a warm welcomein for ambassador gerard araud. [applause] ambassador araud: good morning. thank you for thaintroduction. it is a pleasure to be here. its very relevant. beas telling bill it might so relevant it is dangerous for me. -- ated to say a few we few words before having a discussionh you. now,w in the city right everything whichs happening more or underlies the american domestic politics when you analyze what is happening in singapore. the substance i important, not really criticizing or supporting it --esident area we see president. we see it now after the meeting in cinema or. iwanted -- meeting singapore. crisis in the transatlantic relationship, it is because of one person. the president. everything will come back to a normalcy. it is something i do not bieve to be true. underlying have an question mode about the transatlantic articulations. that af people forget strong relationship is recent. diplomacyhe american wanted to avoid any involvement in european affairs. ofwas the basic tenet american foreign policy stemming address bymous last president george was

one of them is gerard araud. he was an ambassador to israel before service to the united states. political director in the french foreign ministry. the care --ive is rare combination of wisdom, it and, and -- w honesty. he is a straight shooter. receiving and the in thetarget practice questionab culinary choices in the state department dining room. deep commitment to the transatlantic alliance. the partnership has placed a ntral role in our sd esover many years. it is a partnership under challenge today in the wake of the american decision to pull out of the paris climate treaty and the iran nuclear agreement anthg- summit. even as eyes are focused on the promise of the singapore summit between president trump and kim jongn, critical to focus on structural challenges before us, in particular, the f cthe alliance which has been so essential to the 70 years of international order we have tried to build together. i look forward to his opening reflections. then we will open up to your quesons. ambassador gerardraud. [applause] ambassador araud: good morning. thank you for that introd

please join me in a board well -- warm welcome for ambassador gerard araud. [applause] >> good morning and thank you, bill, for this introduction. first it's a great pleasure to be here. actually it's a very relevant meeting and i was telling now that this may be too relevant so it could be dangerous for me. i wanted to say a few words before having a discussion with you. because i know that in this city right now everything which is happening is more or less underlies the domestic politics, the american domestic politics in the sense when you analyze what is happening and transatlantic association, what is happening in singapore, what is less important for most of the commentators is the substance rather than really basically criticizing or supporting the president. and we see it right now after the meeting in singapore. what i want to say in the beginning is that for a lot of people the impression is that if we have a crisis in the transatlantic relationship, it's because of one person, the president, and that the end of his mandate for his mandate actually

all of welcome myighted to thend and former colleague, french abbasid or to the united states, gerard araud. there is no such thing as permanent friends, only permanent interests.