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Prime Minister Rutte: Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the Netherlands.
Welcome to Amsterdam.
And, Barack, welcome to this
very special location.
We are standing here on historic grounds,
surrounded by the finest paintings that Holland has
produced and only a stone's throw away from
the house of John Adams, the first American
ambassador to the Netherlands
and second President of the United States.
It's a location that symbolizes
the enduring partnership between the U.S.
and the Netherlands.
Our shared history and heritage
go back a long way.
As an historian, it was a special moment for
me when earlier this morning I was able to show
President Obama two original documents from our
National Archives that played an important role
in the age-old friendship between our two countries.
The first was our own Declaration of
Independence, the Plakkaat van Verlatinghe of 1581,
which inspired Thomas Jefferson and his peers.
The second was the American-Dutch Treaty
of Amity and Commerce of 1782, another remarkable
document from an age when peace
between countries was usually a heartfelt affair.
And today, friendship is still at the heart
of the relationship between the United States
and the Netherlands, along with trade, shared values,
and joint responsibilities.
Since that first treaty we have worked together
in the growing awareness that economic prosperity,
a safe and stable world and international
cooperation go hand in hand.
With this in mind, the President and I talked
about a wide range of subjects,
starting with a joint climate initiative and the new steps
we will take today in that regard.
The Netherlands is joining with the United States
and a group of other countries in a bid to stop
international public funding of new coal-fired
power plants, for example,
by multilateral development banks.
We want to achieve an international level
playing field to ensure that private and public
parties invest in green growth wherever possible.
We also discussed the important topic
of the Transatlantic Investment Partnership between
the EU and U.S.
Once concluded, this agreement will create more
economic growth and jobs on both sides
of the Atlantic.
Importantly, it will set new standards
that will benefit global trade and third countries as well.
This partnership will bolster our excellent
bilateral economic ties even further.
During our conversation I stressed how much
we value this partnership.
The Netherlands is the world's third largest
investor in the United States and we are home
to some 1,800 American businesses.
And of course, we also spoke about the major
international security issues
in Syria, Iran and Ukraine.
Concerning the last, we both regard Russia's
attempts to annex the Crimea as a flagrant
breach of international law and we condemn
its actions in the strongest possible terms.
The presence of so many world leaders
in the Netherlands this week presents an important
opportunity for the international community
to discuss this subject, as well as other pressing
issues that affect our common interests.
Finally, we looked ahead at the Nuclear Security
Summit today and tomorrow.
President Obama deserves all the credit
for getting this topic high on the agenda.
In 2010, Washington hosted the first summit
on this seat.
In 2012, it was Seoul's turn.
And now the Netherlands is proud to host
the summit today and tomorrow in The Hague that will bring
us closer to the goal of securing potentially
dangerous nuclear material.
Barack, your presence underlines the importance
of the summit, and this event, too, demonstrates
the strength of the bilateral ties between our
countries and of our joint commitment to peace,
security and democracy.
I'm delighted to be able to hear from you publicly
here at this splendid location.
Again, thank you for coming.
President Obama: Mark, thank you.
And it is a splendid location.
I'm so grateful for your kind words.
We were very pleased to welcome you back in 2011
to the White House, and I appreciate
your warm welcome today.
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.
(Applause.)