Vice Presidential Pool Reports of September 22, 2021

VP pool report #1 - Pool gathered

Good afternoon from a gloomy, gray day at the White House, where your pool is tested and gathered for the vice president's session of the COVID Summit. She will lead a session on "building back better and preparing and preventing future pandemics," per her schedule.

The VP's remarks are now predicted earlier than scheduled, and I will send updates as they come.

The event will be streamed at whitehouse.gov/live

VP pool report #2 - Awaiting VP in South Court

Pool entered South Court Auditorium at 1:11 PM. The VP was seated in the back left corner at a small brown desk, wearing black suit and pearls. The same set up for the president is on stage: white windows constructed as a background, showing still images of the White House outside.

She began speaking at 1:12 and her remarks are streaming at WhiteHouse.gov/live.

The VP was introduced by Lloyce Pace, Director of the Office of Global Affairs for HHS, who is seated to her right at another desk wearing a colorful jacket and all black.

Pool spotted USAID Administrator Samantha Power leaving the auditorium after her session and the vice president's national security adviser, Nancy McEldowney entering the auditorium before the VP's remarks.

VP pool report #3 - VP finished speaking

Pool left the auditorium at 1:20 PM after the VP finished speaking.

She announced a U.S. commitment of $250 million to a new global financing mechanism at the World Bank to prevent future pandemics, with $10 billion as the collective goal.

Should have a complete list of participants for this session shortly.

• Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Co-Chair G20 High-level Independent Panel on Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (virtual)
• Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Co-Chair, Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response (virtual)
• Honorable Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway (virtual)
• Dr. John Nkengasong, Director, Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African Union (virtual)
• Philanthropist Marcel Arsenault, Co-founder One Earth Future Foundation, Giving Pledge member (virtual)
• CARICOM, Honorable Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (virtual)

That's it for your pooler for the VP's first event of the day, let me know if any other questions!

VP pool report #1 — Zambia President meeting

Hi all,

I'll be your print pooler for Vice President Harris's meeting with Zambia's newly elected president, Hakainde Hichilema. Pool is currently preset in the VP's ceremonial office and the meeting is expected to begin soon. I'll send updates as soon as possible and feel free to reach out with questions.

VP pool report #2

Harris and Hichilema entered the room at 5:36.
Harris said it was an "honor and pleasure" to welcome him to the White House. She said it was the first time that a Zambian president has visited the White House since 1992.

"Last month we watched as a historic number of Zambians voted for you," she said. "I would say that is democracy in action."

The Vice President said they would talk about global health security and climate.

She mentioned her "fond memories" visiting Zambia as a child. She said she showed Hichilema a photo of her at five years old in the country.

Hichilema then spoke.
"We're very grateful to be here invited to the White House."
He stressed the importance of valuing democracy and said he intends to deliver for the people of Zambia.
Both leaders were ushered out of the room at 5:42.
Harris did not answer a shouted question about police reform.

I'll send fuller quotes soon.

VP pool report #3 -- participants

The VP and Hichilema could be seen speaking on the balcony of the ceremonial office when we exited the building. Also, here is a list of participants from the White House. More quotes coming soon.

United States Delegation:
- VPOTUS
- Tina Flournoy, Chief of Staff
- Ambassador Nancy McEldowney, National Security Advisor
- Dr. Phil Gordon, Deputy National Security Advisor
- Jessica Davis Ba, Senior Coordinator and Special Advisor for Africa
- Dana Banks, NSC Senior Director for Africa
- David Young, U.S. Charge d'Affaires to Zambia

Zambia Delegation:
- H.E. President Hakainde Hichilema
- H.E. Situmbeko Musokotwane, Minister of Finance
- H.E. Stanley Kasongo Kakubo, Minister of Foreign Affairs
- H.E. Lazarous Kapambwe, Ambassador of Zambia to the United States
- Mr. Bradford Munalukupe Machila, Principle Private Secretary
- Mr. Jito Jakatabala Kayumba, Economic Advisor to the President - Dr. Lawrence Mwananyanda, Special Assistant to the President for Project Monitoring and Implementation

VP pool report #4 - full Harris remarks

Below are the vice president's full remarks. Please check quotes against transcript.

"It is my honor and pleasure to welcome you Mr. President to the White House. This is the first time that we are welcoming Zambia to the White House since 1992, so we think of this as being historic in terms of the significance of your visit and your election. We recognize of course that in addition to the great ties between our people we both share common values and a common vision of what is possible in the midst of the challenges that we all face. And today of course we share a commitment to democracy and we understand and know that to strengthen democratic institutions means to respect and uphold the rule of law and to lead, understanding the significance and importance of fighting for all people and their rights and human rights."

"Last month, we watched as a historic number of Zambians voted for you, with young people leading the way. And I would say that is indeed democracy in action. We also will discuss today our shared commitment to global health and to the environment and I'm particularly excited to talk with you about our partnership as it relates to addressing the issue of the climate crisis and what we can do in terms of an investment and a shared investment in mitigating its effects, including an investment in renewable energies. But all of that is to say that as we all know, the pandemic, the climate crisis and many other issues have made very clear that as we enter this new era, nations more than ever are interconnected and interdependent and certainly when we think about that and our relationship to Zambia, we understand the significance and the importance of our partnership and as I shared with you briefly, I am particularly happy to share with you my fond memories of Zambia when I visited there as a child. I just showed you a photograph of myself at five years old posing in front of the parliament building there, and so I warmly welcome you to the White House."

VP pool report #5

The video of the remarks from the VP and Zambia's president can be viewed here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?514850-1/vice-president-harris-meets-zambi...

Some quotes from Hichilema's brief remarks (again please check against video/transcript):

"I thank you very much, vice president, and I must also congratulate you. It's a bit late but we did it at the right time."
"We are very grateful to be here, to be invited to the White House after so many years of leaders before us who were not able to be invited here so we feel honored, vice president, that we are here."

He said that Harris touched on the most important values, mentioning valuing democracy in particular.

"For us to be able to run our countries in a manner that will deliver what we may call democracy dividends. Delivering accelerated economic growth, development, to offer opportunities to our people, I think, vice president, that's what will sustain democracy. That's what will make democracy attractive. If we don't do that, we will probably be giving space to other forms of leadership and the one we fear most, or we don't agree most, is one which is autocratic, one which is heavy handed. We were almost getting there in Zambia. So we are very delighted that the people of Zambia, especially the young people, decided to give us this mandate. And we intend to use this mandate very carefully, diligently to deliver for them."

"Of course, the issue of climate change is very important. I'm sure you may have noticed that for the first time in the history of our country we have set up a ministry of green economy and environment to deal specifically with issues related to greenhouse gases. ... To make sure that whatever we do to grow our economies to provide for our people, we should not do it at the expense of future generations. It's very important to us. And I think it's also clear to us we have alignment in our values, what we believe is right, what we think is right for other people. That's very important to us and we share that vision, we're glad to be here."

That's all for me this evening. Please reach out with questions if you have them.