thank ginny staab -- been an outstanding press officer on behalf of assistant secretary arturo valenzuela and a great friend and colleague of ours in pa as well. and likewise, shortly the secretary will bid farewell to assistant secretary rich verma, who has been a tremendous friend and colleague of all of us for the past couple of years. most recently, rich helped the secretary both in her recent testimony of last week -- in fact, today is supposed to be his last day. he's extending into overtime next week when the secretary does one more hearing on the hill. but he certainly helped shepherd the effort throughout the executive branch late last year that led to the ratification of the start treaty. so we will bid a fond farewell to our friend, rich verma. the secretary this morning had a bilateral meeting with minister of foreign affairs and religion dr. rene castro of costa rica. she thanked foreign minister castro for his leadership in the region in working to enhance citizen safety, promote economic development, innovation, science and technology, and ensure environmental sustainabilit