00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate my colleagues letting me go next.
00:07Congratulations to each of our nominees today, and welcome to your families and supporters who are with you.
00:13I would like to begin by noting that we have our first two career nominees for ambassadorships on the panel today.
00:22I hope that this is the beginning of more career nominees to come.
00:26Career members of the Foreign Service are needed as Chiefs of Mission because of the expertise and experience that they bring to the table.
00:34Ms. Stuff and Mr. O'Neill have each served in the U.S. State Department for 25 years.
00:40Ms. Stuff has served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Moldova and Djibouti, and Mr. O'Neill as Consul General in Chiang Mai.
00:48Ms. Stuff received the Distinguished Executive Presidential Rank Award, the highest award granted to a civilian federal employee, and four meritorious honor awards.
00:58Thank you for your service.
00:59Mr. O'Neill has received two Department Superior Honor Awards and five meritorious honor awards.
01:05Thank you also for your service.
01:07I hope, as I said, that this is the beginning of what will be more career ambassadors nominated by the administration.
01:16I actually want to begin with Mr. Giordano, because at the June U.S.-Africa Business Summit held in Angola,
01:26Namibia's Minister for International Relations and Cooperation called for the renewal of AGOA as the trade preference
01:33creates significant returns for the U.S. and Namibian businesses and economies.
01:39So can you talk about any concerns that you might have about moving forward with renewal of AGOA
01:50and how we can help make that happen, especially given the challenging trade environment that we're in right now?
01:59Senator, thank you for that question,
02:01and thank you for the opportunity to meet with your staff recently.
02:05Very much enjoyed our conversation, particularly with regard to AGOA, PEPFAR, as well as some other things.
02:11Also appreciate your leadership on the malign influence that exists through what China's doing in Africa.
02:20Very much enjoyed the China report, although it only mentioned Namibia in a footnote.
02:26But it was an important footnote that focused on the economic and military logistics capabilities that they're seeking.
02:33Senator, with regard to the AGOA, I'm certainly familiar, as I mentioned, with the legislation,
02:40and I understand the authority expires on September 30th.
02:43I'll continue to watch the space closely.
02:48If confirmed, I look forward to collaborating, again, with your office and with this committee
02:54on ideas and tools to increase bilateral and regional economic investments of mutual interest.
03:04The report that you referred to is the China report.
03:08It was put out last week by the â or two weeks ago by the Democratic members of the committee.
03:15It's called The Price of Retreat, and it highlights how the administration's actions in its first six months
03:20have undermined national security and our ability to compete with China.
03:24So it is â I would urge each of you to look at it because it shows the particular challenges that we're facing with China.
03:38Mr. O'Neill, we just had a ceasefire agreement between Cambodia and Thailand signed.
03:46And can you speak to what you might be able to do if confirmed as ambassador to see that that ceasefire
03:55becomes a long-term peace agreement between Cambodia and Thailand?
04:00Yeah, thank you very much, Senator, for that question.
04:02It is very timely, of course.
04:04First off, you know, I was troubled, as I think all of us were, by the loss of civilian life,
04:09the needless loss of civilian life along the Thai-Cambodian border.
04:15And I am very grateful that the two countries have entered into a ceasefire and are now talking.
04:22I also, you know, I'd like to commend President Trump's leadership and Secretary Rubio's leadership,
04:27which I think is an important part of what we can do.
04:31And if confirmed as ambassador, I think the first thing I would do is to point out to Thailand,
04:38which is one of our only treaty allies in Asia,
04:43that wars like this, conflicts like this, do nothing to help their people.
04:47They do nothing to strengthen our alliance.
04:49They do nothing to address the challenges that both of our countries face.
04:53They are just a needless waste of life and treasure.
04:56And, you know, I think many times what is important in this president,
05:04the way President Trump approaches these issues,
05:07is to be very clear about what American interests are.
05:10And I would like to encourage other countries, who include Thailand,
05:12to be very clear about what their interests are
05:14and to make decisions based on their own interests.
05:17And I think if they were to look at it through that lens,
05:20I think anyone who looks at it through this lens would conclude
05:22that a border skirmish like this that's wasted unnecessarily so many lives
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