US Mission Geneva

It is an honor to join President Obama in extending good wishes to the people of Switzerland as you celebrate the founding of the Swiss Confederation on August 1. This anniversary celebrates more than seven hundred years since the first Swiss cantons swore an oath of confederation and highlights a remarkable history of democracy.

A little over a year ago, the Administration set out to negotiate the New START Treaty with the goal of replacing the expiring START Treaty with a new agreement for each Party to reduce and limit its strategic offensive arms. I want to underscore that the focus of these negotiations from beginning to end was strategic offensive arms.

“USAID is proud to work with the Partnership for Supply Chain Management to help improve the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS in countries most severely impacted by the epidemic,” said Susan Brems, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Global Health at USAID. “We congratulate the Partnership on this most deserved honor and award.”

Somalia is a problem that can be looked at on three different levels – a state which has imploded, which is barely functioning, which is suffering from a humanitarian crisis with tens of thousands of internally displaced people. It is also a regional problem, sending hundreds of thousands of refugees into Kenya, into Ethiopia, Djibouti, Tanzania, Uganda, and also Yemen.

Today, at an international donors’ conference organized by the World Bank in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, the United States announced a pledge of $48.6 million to assist the people and the government of the Kyrgyz Republic in meeting challenges presented by recent events. The total amount pledged by all donors represented at the conference was more than $1.1 billion.

We urge the international community to join us in supporting the Government of Afghanistan as it works to combat violence against and repression of girls seeking an education, and works to bring to justice those responsible for these outrages.

New technologies alone won’t be a silver bullet for development; we also need to ensure that our implementation, distribution, and communication networks with partner countries are strategically coordinated at all levels. But science, technology, and innovation can help us leapfrog development problems that can otherwise take generations to tackle.

“I am very excited about this project, which will help reinforce the Mission’s reputation as the greenest US diplomatic building in Europe,” said Ambassador Betty E. King, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva. “The efforts of this talented team of young landscape architects will not only help us make our environment more sustainable, but also provide our staff with an inspiring and healthy environment which we will enjoy for years to come.”

A gel that may be able to reduce the risk of infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) offers new hope and direction for HIV prevention, according to the United States global AIDS coordinator. A study of 889 women in Durban, South Africa, has shown that a microbicide gel containing an antiretroviral drug can reduce the risk of contracting the virus that causes AIDS.