Embassy Staff and Families
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
U.S. Embassy
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
October 5, 2011
AMBASSADOR YZAGUIRRE:
(In Spanish.) Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my honor and pleasure to
introduce a very special person to you and to the folks in the media. I
had the pleasure of meeting her a long time ago. I won’t tell you how
long ago, but I met her in leisure suit, so that gives you an idea of
how long ago it was. (Laughter.)
Our country has been fortunate to
have very distinguished, very smart, very capable Secretaries of State.
At hard times and difficult times and during emergencies, we’ve been
blessed with enormous talent and dedication. And we’re going through
those kinds of challenges today around the world, whether it’s in the
Middle East, whether it’s in Latin America, whether it’s our competition
with former allies, and trade issues. The world is much more
complicated than it ever has before. But I can tell you with all honesty
that we are blessed to have a person who understands those issues, who
has the stamina – and I know that – about that because we’ve worked
together, we’ve travelled the country together – the stamina to deal
with those issues and make us all very proud. Ladies and gentlemen I
give to you the Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Applause.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you (inaudible). Thank you as always. Hello, everyone. How are you tonight?
Good.
Well, I am delighted to be here and I thank you for bringing all of the
young people here. And I wanted to come and thank you all once again
for everything that you do every day on behalf of this important
relationship.
And Raul is too much of a gentleman, but we met each
other 39 years ago. I was a kindergarten student; he was a student
teacher. (Laughter.) But he has been a wonderful friend. He, along with
Audrey and their family, are really people who I have such great
affection for and admiration for. And I’m so grateful that they were
willing to accept the President’s offer to serve our country here in the
Dominican Republic. I also want to thank your DCM Chris Lambert for all
that he is doing on behalf of this extraordinary team. Embassy Santo
Domingo is being well-regarded because you’re getting results in many
areas that we care about.
For example, I’ve talked often about the need to practice what I call 21
st
century statecraft and harness more tools to reach more people in more
places. And I know that Sonia De Moya made that real by creating a
virtual library that receives millions – I mean, millions of hits from
all over Latin America and the Caribbean. Irene Gonzalez built an
Embassy Facebook page that has attracted the second largest number of
fans of any of our embassies. Think about that. (Applause.)
And in
a tough budgetary environment back in Washington, we are tightening our
belts all across the Department and USAID, but for Embassy Santo
Domingo, even electrical bolts from on high are no match for the
technical expertise of Manuel Ramirez, who put the telephone system back
together after a direct lightning strike and saved this post nearly $1
million, and I am very grateful for that. (Applause.)
And when we
discuss in our development work shifting from an aid model to an
investment model, we’re talking about the kind of work that Sarah
Majerowicz is doing in the USAID Health Office with Maternal and Child
Health programs. In the 10 hospitals that USAID has set up as centers of
excellence, in just the last year, maternal mortality has decreased an
average of 50 percent, and we’re following that model around the world.
(Applause.)
Now I know each of you has made your own contributions
to our shared mission. Each of you has made sacrifices as individuals
and through your families, and your outstanding commitment and
interagency cooperation has been noticed. And I thank you also for
everything you’ve done to support your colleagues in Port-au-Prince
since the earthquake. They could not have gotten through such a terrible
crisis without your support and your backing.
Finally, I want to
say two words of special thanks to all of the Americans who are part of
this whole-of-government team from all the other agencies and
departments represented here. And to all of our Dominican employees –
because I am well aware – secretaries come and go, ambassadors come and
go, defense attaches and political officers come and go, but the locally
employed staff stay and provide the continuity that everyone so
desperately needs when they show up brand new to this post. (Applause.)
So thank you again for everything you do. I’m going to come down, I
want to shake your hands and thank you personally, but I’m very proud to
be serving with you. Thank you all. God bless. (Applause.)
