Events 2007

Press Conference by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

Secretary Rice: 2007 a Successful Year for U.S. Foreign Policy

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice underscored the successes of sustained U.S. diplomacy in remarks to the press on December 21.

"2007 has been a busy and challenging year, but also a positive one. I want to highlight just a few issues on which we've focused. I was just in Iraq and I can tell you that Iraq today is a different country than it was a year ago. The surge of troops has made an undeniable dent in the violence there and in restoring security. And the surge of our Provincial Reconstruction Teams is facilitating reconstruction and reconciliation at the local level, as I just saw firsthand in Kirkuk. All of this, of course, is still fragile and in the year to come, we will need to continue to help Iraqis translate security gains into lasting political progress. To be sure, serious challenges remain in Iraq, but they are increasingly the challenges of building on positive developments."

"Another top priority, as you know, has been to bring Israelis and Palestinians together in order to open final status negotiations for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Annapolis was the culmination of a patient and painstaking diplomacy of almost a year. The negotiating teams have now held their first meeting. And in the year to come, the President and I will actively facilitate and support these negotiations. We will look for ways to engage positively and support the parties in turning their discussions into substantive agreement. And building on the recent Paris donors conference, we will continue to support President Abbas' efforts to build an effective democratic state."

….

"We are dealing with a lot of serious challenges right now, but we must never let that obscure a deeper and more meaningful fact and that is the one that I'd like to leave with you today. America's engagement in the world today is defined not only by our challenges, but by our opportunities -- opportunities to help shape a future in which more men and women than ever before in human history enjoy lives of peace, prosperity and freedom."

To read the complete press conference please click here.