Munich Security Conference Kickoff

Ambassadors Murphy, Ischinger; Photo © Henning Schacht

State Representation of Bavaria
Berlin, January, 18, 2011
Ambassador Philip D. Murphy

The United States has supported the Munich Security Conference for 47 years.  What sets the Security Conference apart is the informal atmosphere and participation by leaders and experts from all over the globe.   It's an informal and exclusive setting that promotes lively dialogue on the hardest questions of our time.   

The United States and Germany have always worked closely in producing the conference.  Our German hosts, led by my friend Wolfgang Ischinger, do all the heavy lifting.  For our part, we expect to send again the largest delegation, and it includes Cabinet officers, senior diplomats, and military leaders, as well as academics, media representatives, and private Americans.  Above all, we will have the honor of having our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the conference, as well as a delegation of distinguished members of Congress, led by Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman.

The principal theme of this year's meeting, „Toward a Euro-Atlantic Security Community," goes right to the core of transatlantic relations; and when I say „transatlantic," I mean the area that includes the United States and Canada, the European Union and our Russian partners.

In NATO principally but also in other fora, the Euro-Atlantic Security Community is a cornerstone of global stability.

For the Obama administration, engaging with our European allies is a top priority; Europe is our indispensable partner in tackling a challenging international agenda.  

Last November's NATO and U.S.-EU summits in Lisbon brought us to as high a level of cooperation as we have ever seen.

At the U.S.-EU summit, we laid the foundation for next steps in our strategic partnership.  We work with the EU to address imbalances in the global economy and break down barriers to trade; to fight terrorism through data sharing, cooperation on cybersecurity, and combating violent extremism; and we work closely on foreign-policy priorities such as Middle East peace, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and coordinating development assistance.

At the NATO summit we unveiled a new Strategic Concept that charts our future course.  We also  set the NATO-Russia relationship on a new foundation of mutual respect and cooperation.

On that note, I'm honored to be sharing this podium with my colleague Ambassador Vladimir Grinin and Christian Schmidt, which for me symbolizes the constructive collaboration we have established among the United States, the European Union and Russia.

This is going to be another important and fascinating security conference this year.  I'd like to thank Wolfgang again for his invitation and I look forward to our discussion tonight.