one time. not to mention the nuclear program and other challenges all at the same time. so everybody here understands that you wouldn't be here otherwise. d.a.e.s.h.'s campaign of terror now extends its reach well beyond syria. the war that has claimed so many lives still rages. we are facing, we together, the gravest humanitarian crisis in europe since world war ii, as innocent people, many of whom are just women and children, are either trapped inside a country without access to medicine and food or they have been forced to flee. the flood of desperate migrants has now spread well beyond the middle east as we know 50 of the people now are knocking on the door of europe with a whole

industry being created to try and help move them, and some very perverse politics in certain places that turns the dial up and down for political purposes. half of them now come from places other than syria. think about that. pakistan, bangladesh, afghanistan. so the burdens of europe which is already facing a complex economic, political and social strain is now even more intense. i want to make it clear to all of you, we in the united states are not sitting across the pond thinking somehow we're immune, we're not sitting there saying this is your problem, not ours. no. this is our problem. the united states of america understands the nature of this threat to the politics and fabric of life in europe. that is why we are joining now

in enforcing a nato mission to close off a key access route and that is why we will join with you in other ways to stem this tide because of the potential of the damage to the fabric of the united europe. the truth is that in every decade since its founding, the e.u. has been tested by forces. internal and external. they've benefited from the house divided. we know many europeans right now feel overwhelmed by the latest round of challenges, including concerns about the u.k.'s potential exit from the e.u. here again, however, i want to express the confidence of president obama and all of us in america, that just as it has so many times before europe is going to emerge stronger than ever, provided it stays united

and builds common responses to these challenges. now, obviously, the united states has a profound interest in your success, as we do in a very strong united kingdom staying in a strong e.u. let me under score [ applause ]. let me underscore that those who claim that our trance atlantic partnership is-- trans atlantic partnership is unravelling, they are wrong. they cannot understand why we came together in the first place, not just to sail along in the best of times, but to have each other's backs when the times are tough. they forget as well that the ties that bind us are not some kind of fragile strings of

momentary convenience, they are rugged time-tested cores of values, liberty, decency, justice, rule of law, and nowhere is that more clear than in our join unwaivering support for a democratic ukraine. ur european-- our european partners, you, deserve enormous credit for showing the resolve you have shown and the common purpose you have summoned in order to stand up to russia's reaped aggression. i am confident that europe and the united states are going to continue to stand united, both in sustaining sanctions for as long as they are necessary and providing assisted to ukraine until the sovereignty is protected through the full minsk agreement. again and again we have made it clear, and i make it clear again here today, sanctions are not an end unto themselves. witness what we succeeded in

doing in the context of the iran nuclear agreement, but we shouldn't forget why they were imposed in the first place, to stand up for ukraine's fundamental rights, rights of the international normals that doctor-- norms that have been accepted ever since world war ii. they were part of what the great battle was about. russia has a choice, fully implement minsk or face sanctions. withdraw weapons and troops, ensure that all hostages are returned, allow full humanitarian access to occupied territories which by the way is required by international law and by several united nations resolutions. support free, fair and internationally monitored elections, under ukrainian law

and restore the border which belongs to it. put plainly, russia can prove by its actions that it will respect ukraine sovereignty just as it insists on respect for its own. by the same token, after two difficult years ukrainians still have work to do as well. the president who is here knows that and accepts that. neither the people of ukraine nor their partners believe that enough has happened in ukraine either. ukraine has responsibilities with respect to minsk and it is critical that keev yup holds its end of the problem, but ukraine is clearly far brighter today than it was when we met several years ago, far brighter even

before protests and with our transatlantic support, 2016 has all the ground work laid through the good work of germany, france in the normandy impact, so we can try umph over corruption. we call on all of the countries' elected leaders to demonstrate the unity, the integrity and the courage that their people are demanding. now, in addition to our joint focus on ukraine, the u.s. has significantly upgraded our commitment to european security with a planned four-fold increase on our spending on the european initiative. from just under 790 million to 3.4 billion. this will allow us to maintain a division's worth of equipment in

europe and an additional combat brigade in central and eastern europe making our support and nato's more visible and more tangible. meanwhile, and i think everybody knows this, that's not the only way to approach this, millions of young people without hope and food, no job, no education and no future. if we leave that unattended to, then we are simply turning our backs on what we know is the responsibility for how we are going to stem the tide of extremism. so we will continue to build our partnership, , concluding various things. this year we will strengthen or

economies and nothing in ttip, nothing requires europe to reduce or undo important regulations or weaken existing standards. that is false. on the contrary, the agreement will underscore our support for the inclusion of high environmental and labor standards and trade agreements just as we have done in the trans pacific partnership which encompasses 40% of the planet gdp. we have encompassed the highest labor standards and the highest environment standards enforceable by law. so ttip can showcase the dynammism of our free markets and demonstrate the economic

standards and the defense of free trade so there you have the secretary of state john kerry addressing the munich security conference. our correspondent dominic kane is in munich and has been listening to the speech. center stage, of course, to the remarks of john kerry, the situation regarding ukraine. >> reporter: that's right. you heard there his comments making clear that the minzk agreement is the only way forward. that, of course, was an agreement that the russians and ukrainians wanted to ceasing fire. he also talked about the normandy format in which the governments come together to find progress, to try to find common ground, a way forward. we know that the format which

met this morning, nothing tangible came out of that. we also heard from john kerry about the commitment to nato which the american government seize as being central to its policy in europe and how the american government was going to increase four-fold its investment about a combat brigade can i just jump in so that we can go back to john kerry and listen. >> we welcome the announcement of countries in europe that have decided to join this fight. we are going to defeat d.a.e.s.h. i have no doubt about it. even as we do that, there's a lot of work that we have to do on a measure abable - in a measurable manner. first and foremost, we are going after their fighters. our coalition has launched more than 10,000 air strikes.

we, the united states, and france, a couple of other countries, have put special forces on the ground in iraq and syria in order to better enable a number of operations whilst also providing increased amounts of training and equipment to our local partners. together we have pushed terrorists out of 40% of the territory that they have controlled in iraq and 20% in syria. we have liberated, 100,000 people have returned to rebuild their homes. it doesn't get enough attention or credit. we have liberated sinjar and other places. we're hammering d.a.e.s.h.'s heavy weapons. its training camps, supplies routes and infrastructure, and minimum tree campaign to end d.a.e.s.h.'s terrorism is, in fact, expanding by the day-- military campaign.

it is not just enough. you have to also ensure that they can't get back up. that's why the second line of effort that we're pursuing is also critical, destroying their economic life line. in recent months we have learned more about d.a.e.s.h.'s sources of income, which has allowed us to be more strategic in targeting and hitting their oil production, their refinerys, tanker trucks, cash centers, illicit banking facilities. for d.a.e.s.h. lower revenues means fewer resources to finance military action and smaller pay checks to lure and sustain new fighters. already we are seeing the results of this. they've had to cut their pay checks to their fighters by 50% and in some cases they have to cut it off entirely and they don't have the ability as a result to continue this expansion. this also gives a boost to our third line of attack, which ask to reduce the number-- which is

to reduce the number of recruits. to fighten border security, fewer terrorists are getting into syria and iraq. because of lower pay and constant danger, we know that more are, in fact, trying to get out. meanwhile, with arab states in the lead, we are doing more every day to men miz the impact-- minimise the impact of terror, to fight back against distortion of islam and its rhetoric, to prevent the incitement of loan wafl attacks we opened the global engagement is it center to help expel hateful lies in all forms of media, to take the people who were once the captives annex employed by d.a.e.s.h. and put them in the media. we have a center opened up in abu dhabi.

we have a new center that the saudis, they will be starting and we will be working with them. the malaysians are following, so that those who really can talk with authority about what islam means in the languages and in the each individual nation where it makes the difference will have the opportunity to speak to people in ways that they haven't yet. the global coalition has also reinforced our commitment with respect to the fifth efforts, providing humanitarian relief to those who have suffered as a result of the conflict in syria. the entire region is responding to which challenge my friends-- this challenge, may friends. that is essential-- my friends. that is essential. i see people here and others in london, extraordinary contributions by countries around the world to put $10 billion dollars on the table. turkey has taken in more than

2.5 million i didn't know men women and children. lebanon and jordan are giving efficient refugees. you know how the staggering humanitarian crisis is affecting the daily life of politics and of social fabric of europe. unprecedented challenges. with characteristic resilience i'm proud to say and am grateful for the fact that europe is stepping up to meet that's challenges. merkel has demonstrated remarkable courage. i know it's difficult. last night i heard people etell me how much it has cost her. we all understand. that is the nature. across this continent, communities are taking in those who are fleeing violence and saying no to the voices of intolerance and racism within societies. i know how difficult it is to

live our values. it is heart, but we do try. it is one. things that binds us together. it is one of the great things that brings us here. it is our common commitment to those values which in the end make the difference in defining what life is really all about. [ applause ] in the u.s. we realized that this crisis is not on our shores, we have a moral obligation to assist our partners. that is why i was able to announce in london that we will contribute an additional 925 million to the already 4.5 billion we have contributed to syrian refugees, make us, i think, the largest donor specifically to this plight of syrian refugees.

this is an important point and it has motivated us to go to vienna, twice, everybody came together in commonality with a recognition that writing checks is not going to solve the problem. we can't just endlessly be writing checks. we can't be endlessly fighting about whether schengen is alive or dead or what is going to happen. we have to end this war and we need to bring about the quickest political settlement because almost everybody is agreed that if all one side does is escalate, the other side will too. we can have an endless escalation between iran, between shia, sunni, between saudi arabia or turkey or any country

of interest has the ability to blow this apart. one country. it takes every country coming together in order to hold it together. so the war in syria has now lasted for more than five years. right now i have to tell you, even with the success we had the other day at the table, it doesn't yet show the signs we want of burning out. that is why we are so focused on this political track. if the international community and the syrians themselves miss the opportunity now before us to achieve that political resolution to the conflict, the violence, the bloodshed, the torture, the images of children, women, the bombing, it is going to continue. all the talk that will take place here and has taken place today will mean nothing except an increase in the cynicism of

the people of the world who look to their leaders to deliver. the tragedy is that if this flounders, the call to jihad will increase. that is why the initiative that we launched last year is so important. the 20-member clues every major country with a direct stake in syria. parties as diverse as iran and saudi arabia sat at that table constructively trying to move forward. they have agreed on a list of principles unanimous nously reflected in the u.n. security council and these principles reflect the way towards a stable sovereign place that we seek. that the vast people believe can never be achieved with president bashar al-assad at its helm.

you cannot stop the war that way. yesterday we made progress advancing to of the main issues. now, immediately, stopping the violence. ceasefire. in the we hours of friday morning we agreed that the sustained delivery of humanitarian aid will begin this weekend. first to the areas where it is most urgently needed and then to all the people throughout the country, particularly in the besieged hard to reach areas and the u.n. has now said that the trucks are loaded ready to go and we also established a task force which has met already for the first time in geneva and we will report regularly on the progress to be able to guarantee the delivery of this aid. the i.s.s. g also agreed to

implement a nationwide cessation of hostilities to begin in one week's time. why in a week? why not yesterday? for the simple reason that the modalities have to be worked out and people have to be communicated to in order not to have it start with failure. this will apply to any and all parties in syria with the exception of terrorist organizations d.a.e.s.h. and al-nusra. there is a lot of work to do before this effective cessation can commence and to that weaned have established another task force. with lavrov and i will chair together with other i.s.s. g members and we will work on the modality of how we deal with this. to date, the vast majority in our opinion of russia's attacks have been against legitimate opposition groups and to adhere to the agreement that has been

made, we think it is critical that russia's targeting change and the entire i.s.s. g, including russia, has agreed to work to make that happen. let me be clear about this. foreign minister lavrov said we need to work together as a group to determine who should be annulled tacked, who is qualified as a terrorist, who isn't. i will say bluntly that there is no way to properly put a humanitarian access as ambitious as the one we have embraced in place and there is no way to adequately deal with acisation of hostilities unless we do sit down and work together on every aspect of this from the political to the humanitarian, to the military also. we are doing that now. so we're not approaching this with some sense of pie in the sky hope. we will work through where this

tarring should-- targeting should take place. how we work together in order to be effective so we don't drive people away from the table because, obviously, if people who are ready to be part of the political process are being bombed, we're not going to have much of a conversation. that's what we're working on. the security council resolution has demanded that all parties immediately cease any attacks against any civilians. that too has not happened to date. indeed, the violence by the regime, as we all know went up. free fall bombs are being used which are not precise. we all know civilians are being killed. so we hope this week can be a week of change. now, some have argued that the reason humanitarian access has been denied and there has been this bombing is because bashar al-assad and his allies,

including russia, might believe that by defining the will of the international community they could win the war. that is a proposition being discussed. if that is what russia and bashar al-assad think, then i believe they would be missing the lessons of the last five years. the syrians who have rejected bashar al-assad have endured four years of shelling, barrel bombs, gas, skud missiles, chemical attacks, torture and they may be pushed back here or there, but they are not going to surrender. i don't believe there is anybody who believes they will. the countries that have supported bashar al-assad and the countries that have opposed him say they're both committed to continuing that. that is not a recipe, obviously,

for a resolution. it is critical for all of us to take advantage of this moment to make this cessation of hostilities work. one thing i would say is that the more successful people are in standing up bashar al-assad, at the same time the more successful they will be in attracting more jihadis to the fight. that's the perverse reality of what has happened there. so whether one side or another has an advantage today, this conflict will still require a political solution at some point in time in order to make peace, no matter what happens. this is the moment. this is a hinge point. decisions made in the coming days and weeks and few months could end the war in syria or it could define a very difficult set of choices for the future:

everyone here knows what we have to do to get this right. putting the end to the violence and bloodshed but also providing humanitarian aid needed, and the end of the conflict will come when the parties agree on a plan for a political transition that was accepted as the standard for this in 2012 in geneva with the geneva communique. let me just close by saying that at dinner last night it was interesting. i was listening to a conversation, i listened and chatted with a lot of colleagues over the last few days. it is pretty clear that the sun certainty, even the fear of what's happening in europe of these refugees, of syria, of

terrorism, it is different and everybody feels that. as a result in some quarters there is a pessimism in the air. i believe we have good reason actually to be optimistic about the future. the reason is the size, the durablity, the capacity, the talent, the extraordinary resilience of this alliance in one form or another that has been expressed not just in the formality of this alliance since it came into being since world war ii, but throughout the last century. yes, there's violence in the world, you better believe it. but do you know what? it has changed. the 20th century was defined by state-on-state violence and millions upon millions of people dying. there are actually fewer people

dying in conflict today than ever before. despite the challenges we face between 1990 and 2015, remarkable things have happened, changed life for hundreds of millions of people. the rate of child mortality fell by over one half. life expectancy has increased dramatically around the world. particularly in developing countries. in 2001 there were less than a million kids going to school in afghanistan and all of them were boys. today there are almost 8 million kids going to school and 40% of them are girls. more than two and a half billion people have gained access to clean water in the last few years and the number of people living in extreme poverty has declined by more than one half. it is for the first time in history below 10%. i could run a longer list of

things and you know them, that we're doing, productivity, the changes in technology. a century ago the numbers of people brought into the near or middle-class or middle-class in china and india and many other countries, a century ago this month, the battle of verdun was just beginning, the most excruciating chapter of horrific war that would cause 37 million killings a wide-ranging address to the munich security conference taking place in that german city emphasising again the size of the alliance against violent extremism, talking up the optimism that he himself feels with the regard to the possibility of this cessation of hostilities in syria taking effect within a week. he will be