F.P. Report
WASHINGTON: Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State on Thursday addressed the House Committee on Foreign Affairs underlining the Biden-Harris Administration’s is foreign policy priorities.
During his address, Secretary of State remarked the Biden administration’s priorities saying that stopping COVID-19 and strengthening global health security, so a crisis like this never happens again, he also added that the administration is committed to building a more stable and inclusive global economy that delivers security and opportunity for as many Americans as possible.
Mentioning stretching of democracy, Blinken remarked that the priority is renewing democracy at home and abroad, because strong democracies are more stable, more open, more committed to human rights, less prone to conflict, and a more dependable market for our goods and services.
Furthermore, he also mentioned that working to create a humane and effective immigration system, because strong borders are fundamental to our national security and welcoming immigrants is core to our national identity and revitalizing our ties with allies and partners, because these relationships really are force multipliers and a unique asset to the United States are the priorities of Biden administration.
Referring to the global challenge of climate change, Blinken remarked that tackling the climate crisis and driving a green energy revolution is the priority because effectively dealing with climate change is essential to the health of our people, our economy, our security, and our planet.
Securing our leadership in technology, because it’s critical to thriving in the global economy and because we need to strengthen our defenses against bad actors, he added that managing our relationship with China, the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century is also the foreign policy priorities of incumbent administration.
Other than this, he also underlined the efforts of Biden administration to achieve these goals, he stated that on COVID-19 we re-engaged the World Health Organization and contributed an initial $2 billion to COVAX, the global vaccination initiative.
On the issue of climate we rejoined the Paris Agreement and announced a Climate Leaders Summit, which will be held on Earth Day, April 22nd, he added.
Moreover, Blinken also mentioned that on our allies and partners we held the first ministerial meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between us, Japan, Australia, and India, and we will hold a leader-level summit this week on Friday. We halted any planned troop withdrawals from Germany pending a Global Posture Review led by the Pentagon. And I took my first virtual trip as Secretary to Canada and to Mexico, and next week, Secretary Austin and I will travel to Japan and to South Korea, he underlined.
While commenting on the issue of immigration, Blinken commented that “We overturned the discriminatory Muslim and Africa travel bans. We rescinded the zero tolerance Executive Order on migrant family separation. And we sent the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 to the Hill to modernize our immigration system”.
Other than this, he also mentioned efforts on refugees and asylum policies saying that ‘we rescinded harmful executive orders on refugee resettlement and announced a new refugee admissions target of 125,000 people for Fiscal Year 2022”.
He also added that ‘we suspended the Asylum Cooperative Agreements with the governments of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. We reinstated Deferred Enforced Departure to Liberians and granted temporary protected status to Venezuelans already in the United States’.
Importantly, on the matter of democracy and human rights, he added that we joined the UN Human Rights Council as an observer. We put into effect the presidential proclamation that U.S. diplomacy protects the human rights of LGBTQI people worldwide.
He also highlighted that, we released the Khashoggi report and announced the Khashoggi Ban to stop people who engaged in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities on behalf of a foreign government from entering our country. We imposed Russia sanctions on Alexei Navalny’s poisoning and detention. And we imposed sanctions in response to the military coup in Burma, Secretary of State remarked.
On the matter of public health, he underlined the steps taken by Biden-Harris administration saying that we rescinded the Mexico City Policy, prioritizing sexual and reproductive health, including funding for the UN Population Fund and also extended the New START Treaty with Russia for five years and relaunched diplomacy with our closest European allies to bring Iran back into compliance with the JCPOA.
Lastly Secretary of State also remarked that Biden-Harris also took initiate to suspended the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia and named a special envoy to lead diplomatic efforts to end the war in Yemen.
We revoked designations of Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization to enable urgent assistance to the world’s most challenged people when it comes to the humanitarian crisis they’re facing. And we boosted diplomatic efforts in Afghanistan ahead of the May 1st deadline, the secretary of State Blinken remarked.
