Remarks of Secretaries Kerry, Hague Before Meeting in London

Remarks of Secretaries Kerry, Hague Before Meeting in London

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesperson
November 24, 2013

REMARKS
Secretary of State John Kerry
And United Kingdom Foreign Secretary William Hague
Before Their Meeting

November 24, 2013
Winfield House
London, United Kingdom

FOREIGN SECRETARY HAGUE: Good afternoon, everybody. Clearly, it’s only 12 hours or so since we were in Geneva, and I particularly want to pay tribute to the work of Secretary Kerry, who has been so determined throughout the negotiations with Iran to make sure that this is a robust deal, that everything that should be covered is covered, and that every commitment that we wanted from Iran is as strong as it should be. And he has done that, and I really pay tribute to his persistence and his leadership in doing that.

And I think the end product which we have all supported in the E3+3 or P5+1, (inaudible) and complete with details, is a good deal. It is a good deal for the Middle East and for the world. It’s a very important opportunity for the future, and I think it vindicates the policy of pressure through sanctions and diplomacy through negotiations in which the United States and the United Kingdom have been strong partners for so long. And we will remain strong partners over the coming months in making sure this deal is implemented in good faith and that we do everything possible to make sure it is followed up with a comprehensive, final settlement. So I congratulate the United States on the role they have played, and the UK will continue to work closely with the United States.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you. I want to thank Foreign Secretary Hague, my friend William, for his tremendous support throughout this process. This is a partnership effort. No one country can do this. The P5+1 were unified and we all came together in consultation with a lot of effort together. This was a team effort, and I particularly am grateful to our friends here in Britain for their extraordinary support and friendship in the course of all of this process.

We have enormous interests together. I can’t think of anything where we are somehow divided in our approach. We will meet shortly with the Prime Minister of Libya. We both have been deeply involved in this question of Libya. Libya is vital to everybody. We need to deal with the challenge of its security situation.

We are working very closely together – Secretary Hague and I and others – on the question of the Geneva II and trying to move forward on peace in the challenge of Syria. We know it’s very difficult. Nobody has any illusions. But we all know there is no military solution, and the only way to deal with millions of people who are displaced within their own country and millions of people who are refugees is to end the violence. We are determined together to try to work on that. We will talk about that today, as well as our continued efforts on Iran.

Again, with Iran, this could have not happened if the P5+1 had not been unified, if our friends had not come together to create sanctions, enforce the sanctions, and to press this agreement. Now the really hard part begins, and that is the effort to get the comprehensive agreement, which will require enormous steps in terms of verification, transparency, and accountability. We know this. We have determined to work together. We’ll start today, literally, to continue the efforts out of Geneva and to press forward.

So again, President Obama could not be more grateful for Prime Minister Cameron’s support and effort, I could not be more grateful for a counterpart who works hand in hand, and we are determined to press forward and give further life to this very special relationship and to our common objectives. Thank you all.

ENDS

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