Foreign Ministers

"COVID-19 is taking so much from us. But it’s also giving us something special – the opportunity to come together as one humanity – to work together, to learn together, to grow together."

"If Moderna worked with us, we could submit the WHO’s COVID-19 Vaccine mRNA Technology Transfer hub’s vaccine for approval at least one year sooner, which would save lives, decrease the risk of variants, and reduce the pandemic’s economic toll. We urge Moderna to share technology and know-how with the WHO hub and commit to not enforcing patents for COVID-19 and other essential vaccines in countries hosting the WHO hub and spokes. We also urge them to offer training to scientists working on those efforts through the Moderna mRNA access program."

"Every day, we are learning more about this virus and the disease it causes. One of the things we are learning is that although older people are the hardest hit, younger people are not spared. Data from many countries clearly show that people under 50 make up a significant proportion of patients requiring hospitalization. Today, I have a message for young people: you are not invincible. This virus could put you in hospital for weeks, or even kill you. Even if you don’t get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else. I’m grateful that so many young people are spreading the word and not the virus. As I keep saying, solidarity is the key to defeating COVID-19 - solidarity between countries, but also between age groups. Thank you for heeding our call for solidarity, solidarity, solidarity."

"Every day, COVID-19 seems to reach a new and tragic milestone. More than 210,000 cases have now been reported to WHO, and more than 9,000 people have lost their lives. Every loss of life is a tragedy. It’s also motivation to double down and do everything we can to stop transmission and save lives. We also need to celebrate our successes. Yesterday, Wuhan reported no new cases for the first time since the outbreak started. Wuhan provides hope for the rest of the world, that even the most severe situation can be turned around. Of course, we must exercise caution – the situation can reverse. But the experience of cities and countries that have pushed back this virus give hope and courage to the rest of the world."

"We’ve said from the beginning that our greatest concern is the impact this virus could have if it gains a foothold in countries with weaker health systems, or with vulnerable populations. That concern has now become very real and urgent. We know that if this disease takes hold in these countries, there could be significant sickness and loss of life. But that is not inevitable. Unlike any pandemic in history, we have the power to change the way this goes."

"The main reason for this (global emergency) declaration (of COVID-19) is not because of what is happening in China, but because of what is happening in other countries. Our (WHO) greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems."

"In the last few days the progress of the (COVID-19) virus, especially in some countries, especially human-to-human transmission, worries us (WHO). Although the numbers outside China are still relatively small, they hold the potential for a much larger outbreak."

"We now have a name for the disease and it's COVID-19."

"Tobacco not only wrecks health and health systems; it’s a drain on economies and the environment. [...] We must strengthen our efforts and scale up our actions while facing increasing interference from the tobacco industry. We are all familiar with the catalogue of deception, lies and half-truths in which tobacco industry specializes."

"We (WHO) are working 24/7 to support China and its people during this difficult time (COVID-19 pandemic) and remain in close contact with affected countries, with our regional and country offices deeply involved. WHO is updating all countries on the situation and providing specific guidance on what to do to respond."

"In the past two weeks, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has tripled. [...] Thousands more are fighting for their lives in hospitals. In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries climb even higher. [...] We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic."

"The transition in Portugal was similar, though smoother. There, the army seized power in 1926; six years later the finance minister Antonio de Oliveira Salazar became premier, promulgating an authoritarian constitution which established him as dictator the following year. Engelbert Dollfuss tried to pull off the same trick in Austria, governing by decree after March 1933. Though assassinated in July 1934, he was able to bequeath a functioning authoritarian system to his successor Kurt Schuschnigg."

"As in other European countries there were anti-semitic tendencies in pre-Hitler Austria too. Formerly political forces, together with the official authorities, had been sufficiently strong to prevent any excesses and nip any outburst in the bud apart from some verbal invective. Karl Renner says: … Throughout the Christian Social period in power no harm came to a single Jew in Vienna; in fact the Jewish element made far greater progress in the press, literature, theatre and business worlds than in the previous so-called liberal period. . . It must not be forgotten, however, that Vienna was the entry point for Jews from the East who did not assimilate easily."

"People were not all fascists on one side and bolshevists on the other. A contemporary writer says” ‘if there is talk of fascism in Austria, in the interest of historical accuracy and the honour of our people it should be stated that the first Austrian fascists were extreme left-wingers and that they were directly responsible for the emergence and formation of the other brand of fascism.’"

"In the Vienna of the First Republic a tendency to anti-semtism was particularly marked in the years of economic upheaval, between 1921 and 1923. . . At the time organized anti-semitism was definitely led by the newly-formed National-Socialist movement, which stressed the racial and "völkisch" aspects and linked the problem with the Anschluss movement."

"The situation changed visibly when sentimental reasons and long-term political aims gave way to a stern, ruthless nationalist ideology which would brook no compromise. Hitler had categorically demanded the Anschluss in "Mein Kampf". . . . As early as 1923 Hitler had decide that, if necessary, the National-Socialists must take over the government in Austria by force."

"There is no question of ever accepting Nazi representatives in the Austrian cabinet. An absolute abyss separates Austria from Nazism. We do not like arbitrary power, we want law to rule our freedom. We reject uniformity and centralization. . . . Christendom is anchored in our very soil, and we know but one God: and that is not the State, or the Nation, or that elusive thing, Race. Our children are God’s children, not to be abused by the State. We abhor terror; Austria has always been a humanitarian state. As a people, we are tolerant by predisposition. Any change now, in our "status quo", could only be for the worse."

"Austria had become the second German state in fact, because there German culture, now homeless in its old home, found a new country. The more violent the opposition to German National-Socialism, the more justified became the Austrian claim to be the representatives of the now homeless German culture and of the higher values of Germanism. To all intents and purposes Weimar had been exiled from the Third Reich and had found its home in Vienna."

"In the turbulent years after 1933, anti-semitic slogans were current among the small shopkeepers of Vienna, as they had been sixty years before; they were directed primarily against the big department stores. In glaring contrast to the racial anti-semitism of the National-Socialists, however, the background to this movement was purely economic. No legal restrictions were placed on the Jews nor were any economic handicaps imposed, . . . There was never any discrimination in the schools, and in the academic profession, the business world and cultural life Jews continued to play their respected, even leading, role."

"Neither the free will of the people nor the right of self-determination nor even the consent of a majority of convinced National-Socialists can be cited as justification for the obliteration of Austria after 1938."

"I am only an Aryan."

"There’s a war criminal coming to this country. ... The occupation and expansion … building of settlements, of occupied territory, this is according to the Rome Statute, which is… the setup… the statute on which the is based, in so many words, a . ... So why should we receive someone who continues with such things, we could have sent him right away to the international criminal court, that would have been better"

"Communist one-party rule was followed by multi-party politics; while constitutional change gathered pace. On 1 February 1990, Hans Modrow, the new East German Premier, unveiled a plan for a German-German confederation as part of a United Fatherland. Gorbachev responded to Modrow that a unified Germany was acceptable only if it was demilitarised and neutral, but the Americans were unwilling to accept the Soviet proposal for the mutual withdrawal of troops from Germany. Free elections, held in East Germany on 18 March, demonstrated the lack of support for Communism: the East German CDU under Lothar de Mazière won 48.1 per cent of the vote and the SPD 21.8 per cent. Once democratised, Communism had become redundant, and the same process affected the very state of East Germany. Currency union with West Germany took effect on 1 July, East Germany came to an end as a separate state on 3 October, and all-German elections followed on 2 December 1990."

"Remember that Moses led his people through the desert for forty years, and that after twenty years people began to complain... they told Moses that life in the desert was too difficult, and that at least while they were slaves they had had food and water and places to sleep. Moses's friends asked him how long he thought people would be complaining like this, and he replied, "Until the last person born under slavery has died". Our situation is very similar. The psychological gap between eastern and western Germany will last for at least a generation, or perhaps until the last person born under Communism has passed away."

"If such a situation arises, that someone gains an advantage by waging war, that would be a bad example for small and weak nations. It is a shame for the entire international community, for the UN, international organisations and the superpowers that this can go on [referring to the Syrian Civil War. Of course public opinions need to be shaken up. We see demonstrations all the time about all kinds of things, but no one, nowhere has marched because of this."

"Our legislation in this area needed to be updated, and especially in light of France’s request for armed assistance after the attacks in Paris. We realized that our existing legislation was not flexible enough. We live in a fast changing world, and our laws on overseas military support must reflect new realities."

"We have been discussing here that Turkey would take responsibility and the other European countries would make our own contributions to the cause. This way we can extend help near to the crisis, which would make it easier for the migrants to return to their homes once the situation has calmed down."

"People in this country have been sceptical about if the Finns Party had what it takes to be a part of government. For a long time now, we have been the most steadfast piece of the puzzle, despite the challenges. Why? Because we keep our word."

"At the time we didn’t make any satisfactory progress, but we at the Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office are in constant dialogue with Russia. The President and President Putin are also in regular phone contact. We’re in the kind of situation where things can’t continue or worsen. If we don’t go forward by negotiating then it will be time for harsher measures. There are human traffickers and people smugglers, organised activities. The President even spoke of escorts and queues. Everything suggests that it is illegal organised immigration and it should be stopped."

"That’s a political decision. Finland has full control of its borders"

"I’ve been in contact with many of my friends there (Britain) this morning. As Independence Party supporters, they will not be swayed. They want out of the EU. A surprising number of Conservatives want out too, even in the upper echelons of the party"

"In the early years of the twentieth century, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world. Then came many years of failed policies, and Argentina retreated to the status of a middle-income country. […] Things changed in 1991 when Domingo Cavallo (an economics Ph.D. from Harvard) took over as economy minister. Argentina implemented an array of promarket economic reforms, including a currency-board type of monetary system."

"In September 2013, a month after Obama backed down from launching strikes against Assad to punish him for using chemical weapons, he and President Rouhani spoke on the phone while they were both at the UN General Assembly. The Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, and the US secretary of state, John Kerry, sat down for a tête-à-tête. It was the highest level of contact between the two countries since 1979. The Saudis were shocked and felt deeply betrayed. They had long since moved on from the era of détente in the 1990s and had a particular aversion to back channels between Iran and the United States. They’d felt betrayed before by such talks, and it made them feel deeply insecure about their place in the Middle East and their role as America’s top ally in the Arab world. The Saudi-US alliance, based on oil for security, had its limitations, and the relationship had been sorely tested by events like the September 11 attacks. Meanwhile, there were policymakers in Washington who felt Iran held more promise of turning into a democracy than a desert kingdom with an absolute monarchy. The Saudis were apoplectic when they heard such musings. The Obama administration also believed that if a deal could be reached while the reformers were in power, an improved economy would further strengthen the reformers and show how much the hardliners had failed the people."

"He [Zarif] was intelligent, courteous, disciplined, interesting to talk to, I conducted the conversation to educate myself, so I did not try to persuade him [Zarif] of any particular approach, except my basic theme was that, on the basis of national interests, there is no conflict between Iran and the United States. Everything beyond that is ideological."

"To [Zarif] a respected adversary."

""He’s a craftsman. The proof is the 123 lives that we brought back to their families and homes"."

""Zarif had achieved the final breakthrough without which the [[Hamid Karzai|[Hamid] Karzai]] government might never have been formed [in Afghanistan]"."

""[Zarif is] extremely well-informed [about the US] and deeply knowledgeable [about his own country]. He's admirably suited by temperament, background and education to work on these issues that have divided the US and Iran for 34 years"."

"Zarif is a tough advocate, but he’s also pragmatic, not dogmatic, He can play an important role in helping to resolve our significant differences with Iran peacefully."

"He [Zarif] is a very shrewd person and a very charming person and a very shrewd negotiator."

"He was among the very best students that I’ve ever taught, He’s just a very nice person."

"Zarif went. We are rid of him."

""He doesn’t play games, He doesn’t produce incendiary sentences. He is thoughtful. He is real. He wants to help his people and lead them in a different direction. That’s important to me in my measurement of a person.”"

""In order to practice dialogue, you need to be able to set aside your assumptions and try to listen more than you want to talk. It’s not always politically correct to be able to do that, but it can give you a better sense of the reality. I have benefited from the knowledge and the information that all these people have been able to provide to me. I have disagreements with some and more agreements with others. But that doesn’t mean I cannot listen to those I disagree with." According to"

""Currently, Americans have focused on psychological warfare and are doing their best to place psychological pressure on Iranians and our international partners." (during an interview with the state TV). IFP News (2018-08-26)."

"Iran never denied it [The Holocaust]. The man who was perceived to be denying it (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) is now gone."

"We do not jail people for their opinions[.]"

"The concept of a velvet revolution in Iran should not be considered as groundless fear."

""All ethnicities and groups in Syria should begin the process of reconstruction within a single unit under the Syrian flag."(during his visit to Damascus on September 2018). IFP News (2018-09-03)."

"The art of a diplomat is to conceal all turbulence behind his smile."