Secretary Marco Rubio: A Stable Syria 'Would Be One Of The Most Dramatic Improvements In The Region'

Forbes Breaking News

Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked about his administration's diplomatic engagements with the Syrian interim authority.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Secretary, on Syria, you met with the delegation today.

00:04Can you tell us your impressions?

00:06And also, did you get any reassurances on some of the requests you made,

00:11including asking all foreign fighters to leave the country?

00:13Yeah, look, I think that obviously this is a new relationship.

00:16We've now known each other and known them for 24 hours.

00:20So it's one that we think that a peaceful, stable Syria

00:25would be one of the most dramatic improvements in the region in a very long time.

00:32And we want to do everything we can to help achieve that.

00:35We have governing authorities there now who have expressed, not openly and repeatedly,

00:40that this is a nationalistic movement designed to build their country

00:44in a pluralistic society in which all the different elements of Syrian society

00:48are able to live together.

00:50They've expressed an interest in being at peace with all of their neighbors, including Israel.

00:54They've expressed an interest in driving out foreign fighters and terrorists

00:57and others that would destabilize the country and are enemies of this transitional authority.

01:01And they've asked for our help.

01:03And so we're going to try to help them.

01:05Now, obviously, we want to see progress made.

01:06And we'll take every step that they take.

01:08And it'll be a long road because it's been a long time.

01:11So we recognize that.

01:12But this is a historic opportunity.

01:14And if it succeeds, we'll have a dramatic transformative effect on the region.

01:17I would say that Syria is a place where people of different faiths and backgrounds

01:23have lived alongside each other for a very long time.

01:26It's only in the last 10 years under Assad's rule, brutal rule,

01:30where he gassed and murdered his own people,

01:32where he created chaos that allowed foreign fighters to flow into the country

01:36and use it as a playground to conduct external attacks,

01:39where Iran saw an opportunity to come in and sponsor their groups

01:42that turned it into a terrorist highway to empower Hezbollah.

01:46It's only in the last 10 years that you've seen 6 to 8 million people

01:50driven out of that country.

01:51So we want to be helpful.

01:52The president said if they want to take these steps forward,

01:55we're going to do what we can working with our partners in the region to help them.

01:59And I hope it's successful because if it is, there's two routes here.

02:03One will be success and we'll have a major transformation in the region.

02:07Or you're going to have a brutal civil war that will destabilize the region.

02:10We would prefer the former, not the latter.

02:12And we're going to do everything we can within our control to help effectuate that.

02:19Ultimately, it'll be up to the leaders there on the ground to make it happen.

02:21And they face some significant challenges, there's no doubt.

02:24The good news is that there are regional partners like Turkey, like Saudi Arabia,

02:27like Qatar, like the UAE, who are willing to contribute.

02:30And frankly, the lifting of sanctions, its first effects will be felt because,

02:36not because U.S. dollars are going to flow in,

02:37but because our regional partners will now be able to flow in dollars that will allow them not just to stand up a government

02:43that can provide basic services, but also will allow them the work of reconstruction.

02:49One of the things they expressed today, and they're asking for our help,

02:52is to identify weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons and so forth,

02:57identify these sites and remove them from the country.

03:00As they expressed today, they are victims of the use of chemical weapons.

03:03They don't want these chemical weapons stored in their country anywhere.

03:07But, you know, you don't just go in and grab a bunch of chemical weapons and put them in a truck.

03:12It requires technical expertise to both identify where they're located and remove them safely.

03:17And they've asked for our help in that regard, and we're going to be willing to provide it.

03:20On the lifting of sanctions, obviously that's a pretty complicated process.

03:24Do you have a timeline for how long you think that might take?

03:27And also, how much advance notice was the State Department and Treasury given to sort of start that wind down?

03:32Well, this is a road we were on, so we've been doing the work, the prep work for it.

03:38Their finance minister, we provided him a visa to travel to Washington, D.C. two weeks ago.

03:43Their foreign minister, we provided him a visa a week ago to travel to New York and met with our U.N. representative.

03:49I was scheduled to come here and meet today with the foreign minister.

03:53I was with the president when he made the decision to do this and included it in his speech.

03:57So we've been doing preparatory work in that regard.

03:59The core of these sanctions are statutory under the CESAR Act.

04:03I've had members of Congress and both parties ask us to use the waivers' authorities in that law.

04:10And that's what the president intends to do.

04:12Those waivers have to be renewed every 180 days.

04:16Ultimately, if we make enough progress, we'd like to see the law repealed,

04:19because you're going to struggle to find people to invest in a country when in six months sanctions could come back.

04:26We're not there yet. That's premature.

04:28I think we want to start with the initial waiver, which will allow foreign partners who wanted to flow in aid

04:34to begin to do so without running the risk of sanctions.

04:36I think as we make progress, hopefully we'll be in a position soon or one day

04:40to go to Congress and ask them to permanently remove the sanctions.

04:43So, let's move to theangerine.

04:44Please!

04:44All right!

04:45All right!

04:49Let's move to Congress everything!

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