DEPUTY SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good morning
everyone. Please have a seat and we will get
going. And it is a great pleasure to welcome
the ambassador and all of our colleagues from
Qatar here to the State Department this morning.
We’ll be joined eventually this morning
by the foreign minister, the minister of finance,
and the CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority;
and of course, also by Secretary Kerry and
Secretary Lew from our government.
I think many of you know that this room was
named in honor of Benjamin Franklin, our nation’s
first diplomat, and he taught us that “energy
and persistence conquer all things.” And
it was an insight that honors the friendship
between America and Qatar, because we have
a friendship, in fact, that reflects both
the energy of our people and the determination
of our leaders.
We greatly appreciate the chance today to
host our senior counterparts from Qatar, and
indeed, this reciprocates in a small way the
gracious hospitality of the foreign minister
for Secretary Kerry when he was welcomed to
Qatar in August for the meeting of the GCC
foreign ministers.
That session was part of the ongoing collaboration
on security issues between the United States
and the Gulf states – a partnership that
included the Emir’s participation in the
Camp David meetings hosted by President Obama,
and a partnership that is absolutely essential
and fundamental as a component of America’s
strategy and commitment to the region.
In fact, Secretary Kerry, I think as all of
you know, has just returned from the Middle
East, where he underscored our determination
to help the Gulf states defend themselves
from new and emerging dangers.
We know, of course, that in our era, Mr. Ambassador,
economic and security issues often reinforce
one another. Countries that work together
in one area will find it easier to do so in
the other. And of course, our economic strength
can go a long way to enhancing our strength
and ability to deal with all sorts of different
issues around the world. Today we recognize
in a more formal way a reality that’s been
clear for some time: The United States and
Qatar are partners economically just as we
are in the security sphere.
So this morning, in just a few minutes, we
will be signing a joint Memorandum of Understanding
to establish between us an Economic and Investment
Dialogue. We will then convene the first session
of that dialogue, which we see as a platform
for deepening our cooperation on a wide range
of issues, and which we intend to renew on
an annual basis.
Qatar is a country that plays an outsized
diplomatic and strategic role in its own region,
and indeed, beyond its region. It’s an influential
contributor to the political and security
debates in the Middle East, and a very significant
source of foreign capital.
The Qatar Investment Authority opened its
first office in the United States in September
with the state of Qatar planning to invest
$35 billion in our country over the next five
years. Its real estate arm has already made
a mark here in Washington with the City Center
development right downtown that many of us
have enjoyed.
And perhaps even more important, our partnership
is building for the future. Six major American
universities have a branch campus in Doha
– and the number of Qatari students who
attend classes in the United States continue
to rise, up 20 percent over the last year
alone, and we want to see that continue to
grow in the years ahead. So I want to welcome
all of our friends here today, and assure
them that the United States will continue
to work very closely with Qatar to build shared
prosperity and promote the security and well-being
of all of our citizens.
And now, it’s my great pleasure to
turn it over to the Ambassador, Al Kuwari.
