美国国务卿克里在美国.docVIP

美国国务卿克里在美国 　　Well, everybody, my apologies for being delayed, and I thank everybodyfor their patience and look forward to a very interesting and comprehensive discussion thisevening. I want to begin by thanking Foreign Minister Lwin and the Government of Myanmar,which has done a very solid job of leading ASEAN as chair this year. And I also want torecognize our new Ambassador to ASEAN Nina Hachigian, who was confirmed just in time tobe here today. (Laughter and applause.) Wersquo;re delighted to have Nina on board, and I know allof you will really enjoy working with her. 　　The United States remains deeply committed to engaging the Asia Pacific region. I thinkyoursquo;ve heard us talking about our rebalanced Asia and the deep involvement that we havethere, working for the trade agreement, working with respect to security issues and globalclimate change ndash; particularly important. I had occasion to be in the Philippines and see theimpact directly of Typhoon Haiyan. And so we have a lot of work to do, and we are deeplycommitted. President Obama has reinforced again and again his intention to keep the UnitedStates front and center in the region. Irsquo;ve already traveled there ndash; I think itrsquo;s five or six timesin a year and a half. The Presidentrsquo;s been there several times. Wersquo;re looking forward to beingback there shortly for the meetings in October, November, and therersquo;s obviously a lot tocontinue to work on. 　　ASEAN and its centrality is essential to upholding the rules-based system throughout the AsiaPacific, and it is the best way to ensure that all countries big and small have a voice as we worktogether to address the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities. Thatrsquo;s why theUnited States continues to invest so much in the relationship. Itrsquo;s why wersquo;re deepening our tiesamong our people-to-people programs, like President Obamarsquo;s Young Southeast Asian LeadersInitiative and the U.S.-ASEAN Fulbright Program. And itr