SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, thank you, and thank all of you for being here this evening,
and in particular I want to thank my longtime friend and colleague, Foreign Minister Adel
al-Jubeir.
Adel and I have known each other for many, many years when our facial features were much
younger.
We remember those days, but we have remained friends for all these many years, and now
colleagues.
And I’m really proud to be here today with him to talk about this new strengthening of
the U.S.-Saudi partnership and relationship.
As Adel just described it, today truly is a historic moment in U.S.-Saudi relations.
The United States of America, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are really dedicating ourselves
to a new strategic partnership, new for the 21st century, and to charting a renewed path
toward a peaceful Middle East where economic development, trade, diplomacy are hallmarks
of the regional and global engagement.
It’s something that we will be working closely together on.
This growing partnership is really grounded in trust, trust between our two nations that
we are pursuing the same objectives – cooperation and a shared interest.
The elements of this declaration that was signed today, the Joint Strategic Vision,
there are many, many elements, and there’s a lot of work now to implement those elements
and really put them into motion.
And so that is going to require significant ongoing engagement and dialogue between our
two nations, and so I think you will find that we will be meeting with a great deal
of regularity in order to review how these things are progressing.
And that is only going to serve to further strengthen, I think, our cooperation, and
also I think sends a very strong message to our common enemies.
It strengthens the bonds between us and it does chart this new pathway forward and will
guide our path forward.
At the core of our expanding relationship really are our shared security interests.
America’s security at home is strengthened when Saudi Arabia’s security
is strong as well.
And the United States of America and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are embarking
on a number of new initiatives to counter violent extremist messaging,
as you just heard Foreign Minister Jubeir describe.
We’re also going to be pursuing new approaches to disrupting financing of terrorism
and advancing defense cooperation.
Today, the United States and Saudi Arabia are conducting vital new expansions of the
security relationship that really spans over seven decades.
But I think one of the real hallmarks of today is the economic cooperation.
And if you have strong economic engagement between two countries, that really is foundational
to a strong security relationship as well.
As you heard Foreign Minister Jubeir mention, today we announced 23 foreign investment export
licenses leading to upwards of more than $350 billion of historic direct investment; 109
billion of that is in arms sales to bolster the security of our Saudi partners.
And these are going to result in literally hundreds of thousands of American jobs created
by these direct investments in purchases of American goods, American equipment, American
technology, but also investment into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well.
And I think it’s important to note that this is an indication of the confidence the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has in the United States investment climate.
And I think as they evaluate the future investment climate of the United States, what they are
seeing already are the positive impacts of President Trump’s actions to improve the
business climate in the U.S. for investment in job creation, and they intend to be a part
of that with these investments.
Similar to this is a great vote of confidence in the United States in the business environment
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as they continue to advance in their own reforms and seek new
opportunities for their own people to create jobs as well.
So strong economic relationships are the foundation for strong security relationships as well.
The intended sales of the defense packages in particular fall into five broad categories:
border security and counterterrorism, maritime and coastal security, air force modernization,
air and missile defense, cyber security and communications upgrades.
And I think you can surely identify in all of these the importance that all of those
areas have to U.S. national security as well.
Obviously, along with this will go a lot of training and support to strengthen our partnership
with the Saudi Armed Forces as well, which just further strengthens our mil-to-mil relationship.
The package of defense equipment and services supports the long-term security of Saudi Arabia
and the entire Gulf region, in particular in the face of malign Iranian influence and
Iranian-related threats which exist on Saudi Arabia’s borders on all sides.
Additionally, it bolsters the Kingdom’s ability to provide for its own security and
continuing contributing to counterterrorism operations across the region.
And the important part of this is this huge arms sales package reduces the burden on the
United States to provide the same equipment to our own military forces and will strengthen
Saudi security forces for the future so that Saudi Arabia is more capable of carrying a
greater share of the burden of their own security, which, as I indicated, is important to the
U.S. national security as well.
So it lowers the demands on our own military, but it also lowers the cost to the American
people of providing security in this region.
So extremely important to the future of the relationship but also to the cost of providing
security for American citizens in this region.
It does commit the – it does demonstrate the commitment to our partnership with Saudi
Arabia, as I indicated, expanding hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
I think the other important announcement which Adel just mentioned
was the new counterterrorism initiative.
The new Global Center for Combatting Extremist Ideology, which will be opened in Riyadh,
will be a Saudi-led hub for defeating extremism in the information space.
As you’ve heard us say often, we have to defeat ISIS on the battlefield, but we really
have to defeat ISIS in the cyberspace.
This is their recruiting tool.
This is how they message to lone wolves around the world.
And this center is going to concentrate heavily on how to enter that space from the standpoint
of experts that live in this part of the world and understand how to message to those who
might be influenced by radical messaging.
Our partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council, including Saudi Arabia, will be signing a
new agreement tomorrow to close gaps in many of these areas, including the financial infrastructure
which terrorists can exploit, and we command them for refusing to let terrorists conduct
financial operations in their countries.
We are calling on all countries to crack down on the way financing and funds reach terrorist
organizations.
All of these new initiatives will bolster our joint efforts to deter regional threats
from Iran in Syria, Iran in Yemen, and on Saudi Arabia’s borders, as I mentioned.
These new steps forward will serve the national security interest of the American people and
the Kingdom both.
We’re very proud of this relationship that we are embarking upon with the Kingdom and
are very appreciative of the leadership of His Royal Highness King Salman in putting
these initiatives forward.
We’ve had a really productive day today, a truly historic day in this relationship.
Thank you.