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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas spoke on a variety of issues including Nord Stream 2, Libya and China, following the second Libya conference in Berlin, on Wednesday.
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Blinken: As President Biden said last week at the European Council, at a time when we have such vast changes taking place around the world, many good, some not so good, the best way for countries to deal with these changes is by working together. And I think Heiko and I both strongly agree that there is probably not a single challenge that is having an impact on the lives of our citizens – whether it’s climate change, whether it’s this pandemic, whether it is the disruptive impact of emerging technologies – that can be addressed by any one country acting alone. We have an imperative, maybe more than ever before, to find ways to cooperate, work together, coordinate and that’s exactly what the United States and Germany are doing. That’s how we’ll ultimately end the COVID-19 pandemic, which is becoming unfortunately more dangerous in some parts of the world, even as it’s increasingly under control in others. It’s how we’ll tackle the climate crisis and protect our planet, our security, our health, while building a greener global economy. It’s how we’ll maintain our security in the face of old and new threats. And ultimately, it’s how we’ll protect our shared values and defend human rights and democracy both at home and around the world.
Blinken: He [Biden] talked about how great nations face the lessons of their history, no matter how painful they are. And they do all that they can to repair whatever injustice can be repaired and build a better, fairer future. Germany is a model to the world for how to do that. So we’re grateful for the friendship. We want it to be even stronger. We don’t always agree. The Foreign Minister and I spoke today about one of those areas of disagreement, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which we continue to believe is a threat to Europe’s energy security. Germany has a different perspective, and that happens from time to time amongst friends and we’ll handle our disagreements while pressing ahead on the many areas where we are working very closely together and are very much in agreement. In this case, that means that Germany and the United States will keep standing together against any dangerous or provocative actions by Russia, whether that’s encroaching on Ukraine’s territory or imprisoning Alexei Navalny or spreading disinformation in our democracies.
Blinken: We share the goal of a sovereign, stable, unified, secure Libya free from foreign interference. It’s what the people of Libya deserve, it’s critical to regional security as well. For that to happen, national elections need to go forward in December and that means urgent agreement is needed on constitutional and legal issues that would undergird those elections, and the October 23rd cease-fire agreement has to be fully implemented, including by withdrawing all foreign forces from Libya.
Maas: In the conversation we had, Tony made it very clear to me that there is an expectation in Washington with regard to Nord Stream 2 that we do our part to ensure that this pipeline cannot be misused by Putin to exert political pressure on Ukraine. We are aware of that and we want to do our part. We have done that in the past, and we have started to do that by helping to ensure that there will continue to be an alternative gas transit contract for Ukraine even if Nord Stream 2 were to operate.
Blinken: By the time we took office, the pipeline as a matter of its physical construction was more than 90 percent complete. That was the reality. That’s something we inherited. And we’re determined to see if we can make something positive out of a difficult situation that we inherited and to do what we can to make sure that the end result is that Europe’s energy security is not undermined, in fact, it’s strengthened, that Ukraine’s position is not weakened, that it is actually reinforced. And that is the nature of the conversations that we’re having with our German partners. Our goal remains to ensure that Russia cannot use energy as a coercive tool, as a weapon against Ukraine or anyone else in Europe, and I appreciate the work we’re doing with Germany to move in that direction.
Blinken: We are not about containing China or holding China back. What we are about is upholding the free and open rules-based international order that we have spent so many decades building, investing in, working on together. And if that order is challenged in any way by anyone, we will stand up and defend it. And that’s not directed at China. It’s about defending the order.
#US #Germany #NordStream2
Video ID: 20210623-064
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