SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody.
Thank you for being here.
It’s my pleasure to welcome the foreign minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Adel
al-Jubeir, an old friend of mine.
We have been working at this for a long, long time together.
And now, ironically, we met when he was first in the foreign service and I was first in
the Senate, and now he is the foreign minister, as am I.
FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR: That was three years ago?
(Laughter.)
SECRETARY KERRY: I wish.
We talked today, as we have for the last few days by telephone and in person, about the
urgency of being able to move forward on a number of different peace fronts in the Middle
East.
First and foremost, we are deeply engaged in trying to get the International Syria Support
Group to be in a position to be able to move towards full humanitarian access and a full
ceasefire, which is in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
And we hope that when we meet in Munich in the next few days we’ll be in a position
where we can make progress in that goal.
We also talked about Yemen and the hope that perhaps over the course of these next weeks
it may become possible to try to engage in some productive conversations about how to
bring that conflict to a close.
We also talked about the ongoing challenge of meeting the needs of the Palestinians,
the security of Israel, and dealing with the Middle East, what is always known as the Middle
East peace process.
The foreign minister indicated to me the readiness and willingness of Saudi Arabia, which was
the creator of the Arab Peace Initiative and then moved the Arab Peace Initiative to a
more modern state of accepting that there needed to be some adjustments in the swaps.
They are – the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been deeply invested in wanting to try to
make peace in that part of the world and see a two-state solution implemented.
So it’s our hope that because we both believe in diplomacy that over the course of these
next days some progress can be made with respect to Syria and we can lay the groundwork for
even more efforts ahead.
And I thank King Salman and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their solid efforts to help
deal with the coalition against Daesh, their commitment recently of a willingness to put
troops into that fight also, and there are many steps that we have taken with the GCC
countries that are very critical to the ongoing security of the region.
Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary, my friend, John Kerry.
You have said – covered the whole landscape and left very little for me to add.
But what I do want to add is that this visit is part of our continuing consultations and
coordinating of our positions with regards to protecting our interests in the region
and in the world.
We have a tremendous stake in stability and peace and security in the region.
We have a tremendous stake in trying to resolve the problems in the region before they consume
all of us.
We are determined to work with our allies in the United States and our allies around
the world to bring this about, whether it is in the war against terrorism, whether it
is in trying to stabilize the Middle East, whether it’s in trying to begin a political
transition in Syria, implementing 2254, whether it’s in bringing peace between Israelis
and Palestinians, peace to Yemen.
Our region, unfortunately, is experiencing many challenges, and the resolution of these
challenges is critically important to the future of the region and the world.
And we are determined to – as I said, to work with our American friends in trying to
find solutions to these areas in a way that promotes peace and security for all people
of the region as well as people of the world.
I want to thank you, John, for receiving me once again in the State Department.
It’s always a pleasure to see you and to exchange views with you.
And thanks again for this, once again, very productive meeting, and I look forward to
seeing you in a few days in Munich so we can continue our efforts.
Thank you very much.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you.
Thank you my friend.
FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR: Thank you.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary -- SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you.
I don’t have time now.
I’m really just – I don’t have time.
It’s not that I won’t, I just don’t have the time.
Thank you.