This week, President Barack Obama is making the first trip of his second term; he will visit Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan March 20-23, 2013. The White House will beposting updates from the road and livestreaming several of the President’s events on whitehouse.gov/live, including:

Wednesday, March 20 (2:05 PM ET) — President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu hold a press conference at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem;

Thursday March 21 (11:00 AM ET) — President Obama delivers a speech at the Jerusalem Convention Center; and

Friday March 22 (11:45 AM ET) — President Obama and King Abdullah II of Jordan hold a press conference in… more »

Highlights from Secretary Kerry’s first international trip, including Ankara, Cairo, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Doha. [Go to http://video.state.gov for more video and text transcript.]

About the Author: Richard Buangan serves as Director of Digital Engagement at the U.S. Department of State.

On March 6, 2013, John Kerry departed for Washington, ending his inaugural trip as Secretary of State to the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. His travel concluded in Abu Dhabi and Doha, where he met with senior government officials to discuss our continued close coordination on a broad range of issues.

In Doha, Secretary Kerry met with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani. The two leaders discussed the ongoing crisis in Syria, Middle East peace, and Afghanistan. Following their meeting, Secretary Kerry said:

“I want to thank [Prime Minister Hamad] for the excellent partnership… more »

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visits Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 3, 2013.

About the Author: Esperanza Tilghman serves as a Public Affairs Officer in the Bureau of Consular Affairs.

Recently, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) launched its Smart Traveler Day campaign, designed to support CA’s ongoing efforts to keep U.S. citizens informed and connected to the latest travel information, and to emphasize the assistance CA provides to U.S. citizens traveling overseas.

On February 20, 2013, CA kicked off the campaign with the first-ever roundtable discussion engaging lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons. The roundtable focused on the unique challenges facing LGBT travelers, and how CA provides information and resources to help U.S. citizen travelers stay well-informed and safe. The event was organized… more »

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visits Cairo, Egypt, on March 2, 2013.

Joint Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Foreign Ministry
Cairo, Egypt
March 2, 2013

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much. Shokran. Thank you very much, Mr. Foreign Minister. It’s a great pleasure for me to be back here in Egypt. And I thank you and President Morsy and the Egyptian people for a generous welcome. Thank you.

As you know, I’ve been to Egypt many times over the course of some 29 years. And I had the privilege of being here only a few weeks after the events in January in Tahrir Square. Then I came back with Senator McCain when we tried to help with some of the economic issues shortly thereafter. And each time that I’ve come here, I’ve tried to make it clear, and I make it particularly clear now on behalf of President Obama and the American people that we come here as friends for the Egyptian people, not for one government or one person or one party or ideology, but for the Egyptian people.

The Foreign Minister and I have just had a very constructive first meeting in which we have discussed a number of the issues of importance: Syria, the Mid-East peace process, and we agreed to continue those discussions over dinner and other topics. And we will certainly discuss in some depth how the United States can continue to help the Egyptian people achieve their aspirations for democracy and for opportunity. As your long time friends and partners, the American people support Egypt’s political and economic success and want to help work for that success. MORE

Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Marriott Zamalek Hotel
Cairo, Egypt
March 2, 2013

SECRETARY KERRY: I apologize to everybody for being detained, but I had a very, very spirited, as you can imagine, conversation with members of the opposition, and it was really valuable – very, very valuable. And I’m very grateful to them for taking the time to come and share thoughts. It was really a conversation – we could have gone on for a couple of more hours, and I wish I’d had the time actually to do that because I thought it was very productive.

But I particularly am glad to be back here in Cairo and back here with some of you I met previously and others for the first time. But this is my first trip to Cairo as Secretary of State, obviously, and a lot of things have been happening in the course of the last year, so I wanted to have a chance to be able to talk with you a little bit about the economic challenge that Egypt is facing. MORE

Highlights from the first stops in Secretary Kerry’s first international trip, including London, Berlin, Paris, and Rome. [Go to http://video.state.gov for more video and text transcript.]

About the Author: Mitchell Moss serves as Spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, France.

We were all waiting for lunch to finish and Secretary Kerry to come striding through the ornate double doors that lead into the “Salon de l’Horloge” with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. 

Built by Napoleon III in 1855, “ornate” doesn’t begin to describe the Salon de l’Horloge, whose antique clock reminded all that the presser was now 45 minutes late. Framed in the floor to ceiling windows of the Quai d’Orsay was postcard Paris: “bateaux mouches” were plying the flooded Seine, and the elongated domes of Sacre Coeur could be seen on Montmartre in the distance, still showing traces of snow from a few days earlier. 

Earlier that morning, the Secretary had stopped to shake hands with the motorcycle escort parked near… more »