Secretary Kerry: Remarks With Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans Before Their Meeting

[ProSense]

Remarks With Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans Before Their Meeting

Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC

September 20, 2013

SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. My great pleasure to welcome His Excellency the Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans of The Netherlands, here to visit today. The Netherlands has been a very staunch, early, immediate supporter of our efforts to try to eliminate chemical weapons in Syria, and I’m very grateful to Frans for their very, very strong statement in support of that. We’re absolutely on the same page as we go to the United Nations.

I might just mention that this morning, I had a fairly long conversation with Foreign Minister Lavrov. We talked about the cooperation which we both agreed to continue to provide, moving not only towards the adoption of the OPCW rules and regulations, but also a resolution that is firm and strong within the United Nations. We will continue to work on that.

Our friends from The Netherlands are also enormously important partners with respect to critical human rights issues on a global basis. And I might add they’ve been very significant contributors to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. But on human rights, on civil society, on personal rights, on internet freedom, on all of these kinds of things, we have a strong partnership. And cementing that partnership is the fact that The Netherlands is the third largest direct investor in the United States of America, as well as important partners as we move forward on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

So we have a lot to work on together, a great history of cooperation, and I’m very, very privileged to welcome the Foreign Minister here today. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER TIMMERMANS: Thank you very much. I really want to thank Secretary Kerry for having me here today. It is a great opportunity to look in these international issues where we see eye to eye. I really want to congratulate Secretary Kerry on his leadership in the Syria issue, which means that today we’re actually looking at disarmament of chemical weapons, which would not have happened without your leadership, and we will continue to support American efforts, first and foremost, to stop atrocities against innocent people in Syria, and secondly, to find a way ahead to create peace in that troubled country.

We are exactly on the same page. Anything we can do to support your efforts, we will. In the UN, we see eye to eye as to the content of the United Nations Security Council resolution, which should be very firm on making sure that Assad, who doesn’t have a track record of actually doing what he promises, does what he has promised now, and we will certainly support any efforts that go in that direction.

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http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2013/09/214462.htm

Denmark's Foreign Minister Søvndal’s remarks on UN report of chemical weapons use in Syria
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023678152

Iceland’s Foreign Minister Welcomes Syria Agreement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023678152#post4

[ProSense]

1. Watchdog gets 'declaration' from Syria regarding chemical weapons

Watchdog gets 'declaration' from Syria regarding chemical weapons

By Samira Said and Joe Sterling

(CNN) -- Syria has submitted a "declaration" regarding its chemical weapons stockpiles, a spokesman for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Friday.

The group -- the international chemical weapons watchdog -- is expecting the government to submit more information in the next day or two, spokesman Michael Luhan said. He did not elaborate on the declaration's contents.

The group's executive council, which was to meet Sunday at The Hague, Netherlands, has postponed the meeting until sometime next week, Luhan said, because "more time is needed to prepare draft documents and draft decisions."

This jibes with a timeline in the U.S.-Russian deal forged last week in Geneva, Switzerland, to begin destroying Syria's chemical arsenal. Under the Geneva framework deal, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last Saturday was to declare the weapons in a week.

- more -

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/20/world/meast/syria-civil-war

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2. Thanks ProSense.

K & R

[ProSense]

3. Kerry, Lavrov talk of 'strong' UN Syria resolution

Kerry, Lavrov talk of 'strong' UN Syria resolution

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov spoke Friday about a "strong" United Nations Security Council resolution on ridding Syria of chemical weapons.

The two top diplomats are in daily contact on the matter and sealed a deal in Geneva last weekend aimed at dismantling the Damascus regime's arsenal of these types of banned arms.

While welcoming his Dutch counterpart Frans Timmermans to the State Department, Kerry told reporters he had had a fairly long phone conversation with Lavrov earlier in the day.

"We talked about the cooperation which we both agreed to continue to provide, moving not only towards the adoption of the OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) rules and regulations, but also a resolution that is firm and strong within the United Nations," Kerry said.

- more -

http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-lavrov-talk-strong-un-syria-resolution-165947676.html