This is my first visit to Amsterdam and to The Hague and to the Netherlands, and I'm
so pleased that I've had a chance already to meet some wonderful students.
I want to thank the Mayor and the curator for their hospitality as well.
I'm proud to be with some of the Dutch masters who I studied in school, and to see just the
extraordinary traditions of this great country.
I'd be remiss if I did not mention that I'm proud of both of our teams at the Olympics.
So in addition to painting, you really know how to speed skate.
(Laughter.)
As the Prime Minister said, we just had an excellent opportunity to experience the museum
and to see those documents, including the Treaty of Friendship that John Adams negotiated
more than 200 years ago, as a reminder of the historic ties between our countries.
And this is — of all the press conferences I've done, this is easily the most impressive
backdrop that I've had to a press conference.
Of course, we're here for our third Nuclear Security Summit.
And I want to thank His Majesty, King Willem-Alexander, as well as Mark, the people of the Netherlands,
for all the preparations that go into bringing together so many heads of state.
This is just one more example of Dutch leadership — not just on nuclear security, but on many
global challenges.
As you know, the Netherlands is one of our closest allies, and our cooperation underscores
a larger point — our NATO allies are our closest partners on the world stage.
Europe is the cornerstone of America's engagement with the world.
And today we focused on several priorities — in Europe and beyond.
First, we obviously spent a considerable amount of time on the situation in Ukraine.
Europe and America are united in our support of the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian
people.
We're united in imposing a cost on Russia for its actions so far.
Prime Minister Rutte rightly pointed out yesterday the growing sanctions would bring significant
consequences to the Russian economy.
And I'll be meeting with my fellow G7 leaders later today, and we'll continue to coordinate
closely with the Netherlands and our European partners as we go forward.
Second, I thanked the Prime Minister for the Netherlands' strong commitment and contributions
to NATO.
Dutch forces have served with distinction in Afghanistan and joined us in confronting
piracy off the Horn of Africa.
Through NATO, the Netherlands contributed to the deployment of Patriot air batteries
in Turkey and are making important investments in NATO defense capabilities.
Dutch forces are also making critical contributions to the international stabilization mission
in Mali.
So, across the board, the Dutch are making their presence felt in a very positive way,
and we're very grateful for that.
Third, we discussed how we can keep expanding the trade that creates jobs for our people.
We're already among each other's largest trade and investment partners, but we can always
do more.
And so I appreciated the Netherlands' strong support for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership, or T-TIP, which can fuel growth both in the United States and in Europe, especially
for our small and medium-sized companies.
Fourth, we discussed a range of global challenges.
And as the United States and the P5-plus-1 partners continue negotiations with Iran,
we have the basis for a practical solution that resolves concerns over Iran's nuclear
program.
But at the same time, I think it's important that everyone remember during these negotiations
we'll continue to enforce the overall sanctions architecture that helped bring Iran to the
table in the first place.
I also wanted to commend the Netherlands for its leadership in the international effort
to destroy Syria's chemical weapons, and that includes your role as the host of the Organization
for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
And more broadly, our two countries are going to keep working together to deliver humanitarian
assistance to the Syrian people.
And, finally, we reaffirmed our shared determination to confront climate change and its effects,
including rising sea levels, which obviously is something that the Netherlands is concerned
about, given your experience with seas and tides.
We're pleased that the Netherlands has joined our initiative that will virtually end all
public financing for coal-fired plants abroad.
It's concrete action like this that can keep making progress on reducing emissions while
we develop new global agreements on climate change.
So, a final note.
When John Adams was negotiating the treaty that we saw earlier, he wrote that the Dutch
have — and I'm quoting here — have always "distinguished themselves by an inviolable
attachment to freedom and the rights of nations."
That was true then; it remains true today.
So, Mark, I want to thank you and the Dutch for your hospitality, for your organization,
for your partnership and for your leadership on the world stage.
And I want to thank you for sharing these extraordinary paintings with me this morning.
Dank u wel.
Thank you.