US Mission Geneva

Ambassador Kennedy: “A sense of commitment, a sense of urgency shared by the international community. It’s not secret, of course, that one nation who happens to be a longstanding ally and friend of the United States does not share that commitment to begin negotiations of an FMCT. We continue a dialogue with all of our partners. But in terms of Geneva and what lies ahead we will support efforts to get to an agreed program of work and agenda to start off the year.

On December 22 the United States Senate gave its advice and consent to ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty – New START – by a strong bipartisan vote of 71 to 26.

The next step will be approval by the Russian Legislature – the Duma and Federation Council – followed by an exchange of Instruments of Ratification which will bring the Treaty into force.

We welcome the government’s plans to enhance competitiveness through the Vision 2030 Jamaica – National Development Plan. The plan’s emphasis on results-based management that establishes targets and measures performance should prove useful.

Speaking with journalists in Geneva January 13, Ambassador Punke said a Doha deal is possible in 2011 if countries quickly get down to the substantive work of negotiating. The United States stands “ready, willing and able to negotiate any issue, anywhere,” he said.

Patricia Haslach: “Our focus with Feed the Future is investing resources actually in agricultural-led development, and in Haiti’s case this is to improve the food security of the Haitian people over the long term. This is not a short-term program. This is one where we’re trying to really look to the future and commit to the future. Our contribution is actually – I mentioned to a cooperative global effort centered on country-owned processes and plans that implement a common approach to improving food security, agriculture production and, again, nutrition.

One of the most compelling stories of the year was the tragic earthquake in Haiti just about one year ago. And the international community, led by the United States, mounted an enormous, sustained recovery effort in the aftermath of the earthquake.