SECRETARY BLINKEN: Good evening, everyone, and apologies for doing this so late. I hope I'm not disrupting people's dinner plans.
We just finished a marathon day at the G20. We came together to focus on solving some of the most consequential problems affecting people of our nations and the world. And let me begin by thanking our host, India, for setting out an ambitious agenda for this meeting, and for its presidency of the G20.
We met here in Delhi roughly one year after President Putin launched his war of aggression on Ukraine, and one week after 141 countries voted in the United Nations General Assembly for a resolution that expressed the support for a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace, in accordance with the United Nations charter and its principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity and deplores the human rights and humanitarian consequences of Russia's aggression. Not a single G20 member voted with Russia to oppose that resolution.
The chair's statement by India today reaffirmed the declaration issued by the G20 leaders last year in Bali, which - and I quote - "strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed that it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy," end quote. Russia and China were the only two countries that made clear that they would not sign on to that text. Eighteen members of the G20 also reaffirmed that it is - and I quote - "essential to uphold international law and the multilateral system. This includes defending all of the purposes and principles enshrined in the charter of the United Nations and adhering to international humanitarian law," end quote.
Every G20 member - and virtually every country, period - continues to bear the cost of Russia's war of aggression, a war that President Putin could end tomorrow, if he chose to do so. The United States didn't want this war. We worked hard to prevent it. Like most countries, we want to focus on the fundamental challenges affecting the daily lives of our people. So even as we stand with Ukraine while it defends itself, as any nation would do in that position, we're also determined to keep working with other countries to deliver solutions to these shared challenges.
And that is exactly what we did today at the G20. These challenges include the unprecedented food security crisis around the world. We've got to do two things at once - get food to the hungry now, but also help countries build up their agricultural productivity and resilience so that they're less vulnerable to future shocks. The United States is leading on both fronts. In addition to funding more than half of the World Food Program's entire budget, we've contributed $13.5 billion to fight hunger over the last year alone, and we've committed more than $11 billion over the next five years to boost countries' resilience and nutrition.
African countries in particular have told us time and again that, more than aid, what they want is help building the sustainable capacity to feed their own people, and we're teaming up to do just that. Now the unprecedented levels of food insecurity have been driven primarily by climate, by COVID, and by conflicts, but the crisis has been worsened intentionally by President Putin, who's weaponized the hunger of people across the globe.
Thanks in large part to UN Secretary-General Guterres and Türkiye, the Black Sea Grain Initiative loosened Russia's stranglehold on Ukraine's ports, allowing more than 22 million metric tons of grain and other food - that's the equivalent of eight billion loaves of bread - to leave Ukraine's ports through global markets. And that's lowered the price of food for people everywhere.
Today, Russia is again slow walking the export of food from Ukraine. And with the Black Sea Initiative set to expire on March 18th, Russia has refused to commit to renewing it. The message that countries sent at today's meeting is clear - extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative and strengthen it and do that without delay.
We also discussed ways to counter the proliferation and trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs, like fentanyl and methamphetamine. In the United States alone, fentanyl killed more than 70,000 people last year. It's the number-one killer of Americans aged 18 to 49. No country can tackle this problem alone. Disrupting supply chains of precursors, preventing the diversion of legal chemicals to illegal uses, dismantling the transnational criminal groups that foster corruption and profit off of others' suffering, these are challenges that demand a coordinated global effort.
That's why it's important that, for the first time, G20 ministers called for a strong, international cooperation to counter illicit synthetic drugs, and it's why I proposed to my fellow ministers today at the G20 that we create a focused line of effort to bring together governments, international and regional organizations, private sectors, and others to tackle this problem. This is a law enforcement and security issue, but it's fundamentally a public health issue and an increasingly global one.
Today, we also discussed other challenges, where people around the globe expect our countries to work together, like addressing the climate crisis, helping communities adapt to the inevitable changes it's causing, strengthening global health security, so that we're better prepared to prevent, detect, and respond to future health emergencies.
I also had the opportunity to speak on the margins of today's meetings with counterparts from Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, and, of course, India. And let me first commend the Indian presidency and Foreign Minister Jaishankar for securing G20 consensus on a broad set of agreements, reflected in the Chair Summary and Outcome Document. That's a first for G20 foreign ministers.
Now Minister Jaishankar and I speak so frequently that we just pick up right where we left off, working to elevate our Strategic Partnership in concrete ways, supporting India's very ambitious G20 agenda, advancing the U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology, which President Biden and Prime Minister Modi launched at the G20 Summit in Bali last May, engaging our shared commitment to human rights and democratic values.
Tomorrow the foreign minister and I will join our counterparts from Japan and Australia for a meeting of the Quad, where key areas of focus will include protecting the free and unrestricted movement of goods and people across our seas, and boosting cooperation against - around humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, the importance of which has been brought once again into sharp relief by the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria.
Our engagement with the Quad and the G20 are just a few of the examples of how the United States is weaving together alliances and partnerships to enhance our capacity to deliver for our citizens. That's why I began this trip in Central Asia, where I joined my counterparts for the C5+1 ministerial. The more of these partnerships that we build, strengthen, and stitch together, the more we're able to effectively tackle transnational challenges that affect our people, broaden opportunities for Americans, bolster our security, and advance our interests.
And what we're seeing in Delhi, in Astana, in Tashkent, and beyond is that countries want to partner with the United States, because they see us showing up to solve shared problems, fostering inclusive economic growth, investing in our own competitiveness, and standing up for the international rules of the road that benefit all countries, including the right of every country to choose its own path, free from violence, coercion, and threats.
Lastly, I spoke briefly with Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov on the margins of our G20 meeting today. I urged Russia to reverse its irresponsible decision, and return to implementing the New START Treaty, which places verifiable limits on the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Russian Federation. Mutual compliance is in the interest of both our countries. It's also what people around the world expect from us, as nuclear powers. I told the foreign minister that, no matter what else is happening in the world or in our relationship, the United States will always be ready to engage and act on strategic arms control, just as the United States and the Soviet Union did, even at the height of the Cold War.
I also raised the wrongful detention of Paul Whelan, as I have on many previous occasions. The United States has put forward a serious proposal. Moscow should accept it. We're determined to bring Paul and every other American citizen who is unjustly detained around the world home. We won't rest until we do.
Finally, I told the foreign minister what I and so many others said last week at the United Nations, and what so many G20 foreign ministers said today: end this war of aggression; engage in meaningful diplomacy that can produce a just and durable peace. President Zelenskyy has put forward a 10-point plan for a just and durable peace. The United States stand ready to support Ukraine through diplomacy to end the war on this basis. President Putin, however, has demonstrated zero interest in engaging, saying there's nothing to even talk about unless and until Ukraine accepts - and I quote - "the new territorial realities," while doubling down on his brutalization of Ukraine.
Independent of what Russia does, we showed here in Delhi what we will do: deliver results on the problems most affecting our peoples' lives. Our hosts are committed to doing this over the course of their G20 presidency. For that, and for their leadership and hospitality, I'd like to close by expressing my gratitude to India.
And with that, happy to take some questions.
