Assistant Secretary Jose Fernandez Travels to Southeast Asia

Assistant Secretary Jose W. Fernandez will travel to Southeast Asia from February 21 to March 1 to discuss further strengthening U.S. economic relations in the region and enhancing economic and commercial opportunities for mutual benefit.

The Assistant Secretary will be in the Philippines on February 21 - 23 where he will meet with Philippine Government officials and private sector representatives to discuss a range of economic issues including trade, agricultural biotechnology, and corporate social responsibility. He also will speak to business students about how fostering successful entrepreneurs can bolster economic growth and job creation.

He will then travel to Burma on February 23 - 27, to meet with government officials about ways to enhance economic ties. He will deliver the keynote address at a business symposium jointly hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, speaking about the great potential for regional integration in Asia.

The Assistant Secretary will go to Thailand on February 27, where he will meet with government officials and business representatives to discuss mutual commercial and trade priorities. While there he will speak to the American Chamber of Commerce on our economic engagement with Asia.

Assistant Secretary Fernandez will be in Singapore on February 28 - March 1 to meet with government officials and representatives from academia, civil society, and U.S. and Singaporean businesses to discuss topics ranging from trade and investment to infrastructure. He will also deliver remarks on U.S. economic engagement in the Asia-Pacific at an event hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce and Temasek Foundation Centre for Trade & Negotiations.

For updates, follow Assistant Secretary Fernandez on Facebook and Twitter @EconEngage.

Secretary of State John Kerry's Travel to Europe and the Middle East

From February 24 to March 6, Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

The Secretary will travel first to London, the United Kingdom, where he will meet with senior British officials to discuss the range of bilateral and global issues on which we are closely coordinating.

He will then visit Berlin, Germany, where he will hold bilateral meetings on issues of mutual interest, as well as make a number of public appearances, including an exchange of views with German young people on the state of European-American relations. His visit to Berlin will also be an opportunity to reconnect with the city in which he lived as a child.

Secretary Kerry will then travel to Paris, France, with senior French officials to discuss our ongoing cooperation as part of the international effort to support Mali, as well as other issues of regional and global importance.

In Rome, Italy, he will meet with senior Italian Government officials and participate in a number of bilateral and multilateral meetings with our European allies to review the wider trans-Atlantic relationship and to discuss issues of global concern. While in Rome, Secretary Kerry will participate in multilateral meetings on Syria, and with the leadership of the Syrian Opposition Coalition.

Secretary Kerry will then travel to Ankara, Turkey, where he will meet with Turkish officials to discuss our strategic priorities – from ending the crisis in Syria to promoting regional stability, peace, and security – as well as explore areas to deepen U.S.-Turkey bilateral cooperation, including counterterrorism cooperation.

In Cairo, Egypt, Secretary Kerry will meet with senior Egyptian officials, other political leaders, civil society leaders, and the business community to encourage greater political consensus and moving forward on economic reforms. While in Cairo, the Secretary will also meet with Arab League Secretary General Al-Araby to consult on our many shared challenges across the region.

The Secretary will then travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to meet with the Saudi leadership and discuss our cooperation on a broad range of shared concerns. He will also participate in a ministerial meeting with counterparts from Gulf Cooperation Council nations. He will then visit Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to meet with senior officials and discuss our continued close coordination on issues of mutual interest.

The Secretary will conclude his trip in Doha, Qatar, where he will meet with Qatari leadership to discuss shared bilateral and regional issues of concern such as the ongoing crisis in Syria, Afghanistan, and Middle East peace.

U.S. Provides Additional Humanitarian Assistance for the Syrian Crisis

Today, Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns announced the United States is providing nearly $14 million in additional humanitarian aid that will provide nutrition support for children, as well as additional emergency medical and winterization supplies to families in need inside Syria.  With this new assistance, the United States is providing $210 million in humanitarian assistance to help over 1.5 million people inside Syria and the hundreds of thousands who have fled to neighboring countries.

This new assistance will provide a monthly ration of highly-fortified, ready-to-use food supplements to help approximately 225,000 children in Syria.  These supplements are specially formulated for young children between 6 and 24 months of age and provide all the vitamins and minerals required for their development.  To further increase medical capacity in Syria, this additional aid also includes essential medicines and supplies for 150,000 people and specialized drugs and supplies for 3,000 surgical interventions.  We are also supporting the Early Warning Alert and Response System, a medical surveillance system that allows early detection and timely response to epidemics of communicable diseases.  The United States is already working to reach 375,000 people in Syria with critical, life-saving winterization supplies, and this new funding will provide heavy-duty plastic insulation, duct tape, blankets, mattresses, rubber boots, and woolen socks to help an additional 45,000 people with winterization needs.

The United States, along with the international community, is working tirelessly to ensure that the innocent children, women, and men affected by the conflict in Syria are provided with life-saving assistance, and we will continue to stand by them in their time of need.  The United States acknowledges the extraordinary efforts of Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, and Iraq to keep borders open and generously hosting and providing assistance to those fleeing Asad’s brutality.

For more detailed information on the U.S. government’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, please visit: http://www.usaid.gov/crisis/syria.

United States Dedicates New U.S. Embassy in Libreville, Gabon‏

In an important symbol of America’s commitment to an enduring friendship with the Gabonese Republic, U.S. Ambassador to Gabon, Eric Benjaminson, dedicated the new U.S. Embassy in Libreville today. Gabon Prime Minister, Léon M'ba; Assistant Secretary for Administration, Joyce Barr; and Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) Managing Director, Rodney Evans, participated in the ribbon-cutting and official opening ceremonies.

Occupying a ten-acre site in the Sabliere neighborhood, the $107 million multi-building complex provides a centralized location for the mission, as well as a state of the art, environmentally sustainable workplace for embassy personnel.

Sorg Architects of Washington, DC, is the architect of record and B.L. Harbert International, LLC of Birmingham, Alabama constructed the project.

The Embassy’s permanent art collection features works by celebrated Anglo-American, African-American, and Gabonese artists, curated by the Office of Art in Embassies. The artworks are organized around a theme

The 2012-13 International Arms Control Essay Contest: Innovation through Open Source Technologies

In the spirit of harnessing the ingenuity of citizens of the United States and the Russian Federation, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance in partnership with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) and the Center for Policy Studies (PIR) in Russia announces the launch of the 2012-13 International Arms Control Essay Contest: Innovation Through Open Source Technologies. With our American and Russian partner organizations, we welcome essays from both the American and Russian publics on the international application of open source information and communication technologies to arms control verification, compliance monitoring and monitoring of sensitive facilities. For information on the rules and submission guidelines, please click here for the CNS website or here for the PIR website.
Over the last four years, the U.S. Department of State reshaped our diplomatic agenda to meet challenges by deploying one of America’s greatest assets – innovation. The recent Innovation in Arms Control Challenge is one example of our drive to foster public discussion on innovative ideas for arms control policy. Diplomacy today is very different than it was at the dawn of the nuclear age; more often diplomacy is happening in the open, and at quicker speeds. The astonishing advancements in information and communication technologies include new tools and capabilities that could help support arms control transparency and compliance. This essay contest aims to encourage more public participation, discussion and thought on arms control.
The contest runs until January 31, 2013 and is open to all citizens of the United States and Russia. The essay contest will have one winner from the United States and one winner from Russia. Winners will receive an iPad.

Afghan Young Diplomats Begin Visit to United States

Washington D.C - A group of 15 young Afghan diplomats kicked off their training visit to the United States at a welcome reception hosted at the State Department this morning by Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns. The Deputy Secretary was joined at the reception by Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yesui and Afghan Charge d ‘Affaires Meerwais Nab.

The Afghan Diplomat Training group is comprised of fifteen early-career Afghan diplomats who are visiting the United States to develop their diplomatic, communications, and management skills. Representatives from the U.S. and Chinese Embassies in Kabul jointly selected this group of promising young diplomats, who this past May participated in a two-week training program in Beijing sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While in Washington, the group will learn more about U.S. policy regarding Afghanistan, U.S.-China relations, and how foreign policy is developed in the United States.

During their two-week stay, the group is scheduled to visit the Chinese and Afghan Embassies, tour Washington, D.C., visit the U.S. Congress, meet with diplomats and scholars from various think tanks, and practice diplomatic simulations at the University of Maryland.

For more information, please contact Glen Davis at 202-647-8124 or at davisgs@state.gov

Joint Press Statement between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra of Thailand and President Barack Obama of the United States of America met today at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, on the eve of the anniversary of 180 years of diplomatic relations between Thailand and the United States of America to chart the way for a deeper bilateral strategic partnership and enhanced regional cooperation.

The President expressed his appreciation for his audience with His Majesty the King of Thailand and conveyed his warmest wishes to Their Majesties the King and Queen and the Royal Family. He further reaffirmed the enduring U.S. support for democracy in Thailand and welcomed the Royal Thai Government’s commitment to strengthen Thailand’s parliamentary democracy. He emphasized that Thailand is America’s oldest treaty ally in Asia, and the two leaders agreed that this alliance is rooted in the shared commitment to democracy, rule of law, universal human rights, open societies, and a free market, which has bonded the people of the two nations closely together. Prime Minister Yingluck added that the 180 years of diplomatic relations between Thailand and the United States, first established by the 1833 Treaty of Amity and Commerce, is a partnership that has not only stood the test of time and proved beneficial to the two countries, but also has meaningfully contributed to the promotion of stability, prosperity, and the creation of jobs between both partners and the Southeast Asian region as a whole.

The two leaders welcomed the continuous high-level and multidimensional dialogue between Thailand and the United States, including the 4th United States-Thailand Strategic Dialogue in June 2012, Prime Minister Yingluck’s recent visit to the United States in September 2012 to attend the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the 2nd United States-Thailand Strategic Defense Talks in October 2012, and the visit of the United States Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to Bangkok on November 15, 2012.

Weather Watch: Possible Major Nor'easter Storm

North East, USA - There is a possible Nor'easter to hit the East Coast in an area that was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy on Monday, October 29th. The Eastern seaboard should be on alert as to see how this storm turns out as we are still around 3 days. We advise everyone to stay tuned to the weather channel as this possible major Nor'easter could bring high winds, rain and even snow to parts of the North East. Rocky Coast News will keep an close eye on this possible major Nor'easter to hit Wednesday into Thursday.

Those in this area should take steps to prepare incase this possible Nor'easter develops into a major storm along the East Coast.

Weather maps credited to theWeatherChannel.com below.