Statements by Government Officials about Pakistan
Date: March 27, 2012
Prepared Remarks Via Videotape of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Young Entrepreneurs ConferenceSECRETARY
CLINTON: It is an honor to help bring so many talented young people together in one place to talk about how entrepreneurship can promote economic growth, peace, and prosperity in Pakistan. The next great innovator could be sitting right next to you, or you yourself in this room where you are gathered. Because after all, today's well-known entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Tara Dawood, all started out as you are now — a person with a dream that could change the world and then harnessed it to the drive to see it succeed.
The United States is working to promote entrepreneurship around the world through initiatives like our Global Entrepreneurship Program and by working with organizations like the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry. We are also working to help to connect Pakistani entrepreneurs with members of the Pakistani-American Diaspora who are eager to support new business ideas in Pakistan. We want to nurture a culture of creativity and promote conditions where entrepreneurs can thrive and ideas can flourish, because we believe everyone deserves a chance to create a positive future for themselves and their country.
Each of you has that chance to help shape the future of your country through your ideas and your ambition. The people of Pakistan have always had an inspired entrepreneurial spirit, and I hope this event will spark an ongoing dialogue that opens up new opportunities for all of you.Thank you. Thank you for dreaming, thank you for doing, thank you for participating in this important conference. I wish you not only a very productive day, but many days, months and years ahead. Good luck.
END.
Remarks by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Gilani of Pakistan Before a Bilateral Meeting
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Well, I want to say how much I appreciate the opportunity to meet once again with Prime Minister Gilani and his delegation.
Obviously, the United States and Pakistan have a host of mutual interests. We're both interested in combating terrorism, both internationally and in our respective countries. We both are interested in economic development. We're both interested in nuclear security, as evidenced by our presence here today. And we have been working together because we're both interested in a stable and secure Afghanistan and a stable and secure region that will benefit not only Pakistan but also the entire world.
I want to express my appreciation to Prime Minister Gilani for the work that he's done in trying to strengthen the relationship between our two countries. There have been times — I think we should be frank — over the last several months where those relations have experienced strains. But I welcome the fact that the parliament in Pakistan is reviewing, after some extensive study, the nature of this relationship. I think that it's important for us to get it right. I think it's important for us to have candid dialogue to work through these issues in a constructive fashion and a transparent fashion.
And my expectation is, is that as a consequence of the review that's taking place in Pakistan as well as the work that we're doing on the American side, that we can achieve the kind of balanced approach that respects Pakistan's sovereignty, but also it respects our concerns with respect to our national security and our needs to battle terrorists who have targeted us in the past.
I also want to express to the Prime Minister my appreciation for his recognition that it's in both of our interests and indeed in all of our interests to see an Afghan-led reconciliation process that needs to take place. And I appreciate the Prime Minister's statement in that regard. And finally, I want to express my thanks for his participation in this conference, because I think that we all agree that given the threats that have been directed in Pakistan, the terrorism that has taken place on their own soil, and obviously our experiences with terrorism, we can't afford to have non-state actors, terrorists, get their hands on nuclear weapons that could end up destroying our cities or harming our citizens. So, Mr. Prime Minister, of course, I very much appreciate you being here. And, please…
PRIME MINISTER GILANI: Thank you so much. First of all, I want to thank Mr. President for sparing this opportunity to meet me and my delegation in Seoul. And we are committed to fight against extremism and terrorism. It is in the interest of Pakistan for a stable, peaceful, prosperous, independent, sovereign Afghanistan. We want stability in Afghanistan. If there is a stability in Afghanistan it's a stability in Pakistan, and peace for Afghanistan and Pakistan. We want to work together with you to have all the peace, prosperity and progress of the whole world. And we want to work together. I appreciate that you have said good words about Pakistan, that you want to respect the sovereignty of our country. So we are picking that up at our parliamentary session and we are — and we are to go into that Sunday to the parliament.
White House Conference Call Briefing
BEN RHODES: Hi, everybody. Thanks for getting on this call. I just wanted to read out the President's meeting with Prime Minister Gilani. This meeting (inaudible) to discuss the importance that they place on nuclear security and the need to maintain vigilance against the threat of nuclear terrorism. The two leaders discussed the importance of ensuring a stable, sovereign Afghanistan, including working together in earnest to support an Afghan-led reconciliation process. In that vein, the President welcomed Prime Minister Gilani's recent statement encouraging all Taliban to join the political process. With the Pakistani parliamentary review nearing completion, the President made clear his view that the United States and Pakistan must move forward on important shared interests, including counterterrorism and fostering a stable Afghanistan. The President underscored that he values a relationship between our two countries based on mutual interest, trust and respect for Pakistani sovereignty. And again, in that vein, as he said in his opening comments to the press, the President very much welcomes the review that the parliament is conducting and the efforts that that Pakistan civilian government is undertaking to address the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. The President and Prime Minister also agreed that as cooperation on our shared interest increases, the United States would welcome the potential participation of Pakistan in the ISAF summit in Chicago in May. And with that, operator, I'd be happy to take questions…
Q: Just wondering, given the heightened tensions as of late, to what extent was that addressed? And did you feel as though there was any progress made on that front? Did you feel as though President Obama and the Prime Minister felt more unified coming out of this meeting? Thank you.
MR. RHODES: Thanks, Kristen. I would say that the two leaders did address the recent tensions between our two countries, and in fact, the parliamentary review that Pakistan is undertaking I think follows in the wake of those tensions. But I think that this was a meeting that made important progress in both sides being able to hear
directly from one another about what their views are of the various interests on which we cooperate. And I think that the President came away from the meeting with a clear understanding of the process that's underway in Pakistan to review aspects of the relationship between our two countries. And again, he's very respectful of that process, which is underway. And similarly, President Obama was able to communicate clearly the views of the United States, which includes the core national interest that we have, of course, in continuing our efforts against al Qaeda and the region, but also includes a significant commitment to a relationship between the United States and Pakistan that can serve both of our interests, because after all, these same terrorists have killed many Pakistanis, thousands of Pakistanis over the course of the last several years. And Pakistani cooperation has helped us make progress against al Qaeda.
Similarly, they were able to discuss, beyond the security issues, the broader relationship we can build where we have the type of trade and investment relationship that serves both countries. So I think it made progress in advancing a dialogue, getting a better understanding of one another's position, and working through the tensions that have been a part of the relationship in recent months.
Another question, is there is another one?
Q: Yes, I'm wondering to what extent, Ben, did the drone issue figure in the talks, and did they make any progress on that, on whether there will be any advance notification in any way to Pakistan when drone missions are undertaken? And just how would you describe the tone between the two of them?
MR. RHODES: Well, on the second part, I think the tone was one of mutual respect and a sincere interest in gaining a better understanding of each other's respective positions, and trying to determine the best way in which the United States and Pakistan can work through the types of issues that are being discussed in the Pakistani parliament, and again, that represent the interest of both countries. In terms of counterterrorism, without getting into any specific programs or operations, what I would say is that we discussed ways in which we can ensure that we have an ongoing dialogue at all levels of our government — civilian and others — to discuss how we can better cooperate to again (inaudible) that we have in al Qaeda. And the President (inaudible) he believes that both the United States and Pakistan have — (Call lost.)
Q: I think we lost you.
OPERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by for a moment while we reconnect the speaker, Mr. Rhodes…
MR. RHODES: Sorry about that. The call dropped. But I was just going to conclude by saying that on counterterrorism, they agreed that there needed to be, again, ongoing consultations across our governments about the best way to cooperate going forward against the shared enemy that we have in al Qaeda. Again, the President expressed the significant, core interest that the United States has in defeating al Qaeda, which is shared by Pakistan. But again, we want to make sure that our cooperation is able to sustain the support that will help it succeed in both of our countries. And again, we look forward to working with Pakistan as they complete their parliamentary review and discussing the ideas that come out of that review as we continue to ensure that we are cooperating in the best way possible with regard to our efforts against al Qaeda.
We'll take another question…
Q: Thanks for doing the call. I just was curious whether the Prime Minister brought up any concerns at all about some of these recent issues going on in Afghanistan regarding the U.S. troops there, both from the accidental burning of the Koran and the killings of the civilians by the one soldier. I didn't know if he brought that up at all or had any concerns about sort of the U.S. presence there, and if whether things were devolving in any way.
MR. RHODES: Thanks for the question. They did talk about Afghanistan and did not focus on those particular incidents, though. They focused on reconciliation. And Prime Minister Gilani recently made a very positive statement about the need to pursue reconciliation and encouraging Taliban to join the political process going forward. I think in their comments today they focused on the need to continue the dialogue between the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan about finding ways to support an Afghan-led reconciliation process. I think the President made it clear that he believes that it's important for Pakistan to continue to be a part of that discussion and to continue to work to support an Afghan-led reconciliation process. And Prime Minister Gillani very much committed himself and his government to supporting those efforts going forward as well. So it focused more on the political component and the reconciliation process. And again, they shared I think a consensus that Pakistan has a constructive role to play in that process going forward. And so those are the primary nature of the Afghanistan discussions. I think the President also was able to express, as we look forward and transition to the Afghans and reduce our troop presence in Afghanistan, ultimately shift into a support role, he wants to have a discussion that includes Afghanistan, Pakistan as well, as we determine the best way to ensure that the region is secure, stable, and moving forward. So those are the nature of the discussions that they had today.
I think we have time for another question.
Q: Hey, guys. Sorry about the other one. Thanks for doing the call. The civil nuclear agreement — did the Pakistani Prime Minister mention a civil nuclear agreement in this meeting, and did the President have any reaction to that?
MR. RHODES: No, they actually did not get into that subject. The meeting really focused on the parliamentary review, counterterrorism, Afghanistan, some — they touched some on the potential to deepen economic cooperation. So I think really other than reiterating I think the commitment to nuclear security and the shared effort to the Nuclear Security Summit, there wasn't a discussion of additional civilian nuclear cooperation. Of course, the United States is currently engaged in a partnership with Pakistan to address its urgent energy needs in ways that do not involve necessarily civil nuclear cooperation. And so separate from the discussion about — separate from the discussion about civil nuclear, the President did express his continued commitment to helping Pakistan as it addresses a very significant energy challenge. I think that we are running for the motorcade here now, so I'll probably have to wrap there. But thanks, everybody, for jumping on the call.
END.
White House Press Briefing
Q: What do you say about reports today that the negotiations with Pakistan over the drones, we've offered to make some concessions which have been rebuffed? And what do you expect the meeting between the President and Gilani to be later today?
MR. RHODES: Well, I'm familiar with the particular story. I think that we did think that there were some inaccuracies in the story. What I would say, though, is that we're constantly in a bilateral discussion with the Pakistanis about our counterterrorism operations. That's an ongoing discussion that we've had with them over many years. Frankly, we've seen significant success in those counterterrorism operations because U.S. and Pakistani cooperation has enabled the devastation really of al Qaeda's leadership in that part of the world. But that will certainly be a part of the agenda this afternoon in the bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Gilani — our CT cooperation going forward as well as the regional issues I talked about yesterday. And we'll have a readout for you after that meeting.
Q: What are the inaccuracies?
MR. RHODES: Well, look, I'm not going to speak about specific counterterrorism programs other than to say that the story I think did not represent the ongoing nature of the dialogue with have with the Pakistanis — these kind of regular exchanges of views on issues related to counterterrorism — and the fact that we are confident that we've been able to continue to see progress in those counterterrorism operations over the course of the last several weeks.
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