It’s Tuesday…
President Biden’s public schedule for 07/11/2023:
| 1:30 AM Press Briefing | Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan |
| 2:00 AM | Out-of-Town Pool Call Time Out-of-Town Pool |
| 3:15 AM Arrival Ceremony | The President participates in an official arrival ceremony with President Gitanas Nausėda of Lithuania Out-of-Town Pool |
| 3:30 AM Photo Op | The President participates in an official photo and guest book signing with President Gitanas Nausėda of Lithuania Out-of-Town Pool |
| 3:45 AM Bilateral Meeting | The President participates in a bilateral meeting with President Gitanas Nausėda of Lithuania Out-of-Town Pool Spray |
| 6:50 AM Official Greeting | The President participates in an official greeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and President Gitanas Nausėda of Lithuania and a family photo with Allied Heads of State and Government Restricted Out-of-Town Pool |
| 7:00 AM NATO Meeting | The President attends the Meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of Heads of State and Government, with Sweden Restricted Out-of-Town Pool Spray |
| 11:00 AM Bilateral Meeting | The President participates in a bilateral meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkiye Out-of-Town Pool Spray |
The press briefing YouTube is 33 minutes and 13 seconds long. The press briefing transcript can be found here.
United Kingdom Tweets
From Monday…
From Tuesday…
The video clip is 52 seconds long.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the UK and President Biden of the US offered short remarks prior to their bilateral meeting. The NBC News YouTube is 2 minutes and 12 seconds long.
Their full remarks:
PRESIDENT BIDEN: All the flowers bloomed.
PRIME MINISTER SUNAK: Well, Joe, welcome.
It’s great to have you here, back in Downing Street. I think — you’ve been here a few times before, I know, but your first time as president. So we’re very privileged and fortunate to have you here. Thanks for coming.
Great for us to carry on our conversations, which we were having just a month or so ago, it feels like, in the White House, where we signed the Atlantic Declaration — the first-of-its-kind economic partnership, which I know we’ll be talking about today: how do we strengthen our cooperation, joint economic security to the benefit of our citizens.
But also, we head from here to NATO in Vilnius, where we stand as two of the firmest allies in that Alliance. And I know we’ll want to do everything we can to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security.
But great pleasure to have you here
.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: It’s good to be back. You know, we’ve only been meeting once a month.PRIME MINISTER SUNAK: (Laughs.)
PRESIDENT BIDEN: (Laughs.) We met in San Diego, Belfast, Hiroshima, Washington, here. And couldn’t be meeting with a closer friend and a greater ally. And we got a lot to talk about, and I — I think we’re doing well. I think we’re moving along in a way that’s positive, but our relationship is rock solid between the United States, Great Britain. And I look forward to our discussions.
PRIME MINISTER SUNAK: Yeah, me too. Great to have you here.
Thanks very much.
White House.gov. 07/10/2023.
C-SPAN covered President Biden’s arrival at Windsor Castle to meet with King Charles III. The shared video is 9 minutes and 57 seconds long.
The White House posted the following meeting readout:
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met today with King Charles III at Windsor Castle. They underscored the strength of the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom and the friendship between our people. Following the meeting, they engaged with a group of leading philanthropists and investors focused on mobilizing finance to address the climate crisis.
White House.gov. 07/10/2023.
The White House posted the following; JOINT FACT SHEET: President Biden and His Majesty King Charles III Meet with Leading Philanthropists and Financiers to Catalyze Climate Finance
Today, President Biden and His Majesty King Charles III met at Windsor Castle with 23 leading philanthropists and financiers to help catalyze finance to support emerging markets and developing countries in tackling the climate crisis. The gathering followed the Climate Finance Mobilization Forum, which was convened by the UK Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps and U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, and inspired by the work of His Majesty the King.
Today’s gathering builds on longstanding UK-US efforts to turbocharge the net zero, resilient transition already underway in developing and emerging economies on the road to COP28. The Forum brought together key players to identify how we can go further faster to mobilize the private investment needed to expand clean and renewable energy across the globe, reduce both potent CO2 and non-CO2 emissions, halt deforestation and restore forests, and build resilience to a changing climate.
Recognizing the scale and urgency of the climate crisis, the gathering emphasized the importance of partnership across governments, philanthropies, and investors – given that no single actor can mobilize finance at the scale required by acting alone. The scale of this transition requires trillions in private investment in addition to the public funds we are spending. It is also one of the biggest investment opportunities in history. Private sector financial institutions and philanthropists announced a range of new investment platforms and initiatives during the event that demonstrated their commitment to concrete actions to finance efforts in Africa, Asia and Latin America. These efforts will help reduce emissions and boost climate resilience – while generating jobs in local communities and growing their economy.
Building on today’s important event, the COP28 President Designate United Arab Emirates will host a High-Level Business & Philanthropy Delivery Forum during the World Leaders Climate Action Summit. The Forum will focus on removing barriers to progress, showcasing what is working, and identifying opportunities for collaboration, and acceleration.
Key announcements from today’s event included:
- Builders Vision, Mitsui & Co. and Renewable Resources Group Partnership will identify over $1 billion of Nature-Based Solutions Projects in Emerging Markets through a new venture they are pursuing to address impacts of climate change across critical supply chains in agriculture, natural resources development, and energy. The firms seek to cooperate on activities globally where nature-based solutions – such as regenerative farming, agroforestry, and sustainable water management – can be used alongside best-in-class technology solutions and local community expertise to develop products and systems that reduce negative environmental impacts and create sustainable and mutually beneficial outcomes. These firms will identify at least $1 billion of initial project opportunities in emerging markets where investors and corporations can deliver on carbon neutrality and sustainability pledges via direct investment and supply chain participation. Potential initial investment projects span highly biodiverse and at-risk climate regions, including areas of Central and South America, the Middle East, and North Africa with ambition to expand to sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia over time. Cooperation and collaboration with multinational corporations, governments, family farmers, and others is welcomed to support these opportunities.
- Builders Vision is also committing $100 million in oceans-related investments and grants in emerging markets focused on blue carbon ecosystem conservation, oceans carbon dioxide removal, shipping decarbonization and advancing wind energy.
- LeapFrog Investments, an impact investment firm operating in emerging markets, has committed to investing $500 million in companies that are addressing climate change in Africa and Asia. Their aim is to provide green tools and technologies to 50 million low-income people, enabling them to improve their lives and livelihoods. This investment will focus on supporting companies in the built environment, energy, mobility, and food sectors, which are key areas for a green transition. By 2030, overall investments in these four sectors alone could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions substantially and could create an estimated 90 million new jobs in developing countries.
- The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) is launching a $500 million Coalition for African Entrepreneurs, to catalyse a further 100,000 young African entrepreneurs and small businesses, focusing particularly on fragile states, women entrepreneurs, and green entrepreneurship. The Foundation has, since 2015, connected over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFConnect, and disbursed nearly $100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Coalition is open to development agencies, the global private sector, philanthropic organisations, and governments to create meaningful change and empower Africa’s next generation. Creating a green entrepreneurial revolution is fundamental to the Coalition, as we embed sustainable practices and solutions across the next generation.
- The Sustainable Market Initiative (SMI) has announced its Terra Carta Accelerator Fund with a target of £100 million. The initial focus of the Accelerator Fund will be to bring natural capital projects, with climate co-benefits, to investability and scale with a focus on emerging and developing markets. It also aims to pilot Nature and climate-aligned supply chain transitions across industries globally. The Accelerator Fund builds on a challenge from His Majesty King Charles III to ensure the private sector is helping to scale a minimum of five land-based and five marine-based projects a year to 2030 as a significant contribution to the Global Biodiversity Framework including the effective conservation and management of at least 30% of the world’s land, coastal areas and oceans in addition to the restoration of 30% of terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The members of the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Financial Services Task Force have committed over $8.9 trillion to support the transition to net zero by 2030 (or sooner) and have already provided and mobilized over $2.5 trillion in capital as part of those commitments since 2020/2021.
- Forrest Group (Fortescue, Minderoo Foundation and Tattarang) will pursue a unique portfolio of blended philanthropic, private and public finance with seven priority actions to continue the scale-up of its green metals and green businesses, including (1) embarking on a new project of work with the Green Hydrogen Standard 2.0 at COP28 to ensure standards are set in a way that helps emerging economies thrive while also partnering with leading African universities to develop the skills required to enable the hydrogen industry in Africa; (2) developing an ethical and secure supply chain for critical clean technologies with practical initiatives such as transforming an existing, surplus geothermal energy source to generate green hydrogen in Kenya; and (3) building an estimated $20 billion in renewable energy projects across the world, including in Africa, Australia, Europe and Latin America. Projects are expected to be financed in the rapidly developing green, structured finance global capital markets.
This is in addition to recent pledges and initiatives from Forum participants showcasing climate leadership:
- Boston Consulting Group: BCG previously announced that it expects to invest $2 billion in the next decade to reach their “Net Zero by 2030” commitment and to provide consulting support to society and organizations in addressing critical climate and sustainability efforts across a broad range of partnerships including with UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties, the First Mover Coalition, and many others. They supported the initial set up of the Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA) design process and are excited about its potential. While important design issues remain to ensure high-quality credits and clear recognition of companies’ contributions, they are optimistic these issues can be successfully addressed, and in that case, expect to become a founding partner in the ETA community and encourage others to participate as well.
- BlackRock: At COP26, BlackRock announced the final close of the Climate Finance Partnership (CFP), a blended finance investment vehicle that seeks to accelerate the flow of capital into climate-related investments in emerging markets. So far in 2023, CFP has committed approximately $190 million into renewables investments in Kenya and the Philippines, and has approved the deployment of a further c. $90 million into two additional investments, both in emerging economies in South East Asia, which will be announced (subject to certain conditions) in due course. Following these capital commitments, CFP would have around $390 million of capital for deployment into future emerging markets climate technology investment opportunities.
- Bloomberg Philanthropies, in partnership with the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, will build on its long-term commitment to move the world beyond coal and keep the 1.5°C global warming target within reach. To address the specific challenges involved in accelerating a successful managed phaseout of coal power in emerging economies, Bloomberg Philanthropies will expand its support for Just Energy Transition Partnerships in countries including Indonesia and Vietnam, with a focus on ways for public and private finance to work together to unlock capital to enable economies to reduce coal and ramp up the development and deployment of clean energy. In addition, Bloomberg Philanthropies will help develop global and local standards and policy frameworks to ensure that the managed phaseout of coal is done in an effective and orderly manner. This includes developing and delivering concrete integrity guidelines by COP28 for the use of carbon credits in incentivizing earlier coal retirement, avoiding the planned release of millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
- Community Jameel, a global organisation focused on helping communities thrive, has announced that they are increasing their funding for climate initiatives ahead of COP28. The funding will support projects like the Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet, a platform that predicts climate change to help communities adapt. Community Jameel is committed to addressing climate change, particularly its impact on vulnerable communities. They will continue their efforts to combat food insecurity through agricultural innovation and climate-smart agriculture.
- Ninety One, a global investment manager, has announced initial funding for its new strategy called Emerging Market Transition Debt (EMTD). This strategy aims to provide commercial financing to support real-world efforts in reducing carbon emissions where it is most needed. The firm is now raising more funds with the goal of turning EMTD into a large-scale initiative worth billions of dollars. By actively participating in the Sustainable Markets Initiative, Ninety One is contributing to the creation of a new investment category focused on transition debt. They provide credit to high-emitting companies that have a strong potential for transitioning towards sustainability. The aim is to inspire other companies to offer similar opportunities and promote transition financing on a larger scale
- Three Cairns Group and Sea Change Foundation International announced the formation of Allied Climate Partners, Inc. (ACP), a philanthropic investment organization with a mission to increase the number of bankable, climate-related projects and businesses in emerging markets and developing economies to create significant environmental, economic, and social impact. ACP will select regional investment managers in Southeast Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Central America, and India and support them with capital and the expertise necessary to increase the number of climate-related projects and asset-oriented businesses by investing at the early-stages of the development process. The initiative will be formally launched at COP28.
- The World Bank’s Private Sector Investment Lab have announced 15 Chief Executive Officers and Chairs who will make up the Lab. The founding members comprise a core group charged with developing solutions to address the barriers to private sector investment in emerging markets and developing countries – including leaders from AXA, BlackRock, HSBC, Macquarie, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Ninety One, PIMCO, Ping An, Royal Philips, Standard Bank, Standard Chartered, Sustainable Energy for All, Tata, Temasek, and Three Cairns Group. The Lab will identify new approaches, building on the World Bank’s current work, to address existing barriers and develop solutions, with the ultimate goal of crowding in greater levels of private finance in emerging markets. The Lab will initially focus on scaling transition finance in renewable energy and energy infrastructure.
The White House posted the following meeting readout:
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met today with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the United Kingdom in London. The leaders reviewed preparations for the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius. They reaffirmed their steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression. The leaders discussed the Atlantic Declaration on economic partnership they launched in June, including next steps to drive toward key outcomes in the months ahead. They also reviewed developments in Northern Ireland and efforts to ensure continued progress there.
White House.gov. 07/10/2023.
“Bidenomics” Tweets
From Monday…
The video clip is 51 seconds long.
President Biden:
It’s about rebuilding the economy from the middle out and the bottom up. When that happens, the poor have a way up, the middle class do well, and the wealthy still do very well.
Number two, it’s about bringing jobs home. Creating tens of thousands of new, good-paying jobs instead of going for cheaper labor overseas.
It’s also about making sure we’re investing in things that relate to education. My wife has an expression, “any counter that out-educates us will out-compete us.”
And lastly, it’s about making sure that everybody has a chance. That’s what we’re doing and it’s working. We created 13 million new jobs, 800,000 manufacturing jobs in less than two years.
So we’re on our way. America is back. We have the strongest economy of any of the major nations in the world. And we’re going to continue.
Twitter.com @POTUS. 06/10/2023.
Lithuania/NATO Tweets
From Tuesday…
The White House posted the following; Readout of President Joe Biden’s Meeting with Prime Minister President Gitanas Nausėda of Lithuania:
President Joe Biden met with President Gitanas Nausėda of Lithuania in Vilnius on July 11, 2023. President Biden thanked President Nausėda for Lithuania’s hospitality in hosting the 2023 NATO Summit. He emphasized the ironclad U.S. commitment to NATO security, demonstrated through persistent, consecutive rotations of U.S. military personnel in Lithuania. The leaders discussed their ongoing commitment to Ukraine’s security and imposing costs on Russia for its aggression for as long as necessary.
White House.gov. 07/11/2023.
The White House posted the following; Remarks by President Biden and President Gitanas Nausėda of Lithuania Before Bilateral Meeting | Vilnius, Lithuania:
PRESIDENT NAUSĖDA: (In progress.) And, first of all, I would like to remind you that we are celebrating one and — 100 years of our establishment of our diplomatic relations. Also, our cooperation recently is improving all the time.
White House.gov. 07/11/2023.
But I would like also to thank for the non-recognition policy of the United States regarding the occupation of Lithuania in the Soviet Union. It was very persistent policy. It helped us — our spirit, moral spirit high. And I think this is very important to remember, too.
The situation in our region is unfortunately deteriorating. And you see what is happening around us. And we see Belarus just swallowed into the Russian Federation, and we see that Belarus is becoming additional threat, additional factor of insecurity in the region.
So this is the reason why we ask the NATO — we ask our strongest Ally, United States — to pay a consistent atten- — attention to the security of our region.
And I think the NATO Summit, which takes place in Vilnius, in absolutely near proximity to adversary countries — this is symbolic event — symbolic. But also, at the same time, this is a great opportunity to take the bold decisions, and we expect that they will be done.
This is very important to mention that we already have this Vilnius meeting as historical one, even before it started, because the membership of Sweden is already the — on the table. And I think we will welcome the 32nd member of NATO very soon.
We have regional defense plans approved, and now it’s important that they become executable by the end of this year, with pre-positioning, with assigned forces.
We are probably — Lithuania is one of the most enthusiastic supporters of transatlantic bond in Europe — in European Union because we think that your participation, your attention is extremely important in this field of geopolitical uncertainty.
And at the same time, Lithuania is intending to buy — to acquire military equipment from United States. And I would like to mention Black Hawks. Also, we intend to buy HIMARS, JLTVs — Oshkosh. And all this military equipment helps us to modernize our military forces.
At the same time, we are closely cooperating with Germany. And recently, the very good decision was announced by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius to scale up the forward presence of eFP country Germany in Lithuania up to brigade size on a permanent basis. So, I think it would be very positive to welcome this decision and welcome the engagement of all eFP countries in the region to increase the forward presence in our — in our region.
So, Mr. President, thank you so much for your participation in our NATO Summit. I’m looking forward to closely cooperating with you and with our colleagues during these two days.
I’m looking forward to — to be able to listen to your speech tomorrow in Vilnius University. It will be another historical moment for Lithuania.
And all the Lithuanian people greet you so warmly. Even Vilnius — you see it’s a little bit empty right now, but this is because of security restrictions and some people decided to leave the city just to — to avoid some inconveniences. But, you know, in our hearts — from bottom of our hearts, we welcome your visit, we welcome your arrival, and we are looking forward to cooperate with United States in the future.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Well, Mr. President, thank you for the welcome and thank your team as well.
You know, it’s great to be back in Vilnius. I was here in 2014 as vice president shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine the first time and, at the time, talked about what I thought Russia was likely to continue to do. Some people were somewhat skeptical of my judgment at the time and — but, unfortunately, it turned out to be accurate.
And the United States is here today to reaffirm our commitment to NATO but also to Vilnius. Look, we — we go back a long way. And the — when — we — we’re committed to Lithuania and to the Baltics and to NATO.
I remember — you may recall when we were having the debate in the United States Senate about enlarging NATO, and I was arguing very strongly that the Baltics should all be a part of NATO. And you’ve been very, very added value.
And our pledge to be with you has not wavered. It didn’t take us long to get thousands of troops here when Russia invaded the second time. We’ll be able to — you can be assured that you’re going to have all that you need.
We have the Secretary of Defense with us today. We can send him alone; he’s enough. (Laughter.) But — but all kidding aside, we —
And, look, as I’ve said before: We take, NATO takes, all of us take Article 5 literally. One inch of NATO territory means we’re all — we’re all in a war together against whomever is violating that space, and we’re going to defend every inch of it.
And I want to thank you, Mr. President, for hosting this historic summit at an important time: the first time that NATO leaders will meet with 31 together, and looking forward to meeting very soon with 32 members with the addition of Sweden.
The leader of Sweden was just in my Oval Office not long ago, and we were hoping this would occur when it did. And I’m confident we’ll get that done today.
And in the coming days, we’re also going to discuss a range of issues — how to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank and modernize NATO’s deterrence and defense capabilities. And we’re going to be doing it in a place of — where those — those efforts truly matter every single, solitary day. And we’re also going to discuss our support for the people of Ukraine. And I want to thank you and — for your partnership and leadership as we take on this challenge together.
So, I look forward to our conversation today and to continuing to stand with you and all the people of Lithuania for a simple reason: shared values. We have the same value set. It’s important. That’s what NATO is all about. That’s what transatlantic alliance is about.
And as you probably heard, I am a very strong supporter of the transatlantic alliance. I’ve learned that nothing happens here that doesn’t affect us. So, we’re all in.
We’re looking forward to today. Thank you.
PRESIDENT NAUSĖDA: Thank you.
The White House posted the following; Remarks by President Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Official Greeting | Vilnius, Lithuania:
SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG: President Biden, dear Joe, welcome to the NATO Summit. And many, many thanks for your strong leadership making this alliance united and even stronger. This summit is already historic because the agreement we made yesterday will make Sweden a full member of NATO. And that will make our alliance even more capable of defending all Allies.
White House.gov. 06/11/2023.
At this meeting, we will also send a clear message to Ukraine that we stand by them as long as needed and also that we agree on a united and positive message — message on the path forward for Ukraine and membership for Ukraine.
Another major message from this summit will be that we need to invest more in our defense. And we will agree on a new defense investment pledge where we state clearly that 2 percent of GDP for defense is the minimum.
The good news is that European Allies and Canada are stepping up. This year, we have new numbers showing that they have added 8.3 percent in real terms for the defense budget. This is a record high, and that demonstrates that Allies are delivering on their commitments.
So, once again, Mr. President, it’s great to have you here at the NATO Summit.
MR. PRESIDENT: It’s good to be here. And thank you for continuing to deliver.
I — as I’ve made no mis- — the press is not at all surprised that I’ve been touting the fact that I think it’s really important at this critical moment in Ukrai- — in the whole NATO issue that you continue to lead NATO. You’re trusted. No one knows the situation that we’re facing better than you do.
And this historic moment — the adding of Finland and Sweden to — to NATO — it’s consequential. And your leadership really matters. And the — and we agreed on the language that — that we proposed, that you proposed, relative to the future of Ukraine being able to join NATO.
And we’re looking forward to continuing a united NATO. They’ve heard me say — my American press have heard me say many times I still think that President Putin thinks the way he succeeds is to break NATO. Not going to do that, especially with you as the lead of it.
So, thank you for being willing to do it.
SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG: Thank you so much.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG: Thank you.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Thank you, all.
This is an Open Thread.
