Hillary Clinton attends Obama's Cabinet Meeting

Yesterday, Secretary Clinton was in her groove at the State Department with a pretty busy day of meetings.

She first met with assistant Secretaries of State, followed by a bilateral with Rumiana Zheleva, the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria.

These meetings were followed by a large meeting with President Obama and his cabinet. I believe they were there to discuss updates across several areas including national security, budget planning, and health insurance reform.

Read her remarks with Zheleva here or watch below: Read entire post

Hillary Clinton meets with Tony Blair to discuss Mid East peace

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Tony Blair yesterday, Wednesday October 7th, at the State Department to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East peace process at what was described as "a fragile and challenging time."

The spoke to the press before their talks where Secretary Clinton welcomed Tony Blair back to the State Department saying:

We've been in close touch and have met a number of times since I was confirmed as Secretary of State, talking about a range of issues. And we look forward to another productive discussion today.

Read their full text here or watch below: Read entire post

Hillary Clinton hosts a series of bilaterals in New York

On Monday, September 21st, the Secretary had a busy day! Here is the schedule released from State for her Monday:

9:15 a.m. EST - Secretary Clinton visits the New York Stock Exchange and rings the Opening Bell

12:30 p.m. EST - Secretary Clinton holds a Bilateral Meeting with Pacific Island Leaders, at the Waldorf-Astoria (CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

1:45 p.m. EST - Secretary Clinton holds a Bilateral Meeting with His Excellency Yu Myung-hwan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea (CAMERA SPRAY)

2:45 p.m. EST - Secretary Clinton holds a Bilateral Meeting with His Excellency Mikheil Saakashvili, President of Georgia (CAMERA SPRAY)

4:00 p.m. EST - Secretary Clinton holds a Bilateral Meeting with His Excellency Katsuya Okada, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan (CAMERA SPRAY)

5:00 p.m. EST - Secretary Clinton holds a Trilateral Strategic Dialogue with Japan and Australia (CAMERA SPRAY)

6:30 p.m. EST - Secretary Clinton holds a Bilateral Meeting with His Excellency Oscar Arias Sanchez, President of the Republic of Costa Rica and His Excellency Bruno Stagno Ugarte, Minister of Foreign Relations of the Republic of Costa Rica

8:30pm EST - Secretary Clinton meets with members of the U.S Mission to the United States

Here is the rundown of Secretary Clinton's series of bilaterals with visiting foreign ministers in New York. How about we let the photos and videos do the talking...

Read her full remarks on U.S. relationship with Japan while with Japan’s Foreign Minister, Katsuya Okada here or watch the video below:

Read her full remarks with Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout here or watch the video below: Read entire post

Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with President Tabare Vazquez of Uruguay in the Treaty Room at the Department of State today. Together they expressed concern that recent weapons purchases by Venezuela could lead to an arms race in South America. Together they pledged cooperation on trade.

Clinton singled out Venezuela urging it to disclose its arms purchases and make clear what they are for saying,

" We have expressed concern about the number of Venezuelan arms purchases. They outpace all other countries in South America and certainly raise the question as to whether there is going to be an arms race in the region. So we urge Venezuela to be transparent in its purchases, clear about its purposes. They should be putting in place procedures and practices to ensure that the weapons that they buy are not diverted to insurgent groups or illegal organizations, like drug trafficking gangs and other criminal cartels."

Vazquez said he feared that an arms race in the region could divert funds from economic development in the poor countries of the region. He said he wanted "the governments of South America to decide to devote more money to promote health, to promote education and education to prevent diseases; to spend that money, instead of spending it in weapons, spending it in housing, good housing for our people, and to further deepen investment, especially in the field of education." Read some of their remarks here or watch their full remarks to the press below: Read entire post

Hillary Clinton meets with Egyptian President Mubarak

Our Secretary was back from Africa and in the action Monday with a full schedule of events.

10:00 a.m. EST - Secretary Clinton swears in Ellen Tauscher, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, at the State Department.

1:00 p.m. EST - Hosts bilateral Meeting with His Excellency President Mubarak of the Arab Republic of Egypt, at the Four Seasons.

During the daily press briefing we got some details about this interesting meeting. We know that it was an hour long meeting. President Mubarak of Egypt is in town to meet with President Obama, which he did today. This was his first trip to Washington in five years. They discussed numerous things obviosly befitting the strategic partnership between Egypt and the United States. They compared notes on the status of efforts by the United States and others to resume a negotiation between Israel and Palestine as part of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East and talked about a range of regional issues, including the situation in Iran, the situation in Sudan as well as about the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan as we approach elections in Afghanistan on Thursday. Also, economics, trade, educational opportunities, human rights and democracy were all topics touched on during their meeting.

Watch a little bit of chit chat between them below:

4:00 p.m. EST - Secretary Clinton swears in Kenneth Merten, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, at the State Department.

5:15 p.m. EST - Secretary Clinton swears in Carlos Pascual, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, at the State Department.

6:30 p.m. EST - Secretary Clinton hosts Higher Education Policy Dinner, at the State Department. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (R) speaks as Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez Merizalde (L) listens during a joint press availability at the State Department August 18, 2009 in Washington, DC. Clinton and Merizalde were expected to discuss various issues including the U.S.-Colombia Defense Cooperation Agreement and the ongoing situation in Honduras.

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