Informal Communication

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Washington, D.C.

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Washington, D.C.

Treaty Room

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Well, good afternoon, everyone.  I’m very pleased to have Sigrid Kaag here at the State Department to talk about her absolutely vital mandate conferred by the United Nations Security Council to help maximize the humanitarian assistance that’s getting in to people in need in Gaza, and also to think about and plan for the longer-term reconstruction of Gaza when the conflict ends.  I’ve had the

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Regions: Syria

Topics: Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance, Treaties and International Agreements

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Well, good afternoon, everyone.  First, let me say what a pleasure it is as always to have Secretary General Stoltenberg here in Washington at the State Department.  Let me first note the drone attack yesterday by Iranian-backed militia on U.S. forces in Jordan.  It killed three of our soldiers, wounded many others. First and foremost, I’m thinking of those who lost the

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Topics: Climate and Environment, Countering Terrorism, Global Health, Human Rights and Democracy, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance, Science, Technology, and Innovation

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Davos, Switzerland

World Economic Forum

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

The United States is marking Human Rights Day and the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10th by taking actions to promote accountability for human rights abuses and violations.  Together, the Departments of State and the Treasury today have imposed visa restrictions and sanctions on 37 individuals in 13 countries.

With today’s actions, the United States is addressing some of the most challenging and harmful forms

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Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

New Delhi, India

Leela Palace

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Good afternoon.  So we just had a very productive 2+2 session with Secretary of Defense Austin and our Indian counterparts.  This builds on the important visit that Prime Minister Modi made to the United States followed by President Biden’s visit here for the G20.  And we continue – India and the United States – to deepen our partnership, to deepen our collaboration on everything

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Topics: Countering Terrorism, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Tokyo, Japan

The Okura

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Good evening, everyone.  We just concluded a pretty packed two days – coming at a very intense time for our countries and for the world.

I want to begin by thanking Foreign Minister Kamikawa for the very warm hospitality here in Tokyo, and to her and Prime Minister Kishida for Japan’s leadership during this historic year for the G7.

The G7 has strengthened its role as the steering co

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Topics: Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Climate and Environment, Countering Terrorism, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Amman, Jordan

St. Regis Hotel

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SAFADI: Good evening to you all.  I’ll start in Arabic and then I’ll switch to English if you don’t mind.  So —

(Via interpreter) In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Gracious, I welcome Their Excellencies Sameh, Tony and the other colleagues, the foreign ministers of United Arab Emirates and Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and the secretary general of the Palestinian

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Topics: Countering Terrorism, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Johannesburg, South Africa

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Hello, everyone.  I want to start by thanking President Ramaphosa for bringing together so many government, private sector, and civil society leaders at this important forum.  Last year, I traveled to South Africa to lay out the United States strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa.  At its core, it’s about partnership – what the United States can do with African nations, not for African nations.

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Topics: Climate and Environment, Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Energy

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Dr. Geeta Rao Gupta, Ambassador-at-Large Office of Global Women’s Issues

Washington, D.C.

Benjamin Franklin Room

AMBASSADOR RAO GUPTA:  Good afternoon, and welcome to the Department of State.  My name is Geeta Rao Gupta and I serve as ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues here in the State Department.  It is my honor an

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New York City, New York

United Nations Headquarters

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Mr. President, thank you for convening this ministerial and for convening this council.  And thank you very much, Special Coordinator Wennesland, Deputy Special Coordinator Hastings, for your important briefings.

Mr. Secretary-General, we’re grateful for your leadership in this incredibly challenging time, particularly in helping get humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.

And to the entire

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The Secretary of State

The United States welcomes the delivery of a 20-truck convoy carrying much needed humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza, the first since Hamas’s horrific October 7 terrorist attack on Israel. We thank our partners in Egypt and Israel, and the United Nations, for facilitating the safe passage of these shipments through the Rafah border crossing. With this convoy, the international community is beginning to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza that has left resident

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Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Press Briefing Room

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Good afternoon, everyone.  About an hour ago, two American citizens held by Hamas since October 7th were released.  These two Americans are now safely in the hands of Israeli authorities in Israel.  We expect a team from the U.S. embassy to see them very shortly.  Over the coming hours, they’ll receive any support and assistance they need, and of course we’re very anxious to be able to reunite the

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Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Iran’s development, procurement, and proliferation of missiles and missile-related technology remains one of the greatest challenges to international peace and security. We see the horrific impact of Iran’s provision of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to designated terrorist organizations and militant proxies that directly threaten the security of Israel and our Gulf partners.

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Topics: Countering Terrorism, Science, Technology, and Innovation

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Cairo, Egypt

Cairo East Air Base

QUESTION:  Welcome with us —

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thank you.

QUESTION:  — Mr.  Secretary.  Well, actually, you have, well, a very hectic regional trip that included eight countries, that started with Israel, and one of its most important aims was to support Israel.  Have you discussed with Israeli leaders the de-escalation of their military operation in Gaza?

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Topics: Countering Terrorism, Energy, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance

The Secretary of State

Cairo, Egypt

Cairo Airport

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Good evening, everyone.  We are here at what is an extremely difficult and very tenuous time for the region in the wake of the slaughter perpetrated by Hamas.

We came here with four key objectives: to make clear that the United States stands with Israel; to prevent the conflict from spreading to other places; to work on securing the release of hostages, including American citizens; and to address the

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The Secretary of State

President Biden has appointed former Ambassador David Satterfield as the Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues. Special Envoy Satterfield will lead U.S. diplomacy to urgently address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including work to facilitate the provision of life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable people and promote the safety of civilians, in coordination with the United Nations and U.S. partners. He will lead a whole-of-government campaign to mitigate

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Topics: Countering Terrorism, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Austin, Texas

The University of Texas at Austin

MR EDGAR:  All right.  Welcome, everyone.  Please, if you haven’t already, take your seats, and we’ll begin the program shortly.  My name is Paul Edgar, and I am the interim executive director of the Clements Center for National Security.  On behalf of the Clements Center and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law, welcome to a conversation on the state of foreign aff

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Topics: Climate and Environment, Combating Drugs and Crime, Countering Terrorism, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Energy, Global Health, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance, Science, Technology, and Innovation

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Washington, D.C.

Benjamin Franklin Room

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KRITENBRINK:  Good evening, everyone.  Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the State Department and to the Benjamin Franklin Room.  Esteemed guests and friends from across the Pacific, it is my honor to welcome you tonight to our dinner program and to introduce our co-hosts, the Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfi

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Topics: Climate and Environment, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Treaties and International Agreements

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

New York City, New York

Rockefeller Foundation

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thank you.  Thank you very, very much.  So we’re, what, about halfway through High-Level Week, I think – (laughter) – which is known at the department basically as speed-dating for diplomats.  And we have lots of events, lots of meetings, lots of gatherings.  But I have to tell you I was really looking forward to this particular meeting, this particular gathering,

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Topics: Climate and Environment, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Energy, Global Health

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

New York City, New York

United Nations Headquarters

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thank you very much.  Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for focusing the Security Council on this critically important issue.  And Mr. Secretary-General, thank you for the moral clarity that you’ve shown in dealing with Russia’s war against Ukraine.

We’re grateful to have been able to welcome President Zelenskyy to this council table, and we thank him.  We thank him

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Topics: Climate and Environment, Human Rights and Democracy, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

New York City, New York

Ford Foundation

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Administrator Power, Sam, my friend, thank you – thank you very much, but thank you especially for truly remarkable leadership at USAID.  I see that every day, and I see that around the world whenever I go to one of our missions around the world; where the rubber really meets the road is in the work of USAID, and it’s extraordinary, and it’s making a profound difference in lives a

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Topics: Climate and Environment, Energy, Human Rights and Democracy, Science, Technology, and Innovation

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Washington, D.C.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thank you.  Good morning, everyone.

AUDIENCE:  Good morning.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Dean Steinberg, Jim, thank you for the honor of joining the SAIS community to help inaugurate this truly magnificent new home.

Jim has contributed so much over his remarkable career, but his most lasting contribution is the generation of thinkers, the generation of d

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Topics: Climate and Environment, Combating Drugs and Crime, Countering Terrorism, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Energy, Global Health, Human Rights and Democracy, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance, Science, Technology, and Innovation, The Ocean and Polar Affairs

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Ten years ago the Assad regime launched rockets carrying the deadly nerve agent sarin into the Ghouta district of Damascus, killing more than 1,400 people.

The United States remembers and honors the victims and survivors of the Ghouta attack and of the other chemical attacks launched by the Assad regime. Ten years on, we continue to seek justice and accountability for those responsible for these horrific acts.

Despite its international obligation

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Topics: Human Rights and Democracy

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Washington, D.C.

Press Briefing Room

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Good morning.  Good morning.

QUESTION:  Good morning.

QUESTION:  Well, barely morning.  (Laughter.)

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Speak for yourself, Matt.

Very good to see everyone here.  Actually, I kind of hoped more of you might be on vacation by now but – (laughter) – I see we have a pretty full house

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Topics: Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Climate and Environment, Countering Terrorism, Energy, Global Health, Human Rights and Democracy, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance, Science, Technology, and Innovation

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

I welcome the news that the UN has completed a complex maritime operation in the Red Sea to safely offload the entirety of the oil onboard the FSO Safer, a decaying 47-year-old oil supertanker moored off Yemen’s Red Sea coast.  The Safer was at risk of an oil spill four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster.  Such a spill would have cost tens of billions of dollars to clean up and been an environmental, economic, and humanitarian catastrophe for the regi

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Regions: Yemen

Topics: Climate and Environment, Energy, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Washington, D.C.

QUESTION:   Okay.  So I’m going to start by asking you a little bit about the Brazil role in this global crisis of food insecurity because the Brazilian president has a position of neutrality in the war.  Lula has already spoken to President Zelenskyy, President Vladimir Putin.  And do you believe this puts him in a good place to perhaps mediate a talk with – and try to convince Russia to go back to the grain agreement

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Topics: Climate and Environment, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Energy, Global Health

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Karuizawa, Japan

The Prince Karuizawa

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Let me – let me start with the situation in Sudan.  For the past 36 hours, we and our partners have been focused on how to stop the widespread fighting in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.  Indiscriminate military operations have resulted in significant civilian deaths and injuries, and are recklessly endangering the Su

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Topics: Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Climate and Environment, Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Energy, Global Health, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance, Science, Technology, and Innovation

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Brussels, Belgium

European Council Building

HIGH REPRESENTATIVE BORRELL: Good morning. Good morning. I’m very happy to welcome you, Secretary Blinken, in Brussels. We just had a very good bilateral meeting marking our great transatlantic cooperation. Now we will co-chair the EU-U.S. Energy Council, and later we will see each other also at the NATO Ministerial.

Allow me some words about our bilateral discussion.  Certainly

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Topics: Climate and Environment, Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Energy, Human Rights and Democracy, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance, Science, Technology, and Innovation

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Washington, D.C.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everyone.  Thank you all so much for joining.  It’s very good to be with friends and partners from around the world as we prepare to open the second Summit for Democracy.

In his first year in office, President Biden launched the summit to look at the future of democracy, which we see is at an inflection point.  Worldwide, we see autocrats violating human right

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Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

U.S. Logistics Center Warehouse

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Well, good afternoon, everyone.  We’ve had an enduring partnership when it comes to humanitarian assistance with Ethiopia, going back decades.  And it’s enduring because we’ve had periods of famine, conflict, displacement, and yet throughout we have found ways, working with extraordinary partners like World Vision, like Catholic Relief Services, to make sure we were

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Topics: Climate and Environment, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Energy, Global Health, Human Rights and Democracy, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Addis Ababa University

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Well, good evening, everyone.  It is great to be back in Africa, but also to make my first appearance to Ethiopia as Secretary of State.

I’m here in Ethiopia – and then on to Niger – to reaffirm the pledge that President Biden made at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit late last year.  As he put it, the United States is “all in on Africa, and all in with Africa.”  That mea

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Topics: Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Climate and Environment, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Energy, Global Health, Human Rights and Democracy, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance, Science, Technology, and Innovation

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