Marco Rubio: The U.S. will continue to provide assistance to other nations.

Rubio, in particular, responded to a question regarding significant changes in the operations of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) initiated by the Trump administration:

"First of all, we are not abandoning foreign aid. We will continue to participate in providing assistance because I believe that well-organized aid is beneficial for the country. However, it needs to be organized properly. The current notion that we should be spending between 40 to 60 billion dollars on foreign aid and that all this money is going to reasonable causes is absurd. A portion of these funds is being used inefficiently."

The Secretary of State clarified: "At this moment, we have suspended all foreign aid and are analyzing it project by project. Those [projects] that do not make sense will be eliminated, while those that are beneficial will be retained or even strengthened," emphasized Marco Rubio.

Commenting on his recent trip to Central American countries – Rubio visited Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic – he noted the "very positive" attitude of the authorities in all these countries towards the United States. According to him, they are eager to collaborate with the United States. They are situated on the routes of illegal migration and drug trafficking and face enormous challenges because of this," Rubio stated.

In a few days, the Secretary of State will head to Germany, where from February 14 to 16, a security conference will take place in Munich. The main topic for everyone will be the war in Ukraine. President Trump has made it clear that this war must come to an end, Rubio emphasized. "Obviously, we will be discussing this issue with foreign ministers and other world leaders," said the U.S. Secretary of State.