Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Delivers Remarks at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development Plenary in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on June 22, 2012. [Go to http://video.state.gov for more video and text transcript.]

Secretary Clinton addressed the plenary meeting at Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A transcript and video will be posted when available. For more updates go to: http://www.state.gov/index.htm

Astronauts Oleg Kononenko, of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Joseph Acaba of NASA, and Andre Kuipers of the European Space Agency deliver a message from the International Space Station to the Rio+20 Conference taking place in Brazil, June 2012.

Special Briefing
Todd Stern
Special Envoy for Climate Change
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

SPECIAL ENVOY STERN: Hi everybody and welcome. I’m just going to make a few quick opening remarks. And we are obviously still in the middle of this overall process. We did finish today on a so-called ad ref basis, an agreement among this level, the negotiating level of the conference on the text that has been under discussion for quite some time now.

First of all, I would like to thank the Brazilians for hosting this conference and for the enormous amount of work that they have done. I said in the plenary today, and I mean it, the Brazilian diplomatic team is an extraordinarily talented group. I figured that out in 1997 at my first international conference. They were good then, and they are even better now. And I’ve had the pleasure to work and privilege of working with them in a lot of contexts now over the last several years. And even when it is tough, they are great people to work with.

And just one other preliminary point, which is that sustainable development means a lot to the United States. The President and Secretary Clinton elevated development to one of the three pillars of U.S. national security policy, along with diplomacy and defense. It has been an important issue. We’ve put a lot of time, effort and money into it. And we care a lot about getting sustainable development right. And we do believe that sustainable development is really nothing more than development itself in the 21st century at a time when the pressure on resources, on food and water, and oceans, and many other things just becomes greater and greater with growing economies and growing population. MORE.

A panel participant discusses actions the United States is taking to secure a sustainable future at the U.S. Center at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) is shown in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 17, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

About the Author: Lynette Evans serves as a Program Officer in the Bureau of International Information Programs.

Last week, I joined thousands of people from around the world to participate in the opening of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

On June 13, President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil kicked off the conference, where she called on “all countries of the world to commit” to reaching an accord that addresses serious environmental and social woes. While world leaders and stakeholders groups are busy negotiating, the public also has the opportunity to become involved and learn more about issues of sustainable development ranging from technology and innovation to governance and partnership initiatives at Athlete’s Park, a venue where governments, businesses, and organizations are hosting a variety of side events.
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About the Author: Reta Jo Lewis serves as the Secretary’s Special Representative forGlobal Intergovernmental Affairs.

Yesterday, I arrived in Brazil to participate in the ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) World Congress 2012, and serve as a member of the U.S. delegation to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, June 20-22. Three U.S. city and county officials will serve as private sector advisors to the delegation.

Collaborations at the local level are strengthening our overall bilateral relationship with Brazil. For example, on May 24, 2012, Fulton County, Georgia and the State of Bahia, Brazil signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote local cooperation. In the spirit of the U.S.-Brazil MOU to Support State and Local Cooperation signed during Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s visit to the United States in April 2012, I traveled to Atlanta to participate in the signing ceremony. I had the pleasure of… more »

About the Author: Ann Stock serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Olá from Washington, D.C.! We’re home again after a busy and exciting trip to Brasilia and São Paulo.

Tuesday was the first-annual meeting of the Open Government Partnership, whose member countries contain a quarter of the world’s population. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Rousseff of Brazil, President Kikwete of Tanzania, and Prime Minister Gilauri of Georgia all spoke on the impact that government transparency and openness can make on the global community. More than 800 representatives from over 60 countries and more than 200 civil society organizations were in attendance.

Later, I met with members of the Brazilian… more »

About the Author: Hannah Johnson serves as DipNote’s Assistant Editor.

This week’s “Photo of the Week” comes to us from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s recent trip to Brasilia, Brazil. A staff member captured a photo of Secretary Clinton as she prepared to address the staff and families of the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia on April 16, 2012.

While in Brazil, Secretary Clinton delivered remarks at the opening session of the Open Government Partnership. Secretary Clinton said, “In the 21st century, the United States is convinced that one of the most significant divisions among nations will not be north/south, east/west, religious, or any other category so much as whether they are open or closed societies. We believe that countries with open governments,… more »

About the Author: Ann Stock serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Greetings from Brasilia!

Yesterday’s Global Partnership Dialogue marked the culmination of a great deal of work by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), as well as many other parts of the State Department.

My day was centered on meetings of the Education Working Group, which I led alongside Minister George Torquato Firmeza, the Director of the Cultural Division at Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We were both excited to discuss new and developing avenues of cooperation and encouraged by the progress our delegations made.

People-to-people exchange programs dominated the Education Working Group conversation. President Obama and President Rousseff have made academic and research collaboration a priority between the… more »