WEBVTT

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Let me uh do the second half of what I

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want to do this morning with the second

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sister city story. And it is a budding

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one a new one and some of you have heard

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about this but it's our work uh with the

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Ukraine. Right so when Eisenhower set up

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sister cities I think the idea was a

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little more clear and present. Right the

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idea was one way to literally prevent

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wars is if cities talk to each other in

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all sorts of ways. And I think in our

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modern era uh you know someone should

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write some PhD on on if there was more

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work we could have done with respect to

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the Ukraine and Russia. That's way above

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my pay grade but someone should look

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into that.

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um

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But today we're playing catch-up and of

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course uh for us uh it's about helping

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the Ukraine. How can sister cities also

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be a vehicle to help cities that are

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literally under attack.

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Now I talked to all the Mayors in the

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country about this about two weeks ago,

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and I will tell you there were a couple

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of Mayors who have a little bit of a

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global background and they were very

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interested in this. But many of the other

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Mayors and and these were hundreds of

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Mayors big small cities all across the

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country they were absolutely interested

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in this concept.

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And the idea is look the core sister

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city sister City's Mission, we need to

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have a few more in the Ukraine. So one is

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like you got to ramp up the volume right

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away.

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And you need to spread it among the size

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of cities so it's not just all Kiev.

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And then the other aspect is in the

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short term, you know I didn't really

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think there were ways we could actually

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help. And I will tell you I saw I had the

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fortune through the conference of Mayors

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to see on the screen you know uh the

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present of Ukraine addressed us live

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twice as mayors.

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And I remember sitting there, and so did

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by the way the mayor of of Kiev, uh who

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if you're a boxing fan mayor Klitschko

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was also the heavyweight champ, but um

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the their politicians are incredible

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people like you know and by any stretch

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of the word even before what they're

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going through now. But they

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I would sit there in the audience like

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you are today watching a screen and I

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literally was I was like this is a huge

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waste of their time. I was like you know

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what we can do is not bother them with

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the conference of mayor's address you

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know. Uh we need to do the weapons and

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the food and you know all these kinds of

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things and that's how I felt I actually

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was kind of embarrassed frankly that

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that he spent 30 minutes with us. And

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um I also kind of felt like you know

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also because we're not really relevant. I

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mean you know we can say things and we

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can do things we can light up City Hall

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yellow and blue but I mean come on like

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they're fighting a war, and I respect

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that.

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So when the sister cities idea came up

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for Albuquerque and Kharkiv I was a

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little bit skeptical. And I I know it

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came I want to acknowledge too it came

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initially from the Sikh community. You

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know we have a strong Sikh community here,

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and they have a strong Sikh community in uh

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Kharkiv. And so this was sort of the

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initial connection. And so uh you know I

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mean I'm always interested, but you know

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I I said I said look I don't want to do

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this,

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unless it actually helps Kharkiv. Like

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I'm not in this for a visit, I'm not in

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this to you know learn about Ukrainian

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food or whatever you know. Uh I want to

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make this actually helpful for them. And

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so I was skeptical I didn't think

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actually given that criteria that it

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would be worth doing frankly. But I will

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tell you today we are uh very close to

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signing all the relevant proclamations

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on both sides of the Atlantic to become

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sister cities with Kharkiv.

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Um so let me just pause there that's an

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awesome thing.

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So I'll tell you a little bit about this,

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and you're going to hear more about it

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because uh one of the quarterbacks of

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this initiative is our head of Economic

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Development which houses our trade work,

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and so you can hear from Randy Trask who

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many of you know does trade, but also uh

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his boss Max Gruner uh who's here, who

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also has his own international story

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which is an added bonus in the role. So

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but at a high level for my level I want

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to tell you what really convinced me.

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First off the Sikh community had been there

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several times during the conflict. So I

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did realize that they are already giving

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supplies and aid to Kharkiv from many of

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you and many of you may know about this

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but also from UNM and so forth. So we've

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actually already done some medical

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supplies deliveries through uh the Sikh

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community which is an amazing thing. And

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I didn't know that was actually real, uh

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and it is I want you know it's real. I

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think they're on their second physical

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mission where they actually go there and

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I've seen the pictures and everything.

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It's amazing. And then they were able to

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arrange a meeting with the mayor of uh

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Kharkiv and myself.

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And so what I wanted to focus on with

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him during that time was to make sure

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that we were not wasting his time. And I

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will tell you I was wonderfully

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surprised. He viewed this as an absolute

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priority, even for his job as mayor. And

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the reason why of course like in the

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short term is absolutely things like aid

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and awareness. Very similar to why the

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president of the Ukraine addressed the

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mayors. We've all seen the president

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Ukraine on TV and whatnot.

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But uh it was the same for the mayor of

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Kharkiv uh he he was essentially saying

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I want to do this for real. I want to do

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it as fast as we can, and it matters to

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us.

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That I thought was incredibly powerful,

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and empowering to us as New Mexicans. He

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does want us to be a sister city. He does

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want our help. And part of it is also

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because they have figured out ways now

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that unfortunately this is sort of a

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sustained conflict. There are meaningful

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ways that we can help.

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And so the Sikhs and Macs and some

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others in our fire department have put

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together a way we think we can actually

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give them an ambulance. And an ambulance

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is an amazing thing when you are in need

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of ambulances and emergency supplies. And

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they're trying to build a new 24-hour

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emergency room. And so all of this fits

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together, and you know Lo and behold we

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actually give ambulances to our sister

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cities already. So this isn't new for us.

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Of course we drive them to Mexico so

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it's a little easier.

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So there are some complicated logistics

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but uh there wonderfully are some

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organizations who do this. And so Max

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might talk about this a little bit more

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but we believe sometime this summer

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we're going to be able to get an

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ambulance to Kharkiv. And we're going to

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fill it with supplies along the way. [Applause]

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So let me close I think with this, we

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we we ended our conversation uh with a

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commitment to follow through. We want to

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make it for real he also understands

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that there needs to be,

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um there's cultural exchange there too

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right. it's not just about the ambulance.

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But I think what's different with the

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sister city like this now and what I

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like about this, is like let's do both

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right. Let's help them with real needs

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today, but let's also honor what sister

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cities is all about in the long term. And

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what he left me with was was the

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following. He said you know their number

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one concern is that America is going to

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forget them.

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That's their number one concern. And I

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also heard this from the president I

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heard it from the mayor of Kiev. And you

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know they're all on the same message. It

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is about do not forget us, because

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they're worried about this being a very

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prolonged conflict and they know how

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America is. You know we're all interested

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for a while and then you know we have

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kind of this challenge sometimes. So they

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also presented us with their

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forget-me-not.

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This is made of missile shards uh and

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it's made by one of their local artists.

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And this is what they give everyone they

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can so that we don't forget them, and so

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this now hangs in the Mayor's office.

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So with that I want to thank you for

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your commitment on this, you'll hear more

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about this later, and enjoy the rest of

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the conference. Thank you