Statements and Releases

Scranton, Pennsylvania is a place that climbs into your heart and never leaves. It’s home. It’s that special place etched in your heart.

I was born there. Even after my family moved to Claymont, Delaware as my dad found work, we’d return to our old Green Ridge neighborhood in Scranton and spend time with our friends, Charlie Roth, Larry Orr, and Tommy Bell.

Tommy and I lived three blocks apart. We sat next to each other during grade school at St. Paul’s. From swinging on branches to running by the river, Tommy was the friend with the special heart, who would always lighten your heart. Over the next 70 years, he was the best friend at weddings, funerals, campaign rallies, and so many memories. You could always count on Tommy, and I hope he knew he could always count of me.

Tommy became an insurance agent. He served in the National Guard. He and his of wife of 51 years, Ellen, raised their four children in Scranton. They became my family.

In building their great American life, Tommy took genuine pride in the success of his family, community, and our nation. He returned love with boundless loyalty. He was a man of honor, decency, and grace. A man of utmost character.

Tommy embodied a simple truth about our nation. There is nothing ordinary about being an American. We are extraordinary. Tommy was extraordinary.

It’s as if William Butler Yeats had Tommy in mind when he wrote, “Think where man’s glory most begins and ends and say my glory was I had such friends.”

Tommy Bell was such a friend. I will miss him dearly. Jill and I and our entire family send our prayers to Ellen, their children and grandchildren, and the entire Bell family.

May God bless Tommy Bell, a great American, and a good man.

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The post Statement by President Joe Biden on the Passing of Thomas Bell appeared first on The White House.

Today, we—Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan, and President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. of the United States—met for the fourth in-person Quad Leaders Summit, hosted by President Biden in Wilmington, Delaware.

Four years since elevating the Quad to a leader-level format, the Quad is more strategically aligned than ever before and is a force for good that delivers real, positive, and enduring impact for the Indo-Pacific. We celebrate the fact that over just four years, Quad countries have built a vital and enduring regional grouping that will buttress the Indo-Pacific for decades to come.

Anchored by shared values, we seek to uphold the international order based on the rule of law. Together we represent nearly two billion people and over one-third of global gross domestic product. We reaffirm our steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is inclusive and resilient. Through our cooperation, the Quad is harnessing all of our collective strengths and resources, from governments to the private sector to people-to-people relationships, to support the region’s sustainable development, stability, and prosperity by delivering tangible benefits to the people of the Indo-Pacific.

As four leading maritime democracies in the Indo-Pacific, we unequivocally stand for the maintenance of peace and stability across this dynamic region, as an indispensable element of global security and prosperity. We strongly oppose any destabilizing or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion. We condemn recent illicit missile launches in the region that violate UN Security Council resolutions. We express serious concern over recent dangerous and aggressive actions in the maritime domain. We seek a region where no country dominates and no country is dominated—one where all countries are free from coercion, and can exercise their agency to determine their futures. We are united in our commitment to upholding a stable and open international system, with its strong support for human rights, the principle of freedom, rule of law, democratic values, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and peaceful settlement of disputes and prohibition on the threat or use of force in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter.

Reflecting the Vision Statement issued by Leaders at the 2023 Quad Summit, we are and will continue to be transparent in what we do. Respect for the leadership of regional institutions, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), is and will remain at the center of the Quad’s efforts.

A Global Force for Good

Health Security

The COVID-19 pandemic reminded the world how important health security is to our societies, our economies, and the stability of our region. In 2021 and 2022, the Quad came together to deliver more than 400 million safe and effective COVID-19 doses to Indo-Pacific countries and almost 800 million vaccines globally, and provided $5.6 billion to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment for vaccine supply to low and middle-income countries. In 2023, we announced the Quad Health Security Partnership, through which the Quad continues to deliver for partners across the region, including through the delivery of pandemic preparedness training.

In response to the current clade I mpox outbreak, as well as the ongoing clade II mpox outbreak, we plan to coordinate our efforts to promote equitable access to safe, effective, quality-assured mpox vaccines, including where appropriate expanding vaccine manufacturing in low and middle-income countries.

Today we are proud to announce the Quad Cancer Moonshot, a groundbreaking partnership to save lives in the Indo-Pacific region. Building on the Quad’s successful partnership during the COVID-19 pandemic, our collective investments to address cancer in the region, our scientific and medical capabilities, and contributions from our private and non-profit sectors, we will collaborate with partner nations to reduce the burden of cancer in the region.

The Quad Cancer Moonshot will focus initially on combatting cervical cancer—a preventable cancer that continues to claim too many lives—in the Indo-Pacific region, while laying the groundwork to address other forms of cancer as well. The United States intends to support this initiative, including through U.S. Navy medical trainings and professional exchanges around cervical cancer prevention in the region starting in 2025, and through U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) openness to finance eligible private sector-driven projects to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer, including cervical cancer. Australia is announcing the expansion of the Elimination Partnership in the Indo-Pacific for Cervical Cancer Program (EPICC) with support of the Australian Government and the Minderoo Foundation to AUD 29.6 million, to cover up to eleven countries in the Indo-Pacific in helping advance the elimination of cervical cancer and support complementary initiatives focused on cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. India commits to providing HPV sampling kits, detection kits, and cervical cancer vaccines worth $7.5 million to the Indo-Pacific region.  India, through its $10 million commitment to the WHO’s Global Initiative on Digital Health, will offer technical assistance to interested countries in the Indo-Pacific region for the adoption and deployment of its Digital Public Infrastructure that helps in cancer screening and care. Japan is providing medical equipment, including CT and MRI scanners, and other assistance worth approximately $27 million, including in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Timor-Leste, and is contributing to international organizations such as the Gavi Vaccine Alliance. Quad partners also intend to work, within respective national contexts, to collaborate in advancing research and development in the area of cancer and to increase private sector and non-governmental sector activities in support of reducing the burden of cervical cancer in the region. We welcome a number of new, ambitious commitments from non-governmental institutions, including the Serum Institute of India, in partnership with Gavi, which will support orders of up to 40 million HPV vaccine doses, subject to necessary approvals, for the Indo-Pacific region, and which may be increased consistent with demand. We also welcome a new $100 million commitment from Women’s Health and Empowerment Network to address cervical cancer in Southeast Asia.

Altogether, our scientific experts assess that the Quad Cancer Moonshot will save hundreds of thousands of lives over the coming decades.

Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR)

Twenty years since the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, when the Quad first came together to surge humanitarian assistance, we continue to respond to the vulnerabilities caused by natural disasters in the Indo-Pacific. In 2022, the Quad established the “Quad Partnership on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief in the Indo-Pacific” and signed Guidelines for the Quad Partnership on HADR in the Indo-Pacific, which enable Quad countries to rapidly coordinate in the face of natural disasters. We welcome Quad governments working to ensure readiness to rapidly respond, including through pre-positioning of essential relief supplies, in the event of a natural disaster; this effort extends from the Indian Ocean region, to Southeast Asia, to the Pacific.

In May 2024, following a tragic landslide in Papua New Guinea, Quad partners collectively contributed over $5 million in humanitarian assistance. Quad partners are working together to provide over $4 million in humanitarian assistance to support the people of Vietnam in light of the devastating consequences of Typhoon Yagi. The Quad continues to support partners in the region in their longer-term resiliency efforts.

Maritime Security

In 2022, we announced the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) to offer near-real-time, integrated, and cost-effective maritime domain awareness information to partners in the region. Since then, in consultation with partners, we have successfully scaled the program across the Indo-Pacific region—through the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, with partners in Southeast Asia, to the Information Fusion Center—Indian Ocean Region, Gurugram. In doing so, the Quad has helped well over two dozen countries access dark vessel maritime domain awareness data, so they can better monitor the activities in their exclusive economic zones—including unlawful activity. Australia commits to boosting its cooperation with the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency to enhance regional maritime domain awareness in the Pacific through satellite data, training, and capacity building.

Today we are announcing a new regional Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI), to enable our partners in the region to maximize tools provided through IPMDA and other Quad partner initiatives, to monitor and secure their waters, enforce their laws, and deter unlawful behavior. We look forward to India hosting the inaugural MAITRI workshop in 2025. Furthermore, we welcome the launch of a Quad maritime legal dialogue to support efforts to uphold the rules-based maritime order in the Indo-Pacific. In addition, Quad partners intend to layer new technology and data into IPMDA over the coming year, to continue to deliver cutting edge capability and information to the region.

We are also announcing today that the U.S. Coast Guard, Japan Coast Guard, Australian Border Force, and Indian Coast Guard, plan to launch a first-ever Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission in 2025, to improve interoperability and advance maritime safety, and continuing with further missions in future years across the Indo-Pacific.  

We also announce today the launch of a Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network pilot project, to pursue shared airlift capacity among our nations and leverage our collective logistics strengths, in order to support civilian response to natural disasters more rapidly and efficiently across the Indo-Pacific region.

Quality Infrastructure

The Quad remains committed to improving the region’s connectivity through the development of quality, resilient infrastructure.

We are pleased to announce the Quad Ports of the Future Partnership, which will harness the Quad’s expertise to support sustainable and resilient port infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific, in collaboration with regional partners. In 2025, we intend to hold a Quad Regional Ports and Transportation Conference, hosted by India in Mumbai. Through this new partnership, Quad partners intend to coordinate, exchange information, share best practices with partners in the region, and leverage resources to mobilize government and private sector investments in quality port infrastructure across the Indo-Pacific region.

We applaud the expansion of the Quad Infrastructure Fellowships to more than 2,200 experts, and note that Quad partners have already provided well over 1,300 fellowships since the initiative was announced at last year’s Summit. We also appreciate the workshop organized by the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure in India, working to empower partners across the Indo-Pacific to strengthen power sector resilience.

Through the Quad Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience, we continue to support and strengthen quality undersea cable networks in the Indo-Pacific, the capacity, durability, and reliability of which are inextricably linked to the security and prosperity of the region and the world. In support of these efforts, Australia launched the Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre in July, which is delivering workshops and policy and regulatory assistance in response to requests from across the region. Japan will extend technical cooperation to improve public ICT infrastructure management capacity for an undersea cable in Nauru and Kiribati. The United States has conducted over 1,300 capacity building trainings for telecommunication officials and executives from 25 countries in the Indo-Pacific; today the U.S. announces its intent, working with Congress, to invest an additional $3.4 million to extend and expand this training program.

Investments in cable projects by Quad partners will help support all Pacific island countries in achieving primary telecommunication cable connectivity by the end of 2025. Since the last Quad Leaders’ Summit, Quad partners have committed over $140 million to undersea cable builds in the Pacific, alongside contributions from other likeminded partners. Complementing these investments in new undersea cables, India has commissioned a feasibility study to examine expansion of undersea cable maintenance and repair capabilities in the Indo-Pacific.

We reaffirm our support for the Pacific Quality Infrastructure Principles, which are an expression of Pacific voices on infrastructure.

We underscore our commitment to an inclusive, open, sustainable, fair, safe, reliable and secure digital future to advance our shared prosperity and sustainable development across the Indo-Pacific. In this context, we welcome the Quad Principles for Development and Deployment of Digital Public Infrastructure.

Critical and Emerging Technologies

Today, we are proud to announce an ambitious expansion of our partnership to deliver trusted technology solutions to the broader Indo-Pacific region.

Last year, Quad partners launched a landmark initiative to deploy the first Open Radio Access Network (RAN) in the Pacific, in Palau, to support a secure, resilient, and interconnected telecommunications ecosystem. Since then, the Quad has pledged approximately $20 million to this effort.

Quad partners also welcome the opportunity to explore additional Open RAN projects in Southeast Asia. We plan to expand support for ongoing Open RAN field trials and the Asia Open RAN Academy (AORA) in the Philippines, building on the initial $8 million in support that the United States and Japan pledged earlier this year. The United States also plans to invest over $7 million to support the global expansion of AORA, including through establishing a first-of-its-kind Open RAN workforce training initiative at scale in South Asia, in partnership with Indian institutions.

Quad partners will also explore collaborating with the Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation to ensure the country’s readiness for nationwide 5G deployment.

We remain committed to advancing our cooperation on semiconductors through better leveraging of our complementary strengths to realize a diversified and competitive market and enhance resilience of Quad’s semiconductor supply chains. We welcome a Memorandum of Cooperation between Quad countries for the Semiconductor Supply Chains Contingency Network.

Through the Advancing Innovations for Empowering NextGen Agriculture (AI-ENGAGE) initiative announced at last year’s Summit, our governments are deepening leading-edge collaborative research to harness artificial intelligence, robotics, and sensing to transform agricultural approaches and empower farmers across the Indo-Pacific. We are pleased to announce an inaugural $7.5+ million in funding opportunities for joint research, and welcome the recent signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between our science agencies to connect our research communities and advance shared research principles.

The United States, Australia, India, and Japan look forward to launching the Quad BioExplore Initiative—a funded mechanism that will support joint AI-driven exploration of diverse non-human biological data across all four countries.

This project will also be underpinned by the forthcoming Quad Principles for Research and Development Collaborations in Critical and Emerging Technologies.

Climate and Clean Energy

As we underscore the severe economic, social, and environmental consequences posed by the climate crisis, we continue to work together with Indo-Pacific partners, including through Quad Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Package (Q-CHAMP), to enhance climate and clean energy cooperation as well as promote adaptation and resilience. We emphasize the significant benefits of transitioning to a clean energy economy for our people, our planet, and our shared prosperity. Our countries intend to strengthen our cooperation to align policies, incentives, standards, and investments around creating high-quality, diversified clean energy supply chains that will enhance our collective energy security, create new economic opportunities across the region, and benefit local workers and communities around the world, particularly across the Indo-Pacific.

We will work together, through policy and public finance, to operationalize our commitment to catalyzing complementary and high-standard private sector investment in allied and partner clean energy supply chains. To this end, Australia will open applications for the Quad Clean Energy Supply Chains Diversification Program in November, providing AUD 50 million to support projects that develop and diversify solar panel, hydrogen electrolyzer and battery supply chains in the Indo-Pacific. India commits to invest $2 million in new solar projects in Fiji, Comoros, Madagascar, and Seychelles. Japan has committed to $122 million grants and loans in renewable energy projects in Indo-Pacific countries. The United States, through DFC, will continue to seek opportunities to mobilize private capital to solar, as well as wind, cooling, batteries, and critical minerals to expand and diversify supply chains.

We are pleased to announce a focused Quad effort to boost energy efficiency, including the deployment and manufacturing of high-efficiency affordable, cooling systems to enable climate-vulnerable communities to adapt to rising temperatures while simultaneously reducing strain on the electricity grid.

We jointly affirm our commitment to addressing the challenges posed by climate change and ensure the resilience and sustainability of port infrastructure. Quad partners will leverage our learning and expertise to forge a path towards sustainable and resilient port infrastructure, including through the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).

Cyber

In the face of a deteriorating security environment in the cyber domain, Quad countries intend to enhance our cybersecurity partnership to address common threats posed by state-sponsored actors, cybercriminals, and other non-state malicious actors. Our countries commit to taking concrete steps to increase our collective network defense and advance technical capabilities through greater threat information sharing and capacity building. We plan to coordinate joint efforts to identify vulnerabilities, protect national security networks and critical infrastructure networks, and coordinate more closely including on policy responses to significant cybersecurity incidents affecting the Quad’s shared priorities.

Quad countries are also partnering with software manufacturers, industry trade groups, and research centers to expand our commitmentto pursuing secure software development standards and certification, as endorsed in the Quad’s 2023 Secure Software Joint Principles. We will work to harmonize these standards to not only ensure that the development, procurement, and end-use of software for government networks is more secure, but that the cyber resilience of our supply chains, digital economies, and societies are collectively improved. Throughout this fall, Quad countries each plan to host campaigns to mark the annual Quad Cyber Challenge promoting responsible cyber ecosystems, public resources, and cybersecurity awareness. We are constructively engaging on the Quad Action Plan to Protect Commercial Undersea Telecommunications Cables, developed by the Quad Senior Cyber Group, as a complementary effort to the Quad Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience. Our coordinated actions to protect global telecommunications infrastructure as guided by the Action Plan will advance our shared vision for future digital connectivity, global commerce, and prosperity. 

Space

We recognize the essential contribution of space-related applications and technologies in the Indo-Pacific. Our four countries intend to continue delivering Earth Observation data and other space-related applications to assist nations across the Indo-Pacific to strengthen climate early warning systems and better manage the impacts of extreme weather events. In this context, we welcome India’s establishment of a space-based web portal for Mauritius, to support the concept of open science for space-based monitoring of extreme weather events and climate impact.

Quad Investors Network (QUIN)

We welcome private sector initiatives—including the Quad Investors Network (QUIN), which facilitates investments in strategic technologies, including clean energy, semiconductors, critical minerals, and quantum. The QUIN is mobilizing a number of investments to promote supply chain resilience, advance joint research and development, commercialize new technologies, and invest in our future workforce.

People-to-People Initiatives

The Quad is committed to strengthening the deep and enduring ties between our people, and among our partners. Through the Quad Fellowship, we are building a network of the next generation of science, technology, and policy leaders. Together with the Institute of International Education, which leads implementation of the Quad Fellowship, Quad governments welcome the second cohort of Quad Fellows and the expansion of the program to include students from ASEAN countries for the first time. The Government of Japan is supporting the program to enable Quad Fellows to study in Japan. The Quad welcomes the generous support of private sector partners for the next cohort of fellows, including Google, the Pratt Foundation, and Western Digital.

India is pleased to announce a new initiative to award fifty Quad scholarships, worth $500,000, to students from the Indo-Pacific to pursue a 4-year undergraduate engineering program at a Government of India-funded technical institution.

Working Together to Address Regional and Global Issues

Today we reaffirm our consistent and unwavering support for ASEAN centrality and unity. We continue to support implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and are committed to ensuring the Quad’s work is aligned with ASEAN’s principles and priorities.

We underscore ASEAN’s regional leadership role, including in the East Asia Summit, the region’s premier leader-led forum for strategic dialogue, and the ASEAN Regional Forum. As comprehensive strategic partners of ASEAN, our four countries intend to continue to strengthen our respective relationships with ASEAN and seek opportunities for greater Quad collaboration in support of the AOIP.

We recommit to working in partnership with Pacific island countries to achieve shared aspirations and address shared challenges. We reaffirm our support for Pacific regional institutions that have served the region well over many years, with the PIF as the region’s premier political and economic policy organization, and warmly welcome Tonga’s leadership as the current PIF Chair in 2024-2025. We continue to support the objectives of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent. We and our governments will continue to listen to and be guided at every step by Pacific priorities, including climate action, ocean health, resilient infrastructure, maritime security and financial integrity. In particular, we acknowledge climate change remains the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific and applaud Pacific island countries’ global leadership on climate action.

We remain committed to strengthening cooperation in the Indian Ocean region. We strongly support IORA as the Indian Ocean region’s premier forum for addressing the region’s challenges. We recognize India’s leadership in finalizing the IORA Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (IOIP) and express our support for its implementation. We thank Sri Lanka for its continued leadership as IORA Chair through this year and look forward to India’s assuming the IORA Chair in 2025.  

As Leaders, we are steadfast in our conviction that international law, including respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the maintenance of peace, safety, security and stability in the maritime domain, underpin the sustainable development, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific. We emphasize the importance of adherence to international law, particularly as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to address challenges to the global maritime rules-based order, including with respect to maritime claims. We are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas. We continue to express our serious concern about the militarization of disputed features, and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea. We condemn the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels, including increasing use of dangerous maneuvers. We also oppose efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities.We reaffirm that maritime disputes must be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law, as reflected in UNCLOS. We re-emphasize the importance of maintaining and upholding freedom of navigation and overflight, other lawful uses of the sea, and unimpeded commerce consistent with international law. We re-emphasize the universal and unified character of UNCLOS and reaffirm that UNCLOS sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and the seas must be carried out. We underscore that the 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea is a significant milestone and the basis for peacefully resolving disputes between the parties.

Together, with our global and regional partners, we continue to support international institutions and initiatives that underpin global peace, prosperity and sustainable development. We reiterate our unwavering support for the UN Charter and the three pillars of the UN system. In consultation with our partners, we will work collectively to address attempts to unilaterally undermine the integrity of the UN, its Charter, and its agencies. We will reform the UN Security Council, recognizing the urgent need to make it more representative, inclusive, transparent, efficient, effective, democratic and accountable through expansion in permanent and non-permanent categories of membership of the UN Security Council. This expansion of permanent seats should include representation for Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean in a reformed Security Council.

We stand for adherence to international law and respect for principles of the UN Charter, including territorial integrity, sovereignty of all states, and peaceful resolution of disputes. We express our deepest concern over the war raging in Ukraine including the terrible and tragic humanitarian consequences. Each of us has visited Ukraine since the war began, and seen this first-hand; we reiterate the need for a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in line with international law, consistent with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, including respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. We also note the negative impacts of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security, especially for developing and least developed countries. In the context of this war, we share the view that the use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons is unacceptable. We underscore the importance of upholding international law, and in line with the UN Charter, reiterate that all states must refrain from the threat of or use of force against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state.

We condemn North Korea’s destabilizing ballistic missile launches and its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs). These launches pose a grave threat to international peace and stability. We urge North Korea to abide by all its obligations under the UNSCRs, refrain from further provocations and engage in substantive dialogue. We reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula consistent with relevant UNSCRs and call on all countries to fully implement these UNSCRs. We stress the need to prevent any proliferation of nuclear and missile technologies related to North Korea in the region and beyond. We express our grave concern over North Korea’s use of proliferation networks, malicious cyber activity and workers abroad to fund its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. In that context, we urge all UN Member States to abide by the relevant UNSCRs including the prohibition on the transfer to North Korea or procurement from North Korea of all arms and related materiel. We express deep concern about countries that are deepening military cooperation with North Korea, which directly undermines the global nonproliferation regime. As the mandate of the UN Panel of Experts tasked with monitoring violations of North Korea-related UNSCR sanctions was not renewed, we reiterate our commitment to continued implementation of the relevant UNSCRs which remain in full force. We reconfirm the necessity of immediate resolution of the abductions issue.

We remain deeply concerned by the worsening political, security and humanitarian situation in Myanmar, including in Rakhine State, and again call for an immediate cessation of violence, the release of all those unjustly and arbitrarily detained, safe and unhindered humanitarian access, resolution of the crisis through constructive and inclusive dialogue among all stakeholders, and a return to the path of inclusive democracy. We reaffirm our strong support for ASEAN-led efforts, including the work of the ASEAN Chair and the Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair on Myanmar. We call for full implementation of all commitments under the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus. The ongoing conflict and instability have serious implications for the region, including increases in transnational crime such as cybercrime, the illegal drug trade, and human trafficking. We restate our appeal to all States to prevent the flow of arms and dual-use material, including jet fuel. We remain resolute in our support for the people of Myanmar and commit to continuing to work with all stakeholders in a pragmatic and constructive way, to find a sustainable solution to the crisis in a process which is led by the people of Myanmar and returns Myanmar to the path of democracy.

We call upon all States to contribute to the safe, peaceful, responsible, and sustainable use of outer space. We remain committed to fostering international cooperation and transparency, as well as confidence-building measures with the goal of improving the security of outer space for all States. We reaffirm the importance of upholding the existing international legal framework for outer space activities, including the Outer Space Treaty, and the obligation of all States Parties to the Treaty not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space in any other manner.

The Quad reaffirms its commitment to fostering a resilient information environment including through its Countering Disinformation Working Group by supporting media freedom and addressing foreign information manipulation and interference, including disinformation, which undermines trust and sows discord in the international community. We recognize these tactics are intended to interfere with domestic and international interests, and we are committed, together with our regional partners, to leverage our collective expertise and capacity to respond. We reaffirm our commitment to respect international human rights law, strengthen civil society, support media freedom, address online harassment and abuse, including technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and counter unethical practices.

We unequivocally condemn terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism. We are committed to international cooperation and will work with our regional partners in a comprehensive and sustained manner to strengthen their capability to prevent, detect and respond to threats posed by terrorism and violent extremism, including threats posed by the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, consistent with international law. We are committed to working together to promote accountability for the perpetrators of such terrorist attacks. We reiterate our condemnation of terrorist attacks including the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and in Pathankot, and our commitment to pursuing designations, as appropriate, by the UN Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee.  We welcome the constructive discussions held at the first Quad Working Group on Counter-Terrorism and the fourth tabletop exercise in Honolulu last year, and look forward to Japan hosting the next meeting and tabletop exercise in November 2024.

We share great interest in achieving peace and stability in the Middle East. We unequivocally condemn the terror attacks on October 7, 2023. The large-scale loss of civilian lives and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is unacceptable. We affirm the imperative of securing the release of all hostages held by Hamas, and emphasize that the deal to release hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza. We underscore the urgent need to significantly increase deliveries of life-saving humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza as well as the crucial need to prevent regional escalation. We urge all parties to comply with international law, including international humanitarian law, as applicable. We welcome UNSCR S/RES/2735 (2024), and strongly urge all parties concerned to work immediately and steadily toward the release of all hostages and an immediate ceasefire. We call on all parties to take every feasible step to protect the lives of civilians including aid workers, and facilitate the rapid, safe and unimpeded humanitarian relief to civilians. We also encourage other countries, including those in the Indo-Pacific, to increase their support in order to address the dire humanitarian need on the ground. We underscore that the future recovery and reconstruction of Gaza should be supported by the international community. We remain committed to a sovereign, viable and independent Palestinian state taking into account Israel’s legitimate security concerns as part of a two-state solution that enables both Israelis and Palestinians to live in a just, lasting, and secure peace. Any unilateral actions that undermine the prospect of a two-state solution, including Israeli expansion of settlements and violent extremism on all sides, must end. We underscore the need to prevent the conflict from escalating and spilling over in the region.

We condemn the ongoing attacks perpetrated by the Houthis and their supporters against international and commercial vessels transiting through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which are destabilizing the region and impeding navigational rights and freedoms and trade flows, and jeopardize the safety of vessels and people on board including sailors.

We reaffirm our commitment to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We underscore the importance of achieving the SDGs in a comprehensive manner without selectively prioritizing a narrow set of such goals, and reaffirm that the UN has a central role in supporting countries in their implementation. With six years left, we remain steadfast in our commitment to the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and accelerating progress toward all the SDGs in a comprehensive manner that is balanced across three dimensions – economic, social and environmental. From global health to sustainable development and climate change, the global community benefits when all stakeholders have the opportunity to contribute to addressing these challenges. We affirm our commitment to contributing to and implementing the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda and to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. We underscore our commitment to strongly engaging constructively in the discussion on advancing sustainable development, including at the Summit of the Future. The Quad continues to realize a safe and secure world where human rights and human dignity are protected, based on the central premise of the SDGs: “Leave no one behind.”

We, the Quad Leaders, remain dedicated to working in partnership with Indo-Pacific countries in deciding our future and shaping the region we all want to live in.

Enduring Partners for the Indo-Pacific

Over the past four years, Quad Leaders have met together six times, including twice virtually, and Quad Foreign Ministers have met eight times in the last five years. Quad country representatives meet together on a regular basis, at all levels, including among ambassadors across the four countries’ extensive diplomatic networks, to consult one another, exchange ideas to advance shared priorities, and deliver benefits with and for partners across the Indo-Pacific region. We welcome our Commerce and Industry ministers preparing to meet for the first time in the coming months. We also welcome the leaders of our Development Finance Institutions and Agencies deciding to meet to explore future investments by the four countries in the Indo-Pacific. Altogether, our four countries are cooperating at an unprecedented pace and scale.

Each of our governments has committed to working through our respective budgetary processes to secure robust funding for Quad priorities in the Indo-Pacific region to ensure an enduring impact. We intend to work with our legislatures to deepen interparliamentary exchanges, and encourage other stakeholders to deepen engagement with Quad counterparts.

We look forward to the next Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting hosted by the United States in 2025, and the next Quad Leaders’ Summit hosted by India in 2025. The Quad is here to stay.

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The post The Wilmington Declaration Joint Statement from the Leaders of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States appeared first on The White House.

The United States and India share an enduring commitment to deepen our collaboration on issues of shared national and economic security. As an important aspect of our economic growth agendas, we are committed to working together to capture the benefits of the clean energy transition, including the creation of high-quality jobs for our populations, acceleration of clean energy deployment globally, and achievement of global climate goals.

In support of these objectives, the United States and India intend to elevate and expand bilateral technical, financial, and policy support to expand complementary U.S. and Indian manufacturing capacity for clean energy technologies and components and lay the groundwork for enhanced cooperation in third countries, with a focus on partnerships in Africa. This effort will build on existing clean energy cooperation between the United States and India, including clean energy initiatives launched during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the United States in 2023, the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership led by the U.S. Department of Energy and Government of India ministries, technical assistance provided by U.S. laboratories, and novel financial platforms such as the Payment Security Mechanism established to support the rapid deployment of electric buses in India. A U.S. and Indian partnership to establish a shared, resilient, and cutting-edge techno-industrial base centered on innovative clean energy manufacturing techniques sets a strong example for the world and positions our countries to lead clean economic development in the 21st century. 

To launch this partnership, the United States and India are working to unlock USD$1 billion in new multilateral finance through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) for projects that include catalyzing India’s domestic clean energy supply chain buildout. The funding could support supply-side manufacturing capacity expansion for key technology verticals, focusing on solar, wind, battery, energy grid systems, and high-efficiency air conditioner and ceiling fan supply chains. Over time, we seek to mobilize additional financing into priority clean energy manufacturing sectors that harness public and private financial tools and pioneer innovative financial vehicles to meet the rapid demand for flexible climate finance solutions.

The United States and India intend to work with relevant government agencies, civil society, U.S. and Indian private sectors, philanthropies, and multilateral development banks to identify a package of pilot projects across the clean energy value chain that meet our eligibility criteria and meaningfully contribute to supply chain expansion and diversification in identified sectors.  The U.S. and Indian governments also pledge to work with industry leaders on the following lines of effort to launch and eventually scale this new partnership: 

• Identifying near-term investment opportunities to expand manufacturing capacity for specific clean energy supply chain segments, with initial focuses on the following clean energy components:  

• Solar wafers and wafer manufacturing equipment & next generation solar cells
• Wind turbine nacelle components
• Power transmission line components including conductors, cabling, transformers, and next generation technologies
• Energy storage components including batteries
• Battery packs for 2- and 3-wheel electric vehicles (EVs) and zero-emission e-bus and truck components
• High-efficiency air conditioners and ceiling fan components

• Collaborating with the private sector to scope eligible opportunities in the above supply chain segments and support an initial package of pilot projects, ideally including one project focused on clean energy deployment to Africa.  Additional investments plans and sources of funding can be developed over time. This effort would build on private sector partnerships facilitated by U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) across the solar, wind, battery, and critical minerals sectors to pursue opportunities to finance the manufacture of clean energy components. Such investments may be in scope for India’s Green Transition Fund – which will support renewable energy, storage, and e-mobility investments in India and strengthen demand for localized manufacturing – as well as for Indian private equity fund manager Eversource Capital’s new DFC-supported $900 million fund to invest in clean technologies such as renewable energy, efficient cooling, and electric transportation.

• Building trilateral relationships with African partners that have stated political commitments to clean energy deployment, focusing on solar and battery storage opportunities. India and the United States can work multilaterally with African partners to pursue high-potential solar and EV deployment opportunities, understand the conditions required for project success, detail the partnerships and financial model for project success, and implement the project. The United States intends to collaborate with Indian companies to explore investment opportunities and facilitate public-private matchmaking expand partnerships with local African manufacturers. DFC and the U.S. Agency for International Development are anchoring this effort by collaborating with India-based International Solar Alliance to deploy solar and EV charging networks near health facilities.

• Collaborating with each other and industry to consult on policies that will strengthen demand certainty for locally manufactured clean technologies.  The U.S. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act were historic laws designed to invest in the large-scale deployment of clean energy technologies while also reinvigorating the manufacturing capacity of the United States to appropriately onshore clean energy supply chains. Likewise, India’s Production Linked Incentive Schemes have invested over $4.5 billion to catalyze nascent clean energy manufacturing. However, additional policies are vital to expand and protect these investments in the face of global market dynamics and thin profit margins. Both countries acknowledge the importance of sharing insights on how to design policy frameworks to reduce demand uncertainties and ensure sufficient input materials, technological expertise, finance, and other manufacturing enablers are available and secure.

This roadmap is intended to serve as a short-term mechanism for driving initial cooperation on projects, to help inform a long-term roadmap including working together to establish a cadence of meetings and milestones this partnership. This roadmap is not intended to give rise to rights or obligations under domestic or international law.

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Today, United States President Joseph R. Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi affirmed that the U.S.-India Comprehensive Global and Strategic Partnership, the defining partnership of the 21st century, is decisively delivering on an ambitious agenda that serves the global good.  The Leaders reflected on a historic period that has seen the United States and India reach unprecedented levels of trust and collaboration.  The Leaders affirmed that the U.S.-India partnership must be anchored in upholding democracy, freedom, the rule of law, human rights, pluralism, and equal opportunities for all as our countries strive to become more perfect unions and meet our shared destiny.  The Leaders commended the progress that has made the U.S.-India Major Defense Partnership a pillar of global security and peace, highlighting the benefits of increased operational coordination, information-sharing, and defense industrial innovation.  President Biden and Prime Minister Modi expressed unrelenting optimism and the utmost confidence that the tireless efforts of our peoples, our civic and private sectors, and our governments to forge deeper bonds have set the U.S.-India partnership on a path toward even greater heights in the decades ahead.
 
President Biden expressed his immense appreciation for India’s leadership on the world stage, particularly Prime Minister Modi’s leadership in the G-20 and in the Global South and his commitment to strengthen the Quad to ensure a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific. India is at the forefront of efforts to seek solutions to the most pressing challenges, from supporting the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic to addressing the devastating consequences of conflicts around the world. President Biden commended Prime Minister Modi for his historic visits to Poland and Ukraine, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in decades, and for his message of peace and ongoing humanitarian support for Ukraine, including its energy sector, and on the importance of international law, including the UN charter.  The Leaders reaffirmed their support for the freedom of navigation and the protection of commerce, including critical maritime routes in the Middle East where India will assume co-lead in 2025 of the Combined Task Force 150 to work with Combined Maritime Forces to secure sea lanes in the Arabian Sea.  President Biden shared with Prime Minister Modi that the United States supports initiatives to reform global institutions to reflect India’s important voice, including permanent membership for India in a reformed U.N. Security Council.  The Leaders voiced their view that a closer U.S.-India partnership is vital to the success of efforts to build a cleaner, inclusive, more secure, and more prosperous future for the planet.   
 
President Biden and Prime Minister Modi applauded the success of the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) in deepening and expanding strategic cooperation across key technology sectors, including space, semiconductors, and advanced telecommunications. Both Leaders committed to enhance regular engagements to improve the momentum of collaboration in fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum, biotechnology, and clean energy. They highlighted ongoing efforts to strengthen collaboration with like-minded partners, including through the Quad and a U.S.-India-ROK Trilateral Technology initiative launched earlier this year to build more secure and resilient supply chains for critical industries and ensure we collectively remain at the leading edge of innovation.  The Leaders directed their governments to redouble efforts to address export controls, enhance high technology commerce, and reduce barriers to technology transfer between our two countries, while addressing technology security, including through the India-U.S. Strategic Trade Dialogue.  Leaders also endorsed new mechanisms for deeper cyberspace cooperation through the bilateral cybersecurity dialogue. The Leaders recommitted to expand the manufacturing and deployment of clean energy, including finding opportunities to expand U.S.-India cooperation in solar, wind and nuclear energy and the development of small modular reactor technologies.
 
Charting a Technology Partnership for the Future
 

• President Biden and Prime Minister Modi hailed a watershed arrangement to establish a new semiconductor fabrication plant focused on advanced sensing, communication, and power electronics for national security, next generation telecommunications, and green energy applications. The fab, which will be established with the objective of manufacturing infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors, will be enabled by support from the India Semiconductor Mission as well as a strategic technology partnership between Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the U.S. Space Force.
  
• The Leaders praised combined efforts to facilitate resilient, secure, and sustainable semiconductor supply chains including through GlobalFoundries’ (GF) creation of the GF Kolkata Power Center in Kolkata, India that will enhance mutually beneficial linkages in research and development in chip manufacturing and enable game-changing advances for zero and low emission as well as connected vehicles, internet of things devices, AI, and data centers. They noted GF’s plans to explore longer term, cross-border manufacturing and technology partnerships with India which will deliver high-quality jobs in both of our countries.  They also celebrated the new strategic partnership between the U.S. Department of State and the India Semiconductor Mission, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in connection with the International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund. 
  
• The Leaders welcomed steps our industry is taking to build safe, secure, and resilient supply chains for U.S., Indian, and international automotive markets, including through Ford Motor Company’s submission of a Letter of Intent to utilize its Chennai plant to manufacture for export to global markets.  
  
• The Leaders welcomed progress toward the first joint effort by NASA and ISRO to conduct scientific research onboard the International Space Station in 2025. They appreciated the initiatives and exchange of ideas under the Civil Space Joint Working Group and expressed hope that its next meeting in early 2025 will open additional avenues of cooperation.  They pledged to pursue opportunities to deepen joint innovation and strategic collaborations, including by exploring new platforms in civil and commercial space domains.  
  
• The Leaders also welcomed efforts to enhance collaboration between our research and development ecosystems. They plan to mobilize up to $90+ million in U.S. and Indian government funding over the next five years for the U.S.-India Global Challenges Institute to support high-impact R&D partnerships between U.S. and Indian universities and research institutions, including through identifying options to implement the Statement of Intent signed at the June 2024 iCET meeting.  The Leaders also welcomed the launch of a new U.S.-India Advanced Materials R&D Forum to expand collaboration between American and Indian universities, national laboratories, and private sector researchers.
  
• The Leaders announced the selection of 11 funding awards between the National Science Foundation and India’s Department of Science and Technology, supported by a combined $5+ million grant to enable joint U.S.-India research projects in areas such as next-generation telecommunications, connected vehicles, machine learning.  The Leaders announced the award of 12 funding awards under the National Science Foundation and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, research collaboration with a combined outlay of nearly $10 million to enable joint U.S.-India basic and applied research in the areas of semiconductors, next generation communication systems, sustainability & green technologies and intelligent transportation systems.  Furthermore, NSF and MeitY are exploring new opportunities for research collaboration to enhance and synergize the basic and applied research ecosystem on both sides.
  
• The Leaders celebrated that India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT) along with National Science Foundation of the United States announced the first joint call for collaborative research projects in February 2024 to address complex scientific challenges and innovate novel solutions that leverage advances in synthetic and engineering biology, systems and computational biology, and other associated fields that are foundational to developing future biomanufacturing solutions and advance the bioeconomy. Under the first call for proposals, joint research teams responded enthusiastically and results are likely to be announced by the end of 2024.
  
• The Leaders also highlighted additional cooperation we are building across artificial intelligence (AI), quantum, and other critical technology areas. They highlighted the second convening of the U.S.-India Quantum Coordination Mechanism in Washington in August and welcomed the announcement of seventeen new awards for binational research and development cooperation on artificial intelligence and quantum via the U.S.-India Science and Technology Endowment Fund (IUSSTF).  They welcomed new private sector cooperation on emerging technologies, such as through IBM’s recent conclusion of memoranda of understanding with the Government of India, which will enable IBM’s watsonx platform on India’s Airawat supercomputer and drive new AI innovation opportunities, enhance R&D collaboration on advanced semiconductor processors, and increase support for India’s National Quantum Mission. 
  
• The Leaders commended ongoing efforts to build more expansive cooperation around 5G deployment and next-generation telecommunications; this includes the U.S. Agency for International Development’s plans to expand the Asia Open RAN Academy with an initial $7 million investment to grow this workforce training initiative worldwide, including in South Asia with Indian institutions.
  
• The Leaders welcomed progress since the November 2023 signing of an MOU between the Commerce Department and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to enhance the two countries’ innovation ecosystems under the “Innovation Handshake” agenda.  Since then, the two sides have convened two industry roundtables in the U.S. and India to bring together startups, private equity and venture capital firms, corporate investment departments, and government officials to forge connections and to accelerate investment in innovation.

Powering a Next Generation Defense Partnership

• President Biden welcomed the progress towards India concluding procurement of 31 General Atomics MQ-9B (16 Sky Guardian and 15 Sea Guardian) remotely piloted aircraft and their associated equipment, which will enhance the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of India’s armed forces across all domains. 
  
• The Leaders recognized the remarkable progress under the U.S.-India Defense Industrial Cooperation Roadmap, including ongoing collaboration to advance priority co-production arrangements for jet engines, munitions, and ground mobility systems.  They also welcomed efforts to expand defense industrial partnerships, including the teaming of Liquid Robotics and Sagar Defence Engineering for the co-development and co-production of unmanned surface vehicle systems that strengthen undersea and maritime domain awareness. The Leaders applauded the recent conclusion of the Security of Supply Arrangement (SOSA), enhancing the mutual supply of defense goods and services. Both Leaders committed to advance ongoing discussions on aligning their respective defense procurement systems to further enable the reciprocal supply of defense goods and services.
  
• President Biden welcomed India’s decision to set a uniform Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 5 percent on the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) sector, including on all aircraft and aircraft engine parts thereby simplifying the tax structure and paving the way for building a strong ecosystem for MRO services in India. The Leaders also encouraged the industry to foster collaboration and drive innovation to support India’s efforts to become a leading aviation hub.  The Leaders welcomed commitments from U.S. industry to further increase India’s MRO capabilities, including for the repair of aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.
  
• The Leaders hailed the teaming agreement on the C-130J Super Hercules aircraft recently signed between Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems Limited, the two companies that co-chair the U.S.-India CEO Forum.  Building on longstanding industry cooperation, this agreement will establish a new Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in India to support the readiness of the Indian fleet and global partners who operate the C-130 Super Hercules aircraft.  This marks a significant step in U.S.-India defense and aerospace cooperation and reflects the two sides’ deepening strategic and technology partnership ties.
  
• The Leaders lauded the growing defense innovation collaboration between our governments, businesses, and academic institutions fostered by the India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) initiative launched in 2023, and noted progress achieved during the third INDUS-X Summit in Silicon Valley earlier this month. They welcomed the enhanced collaboration between the Indian Ministry of Defence’s Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) and US Department of Defence’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) through the Memorandum of Understanding signed at the Silicon Valley Summit. The efforts via the INDUSWERX consortium to facilitate pathways for defense and dual-use companies in the INDUS-X network to access premier testing ranges in both countries, were appreciated.
  
• The Leaders also recognized the clear fulfillment of the shared goal to build a defense innovation bridge under INDUS-X through the launch of “joint challenges” designed by the U.S. DoD’S DIU and the Indian MoD’s Defence Innovation Organization (DIO).  In 2024, our governments have separately awarded $1+ million to U.S. and Indian companies that developed technologies focused on undersea communications and maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).  Building on this success, a new challenge was announced at the most recent INDUS-X Summit that focused on Space Situational Awareness (SSA) in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO).  
  
• The Leaders welcomed ongoing efforts to deepen our military partnership and interoperability to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, noting that India hosted our most complex, largest bilateral, tri-service exercise to date during the March 2024 TIGER TRIUMPH exercise.  They also welcomed the inclusion of new technologies and capabilities, including a first-ever demonstration of the Javelin and Stryker systems in India, on the margins of the ongoing bilateral Army YUDH ABHYAS exercise. 
  
• The Leaders welcomed the conclusion of the Memorandum of Agreement regarding the Deployment of Liaison Officers, and the commencement of deployment process of the first Liaison Officer from India in US Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
  
• The Leaders commended work to advance cooperation in advanced domains, including space and cyber, and looked forward towards the November 2024 bilateral cyber engagement to enhance the U.S.-India cyber cooperation framework. Areas of new cooperation will include threat information sharing, cybersecurity training, and collaboration on vulnerability mitigation in energy and telecommunications networks. The Leaders also noted the second U.S.-India Advanced Domains Defense Dialogue in May 2024, which included the first-ever bilateral defense space table-top exercise. 

Catalyzing the Clean Energy Transition

• President Biden and Prime Minister Modi welcomed the U.S.-India Roadmap to Build Safe and Secure Global Clean Energy Supply Chains, which launched a new initiative to accelerate the expansion of safe and secure clean energy supply chains through U.S. and Indian manufacturing of clean energy technologies and components.  In its initial phase, the U.S. and India would work together to unlock $1 billion of multilateral financing to support projects across the clean energy value chain for renewable energy, energy storage, power grid and transmission technologies, high efficiency cooling systems, zero emission vehicles, and other emerging clean technologies.
  
• The Leaders also highlighted the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)’s partnership with India’s private sector to expand clean energy manufacturing and diversify supply chains.  To date, DFC has extended a $250 million loan to Tata Power Solar to construct a solar cell manufacturing facility and a $500 million loan to First Solar to construct and operate a solar module manufacturing facility in India.
  
• The Leaders lauded the strong collaboration under the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP), most recently convened on September 16, 2024 in Washington DC to strengthen energy security, create opportunities for clean energy innovation, address climate change and create employment generation opportunities, including through capacity building, and collaboration between industry and R&D.
  
• The Leaders welcomed collaboration on a new National Center for Hydrogen Safety in India and affirmed their intent to utilize the new Renewable Energy Technology Action Platform (RETAP) to enhance collaboration on clean energy manufacturing and global supply chains, including through public-private task forces on hydrogen and energy storage.
  
• The Leaders also announced a new Memorandum of Cooperation between the U.S. Agency for International Development and the International Solar Alliance aimed at promoting more responsive and sustainable power systems that leverage diverse renewable energy sources. 
  
• The Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to accelerate the development of diverse and sustainable supply chains for critical minerals under the Minerals Security Partnership targeting strategic projects along the value chain.  The Leaders looked forward to the signing of the Critical Minerals Memorandum of Understanding at the forthcoming U.S.-India Commercial Dialogue and pledged to hasten bilateral collaboration to secure resilient critical minerals supply chains through enhanced technical assistance and greater commercial cooperation.
  
• The Leaders welcomed the progress made on joint efforts since 2023 for India to work toward IEA membership in accordance with the provisions of the Agreement on an International Energy Program.
  
• The two Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to accelerating the manufacturing and deployment of renewable energy, battery storage and emerging clean technology in India. They welcomed the ongoing progress between India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to provide up to $500 million each to anchor the Green Transition Fund as well as encourage private sector investors to match these efforts. Both sides look forward to the expeditious operationalization of the Green Transition Fund.

Empowering Future Generations and Promoting Global Health and Development

• The Leaders welcomed India’s signature and ratification of the Agreements under Pillar III, Pillar IV and the overarching Agreement on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). The Leaders underscored that IPEF seeks to advance resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness of the economies of its signatories. They noted the economic diversity of the 14 IPEF partners that represents 40 percent of global GDP and 28 percent of global goods and services trade.
  
• President Biden and Prime Minister Modi celebrated the new U.S.-India Drug Policy Framework for the 21st Century and its accompanying Memorandum of Understanding, which will deepen collaboration to disrupt the illicit production and international trafficking of synthetic drugs and precursor chemicals, and deepen a holistic public health partnership. 
  
• The two Leaders signaled their commitment to the objectives of the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drugs Threats and work towards combatting the threat of synthetic drugs and their precursors through mutually agreed initiatives to promote public health through coordinated actions.
  
• The Leaders applauded the first-ever U.S.-India Cancer Dialogue held in August 2024, which brought together experts from both countries to increase research and development to accelerate the rate of progress against cancer.  The Leaders applauded the recently launched Bio5 partnership between the United States, India, ROK, Japan, and the EU, driving closer cooperation on pharmaceutical supply chains.  The Leaders applauded the Development Finance Corporation’s $50 million loan to Indian company Panacea Biotech to manufacture hexavalent (six-in-one) vaccines for children, reaffirming our joint commitment to advance shared global health priorities, including bolstering support for primary healthcare.
  
• The leaders welcomed the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Small Business Administration for promoting cooperation between U.S. and Indian small and medium-size enterprises by improving their participation in the global market place through capacity building workshops in areas such as trade and export finance, technology and digital trade, green economy and trade facilitation. The MoU also provides for the joint conduct of programs for women entrepreneurs to empower them and facilitate trade partnership between women-owned small businesses of the two countries.  The Leaders celebrated that, since the June 2023 State visit, the Development Finance Corporation has invested $177 million across eight projects to support Indian small businesses and drive economic growth.
  
• The Leaders welcomed enhanced cooperation on agriculture between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, in areas such as climate-smart agriculture, agriculture productivity growth, agriculture innovation, and sharing best practices related to crop risk protection and agriculture credit. The two sides will also enhance cooperation with the private sector through discussions on regulatory issues and innovation to enhance bilateral trade.
  
• The Leaders welcomed the formal launch of the new U.S.-India Global Digital Development Partnership, which aims to bring together U.S. and Indian private sector companies, technology and resources to deploy the responsible use of emerging digital technologies in Asia and Africa.
  
• The Leaders welcomed strengthened trilateral cooperation with Tanzania through the Triangular Development Partnership, led by the U.S. Agency for International Development and India’s Development Partnership Administration to jointly address global development challenges and foster prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. The partnership focuses on advancing renewable energy projects, including solar energy, to enhance energy infrastructure and access in Tanzania, thereby bolstering energy cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.  They also desired to explore the expansion of the triangular development partnership in areas of health cooperation, particularly for critical technical areas of mutual interest including digital health and capacity building of nurses and other frontline health workers.
  
• The Leaders acknowledged the July 2024 signing of a bilateral Cultural Property Agreement that will facilitate implementation of the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.  The agreement marked the culmination of years of diligent work by experts from both countries and fulfills President Biden’s and Prime Minister Modi’s commitment to enhance cooperation to protect cultural heritage highlighted in the joint statement when they met in June 2023. In this context, the leaders welcomed the repatriation of 297 Indian antiquities from the U.S. to India in 2024.
  
• The Leaders look forward to building on India’s ambitious G20 presidency to deliver on shared priorities for the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rio de Janeiro, including: bigger, better, and more effective MDBs, including by following through on Leaders’ pledges in New Delhi to boost the World Bank’s capacity to help developing countries address global challenges, while recognizing the imperative of achieving the sustainable development goals; a more predictable, orderly, timely and coordinated sovereign debt restructuring process; and a pathway to growth for high-ambition developing countries that are facing financing challenges amid mounting debt burdens by increasing access to finance and unlocking fiscal space taking into account country specific circumstances.

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan today in Wilmington, Delaware, to advance cooperation on a range of security, economic, and diplomatic issues. The President underscored that the U.S.-Japan Alliance is the cornerstone of regional peace and prosperity, and commended the progress made in strengthening the global partnership with Japan since the Prime Minister’s Official Visit to Washington, D.C., in April 2024.

The President praised the Prime Minister’s visionary and courageous leadership over the past three years, which has fundamentally enhanced Japan’s defense capabilities and transformed its role in the world. He thanked the Prime Minister for his resolute support for strengthening Alliance defense cooperation, including on command and control, defense industrial cooperation, and enhanced exercises and training, and for advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region.  Both leaders welcomed progress in pursing cooperation on advanced capability projects under Pillar 2 of the Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) trilateral partnership.

The two leaders also reiterated their resolve to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and underscored their opposition to any attempts to change the status quo by force. The leaders discussed their respective diplomacy with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and their shared concerns about the PRC’s coercive and destabilizing activities, including in the South China Sea. They also reaffirmed their commitment to developing and protecting critical and emerging technologies such as AI and semiconductors while increasing their resilience to economic coercion.

The leaders also discussed Japan’s robust contributions to global and regional security, including through the Quad and its leadership of the G7 last year, as well as its support for the United Nations and increased humanitarian funding to meet unprecedented needs across the globe. The President welcomed the Prime Minister’s principled and resolute support to Ukraine as it defends itself from Russia’s brutal aggression. He also commended the Prime Minister’s courage and conviction in strengthening ties with the Republic of Korea (ROK), which enabled the launch of a momentous new era of U.S.-Japan-ROK trilateral cooperation at the historic Camp David Summit in August 2023.

The two leaders committed to sustain efforts to take the U.S.-Japan Alliance to new heights and to continue standing side-by-side together as steadfast global partners.

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia today in Wilmington, Delaware. The President thanked the Prime Minister for his partnership and highlighted the progress made in strengthening bilateral ties since the Prime Minister’s Official Visit to Washington, D.C., last October. 
 
The leaders underscored that the U.S.-Australia Alliance remains the core of the bilateral relationship, and welcomed the depth of cooperation across its three pillars: defense and security, economic, and climate and clean energy. The leaders noted the recent Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) Joint Leaders Statement reaffirming their shared commitment to advance this historic trilateral partnership and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable. 
 
The leaders reflected on the strength of the economic relationship and discussed progress over the past two years to modernize the Alliance in the face of new challenges, including addressing climate change and the clean energy transition. They also reaffirmed their commitment to expand cooperation to build more diverse and resilient critical minerals supply chains and accelerate the transition to clean energy in accordance with the “Compact” they signed in Hiroshima, Japan, in May 2023.
 
The two leaders also discussed their support for maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, their continued assistance to Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s brutal aggression, and their support for a sustainable ceasefire and increased humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. The leaders discussed their respective diplomacy with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and their shared concerns about the PRC’s coercive and destabilizing activities, including in the South China Sea. The President welcomed Australia’s contributions to the Quad, its growing partnership with Japan, and its active engagement in the Pacific region, where the United States intends to provide $1.5 million to support the World Bank’s efforts to strengthen correspondent banking relationships in Pacific Island countries.   
 
The leaders committed to continue deepening the bilateral partnership to advance their shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific.

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Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new resources to support women’s economic security and convening stakeholders to discuss the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to ensure that women age with the financial security that they deserve.
 
Under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, working age women’s labor force participation is the highest on record, the gender pay gap has narrowed, and the Administration is ensuring that women have access to good jobs and safe workplaces free from discrimination.  Still, women—and women of color in particular—experience workplace inequities throughout their lives, including as a result of discrimination, pay disparities, occupational segregation, and unpaid caregiving responsibilities.  These inequities can add up to millions of dollars lost over the course of a lifetime and contribute to a retirement savings gap between men and women.  While women typically retire with less savings than men, they are also living longer—thereby, experiencing more financial strain as they age.  
 
The Council of Economic Advisers is releasing a new issue brief on the Economic Security of Older Women highlighting the economic challenges that compound over the course of a woman’s life and underscoring that women are more vulnerable to economic shocks.  The issue brief also highlights Biden-Harris Administration policies that have helped mitigate these challenges and ensure women’s economic security as they age.
 
Since Day One, President Biden and Vice President Harris have fought to improve women’s economic security and protect and strengthen Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—lifelines for millions of women.  From lowering prescription drug costs for millions of seniors through the historic Inflation Reduction Act to issuing new rules to ensure that the financial advice that Americans get for retirement is in their best interest, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking action to support women’s financial security.  The Biden-Harris Administration is also closing gaps in women’s health research, ensuring that women enter retirement more securely, supporting families’ access to care, and protecting women from financial fraud and scams. 
 
As part of the ongoing efforts to support women’s economic security, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing the following new actions:
 
Supporting Employment Training and Housing for Seniors. The Department of Labor (DOL)—through the Senior Community Service Employment Program—is awarding more than $200 million in new grants to support training and employment for older adults.  Through these grants, participants—the majority of whom are women—are connected to jobs, gaining critical workplace skills and a pathway to financial stability.  The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is announcing nearly $3 million in funding for the Elder Justice Innovation Grants.  Because traditional emergency housing options often cannot meet the needs of older adults, older women experiencing abuse are often forced to return to unsafe environments; these funds will support emergency and transitional housing tailored to the needs of older women.
 
Providing New Resources to Help Support Women’s Retirement Security.  HHS is announcing a new guide to services and resources—including tools for retirement planning and financial literacy—to assist women in planning for a healthy financial future in older age.  DOL is publishing resources to assist women navigating challenging retirement scenarios, including a new effort to educate attorneys and advocates on qualified domestic relations orders, a critical step in dividing a couple’s retirement assets in the event of a divorce.  The Department of Treasury is publishing a new issue brief on the unique challenges that many women face in retirement, and how the Biden-Harris Administration’s implementation of the SECURE 2.0 Act—including the Saver’s Match, emergency savings provisions, and expanded coverage for part-time workers—will help mitigate the gender retirement savings gap.  And the Social Security Administration is releasing a new resource for women and their families about how they can better access Social Security benefits and services.  

Protecting Women’s Earnings and Savings.  The Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (CFPB) is announcing new efforts to help older women—who are more vulnerable to certain financial frauds and scams—protect their hard-earned savings.  Today, the CFPB spotlighted the legal challenges faced by surviving spouses—often women—who may be pursued for their spouse’s medical debt.  Some states have enacted laws making clear that surviving spouses are not responsible for their deceased partners’ debts, and others limit the circumstances in which a surviving spouse is responsible; however, the CFPB has found that debt collectors may try to capitalize on a surviving spouse’s vulnerabilities by attempting to collect their deceased spouse’s unpaid medical bills without real consideration of whether the surviving spouse actually owes the debt.  This follows the CFPB’s proposed rule earlier this year, announced by Vice President Harris, which proposed to remove medical bills from most credit reports, increase privacy protections, help to increase credit scores and loan approvals, and prevent debt collectors from using the credit reporting system to coerce people to pay.  The CFPB will also release a report on the barriers that older Americans face in banking that financial institutions must work to address, including loss of a spouse, cognitive challenges, and changes in health.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is releasing a new resource highlighting enforcement activities and public education efforts to combat sex and age discrimination.
 
Today’s announcements build on the Biden-Harris Administration’s actions to help ensure women age with financial security, including—
 
Lowering Health Care Costs for Women
 
The President and Vice President believe that health care is a right, not a privilege, and have expanded health care to millions more Americans while lowering health care costs.  The Administration continues to build on, strengthen, and protect Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act and has signed historic new laws to lower prescription drug costs and health insurance premiums.  The President’s prescription drug law, the Inflation Reduction Act, is directly benefiting women with Medicare, including nearly 30 million women enrolled in Medicare Part D.  These actions are especially important for women, who typically face higher health care costs than men and who are more likely than men to take less medication than was prescribed because of cost—with even greater disparities for women of color.  To help address these challenges, the Biden-Harris Administration is:

• Lowering the Cost of Insulin.  The Administration is delivering on the President’s promise to lower health care costs by capping seniors’ insulin costs at $35 for a month’s supply.  As a result, all 3.4 million Medicare Part D enrollees who filled an insulin prescription in 2023 had their insulin costs capped at $35 per month, saving some seniors hundreds of dollars for a month’s supply and lowering costs for about 733,000 women enrolled in Part D and B.
  
• Capping Out-of-Pocket Prescription Drug Costs. Under the President’s leadership, HHS is implementing a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap for prescriptions drugs costs for Medicare Part D enrollees.  In 2025, when the cap goes into effect, nearly 19 million seniors and other beneficiaries are projected to save $400 per year on prescription drugs. 
  
• Lowering the Cost of Prescription Drugs. For the first-time ever, the Administration announced new, lower prices for the first ten drugs selected for Medicare drug price negotiations, including for drugs that women disproportionately use.  For example, one of the first 10 drugs is Enbrel—an arthritis treatment; women comprise 72 percent of the enrollees who use Enbrel; a woman with Medicare who takes Enbrel and pays $1,777 today for a 30-day supply would pay only $589 to fill her prescription when the negotiated prices take effect—a 67% decrease in out-of-pocket costs.
  
• Lowering the Cost of Health Insurance. Millions of women are saving an average of $800 on health insurance premiums thanks to the Administration’s expansion of the Premium Tax Credit.  This expansion has helped drive health insurance coverage to a record high, while the Affordable Care Act continues to ensure that insurance companies cannot charge women more just because of their gender.

Supporting Women’s Financial Security

The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that women are supported throughout their working lives—by ensuring access to high-quality jobs, robustly enforcing workplace antidiscrimination laws, and closing gender wage gaps—and as they enter retirement.  The Administration is working to ensure women’s financial security as they age by:

• Safeguarding Social Security Equity and Efficiency.  Social Security is the bedrock of financial security for American seniors and for millions of Americans with disabilities.  President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to protecting and strengthening Social Security.  SSA also administers the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, which provides monthly payments to people with disabilities and older adults who have little or no income and resources; older women are more likely than older men to rely on SSI, making up 64% of SSI recipients aged 65 or older.  To simplify and increase access for individuals, SSA announced the first phase of an online, streamlined SSI application; published three final rules simplifying how non-monetary support from friends and family is counted; and initiated efforts to expedite decisions for people with severe disabilities.  SSA has also deployed a targeted outreach strategy to ensure that beneficiaries are aware of the benefits SSA pays to widowed and divorced spouses and dependents of eligible workers—a population disproportionately comprised of older women.  To help ensure that all beneficiaries receive the benefits that they are entitled to, SSA is also translating more materials into more languages, improving access to interpretation services, and developed a Limited English Proficiency Toolkit.  The Biden-Harris Administration is fighting to ensure that SSA has the funding they need to continue administering these crucial programs.
  
• Protecting Women’s Retirement Savings.  Earlier this year, DOL issued a final rule to close loopholes and ensure that the financial advice that Americans get for retirement is in their best interest.  DOL’s rule will protect the millions of Americans, including millions of women, who are diligently saving for retirement when they rely on advice from trusted professionals on how to invest their savings.  The rule will require trusted investment advice providers to give prudent, loyal, and honest advice, and prevent them from providing recommendations that favor the investment advice providers’ interests—financial or otherwise—at retirement savers’ expense.  These new safeguards will save tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per impacted middle-class saver.  The Administration is also implementing the SECURE 2.0 Act, which allows survivors of domestic abuse to elect to receive penalty-free distributions from an employer-sponsored retirement plan. 
  
• Providing Housing Security for Vulnerable Women. The Department of Housing and Urban Development continues to support housing for older Americans, including through the Home Equity Conversion Mortgages for Seniors program, which allows seniors to withdraw a portion of their home equity for additional income, and the 202 program, which offers direct loans and capital for the provision of secure and supportive housing facilities for older persons.  These programs—which predominantly support older women— allow senior homeowners to age in place and help expand the supply of affordable housing by providing low-income older Americans with options that allow them to live independently but in an environment that provides support for daily necessities. 

Supporting Families’ Access to Care

The Biden-Harris Administration—through implementation of the President’s Care Executive Order—is working to ensure that older women have the support they need as they age as well as to care for the ones they love.  Even as older adults require care, they are also often the ones who provide it.  One in four older women provide some form of unpaid caregiving, and, without training and support, their health, well-being, quality of life, and financial future can suffer.  The Administration is supporting families’ access to care by:

• Ensuring Safety and Quality Care in Long-Term Care Facilities. Adequate staffing is proven to be one of the measures most strongly associated with safety and good care outcomes.  To ensure safety and quality care, earlier this year, Vice President Harris announced that HHS finalized a rule to require all nursing homes that receive federal funding through Medicare and Medicaid to have 3.48 hours per resident per day of total staffing, including a defined number from both registered nurses and nurse aides.  This means a facility with 100 residents would need at least two or three registered nurses and at least ten or eleven nurse aides as well as two additional nurse staff (which could be registered nurses, licensed professional nurses, or nurse aides) per shift to meet the minimum staffing standards.  Many facilities would need to staff at a higher level based on their residents’ needs.  It will also require facilities to have a registered nurse onsite 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide skilled nursing care, which will further improve nursing home safety.   And HHS released a new “know-your-rights” resource for women to ensure that women can access safe and culturally competent health care free from discrimination and with protections to their privacy. 
  
• Supporting Family Caregivers. Through the American Rescue Plan, the Administration provided $145 million to help the National Family Caregiver Support Program deliver counseling, training, and short-term relief to family caregivers and other informal care providers.  HHS issued a report documenting actions taken by the Biden-Harris Administration to implement the first-ever National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers; these actions have created new initiatives that directly support family caregivers, strengthened existing programs, and improved coordination across the federal government to improve the lives of family caregivers.  HHS has also taken steps to support family caregivers’ access to training and beneficiary information during the hospital discharge planning process, published the Guiding and Improving Dementia Experience Model to support people living with dementia and their caregivers, and announced new funding opportunities to develop new approaches to support family caregivers.  HHS also published a guide to help older women find programs and services—such as respite care, support groups and individual counseling—to help them maintain their own health and well-being while being a caregiver for others.  And the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) launched a program to provide mental health counseling services to family caregivers caring for our nation’s heroes.  
  
• Investing in Care Infrastructure and Supporting Caregivers and Care Workers. The Administration is committed to raising the wages and quality of care worker jobs, and to investing in care infrastructure. In March 2024, SBA announced new funding opportunities to support small businesses in the child care sector as well as the creation of a child care business development guide, which will provide resources for child care businesses on starting and running a business throughout the business life cycle.  In addition, SBA is launching a lender campaign to highlight the resources SBA has available to support small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses, including child care businesses, and will discuss additional reforms to support the growth of child care capacity across the country.  The Administration is also taking steps to ensure Service members and military spouses—the vast majority of whom are women—have the support they need to care for themselves and their families while serving our country, including by strengthening hiring and retention of military spouses across the federal government, and expanding access to child care and other employment resources.  And the Department of Labor has published sample employment agreements so domestic home care, child care, and long-term care workers and their employers can help ensure all parties better understand their rights and responsibilities.

Protecting Women from Financial Fraud and Scams

The Biden-Harris Administration is working to protect the savings that older Americans have worked their entire lives to build. Each year, Americans over 60-years-old lose billions of dollars to scams.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other regulatory agencies are taking action to crack down on frauds and scams that too often target older Americans by—

• Protecting Older Women from Financial Fraud. FTC is pursuing actions against scammers who target or disproportionately impact older adults in their schemes, including those who conduct prize, sweepstakes, and lottery scams; tech support scams; and family and friend impersonation.  Last year, FTC’s past enforcement efforts resulted in relief of more than $285 million to consumers.
  
• Equipping Older Women with Tools and Resources to Protect Against Scams.  FTC chairs the Scams Against Older Adults Advisory Group focused on expanding consumer education and outreach efforts; improving industry training on scam prevention; identifying innovative or high-tech methods to detect and stop scams; it has produced a report on what research shows are effective tactics in scam-prevention messaging.  And the CFPB has released resources to assist older adults—who are disproportionately women—navigate later-in-life challenges, such as resources to navigate critical financial moments after losing a spouse; tools to avoid financial exploitation; and information to help safeguard finances. 

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Department of Energy Battery Supply Chain Awards Build on Four Years of Whole-of-Government Effort to Increase Domestic and Allied Supply of Critical Minerals

Critical minerals are essential building blocks of the modern economy and our energy security, from clean energy technologies like high-capacity batteries and wind turbines to semiconductors, advanced defense systems, and consumer electronics. Over the past several decades, China has cornered the market for processing and refining of key critical minerals, leaving the U.S. and our allies and partners vulnerable to supply chain shocks and undermining economic and national security. As the world builds a clean energy economy, demand for critical minerals is projected to grow exponentially.
 
President Biden recognized this challenge and took immediate action. In his first weeks in office, he signed Executive Order 14017, America’s Supply Chains, which mandated a 100-day review of U.S. critical mineral supply chains. Following the report’s recommendations, the Biden-Harris Administration has mobilized historic resources to strengthen domestic critical minerals supply chains, from mining to manufacturing to recycling. These investments are strengthening U.S. energy and national security; boosting American manufacturing; creating good-paying and union jobs in mining, construction, and manufacturing; and reducing reliance on unreliable supply chains.
 
Since President Biden took office, companies have announced more than $120 billion in investments in battery and critical mineral supply chains. Through the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Commerce are supporting the domestic battery and critical mineral supply chain through grants, loans, and allocated tax credits. That investment has created new jobs: over 250,000 new American energy jobs were added last year—with clean energy jobs growing twice as fast as the rest of the sector.
 
This investment has also dramatically expanded the U.S. critical minerals industrial base and reduced reliance on foreign and unreliable supply chains. In 2021, the U.S. had enough operating and announced battery manufacturing capacity to power 500,000 electric vehicles—today, announced battery gigafactories will power 10 million electric vehicles, enough to meet domestic demand by 2030. In 2021, U.S. lithium producers met just 5 percent of global demand. Thanks to investments in processing and manufacturing, the US is not just keeping pace with the fivefold increase in lithium demand but is on track to outpace it: the U.S. is set to supply more than one-fifth of global demand outside of China by 2030.
 
After years of ceding ground to China, we are now winning the competition for the 21st Century, protecting our industrial base and creating good jobs, and strengthening our energy and national security thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s actions to secure critical mineral supply chains.

Battery Material Processing and Manufacturing

Today, the Department of Energy is announcing over $3 billion across 25 projects through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to extract, process, and recycle critical minerals and materials and manufacture key battery components, as well as support next-generation battery manufacturing. Combined with the first round of battery material processing and manufacturing awards, funding from this program will generate $16 billion in public and private sector investment throughout the entire battery supply chain. Project details can be found here.

This announcement supports a whole-of-government effort to build an end-to-end domestic supply chain for electric vehicle and grid storage batteries:

• The Department of the Treasury allocated $800 million through the first round of allocations under the Inflation Reduction Act Section 48C Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Tax Credit for critical mineral processing, refining and recycling, including for lithium-ion battery recycling, battery material processing, and battery component manufacturing.
  
• The Department of Energy Loan Program Office closed a loan of $2.5 billion to Ultium Cells and issued a conditional commitment of $9.2 billion to BlueOval SK, joint ventures between General Motors and LG Energy and Ford and SK respectively, for six total battery manufacturing facilities with more than 200 gigawatt hours of capacity, enough to power more than 2 million EVs.
  
• The Loan Program Office has also issued a $2 billion conditional commitment to Redwood Materials for a first-of-its-kind battery material manufacturing and recycling project in Nevada to produce critical battery components that are currently dominated by China using recycled batteries and material.
  
• The Loan Program Office issued a $102 million loan to Syrah Technologies to produce graphite-based active anode material for EV batteries in Louisiana. Syrah processes natural graphite from its Balama, Mozambique mine, which received conditional commitment of up to $150 million in financing from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to support the full graphite supply chain.
  
• The Department of Commerce awarded $21 million to the Nevada Tech Hub, led by the University of Reno, Nevada, to build a globally competitive full lithium supply chain and innovation cluster from extraction through recycling, building on the lithium assets, workforce, and research institutions in the area.
  
• In May, President Biden directed his U.S. Trade Representative to raise tariffs on imported EV and grid storage batteries from China, as well as certain critical minerals, to counter China’s unfair trade practices, which will defend U.S. manufacturers from being undercut by artificially cheap products.

Supporting Responsible Domestic Mining

To meet the nation’s climate, infrastructure, and global competitiveness goals, the U.S. must expand and accelerate responsible domestic production of critical minerals in a manner that upholds strong environmental, labor, safety, Tribal consultation, and community engagement standards. By responsibly permitting, managing operations, and remediating mines, the U.S. can set a global standard for responsible mineral development and create good-paying jobs in communities across the country:

• The Department of Energy Loan Programs Office issued a $2.26 billion conditional commitment for lithium processing at the fully permitted Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada, which will produce enough lithium to power more than 800,000 EVs annually when operational.
  
• The Department of Energy Loan Programs Office issued a $700 million conditional commitment for lithium processing at the Rhyolite Ridge lithium mine in Nevada, which plans to produce enough lithium to power 370,000 new EVs annually when operational. Yesterday, the Bureau of Land Management issued the final Environmental Impact Statement for the project.
  
• The Department of Defense awarded Albemarle $90 million through the Defense Production Act to support the restart of the Kings Mountain lithium mine in North Carolina, which could produce enough lithium to power 1.2 million new EVs annually when operational.
  
• The Department of Energy awarded $39 million through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy Mining Innovations for Negative Emissions Resource Recovery (MINER) program to 16 projects to develop technologies to increase the domestic supply of critical minerals while reducing energy use and emissions.
  
• The Department of the Interior approved the Gibellini vanadium project in Nevada, the first vanadium mine in the U.S., which will support next-generation energy storage batteries, steelmaking and advanced alloys.
  
• The Department of Agriculture issued a final Environmental Impact Statement and draft Record of Decision for the Stibnite gold-antimony project in Idaho. Supported by $60 million in funding through the Defense Production Act, the project will be the only domestic source for antimony, a necessary critical mineral for munitions and next-generation battery technologies.
  
• The $1.7 billion Hermosa zinc-manganese project in Arizona became the first mining project to receive FAST-41 coverage, supporting coordination, collaboration and transparency in the permitting process. Today, South32 also received a [$x] Department of Energy award to process the manganese produced by the mine for electric vehicle batteries.
  
• The Department of Energy Loan Programs Office clarified that domestic critical minerals mining and extraction projects are eligible for financing under the Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program, broadening its support for critical minerals projects.

Establishing a “Mine-to-Magnet” Supply Chain for Rare Earth Elements

Rare earth permanent magnets power everything from electric vehicle motors and wind turbines to missile defense systems. Currently, large portions of the supply chain, from mining to processing to magnet manufacturing, are controlled by China. Through the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking action to secure domestic production throughout the magnet supply chain.

• The Department of Defense has awarded $45 million to MP Materials for rare earth oxide processing at Mountain Pass, the only operating U.S. rare earth element mine, and more than $288 million to Lynas USA to establish commercial-scale rare earth oxide production.
  
• Down the supply chain, the Department of Defense has invested more than $94 million in E-VAC Magnetics to establish a commercial-scale magnet manufacturing facility in South Carolina, as well as metals and alloys. E-VAC also disclosed that it was allocated $112 million through the Inflation Reduction Act 48C tax credit to support its manufacturing facility.
  
• M.P. Materials voluntarily disclosed that it was allocated nearly $60 million through the Inflation Reduction Act Section 48C tax credit to advance its rare earth permanent magnet manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, which will produce enough permanent magnets to power more than 500,000 General Motors Ultium electric vehicles.
  
• The Department of Energy awarded $17.5 million to Niron Magnetics through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential (SCALEUP) program for pilot production efforts to commercialize an iron nitride based rare-earth free permanent magnets.
  
• The President directed his U.S. Trade Representative to increase tariffs on permanent magnets beginning in 2026, which will protect U.S. magnet producers from being undercut by unfair trade practices.

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Since Day One, the Biden-Harris Administration has worked to ensure every community—including Latino communities—can access a quality education, obtain a good-paying job, own a home, start a business, and afford high-quality health care. This National Hispanic Heritage Month, President Biden and Vice President Harris celebrate and honor the rich contributions of Latinos and remain committed to ensuring every family has a shot at the American Dream.

Growing Economic Prosperity for Latino Communities

The Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda has created five million jobs for Latino workers—achieving a historically low Latino unemployment rate, reported at 5.5% through August 2024, down from 8.6% when the President and Vice President took office. The Biden-Harris Administration has delivered record economic results for Latinos, including:

• Hispanic business ownership is up 40%–growing at the fastest rate in 30 years.
• Doubled the number of Small Business Administration-backed loans to Latino-owned businesses in FY 2023 compared to FY 2020.
• Cut mortgage interest premiums for Federal Housing Administration loans, saving over 185,000 Latino homeowners more than $1,000 per year.
• Achieved the largest increase in homeownership rates for Hispanic homeowners versus the previous year and took historic action to root out home appraisal bias, which contributes to the wealth gap by unfairly undervaluing homes owned by Latinos and in majority-Latino neighborhoods
• Awarded nearly $11 billion in Federal contracts to Latino-owned small businesses in Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, an increase of nearly $1 billion since FY 2020.
• Increased funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant program—the major Federal child care grant program—by almost 50% to serve half a million more children, and issued a rule to cap out-of-pocket child care costs in that program at 7% of income, saving about 100,000 low-income families over $200 a month on average.
• Expanded the Child Tax Credit (CTC) under the American Rescue Plan, which helped cut Latino child poverty nearly in half to a record low of 8.4% in 2021—lifting 1.2 million Latino children out of poverty that year and bringing the gap between Latino and white child poverty rates to a historic low.  President Biden and Vice President Harris continue to call on Congress to restore the full expanded CTC expanded benefit so that millions of children can be lifted out of poverty. The Biden-Harris Administration also modernized SNAP benefits for the first time since 1975, lifting about 700,000 Latino families, including 360,000 Latino children, out of poverty each month.
• Took action to establish the first-ever Federal heat safety standard in workplaces combatting extreme weather to protect 36 million farmworkers, construction workers, manufacturing workers, and others.
• Invested more than $140 billion to drive an economic turnaround in Puerto Rico—creating more than 100,000 jobs and lowering the unemployment rate to 5.8%, near its lowest level ever. The American Rescue Plan also permanently made Puerto Rican families eligible for the same Child Tax Credit as other Americans, making nearly 90% of Puerto Rican families newly eligible for the credit.

Ensuring Equitable Educational Opportunity for Latino Students

President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that every student in this country deserves access to a high-quality education and a fair shot at the American Dream. This Administration has taken action to expand educational opportunities and improve college affordability for all students, including:

• Invested a record over $15 billion in Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)— the largest investment in U.S. history.
• Signed an Executive Order establishing a President’s Advisory Board and White House Initiative on HSIs to coordinate Federal resources and bolster collaboration between institutions.
• Secured a $900 increase to the maximum Pell Grant award—the largest increase in the past decade, helping the over 50% of Latino college students who rely on Pell Grants.
• Approved the cancellation of almost $170 billion in student loan debt for nearly 5 million borrowers—including for Latino borrowers, who are disproportionately burdened by student debt.
• Proposed a rule to expand TRIO college access programs to Dreamers and others, which would allow an estimated 50,000 more students each year to access Federal college preparation services and programs, such as counseling and tutoring, and thousands more to attend college.
• Announced nearly $15 million in new grants under the Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Program (Hawkins) to advance teacher diversity and prepare the next generation of educators at Minority Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges Universities—who can provide culturally and linguistically responsive teaching in our country’s underserved schools. This new round of grants—which includes awards to 15 HSIs—brings the total investment in Hawkins to $38 million under the Biden-Harris Administration, which is the first Administration to secure funding for the program.

Improving Health Outcomes for Latino Communities

From beating Big Pharma and lowering prescription drug costs to expanding health care coverage, President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken action to make high-quality health care more affordable.

• Starting in 2025, all out-of-pocket drug costs will be capped at $2,000 per year and the cost of insulin is now capped at $35 for Medicare Part D enrollees, which includes five million Latinos.
• In August 2024, the President and Vice President announced new, negotiated prices for the first ten prescription drugs selected for Medicare price negotiation—expected to save Medicare enrollees $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in the first year of the program alone.
• Latino enrollment in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace coverage has doubled under the Biden-Harris Administration, which also extended ACA healthcare benefits to Dreamers starting on November 1, 2024.
• Launched a new grant program to train doctors and physician assistants on providing culturally and linguistically appropriate care for individuals with limited English proficiency, including those who speak Spanish, to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities.
• Added Spanish text and chat services to the National 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline so that individuals can now connect directly to Spanish-speaking crisis counselors.

Reducing Gun Violence and Saving Lives

President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken historic action to reduce gun violence and keep our communities safe:

• After the heroic advocacy of families from Buffalo and Uvalde and so many other communities across the country, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law—the most significant gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years.
• Established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, overseen by Vice President Harris, which has accelerated work to reduce gun violence and engaged with Latino communities—including survivors of mass shootings in Uvalde and El Paso and survivors of community violence disproportionately affecting Black and Latino communities.
• Secured $400 million for the first-ever federal grant program solely dedicated to community violence interventions.

Addressing America’s Broken Immigration System

On Day One, President Biden introduced a comprehensive immigration reform bill and has repeatedly called on Congressional Republicans to pass the SENATE bipartisan border security bill – the toughest and fairest set of border reforms in decades. Throughout this Administration, the President and Vice President have taken action to improve our country’s immigration system.

• Took action to speed up work visas, to help people who graduated from U.S. colleges and universities—including Dreamers—land jobs in high-demand high-skilled professions.
• Took action that would allow 500,000 spouses of American citizens who have been in the country for 10 years or more to apply for lawful permanent residence while staying in the United States. The Biden-Harris Administration is fighting efforts by Republican officials to block this work in court, so that families—including Latino families—can stay together.
• Directed the Department of Homeland Security to take all appropriate actions to “preserve and fortify” Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and continue to defend the DACA rule in court.
• Streamlined, expanded, and instituted new reunification programs so that families can stay together while they complete the immigration process.
• Took executive action to secure the border when Congressional Republicans twice blocked the Senate bipartisan border security deal.

Advancing an Unprecedented Whole-of-Government Equity Agenda to Expand Opportunity

President Biden and Vice President Harris promised to leverage the power of the Federal Government to deliver for all communities and build an Administration that looks like America.

• Assembled the most diverse administration in U.S. history, including four Latino Cabinet members—Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Becerra, Department of Education Secretary Cardona, and U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Guzman.
• Signed two Executive Orders directing the Federal Government to address system inequality and barriers to equal opportunity faced by underserved communities.
• Updated Federal race and ethnicity data collection standards for the first time in almost 30 years, which is expected to improve Latino community data representation in the U.S. Census and Federal programs.

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On Thursday, September 26, President Biden will meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine at the White House. Vice President Harris will also meet separately with President Zelenskyy at the White House. The leaders will discuss the state of the war between Russia and Ukraine, including Ukraine’s strategic planning and U.S. support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression. The President and Vice President will emphasize their unshakeable commitment to stand with Ukraine until it prevails in this war.

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On September 23, President Biden will welcome His Highness President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to the White House.  During the visit, the leaders will strengthen the enduring strategic partnership between the United States and the United Arab Emirates and advance common priorities.  Vice President Harris will also separately meet with President Mohamed.

President Biden and Vice President Harris will discuss with President Mohamed a number of bilateral and regional matters, including efforts to strengthen regional stability and reduce tensions.  They will focus on areas of deepening cooperation between the two countries such as advanced technology, artificial intelligence, investments, and space exploration.  The leaders will also coordinate on areas of robust partnership on security, defense, and counter-terrorism coordination, collaboration to address the climate crisis and energy transition, and efforts to promote peace and prosperity. 

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Yesterday, on National Voter Registration Day, the White House hosted a roundtable discussion to hear directly from youth leaders about their nonpartisan efforts to promote youth civic engagement across the country. College and high school student leaders from Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas discussed their nonpartisan efforts to help eligible young Americans register to vote and cast their ballots. Leaders of organizations that support nonpartisan youth civic engagement highlighted their work to strengthen young peoples’ ability to make their voices heard and have an impact on issues that they care most about. Participants discussed barriers to voting that young Americans face, including unfamiliarity with the voting process, lack of access to and information about voter registration opportunities and convenient ballot polling locations or ballot drop boxes, voter suppression such as laws that limit the ability of students to use their school IDs to vote, and the chilling effect of state restrictions on voter registration activity. During the roundtable, the Biden-Harris Administration discussed its efforts to expand voting access for young Americans, including improving and promoting vote.gov, which offers guides for college students and those approaching voting age, and the Department of Education’s toolkit to provide schools with nonpartisan strategies to help their eligible students register to vote and cast their ballots.

As extremists across the country continue to advance policies that make it harder for Americans to vote and spread baseless lies to sow doubt about the integrity of our elections, the Biden-Harris Administration reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to ensuring that all eligible Americans, regardless of their political affiliation, are able to vote in free, fair, and secure elections. That is why, for example, Vice President Harris announced National Voter Registration Day as one of three National Days of Action on Voting Rights. President Biden and Vice President Harris will continue to stand up to attacks on Americans’ fundamental right to vote, and call on Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act to fully protect the right to vote for all eligible Americans in every state.

Additionally, on National Voter Registration Day, the Biden-Harris Administration announced actions that agencies are taking to promote access to voting for all eligible Americans, building on the progress that agencies have made since President Biden issued an Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting on March, 7, 2021:

1. The General Services Administration (GSA) recently launched a revamped vote.gov website, where Americans can find nonpartisan information about registering to vote and how to vote. The new vote.gov is now available in 19 languages, accommodating 96% of the American public, and has new accessibility features like compatibility with screen readers. Vote.gov partnered with the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to now offer an accessible tool that helps voters more easily fill out the National Mail Voter Registration Form online, then print and mail it to their state or territory. While vote.gov itself does not register voters or store any personal data, it serves as a helpful one-stop tool that connects Americans to their state election websites to register to vote. 
2. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is making it easier for interested consumers on HealthCare.gov to connect to voter registration services. Starting on September 20, 2024, the HealthCare.gov online application will include an optional question allowing consumers to express an interest in receiving information about registering to vote, and those who select to express an interest will receive a link to vote.gov for additional information.
3. GSA partnered with the United States Postal Service to display vote.gov posters in approximately 17,000 Post Offices across the country.

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Today, the White House launched the U.S. Strategy on Global Development to codify the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment and work over the past four years to accelerate development progress in pursuit of a world that is more free, open, prosperous, and secure.  Our approach to global development – rooted in partnership, transparency, and a commitment to sustainable outcomes – positions the United States to better meet the challenges of today and tomorrow in coordination with global partners. 

The world is at a critical moment.  People around the globe are struggling to cope with the effects of compounding crises and challenges that cross borders – whether it is climate change, food insecurity, pandemics, or fragility and conflict.  At the same time, in this age of interdependence in which we must find new and better ways to work together to confront shared challenges, geopolitical competition is also reshaping the global development system.  Our affirmative development agenda reinforces the United States’ commitment to promoting a world in which everyone can live in dignity, all people are afforded equal opportunity, and no one is left behind. 

THE NEW GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

The U.S. Strategy on Global Development articulates an integrated, whole-of-government approach, building on more than 75 years of U.S. leadership and investment in global development as a strategic, economic, and moral imperative.  The United States remains committed to accelerating development progress around the world and to fully implementing the ambitious, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by 194 nations in 2015.  More than halfway to 2030, we are collectively only on track to achieve 15 percent of the SDGs targets.

The United States has redoubled its efforts to protect hard-won development gains and to help developing country partners meet urgent needs, by leveraging the full suite of tools, resources, and expertise across 21 U.S. Government Departments and Agencies.  In the first three years of the Biden-Harris Administration, we invested [more than $150 billion and mobilized billions more in private sector investment] to drive progress on the SDGs. 

Today, U.S. global development investments are better targeted to achieve sustainable development outcomes and to maximize critical partnerships with other donors, the private sector, international financial institutions, multilateral organizations, and nongovernmental partners.  The Strategy sets out five strategic objectives:

• Reduce Poverty through Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth and Quality Infrastructure Development.  For the first time in decades, we saw an increase in extreme poverty and inequality during the pandemic.  We recognize that many countries and communities around the world continue to struggle economically following the COVID-19 crisis.  The United States is committed to promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth – growth that improves the lives of all members of society, including those in vulnerable situations. In the first three years of the Biden-Harris Administration, we have invested over $58.5 billion to reduce poverty and advance shared prosperity.  We have also accelerated investment in high-quality infrastructure as key driver of sustainable and inclusive economic growth and development.  Over the last three years through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, we have mobilized nearly $60 billion in public and private sector funding for infrastructure investments to advance climate resilience, energy security, secure digital connectivity, health and health security, agriculture and food security, and water and sanitation.

We have also led a global effort to reform the multilateral development banks to equip these institutions to better address today’s complex development challenges like climate change, pandemics, and fragility and conflict.  Addressing these challenges is integral to achieving their core mandates to end extreme poverty and promote sustainable, inclusive, and resilient development.  Recognizing that too many countries around the world are forced to make tough choices between making debt payments or investing in their own development progress and addressing global challenges, the Biden-Harris Administration launched the Nairobi-Washington Vision, calling on the international community to step up support for developing countries committed to ambitious reforms and investments that are held back by high debt burdens. 

• Invest in Health, Food Security, and Human Capital.  The United States is committed to sustaining critical investments in the fundamentals of all thriving societies: health, food security, and human capital.  The United States continues to build resilient, responsive, and sustainably financed health systems, accelerate efforts towards universal health coverage, and promote primary health care and health equity.  As infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics are increasing in both severity and frequency, U.S. leadership on global health security saves lives and strengthens health systems abroad, while keeping Americans safer at home.   The United States has led an international effort to vaccinate the world against COVID‑19 – donating more than 692 million doses to 117 countries – while simultaneously investing in strengthening countries’ capabilities to prevent, detect, and respond to future global health threats.  The Biden-Harris Administration has sustained the United States’ longstanding leadership and investments in the fight to end HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria as public health threats by 2030, including through robust commitments to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has saved more than 25 million lives to date, and a commitment to five-year authorization.  The Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to securing a clean, five-year reauthorization for PEPFAR that is fully funded.  President Biden also led the historic replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria in 2022, which raised $15.7 billion.  In June, we announced a new five-year commitment to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, totaling at least $1.58 billion, to help reach the goal of vaccinating more than 500 million more children and save more than 8 million lives by 2030.

Meanwhile, hunger and malnutrition are affecting the world’s most marginalized communities.  After decades of progress, a series of unprecedented shocks and stresses –exacerbated by the climate crisis – have reversed many development gains.  An estimated 152 million more people are hungry today than in 2019. The United States continues to lead global efforts to address food insecurity, having invested over $20 billion, including through Feed the Future, to boost food production, provide critical aid to reduce malnutrition, build more resilient food systems, and strengthen countries’ capacity to better withstand shocks. The Biden-Harris Administration also remains committed to supporting human capital development, including and especially children and youth, by expanding access to quality, inclusive, safe, and equitable education. In the first three years of the Administration, we have invested over $4.2 billion to support efforts to expand education access.

• Decarbonize the Economy and Increase Climate Resilience. The climate crisis has reached existential proportions, shattering records for catastrophic droughts and extreme weather events, decimating livelihoods, and undermining health, food, and water security.  This is the decisive decade for tackling the climate crisis, and the Biden-Harris Administration is advancing bold efforts at the nexus of decarbonization, energy security, and energy access.  In the first three years of the Administration, the United States has invested over $1.9 billion to expand energy access and over $4.5 billion to combat climate change.  We have taken steps to doing our part to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by putting in place ambitious policies to achieve at least a 50 percent decrease in emissions domestically by 2030. 

Through the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience, we are helping strengthen the climate resilience of countries and communities, supporting more than half a billion people reduce risks and adapt to climate change-related impacts by 2030.  We have bolstered efforts to increase inclusive, transparent, and accountable access to climate finance for developing partner countries, in pursuit of the President’s commitment to work with Congress to increase U.S.-provided international climate finance to $11 billion annually.  Building on the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the CHIPS and Science Act, the United States is helping developing country partners reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase clean energy access, through data-driven clean and just energy transitions, green transportation, climate-smart agriculture, and efforts to halt deforestation to preserve carbon critical landscapes. 

• Promote Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, and Address Fragility and Conflict. Democracy and human rights are under threat worldwide.  Over the last decade, there has been a resurgence of authoritarianism and democratic backsliding.  Conflict is on the rise across the globe and threatens to undermine future progress on all SDGs.  In response, the United States has invested $27.2 billion in the first three years of the Biden-Harris Administration to promote peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice, and building effective and accountable institutions.  Through the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal and the U.S. Strategy on Countering Corruption, the United States has made historic commitments to promote accountability, advance digital democracy, support free and independent media, fight corruption, bolster human rights and democratic reformers, and defend free and fair elections.  Given that this decade will likely experience levels of conflict not seen since the 1980s, we are also taking steps to promote stability, prevent and respond to conflict and violence, and address the drivers of fragility, including through the U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability, the U.S. Women, Peace and Security Strategy, and the U.S. Strategy to Prevent, Anticipate and Respond to Atrocities. 

• Respond to Humanitarian Needs.  At a moment of unprecedented global need, the United States continues to be the world’s leading single-country humanitarian donor.  Under the Biden-Harris Administration, we have provided over $49 billion to programs delivering principled, live-saving humanitarian assistance to people in need around the world.  This critical funding has saved lives, alleviated human suffering, and reduced the impact of disasters by supporting people and communities in the most vulnerable situations to become more resilient to shocks and stressors.  On average, the United States responds to 75 crises in 70 countries each year, reaching tens of millions of people around the world with life-saving humanitarian assistance, including food, water, shelter, health care, and other critical aid.  In an era of ever-increasing needs, we are also taking steps to unlock new and innovative financing to support more sustainable solutions, reducing the need for humanitarian assistance over time, while promoting cost-effective systemic reforms.

In the face of global challenges, we are committed to reclaiming lost development gains and accelerating collective progress toward the SDGs.  A more secure and prosperous world is only possible when we stand together to tackle complex global challenges and advance dignity and freedom for all.

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will travel to New York City to participate in the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 23-25.  In addition to addressing the General Assembly on September 24, President Biden will meet with world leaders to discuss cooperation in tackling threats to international peace and security, advancing global prosperity, and protecting human rights.

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For over 17 long months, the Sudanese people have endured a senseless war that has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Nearly 10 million people have been displaced by this conflict. Women and girls have been kidnapped and sexually assaulted. Famine has taken hold in Darfur, and is threatening millions more elsewhere. And today, a violent history is repeating itself. The city of El Fasher, Darfur—home to nearly two million people and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons—has been under a months-long siege by the Rapid Support Forces. That siege has become a full-on assault in recent days.

I call on the belligerents responsible for Sudanese suffering—the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—to pull back their forces, facilitate unhindered humanitarian access, and re-engage in negotiations to end this war. The RSF must stop their assault that is disproportionately harming Sudanese civilians. The SAF must stop indiscriminate bombings that are destroying civilian lives and infrastructure.  While both sides have taken some steps to improve humanitarian access, the SAF and RSF continue to delay and disrupt lifesaving humanitarian operations. Both parties need to immediately allow unhindered humanitarian access to all areas of Sudan.

The United States stands with the Sudanese people. Since the start of the conflict, we have pressed for peace and sought to hold accountable actors seeking to perpetuate violence.  The United States has advanced efforts to rally international partners, end hostilities, protect civilians, expand humanitarian access, and elevate civil society voices—most recently through talks last month in Switzerland, where we launched the Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan Group with a collection of influential partners, the African Union, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, the United Nations, and the United Arab Emirates. The ALPS Group has secured the opening of new routes into Darfur and Khartoum, through which desperately needed humanitarian assistance is now being delivered, and permission to access some airstrips to further increase aid delivery. But we must keep pressing for more.  

The United States is the world’s largest provider of assistance to the Sudanese people, funding over $1.6 billion in emergency assistance in the last two years. We have previously determined that members of the SAF and the RSF have committed war crimes, and that members of the RSF have committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned sixteen entities and individuals for contributing to the conflict, exacerbating instability, or serious human rights abuses. And we will continue to evaluate further atrocity allegations and potential additional sanctions. Let it be clear: the United States will not abandon our commitment to the people of Sudan who deserve freedom, peace, and justice. We call for all parties to this conflict to end this violence and refrain from fueling it, for the future of Sudan and for all of the Sudanese people.

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Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer spoke on the phone today with President Irfaan Ali of Guyana to discuss ongoing efforts to strengthen the bilateral relationship, and reaffirm the commitment of Guyana and the United States to advance regional security, democracy and stability.  They discussed the outcomes of the inaugural Guyana-U.S. Strategic Dialogue that was held in July, and additional concrete steps to contribute to Guyana’s economy, development and territorial integrity.  They also shared their concerns regarding the violations of democratic practices in Venezuela following the July 28 presidential election.  Mr. Finer and President Ali agreed to continue collaboration with regional partners to restore security for the Haitian people, and ensure the success and sustainability of the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission in Haiti.

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Every woman in every state must have reproductive freedom. Yet, Republicans in Congress have once again made clear that they will not protect access to the fertility treatments many couples need to fulfill their dream of having a child.
 
Congressional Republicans’ repeated refusal to protect access to IVF is not an isolated incident. Extremist so-called leaders have launched a full-on attack against reproductive freedom across our country. In the more than two years since Roe v. Wade was overturned, they have proposed and passed abortion bans that criminalize doctors and make no exception for rape or incest. They have also blocked legislation to protect the right to contraception and proposed four national abortion bans.
 
Their opposition to a woman’s freedom to make decisions about her own body is extreme, dangerous, and wrong. Our administration will always fight to protect reproductive freedoms, which must include access to IVF. We stand with the majority of Americans – Republicans and Democrats alike – who support protecting access to fertility treatments. And we continue to call on Congress to finally pass a bill that restores reproductive freedom.

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Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2:14 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hey, everybody.  How are you?  (Applause.) 

Well, look, I think we’re really — not because of me, because of you — we’re at a real point where things are about to change in a big way in America.  No, I really mean it.  I really mean it.  I think we have a — not — not because of me, because of you.

Look, you know, I was thinking about it —

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  It’s because of you.

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, no.  (Applause.)  You’re nice to say that.  But, look, one of the things that I — (laughter) — one of the things that I — I think about —

You know, I was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  (Applause.)  And in Scranton, there was a hierarchy, and the bottom of the barrel are Catholics.  Seriously, because of the way they came in the mines.  The English own the mines, and so on. And then after that — not just Irish but other denominations.

And I was raised by a dad who just said, “Look, just get up when you get knocked down.  Just get up.”  I have a cartoon on my desk my dad gave me when he showed up at an event at my house.  And I was lamenting, looking out at the back door at a pond, that my deceased wife couldn’t see the house because it had water behind it, and she was raised in Skaneateles, New York, near the water. 

And my dad — what he did was he said, “I’ll be back in a minute.”  I was about — doing a fundraiser — I think it was my fifth or sixth campaign for the Senate — at my home.  And he went up to a Hallmark store, which was in a strip shopping center not far from the house, came back before anybody got there, and he gave me a framed picture — a framed photograph — I mean, cartoon characters: Hägar — do you remember Hägar the Horrible, the Viking? 

And there’s one frame in this — and I’ve had it on my desk for over 20 years.  There’s one frame in that desk — I mean, excuse me, in that — in that frame that shows Hägar looking up and his Viking — ship has been hit by lightning, his hair — his helmet is knocked off, he’s looking up at Heaven and is screaming “Why me?” to God.  In the next frame, the same scene, but a voice from Heaven coming back and saying, “Why not?” 

Well, that was my dad.  He said — and he came back, and he — and he was — he was mad that I was lamenting what happened earlier on.  And he said, “What — why would you be spared with that?  Why?  You just got to get up.  Get up.”

Well, to me, that exemplifies the African American community I was — I worked with.  No, I’m not joking.  To me, when I was — there’s a photograph in my office — (inaudible) Oval Office — of my mom holding Barack’s hand as we were announced as the next president and vice president out in Chicago.  She wasn’t even supposed to walk out.  My mom was 94 years old at the time.

And the photograph reminds me of what she said.  She said to me, after Barack cleaned my clock in the — (laughter) — and I — and so, he had — I was — he was — he became the de facto nominee the second week in August, and I was riding home on the train, which I did every night because right after I got elected, my wife and daughter were killed and my two boys were badly injured in an accident, so I started to commute.  And for over — over 1,200,000 miles on Amtrak every day. 

And — and I was coming out of the Baltimore Tunnel, heading north, and my phone rang.  It was Barack.  And Barack said, “Joe, I want to do a background check on you.”  (Laughter.)  I knew what he meant.  He meant for vice president. 

I said, “Barack, I don’t want to be vice president.  I’ll do anything I can to help you.  I can help you more as a senior senator.  I’ll bust my neck for you.  I’m better there for you.” 

He said, “Well, there’s only three of you.”  And I said, “Barack, I don’t want to be vice president.”  He said, “Well, damn it, it’s only you.”  (Laughter.)

And I swear to God, I said, “I — I don’t want to be vice president, Barack.  I really don’t, but I’ll do what I can.”  He said, “Well, do this.”  He knew my family fairly well.  His — my two — my number three and four granddaughter are his two daughters’ best friends.  They went school together.  They always hang out together. 

Anyway, to make a long story short, I — I called my — my mom and dad.  I mean, my dad had passed.  I called home.  My mom was living with us because my dad had just passed.  And I said to the family, I said, “Let’s have a meeting, because Barack just called me about something I want to talk to you about.”  And he said — he made me promise I’d go home and talk to them.  He said, “And get back to me in 24, 48 hours at the latest,” because he knew the family, as I said.

So, we sat in the back porch, and I started off — and I thought that they’d all agree with me.  And so, I said — I turned to my wife, Jill, who is the love of my life and the life of my love — (applause) — I married way above my station.  (Laughter.) 

But all kidding aside, I said, “What do you think?”  She said, “I think you should take it.”  I said, “Why?”  She said, “If you don’t, he’ll make you secretary of state, and you’ll never be home.”  (Laughter.) 

Then I went to my deceased son, Beau, who was then attorney general.  He said, “Dad, you got to do it,” and gave me a lecture of my obligation.  And my son Hunter, the same thing, and my daughter the same thing.  I went down the list, and my mom was sitting on the railing on the porch — by the railing.  I said, “Honey, you haven’t said anything.” 

And she said, “Joey, let me get this straight.”  This is an absolutely true story — my word as a Biden.  She said, “Joey, remember when you were 14 years old, and they were desegregating the neighborhood Lynnfield?”  About eighty homes were built once — once around — you know, and we lived in an area called Mayfield, the next neighborhood up in suburban Wilmington and in a split-level home with three kids and a grandpop living with us — four kids, counting me.

And — and so, I — she said, “Don’t go down there, Joey; there’s — there’s going to be — there’s protests.”  But I went down, and I got arrested for standing on the porch with a Black couple because the police were worried I was going to get hurt.  They brought me home.

I said, “Yeah, I remember that, Mom.  What’s that have to do with anything?”  She said, “And remember, Joey, you had that job in the country club as a lifeguard, but you wanted to be the only guy to work in the projects — in the public housing projects, the swimming pool that summer — for summer, the only white employee?”  I said, “Yeah, Mom, I just wanted to learn more.” 

She said, “Joey, let me get this straight.  The first Black man in American history has a chance to be president and he said he needs you, and you told him no?”  (Laughter.)  I said —

So, I called him and said yes.  But my generic point is that, you know, for a lot of us, we come from states that were segregated by law.  Delaware was a slave state.  Delaware fought on the side of the North because it couldn’t get to the South, like Maryland and a few other states. 

And when we moved down from Scranton, Pennsylvania, there were no — there were no African Americans where I lived in Scranton — virtually none.  Moving to Delaware, Delaware has the eighth-largest percent of African Americans of any state in the nation. 

And I remember being dropped — we went and moved to a little steel town called Claymont, Delaware, when coal died in Scranton and — and died in Clay- — in Claymont, as well as steel.  But anyway, we would be dropped off because we were out along what they called the Philadelphia Pike was too da-  — we were only lived — in a what later became a public housing project, we only lived probably a quarter mile, maybe half a mile from — we could have walked, except it was too dangerous crossing the road, so we would be dropped off in the morning.

Every morning when we’d get dropped off, I’d see a bus go by — at the time, referred to “colored kids” going by — you know, by the Catholic school I — grade school I went to.  But they also went by Claymont High School and Claymont Middle School, which is right up the street.  And I thought that just — it just struck me as that — that can’t be right.

And from that is what got me engaged, not a joke.  I wasn’t any great shake.  But, you know, I got involved in the civil rights movement.  I got involved in — I’d usually go to — go to 7:30 mass at St. Joe’s, and then I’d get up and go to 10 o’clock mass with Reverend Ha-  — anyway — at the Black chur- — AME Church, where we’d plan what we were going to do.

The whole point is that I had the opportunity to get a little glimpse — just a little glimpse of what it was like and all the talent — all the talent that I knew.  All those guys who were the lifeguards with me down at the (inaudible) swimming pool, four of them were all — were honor students in college.  They were first-rate people. 

And I just got — I wasn’t any great shakes, but I got involved in desegregating movie theaters, those kinds of things.  And one thing led to another, and then what happened was — and the reason I’m telling you this story because I think this is going to be a significant extension, what we’re doing.

What happened was Delaware was the only state in the nation that had — was occupied by the military for 10 months after Dr. King was assassinated, because of the riots.  There was National Guard on every single corner in Delaware with drawn bayonets.  And I had gotten a job with a fancy law firm, and I — you have to clerk for six months as a lawyer before you can even — even if you pass the bar, before you could be admitted.  And it was the middle of the clerkship, and I — I decided I just couldn’t do it anymore because I’d look out my window and see the cops in Rodney Square — or the National Guard, I should say.

So, I remember walking over — a guy named Frannie Kearns ran the public defender’s office, and I walked in and I sought a job.  It was only part time.  And he said, “Don’t you work for Prickett, Ward, Burt?”  And I said, “Yeah.”  He said, “Are you okay?”  (Laughter.)

I said, “Yeah, but I quit and I want — that’s what I wanted to do.”  And my state was a state that had — was a Democratic Party.  It was a Southern Democratic Party — southern part of the state — George Wallace did very well in the state before he was assassinated on the Eastern Shore. 

And so, what happened was we got — I got engaged, and one thing led to another.  And I ended up getting involved in trying to change the Democratic Party to a Northeastern Democratic Party, because it was split at the time.  And one thing led to another.  I — I was a young lawyer.  I got to — I joined a group called the New Democratic Coalition.  And when you’re the youngest lawyer or man or woman in the room, you get to turn the lights on and off.  (Laughter.)

And one thing led to another, and I kept to try — I started this effort to try to attract people to begin to run for office in states wher- — in districts we hadn’t run.  And they came to me and asked me to head up a group to find somebody to run for the United States Senate.

Make a long story short, no one would do it.  There were some competent people and very important people that didn’t want to run.  And so, I’m reporting back to this group all the time. 

And so, I’m down — I go to an off-year convention in the — 1971 convention, the Democratic Party in Dover, Delaware.  I went down with four guys that I — two were radio guys — anyway, all good men.  They happened to all be men at the time. 

And — and I — I came back and — after the afternoon meeting, and I went in to shave and get ready for the evening meeting.  And what happened was, as I’m going in — I go in — you know, a little — a nice motel, when you have an 8-by-10 bathroom, a shower, a toilet, a sink.  You know?  And I’m shaving, and I have a towel around me, getting ready to go back.  And hear, “Bam, bam, bam,” at the door, and I thought it was Bob Cunningham and a few other people I came down with kidding with me.

I opened the door, and there were four leaders there.  One family had more United States senators than any family in American history, the Tunnells — former Justice Tunnell.  The other was a chairman of the — was a former governor, a gentleman named Carvel, a great, big guy, was a moderate guy — a moderate Re- — Democratic member of the House of Representatives who had been defeated.  And the state chairman.

And I’m standing there with a towel on and shaving cream on my face.  (Laughter.)  They said, “Joe, we just had dinner.  We want to talk to you.”  And they walked in.  I said, “Well, okay.”  You know, with two headboards nailed the wall, a desk nailed to the other wall.  I ran in to try on — I thought I was going to put something on.  Well, I couldn’t find — I just took the shaving cream off.

I’m standing, leaning against the thing.  They said, “Joe, we decided: You should run.”  (Laughter.)  I said, “For what, Mr. Justice?”  “For the Senate.” 

I said, “I’m not old enough.”  He said, “Obviously, you didn’t do very well in constitutional law.”  (Laughter.)  He said, “You have to be 30 to be sworn in, not to be elected, and you’ll be 30.”

One thing led to another, and I’d hope what you had — one professor at school you really admired.  Well, there was one I had.  And on the way home, I called him, and I went from Dover to Newark, Delaware, to the university.  And I said, “What do you think?”  And I’ll never forget what he said.  He said, “Remember what Plato said.”  And I’m thinking, “What the hell did Plato say?”  (Laughter.)

Plato said, and I’m paraphrasing, “The penalty good people pay for not being involved in politics is being governed by people worse than themselves.”

So, I went home to my deceased wife, and I said, “What do you think I should do?”  She said, “Look, you’re working part time as a public defender.  You’re trying to start a law firm.  You’re working 40 to 80 hours a week.  Pick one.”  (Laughter.)

One thing led to another, and I wo- — ran and I won.  And I won because the African American community showed up over 90 percent for me in my state and every election since then. 

The point I’m making is simple.  You can do things you don’t think you can do.  You can do things you don’t think you can do. 

And, by the way, I — for 36 years — not a joke, and you’ll all check this, I know; check on your phones — (laughter) — I was — I was listed the poorest man in the United States Congress — not just Senate — Congress — for 36 years I was there.  I had a good salary.  I was making $42,000 as a senator and, after that, it went up.  (Laughter.)  I never thought I was poor. 

But my point is, I didn’t come from any means.  So, I hope some of you do more than just change things.  I hope you run.  I hope you get involved in the political process.  It’s not just supporting people but thinking of yourself as being engaged, because we can really — the — the country is ready. 

We really are, as I said, at one of these inflection points.  Think about it.  What’s going to happen?  Mark my words.  You tell your children, and you’re — if you’re young enough, you’ll know.  In 20 years, you’re going to see a different world, a different nation. 

We can — I think we can make it a hell of a lot better.  I really do.  And I am — I am optimistic.  (Applause.)  So, remember. 

I’m sorry to talk so long.  But I just — I — I just want you to — please, please, please get a — not just get involved — it all gets down to the vote.  The bottom line is the vote.

So, God bless you all.  And may God protect our troops. 

Thank you.  (Applause.)

2:30 P.M. EDT

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We the leaders of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, mark the third anniversary of AUKUS – an enhanced security partnership that promotes a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable.  We reaffirm our shared commitment to this historic partnership and acknowledge the considerable progress to date.   

Pillar I – Conventionally-Armed, Nuclear-Powered Submarines

In March 2023, our nations announced a pathway to deliver Australia’s conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) capability, while setting the highest non-proliferation standard.    

We are steadily building Australia’s capabilities to steward and operate its own fleet of conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines from the early 2030s.  The United Kingdom and the United States welcomed Australian naval officers and sailors into their submarine training schools and embedded Australian personnel into the UK Ministry of Defence and U.S. naval shipyards.  Our nations have made enormous strides towards the establishment of a rotational presence of U.S. and UK SSNs at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia as early as 2027.  Increased visits by U.S. SSNs to Australia have supported steady progress in Australian workforce development, and, in August 2024, Australian personnel demonstrated their progress through participation in the first maintenance activity conducted on a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine in Australia.

We have made significant investments to lift our respective submarine industrial bases.  The United Kingdom has made an initial allocation of nearly £4 billion to continue work on SSN-AUKUS, and £3 billion to expand production capabilities across its Defence Nuclear Enterprise.  The United States decided to invest USD 17.5 billion into its submarine industrial base.  Australia has committed to invest over AUD 30 billion in the Australian defense industrial base and make proportionate contributions to the United Kingdom and the United States to support the production of SSN-AUKUS and to accelerate the delivery of Virginia class submarines respectively.  In March 2024, Australia announced the selection of ASC Pty Ltd and BAE Systems to build SSN-AUKUS and ASC Pty Ltd to sustain Australia’s SSNs.  These respective investments and decisions will deliver thousands of highly skilled jobs across our three nations. 

In August this year, the AUKUS partners signed a historic international agreement for cooperation relating to naval nuclear propulsion.  Once it enters into force, this agreement will enable AUKUS partners to go beyond sharing naval nuclear propulsion information to include allowing the United States and the United Kingdom to transfer the material and equipment required for the safe and secure construction, operation, and sustainment of Australia’s conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines. 

The agreement reaffirms AUKUS partners’ existing non-proliferation obligations and Australia’s safeguards agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).  The agreement will make our non-proliferation commitments under AUKUS legally-binding between the partners.  Our nations continue to consult with the IAEA to develop a non-proliferation and safeguards approach that sets the highest non-proliferation standard.  

Pillar II – Advanced Capabilities

When AUKUS was first announced, we pledged to pursue information and technology sharing and unprecedented integration of our innovation communities, industrial bases, and warfighter capabilities in support of a shared goal to build the advanced capabilities needed to bolster deterrence in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific. 

This work is delivering as our Navies are strengthening undersea warfare capabilities by integrating the ability to launch and recover undersea vehicles from submarine torpedo tubes to deliver effects such as strike and reconnaissance.  We are also deploying advanced Artificial Intelligence algorithms across our shared military systems to process sonar-buoy data, assisting anti-submarine operators in making better decisions, faster.  We are strengthening maritime autonomy through a series of joint exercise and experimentation known as the Maritime Big Play, where we will conduct ground-breaking tests on the collective use of autonomous and un-crewed systems in maritime operations.  Together, we are making further strides in quantum technologies, cyber capabilities, hypersonics, and electronic warfare.

In April 2024 our Defense Ministers announced principles for additional AUKUS Pillar II partner engagement on specific projects where new partners could contribute to, and benefit from, AUKUS.  Following initial consultations this year and leveraging Japan’s deep technical expertise, AUKUS partners and Japan are exploring opportunities to improve interoperability of their maritime autonomous systems as an initial area of cooperation.  Recognizing these countries’ close bilateral defense partnerships with each member of AUKUS, we are consulting with Canada, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea to identify possibilities for collaboration on advanced capabilities under AUKUS Pillar II.   

To promote innovation and realize the goals of AUKUS, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States have implemented momentous amendments to our respective export control regimes, including reforms to the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).  These critical reforms will facilitate billions of dollars in secure, license-free defense trade and maximize innovation across the full breadth of our defense collaboration and mutually strengthen our three defense industrial bases.

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Today, leaders from the National Security Council and the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy convened a roundtable with Federal agencies, global and domestic public health partners, advocacy organizations, and community leaders to discuss the escalating “clade I” mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and multiple other countries that have never before had mpox cases.
 
The global mpox response and domestic preparedness efforts are top priorities for the Biden-Harris Administration. Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer and Homeland Security Advisor Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall provided remarks during the event. Representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Treasury Department also joined the convening. 
 
“By building on the lessons learned from the mpox outbreak response in 2022, the U.S. will continue to lead the way, globally and domestically, to be more prepared to respond to any biological threat,” said Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall. “We must also continue to partner with trusted community organizations, academic researchers, and civil society actors across the international community to promote the dissemination of information, support the early detection of cases, and ensure the rapid deployment of countermeasures. Doing so will keep Americans safer and more secure here at home.”
 
“Our actions today and in the coming weeks have the potential to change the course of the global clade I mpox response at home and abroad” said Jon Finer. “It is more critical than ever for the United States to be a global leader in preventing and responding to health emergencies. When the United States invests in building stronger partnerships around the world, and when we support stronger, more effective multilateral and regional institutions, not only are Americans safer, but the world is safer.”
 
The convening affirmed the United States leadership role in the global mpox response and identified efforts to bolster domestic preparedness and improve U.S. readiness for a clade I mpox case. While there are no known clade I cases in the United States at this time, federal and state leaders are working to ensure that the U.S. can rapidly detect, contain, and manage clade I cases should they occur. Clade IIb mpox, which caused the 2022 global outbreak, continues to circulate at low levels in the United States and in many countries around the world.

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