the middle east and north africa and facilitate redeployments from iraq. can you speak about turkey's inclining united states relationship with turkey, including what seem to be rough spots with israel and iran. lastly, the u.s. leads the world in promoting racial and ethnic tolerance and gender empowerment. i want to your personal leadership these efforts. i would like to focus your attention on u.s. brazil joint action plan as well as u.s. colombia action plan to promote racial and ethnic eq ans to continue works on initiatives especially since i didn't see or was not clear about the funding of these initiatives in 2013. it's very much concern to me whether that's going to continue in bureau of western hemisphere. when i was in brussels, now being the ranking democrat on europe, there's been our european counter-parts have expressed a concluding such a joint action

plan with us also. i was wondering if the state department could expand this initiative and look at negotiating and agreement with the eu. >> thank you verych of a lot oft important issues that we face. let me focus at the start on russia, because there will be coming before the congress important work to be done in order for american businesses to benefit from russia's membership in the wto. the united states believes that having russia in the wto is very much in the interest of the kind of rules-based economick benefis and that we are very keen on tht century. so we are looking to have the congress vote to grant permanent, normal trades toruss.

it's a vote to create american jobs. for u.s. businesses,s to receiv benefit from russia's entry into the wto, we have to give unconditional permanent, relati russian goods that we provide to all members. that commitment requires us to terminate the jackson amendment. it achieved its historic purpose by helpiho union. it's not the tool we need to promote personal rights vis-a-vis russia because we want to continue to press for humrus. but fare failure to lift it will put our farmers, businesses at a

disadvantage. we very much hope congress will grant to russia, lift jackson-vanik, lift the need for -- with respect to your important questions and areas of concern, congressman, i'll just end by saying we strongly support the work we're doing with colombia and brazil to promote racial and ethnic equality. we do have the means to continue to work on that within the existing budget and it's a very high priority. >> thank you very much, mr. meeks. madam secretary. the senator from california, chairman on the sub committee is recognized. >> thank you very much. i, too, respect the job you're doing. we have some disagreements. the fact is you work hard and you take your job seriously. probably of all the members of the obama administration, have

you more respect here in capitol hill than your other colleagues. sorry, that's a backhanded compliment. i shouldn't have said that. there are many lives that depend directly on the decisions you make in your job. i'd like to ask two questions but relating directly to people who are now in grave danger who will be affected by your decision making, then after that if i have other time i'll have a couple of other questions. the first one is about the doctor in pakistan. as you're aware it is now illegal for the government from pakistan to receive aid money from the united states unless you, as secretary of state, certify that pakistan is cooperating with the united states in counter-terrorism efforts and preventing terrorists from basing their operations in pakistan. of course the one that did cooperate with us was dr. friti,

gave information t s.e.a.l.s where they were residing. he's been arrested. a charge of treason, his office staff has been fired and he's called a national criminal by that government. can you certify, able to certify pakistan is cooperating with us as long as the doctor is in custody and charged with treason? >> well, congressman, i agree there is no basis for holding the doctor and his staff. i think his work on behalf of the effort to take osama bin laden down was in pakistan's

interest as well as the united states's interest. we have made that view very well-known. we will continue to press it. it is going to be taken into account as we move forward. >> if they do not let dr. afridi go, we'll be watching this closely, there's nothing to show they are cooperating with us in fighting terrorism when they have dr. afridi in prison. that's their decision. another group in danger, 3,000 iranian exiles residing in iraq who you're fully aware of because they are enemies of the mullah dictatorship. these members of mek are in great danger. our designation to their organization as a terrorist organization has been a major stumbling blocks in efforts to resettle them and take them to safety. are we going to wait until there's some kind of another

slaughter of these people? they were already slaughtered -- they are unarmed. before we react to get them settled, something as easy as take that designation off of the terrorist organization would help dramatically and we can do that unilaterally. >> first, we are deeply concerned about the security and safety of the residents of camp ash raft. we have supported efforts of it forward to relocate the residents. that has now begun. we fully support the mou signed in december between the united nations and government of iraq, and it includes commitments from the iraqi government for the safety and security of the new camp where the relocation is taking place. as you know, there were 397 residents relocated on february 18th.

there were complications but it was peaceful. there was no violence. the safety so far has been protected. we are watching that very closely. we continue to work on our review of the me k's designation as a foreign terrorist organization in accordance with the d.c. circuit's decision and applicable law. i would note that not every resident relocated to what used to be camp liberty, is now camp hoarea. the structure and history dictate we take a serious look at each individual, not prejudge member or that person's presence there. once again, the u.n. hcr process will be expedited. so no government has raised the fto issue with the department of state as a bar to receiving

individua individuals. we're going to continue to work to ensure safety and we think we have a good plan. i would say, congressman, given ongoing efforts to relocate residents mek in the successful and peaceful closure of camp ashraf, a key military factor roaring the status. >> thank you very much madam chairman. thank you, madam secretary. mr. engel of new york ranking member on subcommittee is recognized. >> thank you madam chair, the committee is proud but in new york we're especially proud. i want to ask three questions. i'll try to do them one at the same time. i've just come back from a trip to israel where i've met with

people at the highest levels of government. there is a big fear in israel that the united states is adjusting to the containment of iranian and nuclear weapons rather than stopping them at all costs. as you, of course, know, we have said let sanctions work. many in israel believe if we wait too long, we'll be at the point of no return and then iran will not be stopped at all. can you please comment on that and assure us that we are not for a position of containment? >> our policy, congressman, is prevention. our policy is to prevent iran from attaining nuclear weapons capabilities. we have a two-track policy pressure and engagement. we are pursuing both simultaneously to that end. >> thank you. i want to speak with you about the balkans. you and i had several discussions in the past week or so about kosovo. i want to just praise you publicly for guaranteeing that kosovoans rights as sovereign country remain secure throughout

recent negotiations with the eu and serbia. while i'm glad that kosovo will take its rightful place as a sovereign state in regional negotiations and i commend the prime minister for this difficult position i'm concerned that belgrade is advancing status before meeting eu's conditions and normalizing relations with kosovo. at the same time we discussed i hope the u.s. will seek additional ways to support during the process including through the millen yam challenge program and by pressing eu to strop dragging its feet on the future and make sure serbia implements deals to which it agrees. >> i thank you for your constant support of kosovo and the kosovar people. i agree with you that the prime minister showed great leadership. the invitation to candidacy that the eu has extended to serbia

has many milestones along the way. resolving border issues, resolving a lot of the unfinished business that has to be negotiated between serbia and kosovo are some of those. at the same time, i think it's union has reached out to kosovo and is working to move kosovo closer to european integration as well. this is a difficult piece of business.rilly complex area, as you know better than most, congressman. i think we are slowly making progress and i'm going to continue to press forward. >> thank you. two things about the western hemisphere, the ranking member. the farc has recently announced it is going to release some of its political prisoners and want people to believe they have reformed. while i'm obviously skeptical about anything the farc says,

i'm wondering if you can comment. president santos said it's a good move in the right direction but not nearly enough. i'm wondering if we could have your thoughts on that. >> well, i think president santos is exactly right. it is a good move, long overdue to end their kidnapping and nteople. but there is a lot yet to be finalized. i think the congress and administration of both parties should take a certain amount of credit for plan colombia, for sticking with it, for providing the colombian government and the people the means to be able to defend themselves against a paramilitary terrorist organization and the drug traffickers. so, yes, this is a good step, but it's not enough yet. >> thank you. and finally, last year, this committee adopted a bipartisan amendment which i authored supporting the establishment of

u.s. embassies in the five caribbean countries where we have none. these embassies would be similar to the post we have in grenada and would show our caribbeanan partners we pay attention to their region and connect millions of caribbean americans with their ancestral homelands. it will be minimal or no costs. it will be with the cause of millions returning from iraq and afghanistan. and i'm wondering if you can comment on that. >> well, of course, we believe strongly in having positive diplomatic relations with our eastern caribbean friends and partners. it's a matter of cost, it's a matter of resources. i will respond to you in writing because it's a difficult tradeoff for us, congressman. >> thank you. madam secretary and mr. royce. the chairman of the subcommittee on terrorism, nonproliferation and trade is recognized. >> thank you, madam chairman.

madam secretary, you and i have talked about joseph kony who abducted 30,000 children. the boys he turned into child soldiers, the girls into concubines and some of the horrible circumstances that we've had with some of the human rights abusers. and likewise, people like victor boot who is now in custody, but a gun runner extreme who as an arms trafficker armed both sides of some civil conflicts. there is a rewards program the department has and i have legislation to expand that to include organized international crime to go after people like victor booth as well as those engaged in the worst human rights abuses. and i know that your department is interested in putting a price on the head of people like kony.

so that we can find their whereabouts and, you know, i know the goal is to take him off the battlefield and we would need that to do that. so we'll have a hearing next week on this subject. i wanted your thoughts, if i could. >> congressman, this is the first time i've heard of your legislation, but speaking personally, i would support it because i have the responsibility of signing off on rewards that go to people who have helped us apprehend, you know, serious criminals and terrorists. i think it's a good program. so i would be very interested in working with you. it's also a lot less expensive than some of the alternatives who are trying to track down some of these bad guys >> it's time tested. >> yes. again, madam secretary, on another subject this morning it was announced that north korea has agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment and to a moratorium, but that was announced in tandem with the obama administration's

finalizing its details on food aid to north korea, 240,000 metric tons of food aid. i had legislation passed last year that prohibited food aid to any country that diverted it for unauthorized use. and i'll explain my concern here. the french ngos told us that monitoring the food aid which ended up on the food exchange in north korea's capital. likewise we have numerous examples of citing how food aid went to the military in north korea. so the law now would indicate that we would have to verify that. and we have been duped a number of times by north korea on these agreements. of course what i'm most concerned about is when they sell it on the food exchange for hard currency, it goes into their weapons program, reportedly. so i would ask you about that and get your response.

>> well, first of all, i think you're right to be cautious. we are, too. the provision of humanitarian assistance is something we do because of the concern we have for the welfare and well-being of people, including those who are starving in north korea. we've done a series of assessments and concluded a target of 240,000 metric ton nutritional assistance package that targets the key vulnerable groups, mostly women and children, is merited, but before any assistance program could begin, we have to reach agreement on monitoring mechanisms to ensure that the food is reaching the people that we intend it for. and that will be our responsibility to try to set up those mechanisms and to be as sure as we can be that it's going to be put to the right use. >> thank you, madam secretary, and within the confines of the

new law because we have to verify this. i have suggested a crackdown on north korea's elicit activities. i've seen in the past where that was effective where they were counterfeiting $100 bills, we had the sanctions on the bank, bank of dealt asia. they were using that to run their illicit activities through, a lot of their drug smuggling and cigarettes and other activities. when you cut off that kind of currency, you force the regime to come to the table. and i guess one of my great frustrations was that although we shut that down for a number of months and ou his generals, and the words we were getting back from defectors was that they couldn't get the parts. there was a piece for a satellite they needed. actually, this was for a missile program.

they need add gyro scope. they didn't have the money for this. we had effective sanctions and then the sanctions were lifted. my hope would be that the that could be effective. and i wanted to ask about whether the administration was going to follow through on the illicit activities. >> thank you, mr. royce. thank you madam secretary. >> thank you, madam chair and madam secretary. it's great to have you back. we're following it up with cochair chairman smith and i and so those concerns that we had raised earlier, given the fact that we have the new government in place, we hope that continued u.s. and international support

can help move them forward. first of all, thank you for that. i also wanted to meant you on their recent international program. it understands the global nature of the program as well as the advantage to working with our partners at the u.n. and around the world. has that investment paid off in terms of stronger commitment by developing countries? and can we count on them to continue and fulfill those commitments if we are no, sir staying with our ple? >> thank you for bringing that up. we continue to believe that climate change and the consequences of climate change pose national security problems to it. and so we are looking for ways to try to move forward where we can and take practical steps. the fact is that the short-term climate forcers, thing like methane, black carbon and soot are more easily dealt with than. and i think that what we've put together here, which is the climate and clean air coalition has developed countries like sweden, underdeveloped countries

like bangladesh, ghana, canada and we've had a really positive response from countries around the world asking how they can be involved. so we think this is a way to help cut down on about 40% of what the pollutants and the atmosphere are that affect climate change. so we're going to be promoting this issue. it's not as controversial. it's not as far reaching. we still have to deal with the greenhouse gas emissions and try to come to grips with, you know, co2. but it gives us something that

people can do. and identify i'll give you a equipment example. we have a global alliance on clean cook stoves. how women cook, about the 2 million of them around the world create receiptpitory illnesses. if we can create a market for a more clean burning cook stove, we would improve house and we would improve the environment statement. so there's a lot of win-win strategies that we're working on here. >> thank you. i also wanted to follow up on the cigar audit report of the police development program. and it reveals issue necessary iraq of poor planning, mismanagement, inefficient evaluation metrics. so in this current budget, what is being done to enhance those monitoring mechanisms in a way that ensures that police training is really being ramped up the way it needs to be, it's also ensuring the integrity of our tax dollars and, really,

related to that, as this similar transition is fast approaching afghanistan, the lessons we've learned in iraq and afghanistan, how can we understand those. >> the police program has been operating since october 2011. since then, there have been approximately 690 advising sessions. and we've recently completed an assessment of iraq's ministry of interior and police services so that we can refine how we are monitoring and what kind of performance measurements we need. i think cgar performs a valuable oversight to service. we welcome helpful recommendations about how to make the police development programs better. and we're going to continue to look at opportunities to improve the effectiveness of these

programs. we think they're critical to the stability of iraq. so we take it very seriously and we take recommendations from cgar and others very seriously, as well. >> and finally, in my remaining time, i want to add my voices to others that -- about our continued effective and full engagement at the u.n. certainly not a perfect body, but one that certainly there have been some successes there, vital for our security and economic interested and appreciate those continued efforts. >> thank you very much. mr. shabbat, the chairman of the subcommittee on middle east and middle asia is recognized. >> madam second, because of limited time, i'd like to raise three issues and give you the

remaining amount of my time to address them. first, iran. on the subjects of the iranian nuclear program, the fiscal year 2013 congressional budget justification notes that, quote, the bureau of near eastern affairs will maintain pressure through sanctions to encourage iran to return to the negotiating table. unquote. this policy, however, is essentially the same unchanged iran policy that the administration has had since it took power back in january 2009, engagement and pressure. on july 12th, 2009, over 2 1/2 years ago, you stated that, quote, we understand the importance of offering to engage iran and giving its leaders a clear choice. the opportunity will not remain open indefinitely, end quote. and we enter year -- excuse me, as we enter year four of this policy, it seems to me to be painfully obvious that this

administration's policy is not only the same, but that it's failed to achieve the core objective persuading the regime and tehran to abandon its pursuit of the committee. you said that you believe we are making progress on the sanctions front. my question is, how have they sanctions actually altered the iranian regime's calculation about its nuclear program. and let me say i don't think merely getting them to the table is enough. we've seen numerous times that the regime in iran uses negotiations as a delaying tactic and that a willingness to negotiate does not equal a willingness to make concessions. second, i'd like to ask you about iraq. within hours of the departure of the final u.s. convoy, a political crisis started occurring in iraq, which if not checked, has the potential to

throw the entire country back into sectarian actively war that we spend years working to resolve. many iraqis continue to die in daily attacks across the country and according to one report our influence over the al malaki government has continue to deteriorate. renewed sectarian conflict or increased interference by maligned factors left by u.s. disengagement would pose a significant threat to u.s. influence in the region, unquote. it seems undeniable that u.s. troops would have resulted in far more stability and security than we are seeing now. given a lack of military presence and our diminished diplomatic leverage, how does the administration plan to deal with the deterioration on the ground in iraq. if i may, i'd like to briefly touch upon the issue of outstanding claims by american

companies against the government of saudi arabia. in the last 20 years or so, thanks in large part to congressional and executive branch pressure, a number of previously unsettled cases involving more than a dozen american firms totalling somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 million have been resolved. i learned last year that at least one such unsettled claim with the saudis remains. despite continued efforts by the party, gibbs and hill the u.s. government repeated encouragement from members of congress, the claim resulting from a project in the late '70s and early '80s and totalling, i'm told, more than $130 million has still not been settled. i discussed this case with the saudi petroleum minister when i meet with him in riyadh last year and offered an amendment to the foreign relations authorization bill to further encourage the saudis to move expeditiously to resolve this claim. i'd be happy to work with yo