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G-20, US VP and the Latin American Connection

Vice President Biden is visiting Latin America and wrote an op-ed: ‘A New Day for Partnership in the Americas’, appearing in a range of South American newspapers. A few excerpted highlights: ...These meetings are an important first step toward a new day in relations and building partnerships with and among the countries and people of the Hemisphere.

The President and I understand that only by working together can our countries overcome the challenges we face. Today, we are more than just independent nations who happen to be on the same side of the globe. In today’s interconnected world, we are all neighbors who face many common concerns.

The current global economic crisis has touched virtually all of us—every country, every community, every family. Citizens everywhere are searching for answers, looking for hope—and turning to their leaders to provide them. It is our duty as global partners to heed their calls, to together forge a shared solution to a common problem.

Our Administration is taking several steps to make this happen. Our Congress has approved the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is designed to promote job creation and to set a course for growth for the next generation. The President has proposed a budget designed to set a foundation for the economy of the future, with important investments in health care, education, and energy. And we are working with our partners in the G-20, who meet next week in London, on a coordinated plan to ensure recovery and restart growth, and to reform the international regulatory and supervisory system to ensure that no such crisis occurs again...

Clinton on US -- IRAN Contact

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke about US - IRAN contact in The Hague , Netherlands:

...the United States, Iran, and all of the nations who were here today have mutual interests in a stable and secure Afghanistan. And the intervention by the Iranian representative set forth some very clear ideas that we will all be pursuing together.

In the course of the conference today, our Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke had a brief and cordial exchange with the head of the Iranian delegation. It did not focus on anything substantive. It was cordial, it was unplanned, and they agreed to stay in touch.

Separately, at my direction, a letter was delivered to the Iranians focusing on three U.S. citizens currently unable to return to the United States from Iran: Robert Levinson, Roxana Saberi, and Esha Momeni. In the letter, we asked Iran to use all of its facilities to determine the whereabouts and ensure the quick and safe return of Robert Levinson. We also asked that Iran grant the release of Roxana Saberi and permission to travel for both Roxana Saberi and Esha Momeni. These acts would constitute a humanitarian gesture by the Islamic Republic of Iran in keeping with the spirit of renewal and generosity that marks the Persian New Year...

...Well, first let me underscore that I, myself, did not have any direct contact with the Iranian delegation. I described to you the two contacts, the one by Special Representative Ambassador Holbrooke and the other the delivery of the letter. But I did think that the Iranian intervention this morning was promising. The questions of border security and in particular the transit of narcotics across the border from Afghanistan to Iran is a worry that the Iranians have which we share, and we will look for ways to cooperate with them. And I think the fact that they came today, that they intervened today, is a promising sign that there will be future cooperation.

U.S. to Run for Election to the UN Human Rights Council

FROM US STATE DEPT: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice announce that the United States will seek a seat this year on the United Nations Human Rights Council with the goal of working to make it a more effective body to promote and protect human rights.

The decision is in keeping with the Obama Administration's "new era of engagement" with other nations to advance American security interests and meet the global challenges of the 21st century.
“Human rights are an essential element of American global foreign policy” said Secretary Clinton. “With others, we will engage in the work of improving the UN human rights system to advance the vision of the UN Declaration on Human Rights. The United States helped to found the United Nations and retains a vital stake in advancing that organization's genuine commitment to the human rights values that we share with other member nations. We believe every nation must live by and help shape global rules that ensure people enjoy the right to live freely and participate fully in their societies.”
"Those who suffer from abuse and oppression around the world, as well as those who dedicate their lives to advancing human rights, need the Council to be balanced and credible," said Ambassador Rice. "The U.S. is seeking election to the Council because we believe that working from within, we can make the council a more effective forum to promote and protect human rights. We hope to work in partnership with many countries to achieve a more effective Council."
The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the UN system made up of 47 elected members whose mission is to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights globally. The next round of elections to the Council will be held on May 15th in the UN General Assembly in New York.

release by Gordon Duguid, Acting Deputy Department Spokesman, Washington, DC, March 31, 2009

UK -- G-20: 'It's all about values.'

G-20 Focus on 'Enduring Values' by UK host Prime Minister Brown

Here are over a dozen references to 'VALUES' in the British P.M.'s major G-20 speech, as he prepares to welcome leaders from across the world:

• ...And today he and I want to discuss with you not the details of specific or technical financial programmes or policies, but instead enduring values - indeed the enduring virtues - that we have inherited from the past which must infuse our ideals and hopes for the future.
• And I want to suggest to you today that this most modern of crises, the first financial crisis of the global age, has confirmed the enduring importance of the most timeless of truths - that our financial system must be founded on the very same values that are at the heart of our family lives, neighbourhoods and communities.
• Instead of a globalisation that threatens to become values-free and rules-free, we need a world of shared global rules founded on shared global values. I know it’s hard to talk about the future when you’re having a tough time in the present. You don’t redesign a boat in the midst of a storm.
• But we need to talk about the future - because it falls to us to shape it. When Dr Martin Luther King talked about the fierce urgency of now, he asked us to awaken to a ttde in the affairs of men which if missed means you can end up being literally too late forhistory.
• ...There are four great global challenges our generation must address urgently financial instability in a world of global capital flows, environmental degradation in a world of changing energy need, violent extremism in a world of mass communications and increased mobility, and extreme poverty in a world of growing inequalities.
• Answering these questions will determine whether people have continued faith in globalisation, in multilateralism and in modernity itself. And what these challenges have in common is that none of them can be addressed by one country or one continent acting alone. None of them can be met and mastered without the world coming together. And none of them can be solved without agreed global rules informed by shared global values.
• The oil price crisis last year, the financial crisis this year, and a climate change crisis every year, all mean that we are not at a moment of change we are in a world of change. Twenty years ago only one billion people were part of the world’s industrial economy - but now 4 billion are. For centuries people rarely moved even from their home town, now every single year 200 million people - the equivalent of the whole populations of Britain, Germany and France - move from their country of birth - and next year another 200 million will do so again...
• And the sensible limits to markets agreed in one country became undermined by global competition between all countries as each raced to the bottom. Instead of banks being, as they should be, stewards of people’s money, some of them became speculators with people’s futures.
• I say to you plainly the world of the old Washington Consensus is over, and what comes in its place is up to us Instead of a global free market threatening to descend into a global free for all, we must reshape our global economic system so that it respects the values we celebrate in our everyday lives.
• For I believe that the unsupervised globalisation of our financial markets did not only cross national boundaries - it crossed moral boundaries too. In our families we raise our children to work hard and to do their best and do their bit We don’t reward them for taking irresponsible risks that would put them or others in danger, and we don’t encourage them to seek short-term gratification at the expense of long term success...
• And so our task today is to bring our financial markets into closer alignment with the values held by families and business-people across our country. Yesterday I said there were five tests for the G20, and the first of these is to clean up the global banking system.
• Most people want a market that is free, but never values-free, a society that is fair but not laissezfaire. And so across the world our task is to agree global economic rules that reflect our enduring values.
• That means rules that make transparent the risks that banks take, rules that bring hedge funds and shadow banking inside the regulatory net, rules that force banks to hold sufficient capital and ensure their liquidity, rules that require boards who understand their business and take responsibility for the decisions they take, and systems of pay and bonuses that reward people for long term value and not short term risk taking...
• And we can now see that markets cannot self regulate but they can self destruct and, again if unbridled and untrammeled, they can become not just the enemy of the good society, but the enemy of the good economy too. Markets are in the public interest but not synonymous with it.
• And the truth is that the virtues we admire most and make society flourish - hard work, taking responsibility, being honest, being fair - these are not values that spring from the market, they are the values we bring to it. They don’t come from market forces they come from the heart, and they are the values nurtured in families and in schools, in our shared institutions and our neighbourhoods.
• So markets depend upon that which they do not create - they presuppose a well of values and work at their best when these values are upheld. And that is why what I argued controversially some time ago is now in my view more generally agreed, that there are limits to markets just as there are limits to states.
• Just as in the 1970s and 80s people felt government was too powerful in the grip of vested interests that had to be channelled to work in the public interest, so too it is now clear that financial markets can become too powerful and come to be dominated by vested interests of their own. And so it falls to us, supporters of free markets, to save free markets from the most dogmatic of free marketeers.
• To say this is not anti-business, anti-private sector or anti-market. Quite the contrary - my point is that strong rules rooted in shared values are the best way to serve both ourselves and our market system. Markets need morals.
• The reason I have long been fascinated by Adam Smith who came from my home town Kirkcaldy is that he recognised that the invisible hand of the market had to be underpinned by the helping hand of society, that he argued the flourishing of moral sentiments is the foundation of the wealth of nations.
• So the challenge for our generation is whether or not we can formulate global rules for our financial and economic systems that are grounded in our shared values.
• Now that people can communicate instantaneously across borders, cultures and faiths, I believe we can be confident that across the world we are discovering that there is a shared moral sense. It is a sense strong enough to ensure the constant replenishment of that well of values on which we depend and which must infuse our shared rules.
• And when people ask can there be a shared global ethics that will lie behind global rules, I answer that through each of our heritages, our traditions and faiths, there runs a single powerful moral sense demanding responsibility from all and fairness to all.

READ THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER'S FULL SPEECH

UK P.M. Brown on G-20: 'A decisive moment...London’s big chance to lead'

Here are some highlights from Prime Minister Gordon Brown's article (London Evening Standard) regarding the G-20 Summit.

The eyes of the world will be on the capital this week and I know that London will rise to the occasion. I am very much looking forward to welcoming to the city the leaders of the G20 countries, the world's largest economies. I can't promise that the week will be completely hassle-free for commuters and residents but I can assure you that everyone is working hard to keep disruption to a minimum. I know the city will cope admirably and Londoners, as they have done so often in the past, will extend a warm and generous welcome to our visitors...

The most important benefit will be the opportunity to agree further co-ordinated action to create jobs, tighten and toughen up banking rules, increase support and bank lending for businesses and protect families in London and across the world...

This is a decisive moment for the world economy. Growth has stalled around the world. We have a choice to make. We can either let the recession run its course and retreat into isolationism - a "do nothing" approach that will push us further into recession. Or we can resolve as a world community to unite, to act and fight back against this global recession that is hurting people in every country in every continent. This is the test we face in London this week.

World Leaders head to London to 'Restore confidence and ensure a lasting global recovery'

1. We, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty met, for a second time, in London on 2 April.
Over the last half c entury strong growth and increasing international trade has brought untold jobs and prosperity to our citizens. We now face the greatest challenge to the world economy in modern times, a crisis affecting the lives of ordinary men, women, and children around the world. A global crisis requires a global solution.

  2. We believe that an open world economy based on market principles, effective regulation, and strong global institutions will ensure a sustainable globalisation with rising prosperity for all. We are determined to restore growth now, resist protectionism, and reform our markets and our institutions for the future. We have agreed actions to meet these challenges as part of an integrated strategy that will restore confidence and ensure a lasting global recovery. We are determined to ensure that this crisis is not repeated.

G-20 Plan for 'Restoring global growth NOW'

Restoring global growth for the Immediate / Near Term
Items 3-10 in G-20 Plan or G20 draft communiqué

3. We are taking unprecedented and concerted fiscal actions to support growth and jobs. Acting together we strengthen the impact of this fiscal expansion, which amounts to a stimulus of more than [$x trillion] this year and next and is expected to increase output by more than [2] percentage points and employment by over [20] million jobs1. We are committed to deliver the scale of sustained effort necessary to restore growth while ensuring long-run fiscal sustainability.

4. Our central banks have also taken exceptional action, cutting interest rates aggressively and to close to zero in many advanced economies. Our central banks have pledged to maintain expansionary policies as long as needed, using the full range of monetary policy instruments, including unconventional policy instruments, consistent with price stability.

5. We are taking comprehensive action to strengthen our financial institutions in order to restore domestic lending and international capital flows. We have made available over [$x trillion] of support to our banking systems to provide liquidity, recapitalise financial institutions, and address the problem of impaired assets. We are committed to take all necessary actions to restore the flow of credit through the financial system and ensure the soundness of systemically important institutions, acting within the agreed G20 Framework for Restoring Lending. These measures underpin and strengthen the impact of our fiscal and monetary policy actions.

6. Emerging and developing countries, which have been the engine of recent world growth, are now facing shocks which threaten stability and jeopardise the global economy. It is imperative that capital continues to flow to them. We have therefore agreed to make [$x] of resources available through the international financial institutions. This will finance counter-cyclical spending, bank recapitalisation, infrastructure, trade finance, debt rollover, and social support. To this end:

• we have agreed to increase the resources available to the IMF to $[x] through bilateral borrowing from members of $[x] subsequently replaced by an expanded New Arrangements to Borrow of $[x] and borrowing in the market of up to $[x] if necessary; we support a substantial increase in lending of $[x] by the Multilateral Development Banks; we will make available $[x] over the next two years to support trade finance through our export credit and investment agencies and through the MDBs. We have asked our regulators to make use of available flexibility in capital requirements for trade finance.

7. We will ensure these resources can be used effectively to meet the needs of emerging and developing countries. The IMF should implement rapidly its new Flexible Credit Line for countries with strong policies and its reformed lending and conditionality framework. It should also double access to its low income country facilities.

8. We have agreed a general SDR allocation of $[x] to strengthen global liquidity.

9. The world’s poorest are most at risk from the crisis and we are resolved to support them. We remain committed to meeting the Millennium Development Goals and to achieving our ODA pledges including commitments on Aid for Trade. We are making available $[x] in social protection for the poorest countries, alongside investing in food security, and we support the World Bank’s Vulnerability Financing Framework.

We call on the UN to establish an effective mechanism to monitor the impact of the crisis on the poorest and most vulnerable. We have also asked the IMF to bring forward, by the Spring Meetings, proposals to use the proceeds of agreed gold sales to support low income countries.

10. These actions together constitute the largest fiscal and monetary stimulus, the most comprehensive support programme for the financial sector, and the greatest mobilisation of resources to support global financial flows in modern times. Our objective is that they will enable the global economy to expand by [x] by the end of 2010. We have taken and will continue to take the measures necessary to deliver this outcome. We call on the IMF to assess regularly the actions taken and the actions required.

The G-20 Plan for AN OPEN ECONOMY

An open global economy (G-20 draft plan items 11-13)

11. World trade is falling for the first time in [25 years]. We need to sustain the benefits of globalisation and open markets, and promote trade as a crucial driver of growth in the world economy. Therefore:

• we reaffirm the commitment made in Washington not to raise new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services, including within existing WTO limits, not to impose new trade restrictions, and not to create new subsidies to exports.

We will rectify promptly any such measures. We extend this pledge for a further 12 months;

• we will notify promptly governments and other relevant institutions of any measures which have the potential to cause direct or indirect trade distortions;

• we will minimise any negative impact on trade and investment of our domestic policy actions including action in support of the financial sector. We will not retreat into financial protectionism;

• we commit to conduct our economic policies responsibly with regard to the impact on other countries and to refrain from competitive devaluation of our currencies.

12. We call on the WTO, together with the IMF and other international bodies as appropriate, to report on our adherence to these undertakings on a quarterly basis.

13. We are committed to reaching rapid agreement, on the basis of progress already made, on modalities leading to a successful conclusion of the Doha Round which would boost the global economy by at least $150 billion per annum.

The Road to London: G-20 Goals re 'Building a sustainable global recovery'

As world leaders come together in London for the G-20 Summit, what agenda items should they expect? This from the leaked G20 draft communiqué:

Building a sustainable global recovery  (items 19-23 in the report)

19. We remain resolute in the need to ensure fiscal sustainability and price stability and are committed to put in place exit strategies from the necessary expansionary policies, working together to avoid unintended impacts on others.

20. We will do everything possible to mitigate the social and environmental impact of the crisis.

21. Strengthening labour market and social protection policies will give real help now to those most in need, make the downturn shorter, and the recovery stronger and more sustainable. We welcome the report of the London Jobs Conference and the key principles it proposed2. We will support employment by stimulating demand, investing in education and training, and through active labour market policies. We will support disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, including those most affected by the crisis, through social safety nets. We call on the ILO and OECD, working with other organisations, to assess the actions taken and those required for the future.

22. We agreed to make the best possible use of investment funded by fiscal stimulus programmes towards the goal of building a resilient, sustainable and green recovery. We will make the transition towards innovative, resource efficient, technologies and infrastructure, and drive new low carbon business opportunities.

We encourage the Multilateral Development Banks to contribute fully to the achievement of this objective. We will work together to explore further measures to promote low carbon growth and build sustainable economies.

23. We reaffirm our commitment to address the threat of irreversible climate change, and to reach agreement at the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December.

INDIA - US Relationship: Energy and Climate Change

Selected excerpts Release by US State Dept.:
Energy is another fruitful avenue for bilateral cooperation. In a country where 500 million people still lack access to electricity, the United States and India have enormous opportunities to collaborate on energy generation and infrastructure. The U.S. is committed to working directly with India as a robust partner on civilian nuclear energy. Our governments have taken some steps toward realization of the 1-2-3 Agreement, but we both need to do more, and we look forward to working with India to fulfill the promise of civilian nuclear energy cooperation. President Obama has just sent our first trade mission to India, and it’ s on solar energy. Energy is a focal point of our relationship, and trade in renewable energy technologies has the possibility of taking our relationship to new heights...

Later this year, the world will come together in Copenhagen to consider the next steps in addressing climate change. The United States and India are at different stages of development, and India’s overall share of greenhouse gas emissions is small compared to the U.S. and other leading emitters. Indian Special Envoy on climate change Shyam Saran is in Washington this week, and will be speaking to you later today, and we look forward to engaging with him on this important issue.

The U.S. is committed to putting in place a mandatory plan to cut its own emissions. But India too has a responsibility to play a leadership role in helping to bring about a consensus that brings both developed and developing countries into a global framework. I understand that India has concerns about caps, but with its growing emissions, we must work with India to ensure it is part of any effective solution to climate change. We stand ready not only to look at how American technologies can be linked to any solution, but how we can partner with India to develop new, greener energy sources and promote conservation. Furthermore, India’s high energy demand and insufficient domestic energy resources make it a prime partner for potential investment and technology sharing, both as part of the climate change agenda and also broader energy development.

-- Excerpts of statement by James B. Steinberg, Deputy Secretary, The Brookings Institution,
Washington, DC, March 23, 2009   Release by US State Dept. --

INDIA - US Relationship Status -- Security and Economy

Selected excerpts Release by US State Dept.:
For over a decade, our relationship with India has been on a rapidly advancing trajectory. President Bill Clinton seized on the end of the Cold War and India’s rapid economic emergence and liberalization to lay the foundation for this transformation...As is the case in all of America’s most enduring relationships, the U.S.-India bond is between two societies, not just two governments. The connection between us is not limited to our capitals. The Indian Diaspora community, the influx of Indian students in our universities, collaboration between our NGOs and civil society and growing economic and business interests – all have been pulling India and the United States closer for decades...Our governments must harness and build on these close links in the business, academic, and scientific communities. We have seen throughout our history that where these human ties and bonds of values are strong, even the sharp policy differences that might arise between our governments from time to time will not derail our relationship.

Indeed, it can be argued that our governments were late in catching up to the transformed relationship between our peoples. But now the stage is set to embark on what I might term the third stage of our rapprochement. As space faring nations, we know that the third stage is crucial to boosting us into orbit.

President Obama and Secretary Clinton remain committed to expanding these opportunities and our cooperation. As India approaches national elections in the coming months, we look forward to developing a comprehensive agenda – doing more bilaterally, regionally, and globally, across the full spectrum of economic, political and security challenges

Our economic ties have played a major role in bringing our two countries together. The entrepreneurship and innovation of India’s private sector, combined with economic reforms implemented by its government, have contributed to a doubling in bilateral trade from $21 billion to $44 billion between our two countries between 2004 and 2008. But we have much more we can do in the future such as negotiating a bilateral investment treaty; removing tariff and non-tariff trade barriers between our countries; improving enforcement of intellectual property rights; and opening avenues for the private sector to engage directly by loosening government restrictions and actively promoting trade in areas of mutual interest.

One of the more promising opportunities for deepening economic engagement concerns India’s ongoing development challenge -- to bridge the gap between its vibrant middle class and its still too persistent urban and rural poverty. An estimated 700 million Indians still live under $2 a day. The U.S. and India should leverage existing business and scientific community ties, seeking to establish public-private partnerships to catalyze technological advancements in the fields of education, energy, health, and agriculture that will improve the lives of average Indians, stimulate small and medium enterprises in India, and grow markets for U.S. goods and services. Two excellent means of accomplishing these goals are through the CEO Forum, led by CEOs from leading American and Indian businesses who make recommendations for removal of barriers to growth in trade and investment, and the Trade Policy Forum, which seeks to improve the business environment in areas such as trade, investment, services, and agriculture...

But the future of our relationship depends on more than strengthening bilateral ties and engagement. As India emerges as one of the world’s leading economic and political powers, the central question is how the United States and India can work together to address the regional and global challenges that no one country alone can solve...We will begin this work next week in London, where the G-20 leaders will meet to discuss how to address both the near term and systemic challenges posed by the global financial crisis, and where President Obama and Prime Minister Singh will have a chance to meet face to face to share views. It is vital that together we take steps to foster growth, enhance transparent regulation, and keep our markets open to global trade...

Next year, we will have another opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to building the structures of global cooperation with the Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference. Forty years after the adoption of the NPT, the world is now on the brink of the danger that President Kennedy so eloquently warned about – uncontrolled nuclear proliferation – but in an environment even more dangerous than the one he envisioned, with the prospect of the nuclear capabilities falling into the hands of terrorists. Both the United States and India have a responsibility to craft a strengthened NPT regime that fosters safe, affordable nuclear power to help the globe’s energy and environment needs, while assuring against the spread of nuclear weapons. President Obama has pledged U.S. leadership in meeting our obligations as the world’s most powerful nuclear state, but India has a special role, and responsibility, as well...

In the nearer term, the United States and India must work together to help address what is one of the most urgent security challenges facing us – to work with the democratic governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan to root out the violent forces that threaten the stability of the region and pose a direct danger to the Indian and American homelands. ...we will gather in The Hague, under the chairmanship of the United Nations and the Dutch, to develop a collaborative program involving all of Afghanistan’s neighbors and key donors. Later in April, the friends of democratic Pakistan will meet to pledge support for Pakistan’s efforts to strengthen its economy and institutions to meet the existential threats they face. As President Zardari and the Pakistani government take the courageous steps needed to confront and eliminate extremists, India and the United States must work together with all of our international partners to support them and to further their effort.

...As we embark on this critical third stage of our lift-off, we should do so with a clear-eyed recognition that we will not always agree on how best to address the vital challenges of our times. Our history, geography and economic development are different, and will inevitably lead to some divergence of perspectives. But our common values – and our intertwined fate – require us to make the effort to seek common ground.

-- Excerpts of statement by James B. Steinberg, Deputy Secretary, The Brookings Institution,
Washington, DC, March 23, 2009   Release by US State Dept. --

US - Netherlands: Serious choices among 400 year old friends

Selected Excerpts of remarks by Secy. of State Clinton with Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen in The Hague, Netherlands, March 31, 2009

FOREIGN MINISTER VERHAGEN: ... we want to celebrate this year, 400 years of friendship between our two countries...The United States and the Netherlands and over 80 other countries and organizations are today meeting in The Hague. We have serious choices to make today...Secretary Clinton and I discussed our analyses of the situation and the possible ways forward. And the Netherlands welcomes the outcome of the policy review conducted by the United States...As the review makes clear, Afghanistan and the region cannot be made safe by military force alone. Diplomacy and development are equally important. Afghan citizens as well as our own citizens need to know what our strategy will be. And I hope today in The Hague, we will start working on a new deal for Afghanistan, a common contract, a new Afghan bond. Achieving respect for human rights, good governance, and social and economic progress are equally important...In the province of Uruzgan in the south of the country, Dutch diplomats, development workers and military, together with our allies, are learning to do just that...

SECRETARY CLINTON: ...once again, the Dutch Government is at the forefront of the work done on behalf of the global community, and I appreciate that...You know, as the minister said, Dutch troops are leading the effort in Afghanistan. In Uruzgan Province, as the minister referenced, the success of the policies implemented by the Dutch forces is remarkable. At the center of our efforts is a courageous military commitment by the Dutch people and their government, and it has proven results...our commitment going forward in Afghanistan has great consequences for all of our people, all free people, all people who share the values that the Dutch and the Americans share...
I looked to the Netherlands not only because of the work that has been done in Afghanistan, but the unsurpassed commitment to fighting poverty and promoting development worldwide. The Netherlands has been a key ally for many decades. The fact that this country is the sixth most generous contributor to international development assistance says volumes about the values of the Dutch people. We will continue to seek your advice and your ideas, your guidance as we work together.

BIO BRIEF --  Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen
Born: Maastricht, Netherlands in 1956. Studied history at the University of Leiden, graduating in
1986. From 1984 to 1987, Mr Verhagen worked as assistant to an MP for the Christian Democratic Alliance
(CDA). Later on, he joined the parliamentary staff for the CDA, where he was given responsibility for
European Affairs, Development Cooperation and Trade Policy...He was a member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1994...Other roles included: House of Representatives, leader of the CDA parliamentary, Member of the supervisory board of Free Voice, a media organisation that lobbies for freedom of the press in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. On 22 February 2007, Mr Verhagen was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the fourth Balkenende government.

Excerpted from official F.M. Bio.