U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE:update

 

Up to $2.5M Reward Offer for Information Leading to Arrest and/or Conviction of Belarusian National Volodymyr Kadariya 08/26/2024 Up to $2.5M Reward Offer for Information Leading to Arrest and/or Conviction of Belarusian National Volodymyr Kadariya 08/26/2024 08:45 AM EDT Office of the Spokesperson HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Up to $2.5M Reward Offer for Information Leading to Arrest and/or Conviction of Belarusian National Volodymyr Kadariya hide Up to $2.5M Reward Offer for Information Leading to Arrest and/or Conviction of Belarusian National Volodymyr Kadariya Media Note August 26, 2024 The Department of State is announcing a reward offer under the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program of up to $2.5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Volodymyr Kadariya, aka Volodymyr Kadaria or Vladimir Kadaria, who is wanted in the United States for his alleged participation in a significant malware organization.  Kadariya is charged with cybercrime offenses associated with an alleged scheme to transmit the Angler Exploit Kit (AEK), other malware, and online scams to the computers of millions of unsuspecting Internet users through online advertisements – so-called “malvertising” – and other means from October 2013 through March 2022.  At times during the scheme, the AEK was a leading vehicle through which cybercriminals delivered malware onto compromised electronic devices.    On June 14, 2023, Kadariya was indicted in the District of New Jersey with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, and two counts of substantive wire fraud.   Today’s reward offer is authorized by the Secretary under the Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program, which supports law enforcement efforts to disrupt transnational crime globally and bring fugitives to justice.  If you have information, please contact the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) by email at MostWanted@usss.dhs.gov.  If you are located outside of the United States, you may also visit the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. If in the United States, you can also contact the local USSS office in your city.   ALL IDENTITIES ARE KEPT STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.  Government officials and employees are not eligible for rewards. Tags Belarus Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Office of the Spokesperson Inaugural U.S.-Argentina Energy Security Dialogue 08/26/2024 Inaugural U.S.-Argentina Energy Security Dialogue 08/26/2024 05:38 PM EDT Office of the Spokesperson HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Inaugural U.S.-Argentina Energy Security Dialogue hide Inaugural U.S.-Argentina Energy Security Dialogue Media Note August 26, 2024 The United States and Argentina held the inaugural annual U.S.-Argentina Energy Security Dialogue (ESD) on August 23, 2024, at the Palacio San Martin in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez opened the ESD alongside Secretary of International Economic Relations Ambassador Marcelo Cima, Secretary of Energy Eduardo Rodriguez Chirillo, and Secretary of Mining Luis Lucero. The ESD builds on a history of close U.S.-Argentine diplomatic and technical cooperation and will serve as a forum to advance cooperative solutions to strengthen energy security, accelerate the clean energy transition, and expand critical mineral and clean energy supply chains. The two delegations discussed opportunities to increase bilateral trade and investment, including in key sectors where Argentina is poised to play a significant role in building secure supply chains for the critical minerals that drive the energy transition. The delegations also further advanced the Memorandum of Understanding to Strengthen Cooperation on Critical Minerals, signed by Under Secretary Fernandez and Foreign Minister Diana Mondino on August 22. The MOU will provide opportunities for increased investment through Argentina’s membership in the Minerals Security Partnership Forum. The United States and Argentina shared perspectives on electricity market reform. They also discussed ongoing and future technical assistance programming, including through the Department of State’s Power Sector Program and Energy and Mineral Governance Program, and the Department of Energy’s Net Zero World initiative. Under Secretary Fernandez also announced the launch of a new Clean Energy Transition Accelerator (CETA) project, through which the United States will provide the government of Argentina $500,000 in technical assistance to help develop national strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate Argentina’s clean energy transition. Both sides agreed on the great value of this Energy Security Dialogue and look forward to convening again at a senior level in 2025. To stay up to date, follow Under Secretary Fernandez on X: @State_E, LinkedIn: @State-E, and Facebook: @StateDeptE. For further media information and opportunities to join events that are open to press or scheduled roundtable interviews, please contact E_Communications@state.gov. Tags Argentina Energy Office of the Spokesperson Supply Chains Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Digital Press Briefing with Rear Admiral Andrew M. Sugimoto, Deputy Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area 08/27/2024 Digital Press Briefing with Rear Admiral Andrew M. Sugimoto, Deputy Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area 08/27/2024 01:42 AM EDT Rear Admiral Andrew M. Sugimoto, Deputy Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area MODERATOR:  Greetings from the U.S. Department of State’s Asia Pacific Media Hub.  I would like to welcome journalists to today’s on-the-record briefing with Rear Admiral Andrew M. Sugimoto, Deputy Commander, Coast Guard Pacific Area.  Admiral Sugimoto will discuss the Coast Guard Pacific Area’s current engagements and responsibilities, his vision for the future of Coast Guard presence in the Indo-Pacific region, and how the U.S. Coast Guard can continue to be a trusted partner to likeminded regional coast guards throughout the region through meaningful people-to-people engagements and exercises.  He will take questions from participating journalists. With that, let’s get started.  Admiral Sugimoto, thank you for being with us.  I’ll turn it over to you for your opening remarks. REAR ADMIRAL SUGIMOTO:  Thank you so much for having me here today.  It is really an honor and a privilege to be able to speak with everyone today. I am one month into my job as Deputy Commander, and I can already tell you how impressed I am with our Pacific partners throughout the region, how we stand together as allies, and how we come together to help each other continue to support and reinforce the value of a rules-based order and a safety and security that is so important to the Pacific. One of the things that really stands out for us is our friendship with the Philippines.  And as I am here working with the Philippine Coast Guard and as a member of Admiral Paparo’s delegation to the Philippine military, it is such an honor and privilege to be able to meet our allies and friends who we have worked together with in this region for so many years together. There is a lot going on in this world, and I think it is just very important that we continue to highlight the importance of rules-based and lawful operations on the ocean, as the ocean interconnects all of us and allows us to have economies that flourish and prosper; it is the way that we help feed our populations; the strategic resources that are present help continue to build our nations; and when we come together – in exercises, in training, or other things like that – it is how we continue to build each other up in this region and help support each other in a very dangerous world. Thank you. MODERATOR:  Thank you so much, Admiral Sugimoto.  We will now turn to the question-and-answer portion of today’s briefing.  Our first question came in in advance from Dave Rising at the Associated Press, based in Bangkok, Thailand, and Dave asks:  “As China pursues its sweeping South China Sea claims more aggressively, have countries been reaching out to the U.S. Coast Guard for more support?  If so, what form has this support taken – training, joint patrols, et cetera – and what more is planned?” REAR ADMIRAL SUGIMOTO:  Thank you for that question.  Yes, there have been many nations that have reached out to the United States Coast Guard, and we look forward to working with each and every one of them.  We have shifted some resources to the Pacific, specifically in order to be able to meet those commitments.  We are deploying a ship called our Indo-Pacific support cutter, which is out there going around the Pacific Island nations providing training and assistance.  We do patrols in the Western Pacific.  We’ve had two ships this past year that have been out there conducting exercises with all of our partners – Korea, Japan, the Philippines – and just recently the Coast Guard Cutter Waesche came back from a very successful patrol in the Western Pacific. We are helping nations with real operations, so when the typhoon came through the Philippines here recently and the Motor Tanker Terra Nova sank, we worked together with the Philippine Coast Guard and sent a group of individuals here so that we could safely remove 1.5 million liters of fuel which was not going to contaminate the shores or the fisheries of the local population. We continue to conduct search-and-rescue exercises and search-and-rescue cases throughout the Pacific.  We provide technical advice when it comes to search and rescue, such as running drift patterns and others so that we can safely find those individuals in distress.  We also look forward to building up those alliances, so we just recently reaffirmed our commitment to Japan, Kore, and the Philippines in terms of working together, conducting joint exercises, and made sure that we continue to work together. As far as excess defense allocations, those are also available to the countries here in the Western Pacific, and there’s a process that goes through in which each nation can ask for certain things, and I look forward, should something be allocated to the Philippine Coast Guard, to working with the crews and improving our ability to work together with that. MODERATOR:  All right.  Our next question came in in advance from Emmanuel Vargas, GMA DZBB, based in the Philippines.  Emmanuel asks:  “Is countering China increasing aggression solely on the hands of the Phils or is there anything the international community could do?  Are there old naval assets the U.S. is considering to transfer for the Philippine Coast Guard based on events at the West Philippine Sea?” REAR ADMIRAL SUGIMOTO:  We are all connected on the ocean.  Fish know no boundaries.  Pollution doesn’t know any boundaries.  Our fellow human beings in trouble don’t care who is there to help each other.  And we need to continue to work together collectively as a globe to continue to reinforce those rules on which we count on.  We need to be able to send ships freely wherever the oceans are, as that is part of the right of every nation on the planet.  And so we stand together with the Philippines and we condemn the actions of aggressive individuals that do such things as ram or try to prevent humanitarian supplies from reaching individuals resupplying their fellow citizens – any of those things that are part of it.  We also want to ensure that resources are protected, such as fisheries, so that we can continue to make sure people are fed throughout the world. And so wherever that is, the more countries come together – and as I said before, there is this growing interest to want to work together to continue to uphold those very precious rules that we all depend on in order to be able to coexist safely and peacefully on the planet together.  And there is a growing number of individuals that want to talk to us about it. MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question came in via the Q&A tab from Gordon Arthur at Defense News, based in New Zealand.  Gordon asks:  “How is the U.S. Coast Guard able to support Philippine law enforcement agencies against bullying from China?  What do you see as the best way to counter such violent and aggressive actions by China?” REAR ADMIRAL SUGIMOTO:  The best way is twofold.  One is to demonstrate what those international rules-based orders are that are so important for us to follow and for us to lead by example, along with our partners.  It is to point out those transgressions that occur from nations that are counter to those things and help them understand how the rest of the world wants to operate.  We can afford training in terms of legal capacity or maritime domain awareness, or even conduct joint exercises at sea to that they can see that we are united in our will to uphold that rules-based order that’s so important. And a general world consensus does matter.  China wants to have a vibrant economy, and if nations condemn the actions and they see the economy as something that may be – the goodwill may be damaged in terms of their actions in the world, perhaps they will change their – the way they do business. China wants to be seen as a member of the world that has a set of rules and enforces it, but whenever they do things like ramming or water cannoning unarmed vessels, it does not appear to be so.  When they uphold the rules themselves and they stand and lead by example, that’s when the rest of the world will notice that they are in fact world leaders and not bullies. MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question came from Jason Gutierrez of Radio Free Asia and Benar News, in Manila, the Philippines, who asked:  “Will you be joining in freedom of navigations sails?” REAR ADMIRAL SUGIMOTO:  Absolutely.  We conduct freedom of navigation exercises or transits throughout the world.  We are a firm believer in reinforcing the right of every nation to be able to transit freely, as long as they do so in accordance with customary law and international law.  It is an important part of upholding rules-based order. Similarly, right, we do not aggressively harass Chinese vessels or other vessels in the world when they come north into the Arctic off of Alaska or in other places.  We respect their right to transit when they want to go through the Aleutian Islands.  And so we expect the same ability to do so wherever we are in international waters to be able to freely and safely navigate according to the – to those rules that are out there. MODERATOR:  All right, thank you.  We had a question come in through the chat from Aaron-Matthew Lariosa at USNI News, based in Washington, D.C., who asks:  “What can we expect from future trilateral U.S.-Japan-Philippine coast guard cooperation?” REAR ADMIRAL SUGIMOTO:  Thank you for that question.  I am excited about that.  Working together recently, we conducted search-and-rescue operations or search-and-rescue exercises.  We love seeing nations coming together and supporting.  And so it really isn’t about one nation trying to push its points, but it is an example of us all coming together wanting to uphold those rules-based order that we find so important in our ability to conduct commerce, to feed our citizens, to safely protect them on the waters, to protect the environment – all of those things.  And those rules are the basis on which we can coexist peacefully and do those things. And so there is a tremendous appetite in a lot of different ways, not just at sea but perhaps even in legal exchanges, information sharing, maritime domain awareness, to really help each other build those things out. Our ability also transcends not just what does – what we do on the water, but it is also our ability to help nations improve their port complexes – the ability to transship goods and services out from their ports; conducting and being able to do increased commerce as it goes through ports are all things that benefits the nations and are vitally important toward a growing and flourishing country that has a seaport. MODERATOR:  Okay, moving away from the Philippines for a moment, we had a question come in in advance from Chan Thul Prak at Kiripost, based in Cambodia, who asks:  “How does the U.S. Coast Guard envision partnering with Cambodia to enhance maritime security and combat challenges of illegal fishing and transnational crime in its waters?” REAR ADMIRAL SUGIMOTO:  We very much look forward to working with Cambodia and any of the nations.  We have a growing relationship with their neighbor, Vietnam.  Those are exactly those areas where we want to continue to raise awareness, to make sure that we are protecting the environment, that we are protecting those natural resources such as fish in which these nations depend upon feeding populations; being able to curb destabilizing influences such as transnational crime; and allowing countries therefore to flourish.  And so there are many different ways that we can work together with them, but we really want to help shape how they manage their EEZs and help them achieve the goals that they want. Our goal is to be the trusted partner in the Pacific.  It is not for us to tell them what they want or what they need.  We are going to be there for the things that they ask us for.  And so if Cambodia asks us for help with IUUF or fisheries or countering transnational crime, we look forward to working with them to increase those skills and to combat it.  It only leads to regional stability, and regional stability leads to better commerce, and better commerce leads to a higher standard of living in the countries, which we want for everybody. MODERATOR:  Okay.  We had a question from Ken Sasaki from Kyodo News, based in Manila, the Manila bureau chief.  Ken asks:  “Joint vision statement by Japanese-U.S.-Filipino leaders in April says the United States looks forward to welcoming Philippine and Japan coast guard members onto a U.S. Coast Guard vessel during a patrol in the Indo-Pacific this year.  Could you please explain the details, if possible?” REAR ADMIRAL SUGIMOTO:  Yes, thank you.  That is a great question.  We’re very proud to say that the Coast Guard Cutter Waesche recently hosted observers from the Philippine Coast Guard, the Japanese Coast Guard, the Vietnamese Coast Guard for 13 days on board as they transited, and we were able to highlight how we do operations, show how we want to reinforce rules-based order out there, safely conduct certain operations, help and show them what and how we do maintenance on our ships, which is always very important, right?  So it was very nice having them on board to be able to show and do that, and we look forward to doing future shiprider events or having observers on board in future deployments, and we very much look forward to working with Japan, Philippine Coast Guard, and others that ask to do so. MODERATOR:  Okay, next we have a question from J.P. Soriano with GMA News in Manila, the Philippines.  J.P. asks:  “The most recent act of aggression from the China Coast Guard involved deliberately ramming an unarmed Philippine vessel.  When will the U.S. activate its obligation under the Mutual Defense Treaty?” REAR ADMIRAL SUGIMOTO:  That is a question that is generally listed with Department of State and others.  We unequivocally condemn the ramming of vessels.  Right?  The whole point of rules on the water is so that we don’t run into each other.  And so this is a clear act of bullying by one individual that wants to exert its influences over another nation with complete disregard for the rules and the international law that exists. So we stand with the Philippines and we will continue to work with them, and if Article 4 is invoked, we will stand with the Philippine Coast Guard and everybody else that is a part of – that we have a mutual defense treaty with, and all those other things. So it is not something that I personally can specifically drive towards, but that is the reason that we want to continue to work together – so that interoperability, our ability to have effective communications, to be able to have effective maritime domain awareness of what’s going on out there – all of those things are so that we can be as effective as possible and continue to push back against those nations that want to exert their influences solely for their purposes at the expense of other law-abiding nations. MODERATOR:  Okay, we had a question from Nokoreach Prak from RFA Khmer, based in Cambodia, who asks:  “Why is the United States worried that China has set up a military base in Ream?  What did the United States find around this case?  What do you think about the repeated rejection by the Cambodian Government that China is not allowed to deploy troops at Ream military bases?” REAR ADMIRAL SUGIMOTO:  I am not an expert on the deploying of troops into Cambodia, but what I can tell you is that we are more concerned about the practices that China has done in other places when it comes to how they fund those particular bases, and then because the nations sometimes have difficulty paying back, how China then exerts its influence in the economy, in the politicians, and taking over territory in other nations by de facto through economic means, taking over port control and others.  And that base and the surrounding area – that port complex – is incredibly important to Cambodia in its economy being able to transship goods and services around the world, and to be able to take care of fishing boats and other things like that. And so if that disappears and if it becomes China territory, well, that comes at the expense of Cambodia and that is something that we do not think is right in order to do so.  So thank you for the question. MODERATOR:  Okay, next we go to a question that came in in advance from Zen Hernandez of ABS-CBN News in the Philippines.  Zen asks:  “After ramming vessels of the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries in Sabina Shoal 123 nautical miles from Palawan, the Chinese Coast Guard says its measures were necessary and in accordance with domestic and international law and that it was, quote, ‘professional, restrained and appropriate,’ end quote.  What do you think of these actions?  Are there also ways by which the U.S. Coast Guard Indo-Pacific can help to deter such aggressive behavior from any country?  Any upcoming joint activities with the Philippine Coast Guard?” REAR ADMIRAL SUGIMOTO:  Thank you for that question.  And it’s almost stunning in the way it was delivered, because if I ask anybody to go and find the international rules where ramming is supposed to be a measure of upholding international law – the collision regulations which all maritime countries abide by in order to safely navigate the oceans of the world are specifically designed to prevent vessels from ramming each other or hitting each other.  So it’s a little astounding to say that I’m going to break the law in order to uphold the law.  It just doesn’t make sense, and I think most nations out there see that as unsafe and unprofessional conduct, which only highlights and further emphasizes the bullying that is going on, right? If this was done in different ways, of diplomatic channels of delivering a demarche or other things like that in order to be able to communicate their foreign policy will, that’s one thing.  That’s following the rules.  That’s doing what we’re supposed to do.  But I challenge people to find other places in the world where rules – law-abiding countries that conduct safe and professional operations are going and ramming other vessels.  It just doesn’t happen.  Nor do we go around and, taking water cannons, basically trying to flood out vessels and sink them.  That is not what we call safe and professional operations. So I just want to highlight that part in the context of the statement itself – how disconnected that seems from reality, and go back to that is exactly what we want to prevent happening from this world. And so we want to work with the Philippine Coast Guard.  We are working with the Philippine Coast Guard in a number of different ways through training, through helping them with the organization and buildout of the Philippine Coast Guard.  We have transferred vessels to the Philippine Coast Guard, helped them with the operations, maintenance of those particular vessels.  We are looking for whatever the Philippine Coast Guard wants us to help them with.  That’s what we are here for in training, capacity building, legal structures, building out the laws necessary to support them, MDA, any of those things. And so we are very grateful for that partnership, and we are grateful for the professional and truly safe way in which the Philippines have responded back to this.  Because it really demonstrates that this nation, the Philippines, do stand for the conduct that we all recognize is what we want in this world and not that of the other individual that keeps bullying smaller nations. MODERATOR:  Okay, a follow-up to that, we have Aaron-Matthew Lariosa from the USNI News in Washington, D.C., who asks:  “What maritime domain awareness initiatives have been held to assist the Philippines monitor its EEZ?” REAR ADMIRAL SUGIMOTO:  So that’s a great question.  Thank you.  There are a number of different MDA initiatives out there, some being generated by our other partners such as Australia.  There is certainly HawkEye 360 and SeaVision that the United States is putting out there, but we need to find that product that is economically viable for countries, that’s effective, makes use of new and emerging technology such as commercial satellite imagery, and binds together so that we can effectively communicate together about it and make – raise the awareness for everybody, right?  All of the countries are so interconnected here in the Philippine Sea – to the north, Japan; to the west, Guam – I’m sorry, to the east, Guam – and we want to make sure that we have a great picture of what commerce is out there and all those other things. The other thing, too, I want to highlight is that there is the National Maritime Center here built by DTRA, and it’s manned by the Philippine Coast Guard here, which they specifically invite the members of the different services to come in to raise maritime domain awareness for them to see what it looks like out there, to get that picture, and we want to highlight that as a successful entity and something that could be replicated to those other nations that are also willing to come together.  And the more that we have of those around, the more we can truly understand where bullying has taken place and we can react in a lawful – lawful and professional manner in response to it to demonstrate that we are not going to take it and that we are going to be safe and professional about our conduct. MODERATOR:  Okay, we’re coming close to the end of our time today.  So, Admiral Sugimoto, if you have any closing remarks, I’ll turn it back over to you. REAR ADMIRAL SUGIMOTO:  Thank you.  The ocean is such an incredibly important part of all of our lives.  The ability to be able to safely access it, to be able to get our food sources from it, to be able to protect it from man-made environmental mistakes, to be able to protect citizens that sail upon it and traverse aboard it – so making sure they are safe and secure – all of those things are incredibly important. It is also the way we connect to each and every one of us.  And while air travel is certainly one method, the majority of all commerce – 90 percent of it – that flows through the world is on the lifeblood of our oceans. So this is the center point in which why it is so important that we follow the rules, that we follow safe conduct, that we’re professional about it.  And as we all know, it is important to our nations so that they can flourish. So I am looking forward to the time period where we will continue these to increase the number of nations that are coming together, and not just trilateral but quadrilateral or any number of others – the ASEAN nations, around the globe – in supporting these efforts as we move out. I am looking forward to continuing to work with the Philippine Coast Guard.  To us, they are family.  They have been with us and stood with us for so long, and we look forward to continuing to work with them and share our thoughts and how to do what I had just talked about. I am looking forward to meeting with the senior officials here, later on as a matter of fact, and then continuing with Admiral Paparo’s delegation to the military leadership later on as well this week. We need to continue to come together as a group to protect what’s so vital for us and to follow the guidance set forth and the Coast Guard-specific campaign plan that I know you heard about from Admiral Tiongson, the Coast Guard Strategy put out by Admiral Fagan.  There are so many different documents that all point to what I’ve been talking about this half-hour about why it’s so important that we work together, that we train together, that we save lives together, that we protect the environment together, that we counter illegal, unregulated, unreported fishing together, we take out destabilizing influences of transnational organizations, and we continue to grow our economies together and improve the world in the way it moves forward. There are many other things the world gets to vote on itself, right?  Climate change and other things like that.  And so, we need to continue to work together on a number of those things to make sure that we take care of each other out on the ocean and the seas, and that has been our goal all along. So thank you very much for the time today. MODERATOR:  Okay, that brings us to the end of our time for today.  Thank you all for your questions.  I’m sorry we didn’t get to every last one.  And thank you so much to Admiral Sugimoto for joining us. We will provide a transcript of this briefing to participating journalists as soon as it’s available.  And we’d also love to hear your feedback.  You can contact us at any time at AsiaPacMedia@state.gov.  Thanks again for your participation and we hope you can join us for another briefing soon. Digital Press Briefing: Lobito Corridor Expansion and U.S. Infrastructure on the African Continent 08/28/2024 Digital Press Briefing: Lobito Corridor Expansion and U.S. Infrastructure on the African Continent 08/28/2024 03:44 PM EDT Helaina R. Matza, Acting Special CoordinatorOffice of the U.S. Special Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment MODERATOR:  Good afternoon to everyone from the U.S. Department of State’s Africa Regional Media Hub.  I welcome our participants logging in from across the continent and thank all of you for joining us.  Today, we are very pleased to be joined by Acting Special Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI), Helaina Matza.  Special Coordinator Matza will review her August 21-28 travel to the DRC and Tanzania, including opportunities to expand the Lobito Corridor focus on the DRC and integrate Tanzania with the Lobito Corridor investments, thereby making concrete progress toward the vision of a Trans-Africa Corridor from the Atlantic to the Indian oceans.  Special Coordinator Matza will review ongoing U.S.-led investments in the development of the Lobito Corridor, including progress on the greenfield Zambia-Lobito rail line, and highlight new investments that expand the economic corridor to the Indian Ocean.  We will begin today’s briefing with opening remarks from Special Coordinator Matza, then we will turn to your questions.  We will try to get to as many of them as we can during the briefing.  With that, I will turn it over to Special Coordinator Matza for opening remarks.   MS MATZA:  Thank you so much, and good afternoon, everyone.  It’s a pleasure to be with you today, hopefully in person at some point in the near future.  I’ll be brief because I certainly want to make this as much of a conversation and get to all of your questions.  But let me just start with it’s a privilege to be here in Tanzania representing the U.S. Government’s effort to support regional integration, sustainable economic development, and all through continuing to invest in quality infrastructure investments.  Our mission on this trip is to continue expanding the Trans-Africa Corridor.  That includes relaunching our partnership with the DRC and engaging with the Tanzanian Government and private sector on next steps towards extending the economic corridor to the Indian Ocean.  As President Biden has said from day one of the launch of this flagship effort, this corridor has never just been about building infrastructure; it’s about building the future of the region.  That’s really what the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment is all about, or PGI as we like to call it.  It’s about offering high-quality, sustainable infrastructure projects that deliver lasting economic growth.  By leveraging public and private financing – and committing to transparency, good governance, and anticorruption – these projects are designed to create jobs, facilitate trade both within the region and globally, and spur new investments in agriculture, digital connectivity, food security, and clean energy – all serving the economic development of the people of these countries and new job growth.  For DRC and Tanzania, and the broader region, we hope this means more opportunity and sustained economic growth across all these sectors.  We’re here alongside our African partners to really deliver these infrastructure needs based on what they identify are the most important needs for their communities and to improves live for what we hope will be many generations to come.  To do so here in Tanzania, we are working with the government and throughout the region and the private sector to really get a deeper understanding of what some of those local needs are and how to best extend the Trans-Africa Corridor, both physically by the backbone rail that we have helped invest in, and I’ll go into more detail throughout the conversation, but by thinking about important layered projects that help leverage what happens when you actually bring down the amount of time it takes to transit in a region.    When you bring trade routes down from 45 days to 36 hours, it opens up a whole new world for markets, and that’s what we’re testing here today:  How can we help new agribusiness develop?  What are the right places to think about cold storage, warehousing, logistics?  What local food producers can we help support along the way?  This is a huge part of how we’re supporting the clean energy supply chain piece of this work, not only thinking about how we work on critical mineral projects, but how we think about processing in the region and how we think about getting clean energy solutions to those projects.    In fact, while I was here, we had an opportunity with the minister of mines and Lifezone Metals CEO Chris Showalter to be able to announce a project – excuse me, to introduce and announced project insurance for the Development Finance Corporation’s commitment to providing Lifezone this new product that is part of our PGI effort.  Part of why we think this project is so special and why it’s such an important investment in Tanzania’s economic diversification and our commitment to help deliver these private sector investments is that it’s more than helping support bringing online an important nickel project, although, unto itself, that would be an excellent contribution; but it’s working on the connection between Kabanga and Kahama, and working how to develop a special economic zone that not only creates opportunities for processing here in country – the nickel products coming out – but hopefully more feedstock from other parts of the country and the region, while investing at the same time in training of local Tanzanians to participate in every part of the value chain of that industry.   These are the types of projects that we are looking to identify and continue to work on.  This is how we are looking at the corridor, not just as the United States but with the G7 as a whole.  So I maybe will just pause there briefly, and I’m happy to go into a little bit more detail, of course, about some of the work that we’ve done in the DRC to re-engage on those important conversations along the same topics.  But let’s turn back to you all, and I’m happy to take any questions you have.    MODERATOR:  Thank you, Special Coordinator Matza.  We will now begin the question-and-answer portion of today’s briefing. If, at anytime you would like to ask a question live. Please indicate that by clicking on the raise hand button, and then typing your name, your media outlet and location, and question into the question and answers tab. Please make sure to use the Q&A tab, and not the chat box. Also, be aware from our side we only see your zoom logon. If we cannot tell who you are, we will not be able to call on you. And we ask that you limit yourself to one question only, related to the topic of today’s briefing, which is the Lobito Corridor Expansion and the U.S. Infrastructure on the African continent.    With that, we’re going to our first question, and our first question comes from Mr. Julian Pecquet from The Africa Report, and he asks:  “What is the U.S. rationale behind wanting to connect the Lobito Corridor to the Indian Ocean?”  Special Coordinator, are you there?   MS MATZA:  So from – thank you, thank you.  So from day one, when President Biden committed the U.S. through PGI to support the Lobito Corridor development, which really was launched by the presidents of Angola, DRC, and Zambia, we knew that we wanted to continue that work to the Indian Ocean.  This was the intent of our investments and response to what we have known to be the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the priorities of SADC, and really the vision for regional transport connectivity that’s been born here on the continent.    The Trans-Africa Corridor really capitalizes on the continent’s shared drive for greater integration and shared prosperity, and we want to make sure that as the continent’s coming together around the opportunity for the first transcontinental railway that we’re doing what we can to help support that leg by leg.  And we’ve done that in a way that we hope has been supportive of the expectations of our partners here on the ground.   We think that investments in the rail will deliver exponential benefits to communities throughout the corridor, as I mentioned before, but we’ve got to take this one piece at a time.  And what we really thought the best place to begin was where we had an opportunity to support a refurbishment of an existing rail line, and that included DFC’s initial $250 million commitment to finance a Western consortium in refurbishing and operating the Benguela rail line across Angola and to upgrade key portions of that rail line in DRC.    However, we knew that only that was partially there, and we weren’t taking advantage of the needs of our other partners, including how to leverage, as President Hichilema says, Zambia’s land-linked opportunities and connecting the rest of the region, similar to the gateway that Tanzania plays for its six neighbors to the Dar port.  And so we turned our focus to a greenfield rail project – the first project for the United States of its kind in over a generation: 800 kilometers of greenfield rail built in partnership with the three Lobito countries as they stand now as we continue our way through completing, we hope, the trans-African connectivity to the Indian Ocean.    This has been a really interesting development for us as we’ve been developing a new type of way to finance along with our partners from the European Union, the Italian Government, from the African Development Bank, and with our project developer, the Africa Finance Corporation.  But now we’re ready for phase three, and that includes deepening our engagement in DRC, expanding those economic benefits to Tanzania, and then thinking about, beyond the rail, what sectors, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, we can offer the best opportunities for our support as they reflect the development growth needs and desires of the countries we’re working in.   MODERATOR:  Thank you, Special Coordinator Matza.  The second question comes from Mr. Helmo Preuss from Business Report, and he asks : “What are the timelines for the Zambia-Lobito leg and who will provide the money?”  MS MATZA:  Thank you.  And I should say for the portion of the rail – I’m going to answer the question I want, and then this as well.  For the portion of the rail that we have been able to finance already the refurbishment of, connecting DRC to the Port of Lobito, we actually have seen several shipments, including the first ones of copper to Baltimore, just in the last couple of days while we’ve been on the ground.  So it’s very exciting.  But of course, that’s a rail refurbishment program that’s different, right, than the commitment we’re making on the Zambia Lobito leg.    So this development of 800 kilometers of greenfield rail is the most ambitious commercially led infrastructure on the continent that the U.S. has supported.  And I try to really double down on commercially led, because I think that’s a really important element of the way that we’re trying to design this work.    So part of phase two – and it’s one of the most ambitious infrastructure investments we’ve made in a very long time.  And the way that we set this up was through a seven-sided MOU that we signed in October 2023 that brought in the United States, the EU, and AFC as supporting the project development, where we mobilized $10 million to kick off the feasibility study.  We put ourselves on a very ambitious timeline.  Feasibility is well underway.  So from announcement to feasibility beginning and now almost completed, we’ll have a much better sense of everything that we would need to do to help start closing any viability gaps as we’re identifying them.  So in the meantime, fundraising is underway.  The Africa Development Bank has committed $500 million, while Italy, while they were the host of the G7 hosting our now-annual PGI side event, has pledged $320 million towards the project.  The DFC has committed an additional $250 million to support AFC’s broader infrastructure development efforts, and we are starting to bring together other lenders and supporters and ways to potentially pre-book capacity on this rail to make this deal as commercial as it can be with the support it requires to get over the finish line.  So this is where we are right now.  We think over the next several months after we have those feasibility results we’ll be able to do more fundraising around equity and project debt once we are able to bring more commercial project financing in.  MODERATOR:  Thank you.  And the next question states:  “Can you elaborate on the role of public-private partnerships in ensuring that these infrastructure projects lead to sustainable economic growth and job creation?”  MS MATZA:  Yes, of course.  I think that it’s really important to think about the role that PPPs play, especially in infrastructure projects.  They’re a critical element of finding ways to build the groups, the consortiums you need around really large-scale infrastructure projects that are hard to finance and find the feasibility on its own.  So these partnerships are really designed to leverage the strengths of both the public and private sector while maximizing the impact of that investment, while ensuring that we’re doing everything we can to support project viability and achieve the longer-term outcomes as we go through the humps that we know sometimes make these projects unfortunately die on the vine.    And so the PPP model in the case of what we’re doing in the Zambia rail line that I explained earlier is really an essential piece to ensure that we’re keeping all the momentum we need behind this project.  And part of the reason why along with the project developer and their relationship and agreements that they’re working through with Zambia and Angola, that the other donors and government bodies have a role to play all along the way without getting in the way of the commercial elements of that agreement.  So trying to find ways that we do these projects, leveraging all the things we’ve learned from donor development, and trying to create, right, a more combined commercial model creates a space for that concessional assistance, additional financing tools, de-risking tools, while the commercial deal continues to move forward.    While that happens, we are able as governments on all sides – those that are helping to lend and design the projects, and those that the projects are happening; in this case, Angola and Zambia – are able to work with the developer to ensure that these projects are ultimately reflecting the additional desires that we want to see, everything I articulated in my opening remarks, including hiring local workforces, looking for routes that have the minimal amount of displacement, and holding a whole other set of important indicators that we care about around decarbonization and just transition.  This is how we’re able to bring things that we know many commercial developers would consider, but now we’re able to actually combine that with some of the public desire and needs around this project.  And so I think that’s how that model comes together, gets hard projects over the finish line, while also being able to add these other important fundamental pieces that are really directly aligned with the benefits for the local populations.  MODERATOR:  Thank you, Special Coordinator Matza.  The next question comes from Mr. Dieudonne Mubenga from B-One TV, from the DRC.  And his question – he states that the Lobito Corridor initially includes three countries, but since the signing of the memorandum of understanding in October 2023, the United States has allocated $5 million to women farmers in the provinces crossed by the Lobito Corridor, and that an additional funding of $3.5 million has been assigned to the public procurement sector.  At the PGI forum in Zambia, the U.S. also took action actively in favor of promoting this project and the DRC where you went recently, and the public has not retained any funding to date.  And he asks:  “What’s your concern about the state of the infrastructure?”  MS MATZA:  So in the work that we’ve been doing across the corridor, of course every partnership with each country and their needs and how they’re essentially identifying them takes time.  That’s part of the reason why we made the effort to spend time with the cabinet officials of the DRC Government, representatives from the presidency, to say now that we have created our initial structure and the momentum around the work we’re doing, and we’ve been able to set up these initial investments in our neighbor countries, what are the additional activities we need to do here in DRC to both identify those priority projects which we are expecting to receive quite soon while thinking through the hurdles we need to work together?    And we’ve seen a lot of progress really since the initial development of the corridor, including partnership between AFC and Gécamines, the Congolese state-owned mining company, to continue to develop critical minerals and support clean energy supply chains.  As a G7, we’ve been helping facilitate a handful of different types of investments that we hope will continue to bolster up DRC’s contribution to the global clean energy transition while supporting development in the country.  And so this all takes time, and we’re confident that we’ll be able to move forward some of these really important projects.  MODERATOR:  Thank you very much for that answer.  And the next question comes from Hannah Northey with E&E News, and she asks:  “I would like to ask Special Coordinator Matza how and if a change in administration in November could affect the State Department’s investment plans in Africa and the Lobito Corridor.”  MS MATZA:  I think this is a really important question, and I have two pieces to unpack there.  One is part of the model of working so closely with commercial developers and supporting their financing structures and package as a way to bring our contributions into these projects means they’re well underway.  So every dollar that you have heard that’s announced already is in motion, and I think that’s really important.  And so what we’re focused on right now is how do we identify those last pieces that we need to get moving to be able to have the backbone, the architecture of the structure we need for that connectivity.  So I also hope that offers assurances to our partners in those host governments that – where we’re well underway.    The second piece on how the work may look moving forward for projects not announced, not designed.  I think that in many ways there’s a good deal of bipartisan support, especially around how we approach elements of the energy transition and the way that we support clean energy and critical mineral supply chains.  And our initial investments in support of the region is already demonstrating that that can pay off in dividends, not just for the United States but for our partners as well.  I can see that model continuing to persevere, but it’s not our job to speculate on election outcomes but rather reflect on how we are doing everything we can to institutionalize the work we began.  MODERATOR:  Great.  Thank you, Special Coordinator Matza.  So the next question comes from – excuse me here – from Luke Anami from Nation Media Group in Nairobi, and he asks:  “What is the funding model for the Lobito Corridor project?”  MS MATZA:  So that’s a really big question, and the answer is there’s not one funding model for the Lobito Corridor project.  And that’s because the corridor is comprised of many different projects layered on top of each other – some identified and negotiated with our partners in the G7 with our host countries, others directly by us, and then several in partnership.  And that’s kind of the point.  What we’re doing with our investment in the backbone rail and these first initial projects is trying to catalyze what we hope will be continued in increasingly more private investment across all these sectors.  So when we hosted the Lobito investor forum in Lusaka that was referenced in one of the other questions, we were able to test that theory about a year into this type of work.  And we were really pleasantly surprised, not only by the robust attendance – over 500 people to the point that we were truly at max capacity – but what was happening between the private sector entities, not just with our representatives from DFC and EXIM and the public financing tools but the conversations they were having with each other.  Logistics firms talking to ag firms, energy firms talking to mining firms – we think this is all happening naturally, but what we’re learning is, as we continue to create the space, a lot of this work will continue on on top of these initial investments.  And so I shared a little bit about the structure for the largest piece of infrastructure that we are investing in.  Otherwise, every project will look a bit different.  Some will require USAID grant support.  Some will require just political risk insurance.  And it’s our job as a partnership to identify the right tools for the right project.    MODERATOR:  Thank you.  The next question comes from Kate Bartlett from Voice of America, and she says – and she asks:  “The U.S. has been critical of China’s grand infrastructure projects for what it says is unsustainable levels of debt African countries end up taking on.  How will the U.S. avoid this?  Secondly, will any of the critical minerals that this corridor is all about be processed and refined in African countries, or exported raw?  Thank you.”  MS MATZA:  So I think that points right to the model that we’re discussing here.  We’re working directly with not only the host governments but private partners in how to finance these projects.  And this is why that’s important.  What we’re doing is not trying to expand upon the debt of the countries we’re working in.  We’re not trying to work against that balance sheet.  What we’re doing instead is bringing a developer or working with a developer in country that’s interested in being there but needs help and support to get the project done – both in feeling confident that they have the support they need by both governments but also in some financing support.    This is a really different model that helps our government partners who are restructuring debt right now.  Almost every country that we’re talking about in the Lobito group at least, and in some of our other flagships initiatives also, invests in infrastructure that they couldn’t because they have to go through that debt restructuring piece of their agenda.  So we think this is a unique way.  Now, there will be grants and MDBs participating in this work, but this is what we think is different about this model.  The other piece is this model really is not designed to be extractive.  It’s designed for economic growth, which I know sometimes sounds like a buzz word, but that’s why we’re focused on trade moving in both directions.  We want – as materials continue to move into regional global markets – that we think about how we can help the ag distribution within the continent, for example, an example I already shared.  And a good chunk of the projects, including the one I included in my opening remarks, is focused on exactly what you said about critical minerals.  It’s not about, for us, extracting raw ore.  In fact, we’re thinking about how we help finance the ecosystem for beneficiation in country, in other partner countries to be part of the global battery ecosystem as it continues to develop.    This, we hope, is a response to our partner countries’ desire to continue to move further up the value chain, but it’s aligned with our own goals also.  We need to see more resiliency in these supply chains in every step of the way.  And being able to do some of this work closer to where these resources are, are a piece of that puzzle, in addition to all the investments that we’re focused on and making at home.  These are going to be big markets.  There’s a lot of electrification to happen.  There’s a lot of EV deployments.  There’s space to participate in it for, we think, all our partners.  And that’s part of what we like about the Lifezone project in Tanzania; it’s what we like about some of the work that we’re doing in Zambia, and some work we are – we’re working on in the DRC that we’re not quite ready to talk about yet.    MODERATOR:  Thank you.  We have time for one last question.  And the last question goes to Marc Howard from African Energy Newsletter, and he asks that:  “For the third phase of the Lobito Trans-African Corridor, would we see a rail link to a Tanzanian port on the Indian Ocean?  Would such a line interconnect with the existing Tazara line or would it – or would it more likely be a greenfield development?”  MS MATZA:  Excellent question.  This is exactly what we’re here to investigate right now.  So through our consultations with the various Tanzanian line ministries and with the president’s office of planning, this is what we’re gaming out.  Not only what is the potential rail connection, but what are some of these other projects that exemplify the one that we were able to support while we were here right now that has nothing to do with rail but has to do with everything else we’ve been discussing.  And so we remain open.  We think it’s really important to leverage existing infrastructure.  And if we are given the opportunity to find a way to create some compatibility and an open access connectivity between the work that we’re doing in Tazara and/or other existing rail lines, we’re certainly going to do everything we can to pursue that.    MODERATOR:  Great.  Thank you so much, Special Coordinator Matza.  Do you have any final words?  MS MATZA:  Maybe just a very brief one.  You probably can hear our enthusiasm.  I really enjoy when I’m in the region taking the time to do this particular hub call.  It’s a good indicator to me that we are making progress, what we still need to make progress on, and I hope that you’re seeing that every time we get together, we have not just more announcements around big events, but true material progress across all the sectors we’ve been talking about.  So I’m just really appreciative of you taking the time and look forward to continuing the conversation, as always.  MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Well, that concludes today’s briefing.  I want to thank the Acting Special Coordinator for the Partnership of Global Infrastructure and Investment, Helaina Matza, for joining us, and thank you to all the journalists for participating.  A recording and transcript of today’s briefing will be distributed to participating journalists as soon as we can produce them.  If you have any questions about today’s briefing, you may contact the African Regional Media Hub at AFMediaHub@state.gov.  That is AFMediaHub@state.gov.  I would also like to invite everyone to follow us on X at our handle @AfricaMediaHub.  Thank you.   # # #  Advancing U.S.-Peru Economic Cooperation with President Boluarte 08/28/2024 Advancing U.S.-Peru Economic Cooperation with President Boluarte 08/28/2024 06:59 PM EDT Office of the Spokesperson Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez met with Peruvian President Dina Boluarte and her team of ministers on August 28, 2024, in Lima to promote trade and economic opportunities with the United States. He was accompanied by a delegation of U.S. businesses hosted by the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) and the U.S. Embassy to Peru. The Under Secretary applauded Peru for supporting the Economic and Health Dialogue of the Americas (EHA) and ongoing efforts to advance key goals for the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (“Americas Partnership”). He highlighted the benefits of advancing bilateral cooperation on opportunities at the intersection of clean energy and sustainable agriculture. Under Secretary Fernandez underscored the United States’ interest in deepening economic ties with Peru and working together through the Americas Partnership to address food insecurity and broader issues hampering economic prosperity in the region such as supply chain issues, including critical minerals, medical, and semiconductor supply chains. To stay up to date, follow Under Secretary Fernandez on X: @State_E, LinkedIn: @State-E, and Facebook: