Secretary Antony J. Blinken And German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock Before Their Meeting

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Good afternoon.  Well, it’s not as if the foreign minister and I haven’t been spending enough time together over the last day but really value this opportunity to compare notes directly on many of the issues that we were just discussing with our G7 colleagues, to include, of course, the situation in Ukraine and the Russian aggression, but also the very broad global agenda that both Germany and the United States have, including the efforts that we’re making around the world to address the concerns of people around the world, whether that’s food security, energy security, climate change, trying to build inclusive, growing economies.

So we’ve had, I think, very good discussions with our G7 colleagues.  We’ve got more to come this afternoon and tomorrow.  But it’s always a pleasure to be with the foreign minister.

FOREIGN MINISTER BAERBOCK:  Well, yeah, same for me.  I can just echo what Secretary Blinken just said.  Our dear friend, last year we were having the G7 presidency.  We met 10 times, so intensive discussions today, but it was also for us so fortunate to have this G7 format as Europeans, because obviously it includes the U.S., it includes also Japan to underline their support for the European peace order.

So thank you again also for your support for the G7 presidency last year, and we see here also in Japan how important it is that we work together as one of the biggest economies worldwide who also believe in the international rules-based order, because also for this region here, it’s of high importance that we stand together for those who are defending the Charter of the United Nations.  And on top of that, we also do have some bilateral topics where we are intensifying our work, so thank you very much for this exchange.