Secretary of State Marco Rubio At a State Partnership Program Signing Ceremony

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Just a few words to say.  First of all, this is a further expression of how close this relationship is with Greece, the U.S.-Greece historic alliance that continues to build in multiple realms – on the economic, on the defense, and in this particular case with our National Guard from my home state of Florida, a National Guard that’s become very proficient at responding to things like hurricanes and, I think, stands to learn from your expertise responding to things such as earthquakes and wildfires.

So, I think there’s a lot of interoperability here that – a lot we can learn from one another.  And again, these are the sort of links, and these are the sort of relationships and these are the sort of partnerships that continue to build the building blocks of a modernized alliance, one built on a deep history of working together but one that has unique challenges and exciting opportunities moving forward into the future.  And I’m excited to be here and to be a part of it as part of my visit, especially with my home state being involved.

So, we’re very grateful to you and to the ambassador and to your whole team for putting this together.