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Clinton Announced 4-point Counter-Piracy Strategy

I’d like to take a moment to discuss an issue that affects us all, and that is the scourge of piracy. The attempted capture of the Maersk Alabama and the attack yesterday on the Liberty Sun off the coast of Somalia are just the most recent reminders that we have to act swiftly and decisively to combat this threat. These pirates are criminals. They are armed gangs on the sea. And those plotting attacks must be stopped, and those who have carried them out must be brought to justice.

Last weekend, we were all inspired by the courage and heroism of Captain Phillips and his crew, and by the bravery and skill of the U.S. Navy. These men are examples of the best that America has to offer. And I salute and thank them. But now it falls to us to ensure that others are not put into a similar situation. As I said last week, we may be dealing with a 17th century crime, but we need to bring 21st century solutions to bear.

Obama on Piracy | Rescue

FROM THE WHITE HOUSE: STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE RESCUE OF CAPTAIN PHILLIPS -- I am very pleased that Captain Phillips has been rescued and is safely on board the USS Boxer.  His safety has been our principal concern, and I know this is a welcome relief to his family and his crew.

I am also very proud of the efforts of the U.S. military and many other departments and agencies who worked tirelessly to secure Captain Phillips’s safe recovery.

We remain resolved to halt the rise of piracy in this region. To achieve that goal, we must continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks, be prepared to interdict acts of piracy and ensure that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable for their crimes. 

I share the country’s admiration for the bravery of Captain Phillips and his selfless concern for his crew.  His courage is a model for all Americans.

Readout of the President's call with President Mills of Ghana

President Obama congratulated President Mills on his inauguration and noted that Ghana's election demonstrated the Ghanaian people's commitment to democratic governance.  President Obama emphasized the importance of Ghana's democratic leadership in Africa, particularly in light of the troubling coups in Mauritania, Guinea, and Madagascar.  The two leaders also discussed the importance of combating the growing narcotics trade which threatens stability throughout West Africa.  The President said that he is looking forward to further developing the strong U.S.-Ghana partnership.

US on Somalia Pirate Situation

...we do not negotiate with terrorists. And – but again, this piracy phenomenon is something that we’re working closely with a number of countries on...

US STATE DEPT (excerpted) : We’re in contact with the captain’s family in order to try to provide appropriate support and guidance. As you know, the USS Bainbridge is in the region. It’s in the vicinity of the Maersk Alabama. It’s about – both ships are about 200 nautical miles southeast of Somalia.
The Pentagon is obviously very engaged with this right now. And I don’t have any further updates to provide you, but we’re obviously paying careful attention to this issue. And I’m really not able to go beyond that at this point...
...We are in touch with a number of nations with regard to this issue. It’s a growing concern to not just the United States but others who deal with shipping in that area. I don’t want to talk about what we may or may not do in this particular case, but as you know, there’s a Contact Group on Somali piracy. About 20-plus nations are involved in that. As you know, there’s a UN Security Council resolution, I believe it’s 1851, that talks of – it authorizes countries to do what they can to suppress piracy, acts of piracy, in consultation with the Government of Somalia. Our militaries, the U.S. military and the militaries of other countries, are working and cooperating, trying to see what we can do to prevent these types of piracy acts from happening.

G-20 Leaders Comment -- Asia | Pacific, Middle East, Africa

Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister, Australia

'Given that this is a global economic challenge, only the G20 has the global economic reach to provide the response necessary to begin to mend this global economic recession and to support the restoration of jobs around the world.'

Taro Aso, Prime Minister, Japan  

'I have renewed confidence that the world's largest and the second-largest economies can work together by joining hands.'

Lee Myung-bak, President, Republic of Korea
'The recovery of the global economy will depend on actions the US Government takes. It's very important for us to strengthen international co-operation so that global economies can co-ordinate large fiscal stimulus packages and we can recover together.'

King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabia

'What they are in need, as they say, is the restoration of confidence. I think that if the big world economies get acquainted with means of cooperation among them, then they will become capable of surpassing the crisis as they surpassed previous crises.'

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister, Turkey

'I will meet with the managing director of the Fund during the G-20 Summit in London on April 1-2. After completing the talks process, we will sign an agreement. If we cannot agree with IMF officials, then we keep on preserving current conjuncture.'

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President, Indonesia

'I attend the G-20 meeting in order to discuss leaders of major countries on how to jointly overcome the global crisis [and] voice Indonesia's interest, so that our economy could be managed and our people could be protected, though there are obstacles.'

Kgalema Motlanthe, President, South Africa

'No country can respond to the global financial crisis in isolation. South Africa's banking system will play a key role in ensuring that we come out of the global economic re

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.

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.

OBAMA speaks out about on: an Intl' Currency, Chinese, Rudd, Brown, G-20, Dollar, Global Leadership

ECONOMY: 'The steps that we've taken are ones that are restoring a sense of confidence and the ability of the United States to assert global leadership.

Excerpts from March 24th Press Conference, US President Barak Obama re International aspects of US Economic Crisis

Responding to Question from Press Corp re: 'Chinese officials interest in international currency', 'less confidance in US dollar', 'global resistance Economic Stimulas',

OBAMA: Well, first of all, I haven't asked them to do anything. What I've suggested is, is that all of us are going to have to take steps in order to lift the economy.

We don't want a situation in which some countries are making extraordinary efforts and other countries aren't with the hope that somehow the countries that are making those important steps lift everybody up. And so somebody's got to take leadership.

It's not just me, by the way. I was with Kevin Rudd, the prime minister of Australia, today, who was very forceful in suggesting that countries around the world, those with the capacity to do so, take the steps that are needed to fill this enormous hole in global demand.

Gordon Brown, when he came to visit me, said the exact same thing.

So the goal at the G-20 summit, I think, is to do a couple of things, number one, say to all countries: Let's do what's necessary in order to create jobs and to get the economy moving again. Let's avoid steps that could result in protectionism, that would further contract global trade. Let's focus on, how are we going to move our regulatory process forward, in order so that we do not see the kinds of systemic breakdowns that we've already seen?

And that requires -- that means not just dealing with banks, but also some of the other financial flows that are out here that are currently unregulated. We've got to update regulations that date back to the 1930s, and we're going to have to do some coordination with other countries in order to accomplish that.

As far as confidence in the U.S. economy or the dollar, I would just point out that the dollar is extraordinarily strong right now. And the reason the dollar is strong right now is because investors consider the United States the strongest economy in the world with the most stable political system in the world. So you don't have to take my word for it. I think that there is a great deal of confidence that, ultimately, although we are going through a rough patch, that the prospects for the world economy are very, very strong.And -- and last point I would make, in terms of changing America's image in the world, Garrett, I -- you know, I haven't looked at the latest polling around the world, but I think -- I think it's fair to say that the response that people have had to our administration and the steps that we've taken are ones that are restoring a sense of confidence and the ability of the United States to assert global leadership.

OBAMA Press Confer.: International Aspects of Economy Policy, Energy, Pollution

OBAMA ON ECONOMY AND AMERICA’S PLACE IN THE WORLD: -- The budget I submitted to Congress will build our economic recovery on a stronger foundation so that we don't face another crisis like this 10 or 20 years from now…We invest in the renewable sources of energy that will lead to new jobs, new businesses, and less dependence on foreign oil. We invest in our schools and our teachers, so that our children have the skills they need to compete with any workers in the world… I've said that we've got to have a serious energy policy that frees ourselves from dependence on foreign oil and makes clean energy the profitable kind of energy…We've got to invest in education, K through 12 and beyond, to upgrade the skills of the American worker so we can compete in -- in the international economy…And I've said that we've got to start driving our deficit numbers down…I think cap-and-trade is the best way, from my perspective, to achieve some of those gains, because what it does is it starts pricing the pollution that's being sent into the atmosphere.