President Barack Obama, President Felipe Calderon, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave the following remarks at the White House

President Obama. Please have a seat. Good afternoon, everybody. It is my pleasure to welcome two great friends and partners—President Calderén of Mexico and Prime Minister Harper of Canada.

Between us, we represent nearly half-a-billion citizens, from Nunavut in the Canadian north to Chiapas in southern Mexico. In between, the diversity of our peoples and cultures is extraordinary. But wherever they live, they wake up every day with similar hopes—to provide for their families, to be safe in their communities, to give their children a better life. And in each of our countries, the daily lives of our citizens are shaped profoundly by what happens in the other two. And that's why we're here.

Today, we focused on our highest priority—creating jobs and opportunity for our people. In the United States, our businesses have created nearly four million new jobs; confidence is up and the economy is getting stronger. But with lots of folks still struggling to find work and pay the bills, we are doing everything we can to speed up the recovery. And that includes boosting trade with our two largest economic partners.

As President, I've made it a priority to increase our exports, and I'm pleased that our exports to Canada and Mexico are growing faster than our exports to the rest of the world. In fact, last year trade in goods with our two neighbors surpassed $1 trillion—for the first time ever. This trade supports some 2.5 million American jobs, and I want more trade supporting even more jobs in the future.

So today, Prime Minister Harper led us in a very good discussion about how our three countries can improve our competitiveness. We agreed to continue making our borders more efficient and more secure so it's faster and cheaper to travel and trade. We're expanding cooperation to create clean energy jobs and combat climate change—an area in which President Calderén and Mexico have been a real leader.

I'm pleased to announce that our three nations are launching a new effort to get rid of outdated regulations that stifle job creation. Here in the United States, our efforts to cut red tape and ensure smart regulations will help achieve savings and benefits to businesses, consumers, and our country of more than $100 billion. And we're already working to streamline and coordinate regulations with Canada and Mexico on a bilateral basis. So now our three nations are going to sit down together, go through the books and simplify and eliminate more regulations that will make our joint economies stronger.

This is especially important, by the way, for our small and medium-sized businesses, which, when they start exporting, often start with Mexico and Canada. So this is going to help create jobs, and it's going to keep us on track to meet my goal of doubling U.S. exports.

More broadly, I reiterated my commitment to comprehensive immigration reform, which would be good for workers and good for business. I'm pleased that Canada and Mexico have also expressed an interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Consultations with our TPP partners are now underway on how new members can meet the high standards of this trade agreement, which could be a real model for the world. And I very much appreciated President Calderén updating us on preparations for the next G20 summit, which he will be hosting in June.

Our other major focus today was the security that our citizens deserve. Criminal gangs and narco-traffickers pose a threat to each of our nations, and each of our nations has a responsibility to meet that threat. In Mexico, President Calderén has shown great courage in standing up to the traffickers and cartels, and we've sped up the delivery of equipment and assistance to support those efforts.

Here in the United States, we've increased cooperation on our southern border, and dedicated new resources to reducing the southbound flow of money and guns, and to reduce the demand for drugs in the United States, which helps fuel—helped to fuel this crisis. And today each of us reaffirmed our commitment to meeting this challenge together—because that's the only way that we're going to succeed.

Beyond our borders, these cartels and traffickers pose an extraordinary threat to our Central American neighbors. So we're teaming up. Defense ministers from our three countries met last week as a group—for the first time ever. And we're going to be coordinating our efforts more closely than ever, especially when it comes to supporting Central America's new strategy on citizen security, which will be discussed at the Summit of the Americas in Colombia next week.

So, again, I want to thank Stephen and Felipe for being here. When I came to office I pledged to seek new partnerships with our friends in the Americas, a relationship of equality and shared responsibility built on mutual interest and mutual respect. That's what we've done. And it wouldn't have been possible without the leadership and sense of purpose that these two outstanding leaders have brought to all our efforts, including our efforts today. As a result, I believe our nations and our citizens will be more secure, more prosperous and in a better position to give their children the lives that they deserve.

So with that, let me turn it over to President Calderén.

President Calderon. Thank you, President Obama. Your Excellency, Mr. Barack Obama, President of the United States of America; Right Honorable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, ladies and gentlemen of the press; Mr. Ambassadors; legislators; friends: First of all, I would like to thank President Barack Obama for his extraordinary hospitality and that of his government in hosting this Summit of the Leaders of North America.

And briefly, I would also like to express on behalf of the government of Mexico, the people of Mexico, my family and my own behalf, my most sincere sympathies to the family and relatives of former President Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado for his lamentable death yesterday. Tomorrow we will be rendering homage to him in Mexico.

The reasons for which we are here today at this Summit of North American Leaders with President Barack Obama and the Prime Minister of Canada, we've come through a work day that has been very fruitful and fluid with an exchange of opinions and progress to the benefit of our respective citizens.

I'm also very thankful to my two colleagues for the openness with which we have broached some very complex items on our working agenda. I recognize and value their enormous commitment to our common region.

The leaders of North America share a vision of a strong, solidary, safe, competitive region that is able to successfully face head on the challenges of today. We agree that our common challenges can only be faced together. And therein lays the importance of having dialogue, strong dialogue, amongst our three countries.

The data that President Obama has just given us is very important, that our trade has exceeded $1 trillion for the first time. And I think that that is not separate from a reality that has to be underscored. In this very complex world full of economic problems and severe crises, Canada, the United States and Mexico are three countries that are growing right now and generating jobs today.

And that growth and those millions of jobs, many of them have to do precisely with the greatest trade exchanges that we have ever seen amongst these great nations. I would say that the potential of North America tied to these three countries is such that within our own nations we have a great deal to do to make the most of these opportunities for greater exchanges amongst our peoples.

As we've mentioned today, we have progressed on various fronts. For instance, we've advanced on the deregulation in our countries—in our own countries, as well as amongst our countries. We have progressed as well in harmonization of certain standards that facilitate trade. We've also progressed, in our case, on the bilateral relationship in border infrastructure. And all of this has led, of course, to the benefit of Canadian, Mexican and American families.

Another line of ideas, I would also say that the three nations have renewed their decision to strengthen cooperation at the international level, particularly in issues as sensitive as the security of our citizens. We have reiterated the values upon which our societies were founded: democracy, liberty, justice, the respect for human rights. And today the political dialogue amongst us is perhaps stronger than ever.

We have renewed certain principles of our existence and of our challenges: The principle of shared responsibility, the exchange of information, and especially the strengthening of our institutions that has to be the guide of our cooperation.

Clearly, I expressed to President Obama and to Prime Minister Harper that the fight that Mexico is experiencing for a safer North America also requires a strengthening of national actions, amongst other things, to stop the traffic of weapons, to combat with greater strength money laundering, and, of course, to reduce the demand for drugs that strengthens criminal organizations. I also expressed to President Obama and to Prime Minister Harper that Mexico recognizes the commitment that they have undertaken to progress along those lines.

It's also necessary to strengthen the regional security focus, and in order to do this, we need to include our neighbors and Central American partners, who are also facing serious problems and who need our solidarity. The three countries have agreed to establish a joint dialogue mechanism with the Central American Integration System—SICA—in support of the efforts undertaken by Central American nations to fight organized crime and in favor of regional security that benefits us all.

Of course, in this meeting, we have broached the topic of the regional economy. The leaders of North America agree that the United States, Canada and Mexico must continue to delve deeper into our successful economic relationship so as to generate more jobs and greater well-being in all three countries.

Our governments recognize that it is absolutely necessary to continue to fully comply with the NAFTA, as well as to explore new means of strengthening regional competitiveness. And I am convinced that if we work together, we will become much more competitive than many areas of the world that we are competing with today.

Mexico's position is that the solution to the complex economic situation experienced by the world today is not a return to protectionist practices that only isolate countries, reduce competitiveness of economies, and send investment scurrying, but that part of the problem and part of the investment that we need to see in the world economy is to see a delving deeper into our economies and making the most of our advantages that show our economic complementarity in terms of investment, labor, technologies, natural resources. And only then will we be able to have success in a world that competes ferociously by regions.

The three countries have renewed our commitment to broaden the productive—the supply chains of the region that will be even more interconnected, supporting especially the small and medium-scale companies.

Mexican exports to the world represent 37 percent of—or have, rather, 37 percent of American content. In other words, so American exports are American exports, and they generate millions of jobs for the region. And in that lays the need to work even more in this region on a clear trilateral deregulation, for instance, in nanomaterials and emissions standards for some vehicles.

Today we also agreed to work in a coordinated fashion on actions that we will be adopting to modernize infrastructure and for border management. After 10 years—the last two years, we've seen three new border crossing areas between Mexico and the United States, after 10 years not having seen one new route. And we continue to work in a coordinated fashion to make our border more dynamic so that it's a border of opportunities for progress on both sides of that border.

Tomorrow, here in Washington, our ministers of economy and of trade will be meeting within the framework of the Free Trade Commission of the NAFTA so as to continue to work towards achieving these objectives.

Today, we've seen that prosperity in the region depends on greater integration with full respect of our sovereignties in all fields. And in this context, I'd like to reiterate the interest of my country to join forces as soon as possible to the TPP, or the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and its negotiations. Because we know that Mexicans can contribute to a quick and successful conclusion of this project. If we join forces in this region where we see the greatest growth in the world, we will be generating benefits for our families, our workers, and also substantially improving the competitiveness of the three countries in this context.

We are convinced that the experience and participation of Mexico will enrich this free trade project of the latest generation that encompasses countries in Asia, Oceania, and America. Our country has a clear commitment to economic freedom. We even have the support of the private sector so as to enter into the TPP. We are a nation that believes in free trade as a true tool to foster growth and development, and we have acted as a result of this.

I would also like to thank the United States and Canada for renewing their support to Mexico and its presidency of G20. As you know, in June of this year Mexico will host the summit of the leaders of the G20 in Los Cabos. We are convinced, over and above the topics that we will be dealing with there, that the complex international environment needs to be an opportunity so that the world can redefine its development models with a firm commitment to the well-being of peoples and the care for the environment.

Ladies and gentlemen, in this summit, the representatives of the United States, Canada and Mexico have undertaken an open, constructive dialogue, just as corresponds to countries that share values. We've talked about the enormous challenges facing us so as to work together in a globalized world. And as a result, we will be working on building a new era that consolidates the right conditions for development in North America on the basis of a successful partnership, as we have seen so far today.

My dear President Obama, thank you for your hospitality.

President Obama. Mr. Harper.

Prime Minister Harper. Well, first of all, I'd like to begin by thanking you, Barack, for so graciously and so warmly—literally—hosting us here today. And I'd also like to begin by offering my sincere condolences to you, Felipe, and through you, to the people of Mexico on the passing of former President Miguel de la Madrid, who I gather had much to do with the NAFTA partnership that we enjoy today.

Canada places the highest the value on the friendship and partnership among our three countries. We form one of the world's largest free trade zones, which has been of great benefit to all of our nations. We're also effective collaborators in the G20, in responding to the challenges of the global recession and instability of these past few years.

As affirmed in our budget last week, our government is focused on creating jobs, growth, and long-term prosperity for all Canadians.

I'm especially pleased that the United States has welcomed Canada's and Mexico's interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We also had useful discussions on continued cooperation in managing our borders, streamlining regulation, securing global supply chains, and advancing clean energy.

In addition, we've announced a broadened plan for North American pandemic preparedness, and a new North America-Central America dialogue on security to fight transnational organized crime

Finally, we discussed the agenda for the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Colombia. Canada looks forward to continue to working with the United States and Mexico to promote democratic principles, regional stability, and market-based economic growth with our partners in the Western Hemisphere.

And once again, Barack and Felipe, I look forward to continuing our useful discussions in Cartagena.

Q. Good afternoon. For President Calderén, you were saying—you were referring to weapons. We'd like to know what President Obama said in terms of what's going to be done to stop the traffic of weapons.

And, President Obama, I'd like to know what plans your government has in the presidential election process in Mexico. What was discussed in terms of the interviews with the candidates in Mexico City? And I'd also like to know, for the government of the United States, there's a threat for the country in this sense on weapons, Mr. President. Weapons have come into the country. Are there military leaks of letting the arms come through? What's going to be done?

And for Prime Minister Harper, is the visa requirement going to be removed for Mexicans? Thank you.

President Obama. That's a lot of questions. Go ahead, go first.

President Calderon. My position on this subject is very clear, and I would repeat it here. Let me broach it from another angle. It's been shown that when there is an excessive, quick availability of weapons in any given society, there is an increase in violence and the murders that goes on many years afterwards.

This phenomenon took place in many places of Africa after their civil wars. We've see in El Salvador, Guatemala, in Eastern Europe, in Kosovo, in Bosnia. It's happened—it's taken place in many different areas of the world. And we sustain that the expiry of the assault weapons ban in the year 2004 coincided almost exactly with the beginning of the harshest period of violence we've ever seen.

During my government, we have seized over 140,000 weapons in four years. And I think that the vast majority have been assault weapons—AK-47s, et cetera. And many, the vast majority of these weapons were sold in gun shops in the United States. Along the border of the U.S. and Mexico, there are approximately 8,000 weapons shops. If we do our accounts, that means that there are approximately nine weapons stores for each Walmart that exists in the United States and Mexico.

So a good deal of our discussion did touch upon this. But I recognize, at the same time, the administrative effort that's been undertaken, particularly by President Obama and his administration, so that the agencies for control of illegal actions curb this export of guns and weapons to Mexico. We've seen a much more active effort in this sense than in any other time in the past.

I have a great deal of respect for the U.S. legislation, especially the Second Amendment. But I know that if we don't stop the traffic of weapons into Mexico, also if we don't have mechanisms to forbid the sale of weapons, such as we had in the '90s, or for registry of guns, at least for assault weapons, then we are never going to be able to stop the violence in Mexico or stop a future turning of those guns upon the U.S.

So if I am against the traffic of weapons in Mexico, I'm against the traffic of weapons anywhere, be that within any circumstance. The government of Mexico will never be able to accept anything that has to do with opening this.

President Obama has been very clear on the position of his government. We understand the work being done by the agencies to stop the criminals. But this cannot be an obstacle to the cooperation that we have to have amongst Mexico and the United States to stop these criminal activities that underlie this issue, which is one of the greatest obstacles and problems for Mexico.

I understand the internal problems from a political point of view in the United States, and I mentioned this publicly in Congress in the United States, and I said things exactly the way I believe them. I said them outright. There's a great deal of discrepancy between points of view. It's a very complex political issue. But it is very important to underscore it.

And I believe that's the only part of the question that I can answer, and I would say that what President Obama has already answered was very well done.

President Obama. Just very briefly, with respect to the presidential elections in Mexico, Vice President Biden met with the candidates to express sentiments that are similar to the ones that Stephen just expressed here with respect to U.S. elections. And that is that the friendship between our three countries, the partnership between our three countries, extends beyond and is more fundamental than any particular party or any particular election. And that's the message we have to send with respect to Mexico.

I've had a excellent working relationship with Felipe. I expect to have an excellent working relationship with the next Mexican President, whoever that candidate may be, because the underlying common interests that we have economically, socially, culturally, the people-to-people relationship that we have, is so important that it transcends partisan politics.

And with respect to the issue of guns, I've made very clear in every meeting that I've had with Felipe—and we've actually put into practice efforts to stop illegal gun trafficking North to South. It is a difficult task, but it's one that we have taken very seriously and taken some unprecedented steps. We will continue to coordinate closely with the Mexican government because we recognize the toll that it's taken with respect to families and innocent individuals inside of Mexico.

And this is part of our broader comprehensive cooperation in weakening the grip of narco-trafficking within Mexico. And we recognize that we have a responsibility to reduce demand for drugs, that we have a responsibility to make sure that not only guns, but also bulk cash isn't flowing into Mexico. And I—obviously President Calderén takes very seriously his responsibilities to apply effective law enforcement within Mexico. And I think he's taken courageous steps to do that.

So we're going to keep on partnering together in order to continue to make progress on this very important issue.

Q. Hello, gentlemen. I have a couple of questions on two critical issues that you were discussing today—one on trade and one on crime. On trade, Prime Minister Harper, why is Canada's position at the negotiating table on the Trans-Pacific Partnership so important to Canada? And secondly, to get us there, to be a player, are you willing to give up as a precondition our supply management system?

And, President Obama, you said earlier that there needs to be high standards for a country to be there. I'm wondering whether you think, yet, Canada has met those high standards—whether you want us to drop our traditional supply management system.

And on crime, we in Canada read about the challenges that Mexico has on the drug cartels and the horrible violence that occurs down there. But perhaps it's possible that many Canadians, and perhaps even Americans, don't see it as affecting their lives—perhaps it doesn't affect their communities. So on that issue, why do you three gentlemen think that a three-country coordinated approach is necessary to protect our citizens?

And, Prime Minister, I think you being the only person that can speak both English and French, if you can do that, please.

Prime Minister Harper. Sure. First of all, in response to the question on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, this is—our desire to be part of that negotiation is part of Canada's ambitious trade agenda. As you know, we are currently in negotiations with over 50 countries around the world, including the European Union and Japan and India. So this was obviously a logical extension of our desire, the desire of our government to dramatically broaden our free trade relationships around the world.

Canada's position on Trans-Pacific Partnership is the same as our position in any trade negotiation. We expect to negotiate and debate all manner of issues, and we seek ambitious outcomes to free trade agreements. In those negotiations, of course, Canada will attempt to promote and to defend Canada's interest not just across the economy but in individual sectors as well.

On the question of security, look, the security problems are—the security challenge, particularly around the drug trade, is a serious regional problem throughout our hemisphere that has real impacts—not the kind of governance and security impacts we see maybe in Central America and the Caribbean and elsewhere—but has real, serious impacts on the health and safety of communities in our country as well. And as these criminal networks are transnational, it's important that our attempts to fight them be equally transnational. And that's why we work together on these initiatives.

President Obama. Well, with respect to the TPP, as is true of any process of arriving at a trade agreement, every country that's participating is going to have to make some modifications. That's inherent in the process, because each of our countries have their idiosyncrasies; certain industries that have in the past been protected; certain practices that may be unique to that country but end up creating disadvantages for businesses from other countries. And so it's a process of everybody making adjustments.

I don't think Canada would be unique in that. Are there areas where we'd like to see some changes in terms of Canadian practices? Of course. I assure you that Canada will have some complaints directed at us, and every member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership eventually would have to make some modifications in order to accommodate the larger interest of growing the overall economy and expanding trade and ultimately jobs. So I don't anticipate that there's something unique about Canada that wouldn't be true for any of the other aspirants to forming this Trans-Pacific Partnership.

With respect to the transnational drug trade, first and foremost, I think we should be concerned about what's happening in Mexico and Central America because when you have innocent families and women and children who are being gunned down on the streets, that should be everybody's problem, not just our problem—not just their problem.

There's a sense of neighborly regard and concern that has to be part of our calculus and our foreign policy. But more practically, the United States shares a border with Mexico. If you have this kind of violence and the power of the drug trade as a whole expanding in countries that are so closely affiliated with us—in Central American countries—if you start getting a larger and larger space in which they have control over serious chunks of the economy, if they're undermining institutions in these countries, that will impact our capacity to do business in these countries. It could have a spillover effect in terms of our nationals who are living in those countries, tourists that are visiting these countries. It could have a deteriorating effect overall on the nature of our relationship. And that's something that we have to pay attention to.

And, as I said, I think the Mexican government has taken this very seriously at great cost to itself. We have an obligation to take it just as seriously, in part because we are the ultimate destination for a large chunk of this market.

And that—Stephen and I were trading notes—in places like the United States and Canada, this is not just an issue of—that traditionally was very urban. This is disseminated across our communities. And you go into rural communities and you've got methamphetamine sales that are devastating young and old alike, and some of that is originally sourced in Mexico. And so even in the remotest, most isolated parts of Canada or the United States, they're being impacted by this drug trade, and we've got to work cooperatively in order to deal with it.

President Calderon. And I'd like to look at it from another standpoint. The security of North America is absolutely tied to each of its member states. There cannot be full security in this country or in Canada or in Mexico if we do not have a system that actually enables the cooperation mechanisms to act in facing threats that have no borders, that are transnational by their very nature. And these are threats that are not just tied into drug trafficking, which is transnational of course.

And I'll give you two examples of success stories that I was mentioning this morning. One, the attempt to take to Mexico one of the children of Qaddafi—one of Qaddafi's children. This implied an international and very North American operation because it was headed up by a Canadian businesswoman who hired an American company, which hired, in turn, Mexican pilots and counterfeiters. And this multinational operation could have been—would not have been avoided without the international security mechanisms that we didn't have before, but that now we have.

Also, being able to avoid the assassination of the Saudi ambassador here in Washington would not have been possible without the mechanisms and cooperation that we have today.

So thinking that what happens in Mexico doesn't have anything to do with the security of the citizens of this country or of any other citizen of North America is a mistake. We have to understand that we are all tied to one another.

Now, security, understood in the regional sense—in order to understand that, we have to understand where the greatest threats to security actually lay. The United States has a clear idea of its threat, of its security priorities, its threats of terrorism, of international terrorism, terrible attacks on the U.S. people. Another threat clearly is in the power of transnational organized crime, which I insist is not crime or organizations that are strictly Mexican in nature. They don't have a nationality, and they don't operate in just one country. They're probably operating right here in this city.

In Washington, for instance, the number of homicides per 100,000 inhabitants is higher by 10—more than 10 or 20 than the largest number in any of the big cities in Mexico. These are international organizations that have a growing destructive capacity, that act well beyond borders and threaten anyone, anywhere.

It is true, the efforts that we undertake clearly make it possible to contain that threat and to prevent it from acting in society—not just in the United States or Canada, but even in Mexico. And that explains why, for instance, despite the perception of my country, last year 23 million tourists came to our country by plane, plus another 7 million in cruise ships, plus another 50 million who crossed the border, the land borders.

So that's also why there are 2 million Mexicans living comfortably in Mexico, and many more living also here who came to visit us here and wanted to see us in the White House. And that's also why 1.6 million Canadians come to Mexico every year. So that's 5 percent of the Canadian population that travels to Mexico every year.

And that also explains why, despite the fact that a state such as Texas recommends that none of its young people should travel to anywhere in Mexico, that's why there are hundreds of thousands of young Texans who go to Mexico, enjoy it, and why we haven't seen one single incident with U.S. spring-breakers in Mexico this past spring, for instance.

Great concern, because these are multinational criminal organizations and the mechanisms, of course, to face them, to defeat them, have to be multinational. In addition to the solidarity—expressions of solidarity of President Obama, who says that he cannot stand aside from the expressions of threat that is facing a neighbor of his, vulnerability from an institutional point of view in Mexico and Central America is an issue that also impacts and jeopardizes all of the citizens of North America.

President Obama. Thank you very much, everyone.

President Barack Obama and President Dilma Rousseff gave the following remarks at the White House

President Obama. Well, it gives me great pleasure to welcome to the Oval Office my good friend, President Rousseff. This gives me an opportunity to return some of the extraordinary hospitality that I received when Michelle and our daughters and I had a chance to visit Brazil last year.

It gives me an opportunity as well to remark on the extraordinary progress that Brazil has made under the leadership of President Rousseff and her predecessor, President Lula, moving from dictatorship to democracy, embarking on an extraordinary growth path, lifting millions of people out of poverty, and becoming not only a leading voice in the region but also a leading voice in the world.

We've made enormous progress since we last met on our bilateral relationship. Our trade and investment is reaching record levels, which creates jobs and business opportunities in both countries. We have seen an extraordinary expansion of people-to-people contacts, including a unprecedented exchange of students around math and science and technology, where President Rousseff has shown incredible leadership. We are announcing defense cooperation of the sorts that we have not seen in the past.

And this meeting gives us an opportunity to also discuss a wide range of global issues, whether it's global economic growth, the situation in the Middle East, our work together on various multilateral platforms, as well as the progress that we've been able to make together in the Open Government Partnership that is increasing transparency, accountability, and reducing corruption, where the United States and Brazil were the initial co-chairs, and now we're seeing countries all around the world eagerly involved and engaged in what can be a very important initiative.

Of course, we still have more work to do. We are consulting around the Summit of the Americas meeting this weekend to make sure that we are coordinating closely on issues of great importance like expanding educational exchanges, improving the cooperation between our countries on clean energy, dealing with issues like narco-trafficking and citizen security issues that are so important to the region.

We have important progress to make on energy cooperation. Brazil has been a extraordinary leader in biofuels and obviously is also becoming a world player when it comes to oil and gas development. And the United States is not only a potential large customer to Brazil but we think that we can cooperate closely on a whole range of energy projects together.

And both our governments are going to continue to work to make it easier to cultivate the friendships, the commerce and interaction between the peoples of the United States and Brazil. For example, we have drastically cut down on visa wait times for Brazilian visitors to the United States, and are opening up two new consulates. We want to continue to make progress on that front. We're going to have the opportunity to meet with business leaders from both Brazil and the United States to get their recommendations on how we can further enhance trade and investment relationships between our two countries.

So the good news is, is that the relationship between Brazil and the United States has never been stronger. But we always have even greater improvements that can be made. And I feel very fortunate to have such a capable and far-sighted partner as President Rousseff, so that not only Brazil and the United States, but the world can benefit from our deeper cooperation.

So, welcome, Madam President. We're thrilled to have you here.

President Rousseff. I would like to say to say to all of you that this occasion has been very important for me to meet with President Obama, following our meeting last year in Brasilia. That first meeting in 2011 in Brazil proved very important in that it provided us an opportunity for contacts with the First Lady Michelle and also with the children.

The U.S.-Brazil bilateral relations are, for Brazil, a very important relationship, not only from a bilateral but also from a multilateral perspective. As regards the bilateral dimension of our agenda, Brazil and the United States have increasingly drawn closer ties in their trade links, while at the same time, expanding mutual investments.

Brazil's current investment level, direct investments in the United States currently account for 40 percent of the overall investments made by the United States and Brazil. All of these different fronts of our relationship have produced very substantial outcomes but they also show that we remain current in our potentiality.

Both Brazil and the United States of America have strategic areas in which we can cooperate or, better said, where we can further deepen our existing cooperation. Take the energy sector, for example. Oil and gas pose a tremendous opportunity for further cooperation both as regards the supply of equipment and provision of services, and also as regards a wider role in our trade relations.

Brazil and the United States are also partners in the biofuel arena. And I would like to welcome the recently announced reductions to ethanol tariffs. The field of energy efficiency, which is so very dear to President Obama, is yet another area to be highlighted for cooperation, and particularly renewable sources of energy, and also technological evolution in the energy arena as regards to smart grids or networks.

Without a shadow of a doubt, there are also other areas of equal relevance, a number of which I would like to highlight, the areas of science, technology and innovation, an area in which both business communities, the members of academia and governments have a high-profile role to perform. That is where our involvement in the Science Without Borders program is so very important. The program benefits Brazilian researchers and students who are given the opportunity to come to the United States to develop and conduct their studies here.

I would also like to publicly acknowledge the support we have received in all of those initiatives, and also highlight the fact that Brazil feels it's very important the U.S.-run program titled 100,000 Strong. May I also highlight the opportunities available in areas such as the defense arena, and also ship building, which holds significant opportunities for cooperation. And security is also another field for cooperation, without a shadow of a doubt.

Not only the government-led growth acceleration program, the PAC program, but also the upcoming World Soccer Cup in 2014, and the Olympics in 2016, provide extensive opportunities for investment and cooperation between Brazilian and U.S. businesses. I believe it is in our utmost interest to draw closer ties in our economic areas and also ensure a closer partnership in the field of innovation in particular.

Regarding the multilateral agenda, during this meeting we also covered and mentioned our concern regarding the international crisis, which has led to instability, low growth, and unemployment in several regions of the world. We also indicated that we acknowledged the role performed by central banks of different countries, and more particularly, in the recent past, the role of the European Central Bank, the role performed to the effect of ultimately preventing a liquidity crisis of substantial proportions, which would thus affect all countries adversely.

But I also voiced to President Obama Brazil's concern regarding the monetary expansion policies that ultimately mean that countries that have a surplus be able to strike a balance in those economic monetary expansion policies through fiscal policies that are ultimately based on expanding investments. Such expansionist monetary policies in and of themselves, in isolation regarding the fiscal policies, ultimately lead to a depreciation in the value of the currencies of emerging countries—rather they lead to a depreciation in the value of the currency of developed countries, thus impairing growth outlooks in emerging countries.

It is our view that the role to be performed by the United States, against a backdrop and in an increasingly multilateral world, as we have seen—we believe the U.S. role is very important. The high degree of flexibility that is inherent to the United States economy plus the U.S. leadership in the fields of science, technology and innovation in the United States, and at the same time, the democratic forces that are the founding elements of the U.S. nation mean that the role of the United States is indeed a key and very important role in containing the effects of the crisis, but also ensuring proper resumption of prosperity.

The BRIC countries currently account for a very substantial share of economic growth worldwide. But it is important to realize and bear in mind the resumption of growth in the medium term future certainly involves a substantial resumption of growth in the U.S. economy. We very much welcome the major improvements that have been found in the U.S. economy in the recent past. And I am quite certain that that will very much be the emphasis in the next few months and years ahead under the capable leadership of President Obama.

Furthermore, we also discussed with President Obama the issues regarding the upcoming and fourth summit meeting of the Americas, which will be held next weekend in Cartagena, Colombia. The Summit of the Americas very much expresses the fact that Latin America is a growing continent and has grown by distributing income and engaging in a social inclusion or social mainstreaming process. But of course, the crisis does affect Latin American countries, not as strongly as in other regions of the world, but it does affect Latin America.

We will discuss in the upcoming summit meeting of the Americas how integration in the Americas can prove beneficial to Latin America and also how economic growth can only materialize if we introduce economic policies that are targeted to strengthening our domestic markets by increasingly mainstreaming millions of Brazilians and, by extension, millions of Latin Americans, while also of course, preventing the protectionist measures, particularly currency-related measures proved detrimental to our interests.

And a very important point on the agenda is to do with the concern we all have regarding the issue of drug trafficking and the violence it triggers. At the same time, we're keenly aware of the importance of Latin America in efforts to tackle drug trafficking. As I have consistently mentioned, I believe that when it comes to drug trafficking, we have to take a hard stance in fighting drug trafficking while addressing those that have fallen prey to (inaudible) thus becoming drug addicts.

I would also like to say that it is Brazil's view that the Open Government initiative meeting is very important. The upcoming meeting will be held on April 17th in Brasilia. It is by definition an inter-ministerial meeting to be attended by the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Open Government initiative was put forth initially by President Obama, and Brazil is a co-chair in the forum. We believe that the Open Government policy is essential to ensuring the fight against corruption and also to ensure greater efficiency in government spending, in as much as one is able to improve the prospects for assessment and monitoring.

I believe all of those efforts also prove instrumental and greatly help enhance democracy in our countries and also to provide citizens with greater access to the information that is rightfully theirs. I'm quite certain that the ongoing cooperation efforts between Brazil and the United States, as well as our close relations and partnership, are indeed key to both our nations. But equally important for development at large in the 21st century, the kind of development that is ultimately to be marked by elements such as, for example, very much in line with the topic of the upcoming meeting—actually invited President Obama to attend the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development—and the key features we wish to work for includes economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection, which is tantamount to the very definition of sustainable development.

I would like to thank the President of the United States and also the American people for the very warm, brotherly and friendly hospitality extended to me during this meeting today, and of course, to my delegation.

Thank you very much.

Secretary Hillary Clinton gave the following remarks in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. Good morning. It's wonderful to be here to celebrate the strong ties between Brazil and the United States, and to talk, starting this morning and going through the day, about how we can strengthen and deepen those ties.

I want to thank Tom Donohue and the extraordinary staff of the chamber for the work that you do every day, and in particular, for your commitment to this relationship. You know, as does our government, that it is one of the most consequential relationships for the 21^st century. And I want to welcome my friend and colleague, the foreign minister of Brazil. It's a great pleasure to work with Antonio on a broad range of issues, but none more important than our commitment to seeking out new, creative, enduring ways to really bind the peoples of our two countries together.

I am delighted that we also have this visit of President Rousseff here today, because when I think about the extraordinary leadership she is providing to Brazil, it makes eminent sense that she would be leading the way for Brazil and the United States' relationship, along with President Obama, to find those lasting ties and illustrate in a very public, visible way how important they are.

Everyone knows we are the two largest and most diverse democracies, the two largest economies, in our hemisphere. But what may not be known is that the United States and Brazil, because we are democracies, have a special obligation to stand for our values. It is, of course, important that we promote our economic ties, that we try in every way possible to raise the standard of living of our two peoples, but we do so within a strong framework of commitment to democratic values. And we increasingly have a responsibility to work together on behalf of those values. The policies we embrace and the investments that we make will shape our shared future, and we are developing strong habits of partnership and cooperation. And that is not, as you know so well, a job solely for governments. In fact, it is actually more the job for the private sectors, our universities, our civil societies, our citizens. And therefore, we need to draw on all sources of our respective national strengths to build this partnership for the future. And I look out at this audience, and I see many Americans whom I know well who are deeply committed to doing just that.

Now, the fact that this meeting is here at the chamber points to the importance of our economic ties. We see in Brazil an inspiring success story: a dynamic economy that has lifted millions of people into the middle class; a country that is helping to fuel the global economy; that produces everything from commodities, of course, but also aerospace technologies, whose goods and services are facing increasing demand across the globe.

And as the United States works to increase our own competitiveness, create jobs here in our country, we look to our neighbors. The proximity that we have here in the Western Hemisphere to some of the fastest growing economies and some of the most vibrant democracies is a great strength for us all. And we seek to be a partner, an equal partner, to promote sustainable, diversified, innovation-driven growth that translates into inclusive, long-lasting progress. We want, together, Brazil and the United States, to work toward creating economic opportunity, a system in which everyone has a fair chance to compete.

Now, as I look at what we've already committed to doing together, we see those ties in action. The Brazilian company that buys materials and components from the U.S. and the American company that opens a factory in Brazil, many businesses have already discovered how much we have to offer each other. And as our economic relationship continues maturing, investment will increase in both directions, trade will grow and diversify, more businesses from both Brazil and the United States will find markets in the other country. I know this is a priority for both of our presidents, and I particularly applaud President Rousseff's commitment, her historic pledge to end extreme poverty in her country.

Now, later today, the foreign minister and I will sign the U.S.-Brazil Aviation Partnership Memorandum, which builds on our Open Skies Agreement and will promote more and safer air travel between our countries. We think that's a win-win. It will promote not only our aviation industries and business travel, but also more tourism and exchanges.

And the United States will be opening two new consulates in Brazil. Some of you know that we've been working very hard at the State Department to meet the demand in two countries—Brazil and China—that has far exceeded our capacity up until now. And we've made a lot of progress, and the opening of these two consulates—one in Belo Horizonte and one in Porto Alegre—keeps up with our expanding relationship. We're trying to make it easier to get those visas, easier to travel, knock down some of the barriers that have been put up, and continue to promote people-to-people contact.

But we know that the progress we wish to make is not going to be measured alone by flight traffic or trade or investment figures, or even by visas. We have to have more cooperation and partnership between and among our universities, our science and tech sectors, our civil societies. Now, Brazil knows how important it is for a nation to invest in its people, and starting in the '90s, when I was privileged to travel to Brazil, I have followed with great interest the innovative social programs serving Brazil's children. This tradition of innovation of conditional cash transfers and other investments in the human beings of Brazil is paying off. You can see the results. It's not only fueled the rapid expansion of Brazil's middle class, but it has demonstrated that an economy growing is not an end in itself; it is a means to improving the lives of the people of a country, and Brazil is a model for that.

So now we want to do more to innovate together, and our two presidents have launched path-breaking initiatives. President Rousseff's Science without Borders program will send 100,000 Brazilian students to the world's top universities to study science, technology, energy, and math—engineering and math, the stem subjects. And we've already welcomed 700 of those Brazilian students to the United States. We expect thousands more in the next few years. And the State Department is working with our extensive contacts in our higher education community to pave the way. We know that the students who are here today are studying at universities in 42 states, and many of their educational programs are supported by the private sectors from both of our countries. This program is an excellent complement to President Obama's educational initiative, which is called 100,000 Strong in the Americas. Our goal is to increase the numbers of Latin American and Caribbean students in the United States to 100,000 each year, and we want to send 100,000 American students to the region over the next 10 years as well.

I personally believe that having more interaction between our young people, going north to south, east to west within our hemisphere is one of the keys to that shared future. Educational exchange programs like these will help us prepare the workforce to give our students the skills, experiences, and relationships that a global economy requires.

Consider the Brazilian company Tecsis, which makes the blades used in wind turbines. It happens to be one of the largest blade manufacturers in the world, founded by three Brazilian engineers. Now, all of them attended ITA, a top Brazilian technical institute that was created with strong support from MIT, and one of the company founders also studied at Harvard. And I'm delighted that President Roussef will be going to both MIT and Harvard tomorrow.

Well today, Tecsis is a leader in the U.S. market. It exports more than half its blades to the United States. Eighty percent of the raw material it uses to make the blades actually comes from the United States. One of its top customers is GE. And a partnership between the two companies has helped GE become a top wind energy equipment provider in the United States.

So in addition to employing more than 5,000 people in Brazil, Tecsis has created a subsidiary company in Houston which employs more than 150 workers to repair and maintain the blades used in the United States. This kind of partnership—call it cross-pollination, if you will—is increasingly achievable, and we want to see more of this.

The foreign minister and I were talking earlier before we came in that our values, our common commitment to democracy, to human rights, to freedom, to the full potential of every individual, is such an advantage in the world today. And there is tremendous untapped potential in both of our countries. We've only begun to explore how we can work and prosper together.

So I urge all of you here for today's conference to identify concrete ways for collaboration in business and education, energy, and any other critical field. And the foreign minister and I will do the same here in Washington and then when I travel to Brazil next week, where we will convene the next meeting of the U.S.-Brazil Global Partnership Dialogue.

Now, when we look at the rise of powers around the world, the story of Brazil stands out. Yes, it is becoming one of the largest economies in the world; it's already one of the largest democracies. It increasingly has an impact on global stability and security. We face complex challenges in our region and beyond, and Brazil is a responsible actor. Our countries have to be partners. We want to be. But even in today's world, that want is matched by need. Because whether we're taking advantage of shared opportunities or facing shared threats, we have to do all we can to work effectively together.

And I am confident that this relationship will serve to stabilize our hemisphere, our economies, but even reach far beyond. Because what we want to see is the progress in Brazil that has been so laudable over the last several decades continue and grow from strength to strength. And we want to see the United States, with our great, diverse, pluralistic population, being the kind of model inspiration that we have historically been over our own history.

As today's conference makes clear, the work between the two countries is well underway. And I want to commit this government and our country to the peace, prosperity, and progress that will, I am sure, ensue because we will build an even stronger relationship for years to come.

Thank you all very much.

Secretary John Bryson gave the following remarks at the White House

Secretary Bryson. Thank you Cecilia. Thanks to everyone at the Domestic Policy Council. And thanks also to Eric Farnsworth at the Council of the Americas.

Welcome to this important Conference on Connecting the Americas. It's a pleasure to see business and community leaders from across the country.

As you heard, I am from Southern California. It's where I worked for nearly two decades as a CEO of Southern California Edison and Edison International. And it's where my wife Louise and I raised our four girls. Both at my company and across the greater Los Angeles region, I saw the daily major contributions made by Hispanic business leaders, workers and families. It's abundantly clear that this wonderful diversity is a powerful force in our economy.

The Census Bureau, an arm of the Commerce Department does a Survey of Business Owners every five years. From 2002 to 2007, sales at Hispanic-owned businesses grew by 55 percent to $350 billion. This year we are doing that every-five-year survey again, and there can be little doubt across our country that it will show continued growth.

But it's much more than that. The fact is, people and cultures from throughout the Western Hemisphere are part of the story of America. President Obama understands this. That's why he is going to Colombia tomorrow for the Summit of the Americas. Everyone here today understands it, too.

We have put together a great day, and I want to thank you in advance for your contributions to the dialogue. I think that the discussions will revolve around two general themes:

First, we need to ensure a strong foundation here at home. I'll give three examples.

We need to make sure college is more affordable and accessible for everyone Already, the administration has increased the top Pell Grant sizes from $900 to over $5,000.

We need to make sure that our entrepreneurs and business owners get the tools they need to succeed. And I know that we just had a record year in SBA lending, as Administrator Mills can attest.

And we need to make sure that our workers can get the training they need to land good jobs. This includes major efforts like the proposed Community-College-to-Career Fund.

A second major theme of today—which builds on that—is to strengthen our economic ties throughout the Americas. Again, I'll give some examples:

We need to build on the record year we just had of $2.1 trillion in U.S. exports. We have new trade agreements in the pipeline for Colombia and Panama, as Ambassador Kirk can confirm.

We need to ensure that our private sector can play a strong role in infrastructure growth abroad. It's clear that U.S. businesses can help with everything from roads to energy—to help lift people out of poverty and into the middle class.

We need to encourage companies throughout the Americas to see the value of investing here in the U.S. Through the Commerce Department's SelectUSA initiative—strongly supported by the president–we're doing just that.

Finally, we need to address challenges that all countries share, like climate change and global security.

Above all, I strongly believe that we must do everything possible to strengthen person-to-person relationships. That's the key to our success.

Earlier this week, we had a powerful example that. Brazil's President, Dilma Rousseff came, and I led a meeting of the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum. We discussed how we can partner in industries like aviation to build on our record year of over $100 billion in bilateral trade. We also talked about bringing more students from Brazil to come and study in the U.S.-a goal that both Presidents share. And, of course, we talked about how our countries can work together to support the Brazil 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics.

Now, it may not surprise you to know that I will not be competing in the World Cup, however, I am pleased to say that I will be going on my first-ever trip to Brazil this fall for the next U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum Meeting.

We need more of those interactions. And that's why the work that we do together—including the work you do here today—is so important.

Together, we can help build more bridges throughout the Americas. Together, we can take those next steps to promote greater prosperity and more jobs. And together, we can ensure an even brighter future for people throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Thank you all for being here, and I'll turn the floor over to Dan Restrepo of the National Security Staff, who serves as Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

Thank you.

Remarks by President

Obama and Brazilian

President Barack Obama and President Dilma Rousseff gave the following remarks in Cartagena, Colombia

President Barack Obama and President Juan Manuel Santos gave the following remarks in Cartagena, Colombia

President Santos. Good afternoon to you all. I'd like to announce that we have had a bilateral meeting with President Obama and his team. This has been highly productive. Colombia and the U.S. have been successful partners in fighting against drug trafficking, fighting against terrorism, and in defending democracy.

In this meeting we have made even more progress. Our countries have moved from being just good friends and partners to become real allies. We are allies in building a new world order—the world of the 20th century is behind; it is in the past. Now there is a new international reality and we cannot simply be passive observers of this reality. Only joint work of those who share the ideals of freedom and democracy makes sure of a peaceful transition towards a better world. And we feel that we must work together.

We have talked with President Obama about bilateral problems and world problems, and we have also worked at the Security Council coordinating our positions. And we have been doing this and we will do it at the G20 where we will meet in a few months. And here at the summit, in this Summit of the Americas, we have had very positive results. And I'm not only saying this as president of the summit, but most of the heads of state and government who were present said the same thing. And one of the reasons why it has been so successful was thanks to President Obama, who stayed here for two nights, and we discussed openly and candidly, with respect and cordiality, all problems. Everything was discussed. And that was really appreciated by Latin America and the Caribbean in a very special fashion.

So I'd like to thank you, President Obama. This was part of the success of the summit.

We all have the feeling that there are enormous opportunities to work together in a more integrated fashion. North and South America will be able to find common denominators that will create synergies for the benefit of the North American and Latin American peoples.

In bilateral relations, I think that we have also made headways as never before, and I'd like to thank you, President Obama, for your permanent willingness not only working with Colombia but with Latin America. You said something that touched us, and that was that you did not see Latin America as a problem, or Latin Americans living in the United States as a problem, but the country as a contribution, as a supplement to the dynamics that make the U.S. what they are today. And that has a lot of value. We would like to thank you for this. We would like to thank you, not only as Latin Americans who live south of Rio Grande, but those who live—the millions of Latin Americans who live in the U.S.

As for bilateral relations, finally, after working together for a long time, the two countries and their delegations, we can announce today that on May 15th, precisely in one month, the new FTA with the U.S. will be enforced—which means there will be thousands—millions of jobs created for the U.S. and Colombia. It is a dream we had for a long time. Since I was a minister of commerce 20 years ago, we were dreaming of having free trade with the U.S., and this has become a reality today, here in Cartagena, and right here where not so many years ago, about 10 to 12 years, that Plan Colombia was launched.

We were about to be considered a failed state. And today, thanks to Plan Colombia and thanks to the U.S. and many others, and thanks to you, President Obama, for your permanent support that you have always given us, today we have a very strong democracy that is producing specific results for our people and has been recognized by the world as a whole.

Number two, we also agreed with President Obama to work together so as to help Central American countries in fighting against organized crime and drug trafficking. The experience that we have gathered through Plan Colombia together with the United States is something that we have the obligation of sharing with our brothers in Central America who are going through difficult times. So that is the reason why we have decided to strengthen and improve joint assistance mechanisms for these countries.

Number three, we have agreed to work together so as to ensure energy interconnection with the whole continent. And this is something we discussed during the summit, but it concerns us very specifically here. Both the U.S. and Colombia may contribute to that interconnection. I am dreaming that at some point in time no individual living in the Americas will be out of this interconnection because that will help us a lot in fighting against the poverty and for development.

Number four, we would like to thank the American government for a decision which is that as of now visas given to Colombians will be extended to 10 years which is a proof of trust in the countries. And we would like to thank you very much for this not only on behalf of the government, but on behalf of the 46 million Colombians and the millions of Colombians who love to go to the U.S.

And that is why I think that we are strengthening the wonderful relations that we have always had with the United States and with you, personally, President Obama. You have not only an ally but a friend. You can count on us. And let's continue working together. We've been able to attain many goals up to date, and I'm sure that we will be able to be more successful in the future.

So again, on behalf of the 46 million people in Colombia and all Latin Americans, thank you very much. Thank you very much for your interest. Thank you very much for coming to the summit and to this bilateral meeting. I think this has been a very important step forward in trying to work together in the Americas and the U.S. and Colombia. Thank you very much.

President Obama. Well, thank you, President Santos, for those warm words. Most of all, thank you and thanks to the First Lady and the people of Colombia and Cartagena for your unbelievable hospitality. This is a beautiful city. And I'm going to do my best to bring Michelle and the girls back to come visit.

This will be remembered as a summit that brought the nations of our hemisphere closer together, and it will be remembered that we advanced the prosperity and the security and dignity of our peoples. And I believe it will be remembered that our progress was made possible in no small part by the outstanding commitment and leadership of President Santos and his team. So, Juan Manuel, muchas gracias.

As I said to my fellow leaders yesterday, there was a time not so long ago when few could have imagined holding a summit like this in Colombia. That we have and that the summit was such a success is a tribute to the remarkable transformation that's occurred in this nation. There's a level of security that's not been seen in decades. Citizens are reclaiming their communities. The economy is growing—as you can see in the skylines of Cartagena and Bogota. Democratic institutions are being strengthened. In Colombia today, there's hope.

And this progress, once unthinkable, is a tribute to Colombian leaders, including President Santos. It's a testament to the extraordinary courage and sacrifices of Colombian security forces and the Colombian people. And now, as conflict begins to recede, this nation is embracing a new task—consolidating the gains it has won, and building a just and durable peace that unlocks Colombia's incredible potential.

Today, I pledged to President Santos that as Colombia forges its future Colombia will continue to have a strong partner in the United States.

When we met for the first time two years ago, we agreed to take the partnership between our two countries to a new level. This is part of my broader commitment in the Americas to seek partnerships of equality that are based on mutual interest and mutual respect. Here in Colombia and across the region, that's exactly what we've done. And today, President Santos and I reviewed our progress and, I'm pleased to say, reached agreement on several new initiatives.

First, as has already been mentioned, we're moving ahead with our landmark trade agreement. In our meeting at the White House last year, we approved an action plan to ensure the protection of labor rights. We all know that more work still needs to be done, but we've made significant progress. And as a result, and given the actions taken by President Santos and the Colombian legislature, I can announce that the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement will enter into force next month on May 15th.

As I said before, this agreement is a win for both our countries. It's a win for the United States by increasing our exports by more than $1 billion, supporting thousands of U.S. jobs and helping to achieve my goal of doubling U.S. exports. It's a win for Colombia by giving you even greater access to the largest market for your exports—the United States of America. And I'd add that this agreement is a win for our workers and the environment because of the strong protections it has for both—commitments we are going to fulfill.

So, President Santos, thank you for your partnership in getting this done.

Colombia's economic progress puts this nation on a path to join the ranks of developed nations. President Santos has made it a goal to seek membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. And today, I can announce that when Colombia is ready to seek it the United States will strongly support Colombia's candidacy for the OECD. Moreover, we will actively encourage other members of the OECD to join us in supporting Colombia's membership, which would be another symbol of Colombia's transformation.

Alongside our deeper economic cooperation, we're strengthening our security cooperation. The United States has been proud to stand with the Colombian people in their fight against the terrorist insurgency that took the lives of so many innocent civilians. I reaffirmed to President Santos that the United States will continue to stand with Colombia shoulder to shoulder as you work to end this conflict and build a just and lasting peace. And that includes supporting President Santos's very ambitious reform agenda, including reparations for victims and land reform. And this afternoon I look forward to joining President Santos as he presents land titles to two Afro-Colombian communities, advancing the vision of a Colombia that is just and equitable.

As Colombia grows stronger at home, it's increasingly playing a leadership role across the region—a third area where we're deepening our partnership. Colombia has shared its expertise in security by training police officers in countries from Latin America to Afghanistan. Today, President Santos and I agreed that our two countries will work together to support our partners in Central America as they pursue a regional strategy to improve the security of their citizens.

And this is just one more example of how Colombia is contributing to security and peace beyond its borders, including as a current member of the U.N. Security Council. I want to take this opportunity to salute Colombian leadership, from supporting the recovery in Haiti to supporting sanctions against Iran, to standing up for the rights and freedoms of people in the Middle East and North Africa. And this week in Brazil, we'll join nations from around the world in advancing the open government that empowers citizens and makes governments more accountable.

Finally, I'm very pleased that we're deepening the ties between our peoples. As it now stands, visas for Colombians to visit the United States expire after five years. As was just mentioned, I'm announcing that these visas for Colombians will now be valid for 10 years. And this will make it easier—this will make it easier for more Colombians to visit and experience the United States, and this is one more very tangible example of Colombia's transformation and the transformation in the relationship between our two countries.

So, again, President Santos, thank you to you for your leadership. Thank you to the people of Cartagena and the people of Colombia for this outstanding summit and your great hospitality, the warmth that you've extended us and the other leaders who gathered here. It makes me very confident about Colombia's future.

President Santos. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, there are some questions. I think—RCN TV, Juan Carlos, you have a question.

Q. Presidents, good afternoon. President

Obama, today at the closing of the Summit of the Americas there was great expectation because you never came up with a document that would reflect a decision, and many people would say that Cuba and the Malvinas issue weren't taken up as they should have. Does this have to do in any way with the electoral environment, the electoral context in the United States?

And to President Santos, today the State Department announced a new security plan for the region. What benefits do you see coming from this plan? Thank you very much.

President Obama. Well, first of all, what it reflects is a lack of consensus among those who participated in the summit. The issue of Cuba I've discussed before. Since I came into office, we have made changes to our Cuba policy. We've increased remittances that are permissible from Cuban Americans sending money to their families to help support them back home. We've increased travel by family members to Cuba. And we have discussed in the OAS the pathway whereby Cuba can fully participate in some of these regional forums. But the fact of the matter is, is that Cuba, unlike the other countries that are participating, has not yet moved to democracy, has not yet observed basic human rights.

I am hopeful that a transition begins to take place inside of Cuba. And I assure you that I and the American people will welcome the time when the Cuban people have the freedom to live their lives, choose their leaders, and fully participate in this global economy and international institutions.

We haven't gotten there yet. But as I indicated to President Santos and all the other leaders sitting around the table, we recognize that there may be an opportunity in the coming years, as Cuba begins to look at where it needs to go in order to give its people the kind of prosperity and opportunity that it needs, that it starts loosening up some of the constraints within that country. And that's something that we will welcome.

I'm not somebody who brings to the table here a lot of baggage from the past, and I want to look at all these problems in a new and fresh way. But I also deeply believe in those principles that are contained not just in the OAS charter, but in the United Nations charter—that respect for individuals, respect for rule of law, respect for human rights that I think is part of the reason that we're seeing an incredible transformation here in Colombia.

And in terms of the Maldives [sic] or the Falklands, whatever your preferred term, our position on this is that we are going to remain neutral. We have good relations with both Argentina and Great Britain, and we are looking forward to them being able to continue to dialogue on this issue. But this is not something that we typically intervene in.

President Santos. I would just like to repeat something that I said during the press conference this morning—early this afternoon—saying that the important thing of the summit is that we openly discussed all issues. This didn't happen before. There were some issues that garnered agreement, others that didn't. We reached an agreement on the five fundamental issues that were identified from the very outset, and the discussion on other issues was an open, candid discussion. It was fully respectful and productive, I would say.

And that is why I believe that in the aftermath of this summit we will have a better understanding of these challenges. Some will be solved in the short term; others in the longer term. There are others that we naturally won't be able to resolve. But that is only natural. And summits such as these, where 33 countries participate, each one bringing to the table their own interest, each one bringing their own prism through which they look at things, but the positive thing is that we discuss these issues candidly and productively—a number of issues that were not even on the table before.

On the issue of security, with the United States we have very close coordination, and perhaps we don't have this close relationship with any other country in the world. We have learned mutually from each other. They have helped us a great deal. As I said before, Plan Colombia was launched a few years ago, and it's not just the amount of money that was offered through Plan Colombia, it was the quality of the assistance. And to us, that was a very important step. And anything that we can do along that road to improve security in the United States and Colombia and to share our experiences will be more than welcome.

Q. Thank you, both of you. President Obama, following up on my Colombian colleague's question, could you address—he had referred to the electoral pressures that you face in the United States. Could you address the issue of how big Florida looms in terms of the United States policy towards Cuba?

And I wanted to ask quickly about the issue that has sort of hung over this Summit for the Americans [sic], is the controversy that involved members of the detail that is sworn to protect you. What did you—were you angry when you heard about this as you came here? And do you feel like there's any—this is indicative of any broader cultural problem within the Secret Service, such as a leading Republican congressman suggested?

And President Santos—which President Obama you could also address this as well—I'm curious as to why you made drug trafficking such a prominent part of this summit when it could be argued that it detracted some from the attention you wanted to bring to the great progress that Colombia has made on economic and security issues. Thank you.

President Obama. Well, first of all, my position on Cuba has been consistent. It hasn't wavered before I was elected for President the first time; it didn't change after I was elected for President; it hasn't changed now. So let me repeat—separate and apart from whatever electoral concerns you're describing, I want the people of Cuba, like people throughout this hemisphere, to have the opportunity to work, to raise their families, to start a business, to express themselves, to criticize their leaders—something that we in America take full advantage of—to replace them if they're not working, which presumably is the aspiration of I think most people throughout Latin America.

And as I indicated in an interview earlier, I am sometimes puzzled by the degree to which countries that themselves have undergone enormous transformations, that have known the oppression of dictatorship, or have found themselves on the wrong side of a ruling elite and have suffered for it—why we would ignore that same principle here.

But, Jackie, as you know, I tend to be an optimistic person. And it is my hope that as Cuba looks at what's happening in countries like Colombia and Brazil and Chile and throughout the region, they're going to start saying to themselves, maybe there's a new path to take in the 21st century. And when that happens they're going to have a welcome hand extended by the United States of America.

On the Secret Service—these men and women perform extraordinary service on a day-to-day basis protecting me, my family, U.S. officials. They do very hard work under very stressful circumstances, and almost invariably do an outstanding job. And so I'm very grateful to the work that they do.

What happened here in Colombia is being investigated by the director of the Secret Service. I expect that investigation to be thorough and I expect it to be rigorous. If it turns out that some of the allegations that have been made in the press are confirmed, then of course I'll be angry—because my attitude with respect to the Secret Service personnel is no different than what I expect out of my delegation that's sitting here. We're representing the people of the United States. And when we travel to another country, I expect us to observe the highest standards because we're not just representing ourselves, we're here on behalf of our people. And that means that we conduct ourselves with the utmost dignity and probity. And obviously what's been reported doesn't match up with those standards.

But again, I think I'll wait until the full investigation is completed before I pass final judgment.

The final point I'll make just on the issue you raised with President Santos about the issue of drug trafficking—I think it is wholly appropriate for us to discuss this issue because Colombia obviously has gone through a wrenching number of years dealing with this issue. It has been successful because of the courage and leadership not only of President Santos and his predecessors, but also because of Colombian security forces.

But you now have a number of countries in the region—in Central America and in the Caribbean—that are smaller, that have fewer resources and are starting to feel overwhelmed. And obviously we've been following what's been happening in Mexico and the violence that's been taking place there as a consequence of these narco-traffickers. So I think it wouldn't make sense for us not to examine what works and what doesn't, and to constantly try to refine and ask ourselves, is there something we can do to prevent violence, to weaken these drug traffickers, to make sure that they're not peddling this stuff on our kids and they're not perpetrating violence and corrupting institutions in the region. And I thought it was a good and useful and frank discussion.

As I said a couple of days ago, Jackie, I'm not somebody who believes that legalization is a path to solving this problem. But I do think that we can constantly ask ourselves are there additional steps we can take to be more creative, and are there ways that we can combine the law enforcement and interdiction approaches that we've successfully partnered with Colombia on with the public health approach that I think is important back home—making sure that we're trying to reduce demand even as we try to choke off supply.

And so I'm looking forward to continuing to have that conversation. And based on the best evidence and the best ideas out there, hopefully we can continue to strengthen these efforts.

President Santos. If I understood your question correctly, it is why did we place drugs on the agenda when there are other more important things for the summit, or things that we should highlight about our country, such as the progress that we've achieved economically and in strengthening our democracy.

The question is well put, but the answer is in your court. The media were the ones that placed such a high level of attention on this issue. I said many times in the interviews that I conducted before this summit, I said I don't want this issue to be the summit's issue; I have no interest in having this issue as the sole summit issue. This is one of many issues that some countries want to put on the table for negotiations.

And what I said before is that, fortunately, during this summit there were no issues that were left off the table, everything was open, and this was one of the issues that was discussed. We discussed it frankly, candidly. We heard positions from President Obama, from the United States, and positions from other countries, and they were all laid out on the table. And I think this is a positive step and that if we can find paths that will provide more effective and cheaper mechanisms to fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, well, let's work on that.

But it was never our intention for this issue to be the issue of the summit.

Caracol Televisién.

Q. President Obama, good afternoon. President Santos, good afternoon, sir. President Obama, you are the first U.S. President who comes to Colombia and stays three days, two nights in this beautiful city of Cartagena. How should Colombia and the world interpret this gesture? Is it an acknowledgment of the levels of security that we have here? Is it a gesture of trust in what President Santos has done? Or can we interpret it as a new phase beginning in the relations between the two countries?

And, President Santos, there are small business people who are very concerned about the FTA. What is your plan to deal with that, Mr. President?

President Obama. Well, I think the answer is, all of the above. It is—this represents my confidence in the security of Colombia and the progress that's been made. It represents my confidence in President Santos and the work that we've done together, as a culmination of the efforts that we began when we first met a couple of years ago. It highlights the deliverables coming out of this summit—not just the free trade agreement, but all the other work that has been done, such as the increase in the length of visitor visas. And it is consistent with the approach that I indicated I would take when I first came into office when it comes to Latin America and Central America.

This is a fast-growing part of the world. It is one of our largest trading partners—the entire region. We have Colombian Americans, Americans who originate from the Dominican Republic, from Guatemala, from Mexico, who are constantly contributing to the vitality and the strength of the United States. And so there is a natural bond that already exists. And it's important that our governments build on that natural bond for the mutual benefit of both nations.

And my expectation is, is that we will continue to see the progress that's been made in this summit in subsequent meetings that we have with Colombia. And I think that Colombia increasingly, precisely because it's went through difficult times over these last several years, can end up being a role model for a lot of countries around the region because they'll see, you know what, there's hope—even in the midst of violence, even in the midst of difficulty—there's the possibility of breaking through to the other side and achieving greater citizen security and greater prosperity.

And let me just mention—I know you asked the question to President Santos—but on the issue of small businesses, one of the things that I brought to the summit was a proposal that I think people are embracing throughout the region, and that is that we begin to focus more on small and medium-sized businesses, on women's businesses, making sure that the benefits of trade don't just go to the largest companies but also go to smaller entrepreneurs and business people.

Because in today's globalized world there's an opportunity for a small business or a medium-sized business to access a global marketplace and grow rapidly, and that means more jobs here in Colombia, and that means more jobs in the United States. So we don't want trade to just be taking place at this layer up here; we want it to be taking place at every level because we think that's going to be good for both our economies.

President Santos. You asked me about what contingency plan we have to help companies and people who were going to be adversely affected by the FTA. All free trade agreements have winners and they have losers, and in this case we have many more winners than losers. Employment wins. We will create jobs in Colombia. We estimate that more than 500,000 jobs will be created. We will benefit in economic growth. We have estimated that between .5 and 1 percent will be added to our growth rate over the long term, and that will be translated into benefits for the Colombians. And so we estimate that everybody will benefit from this.

Obviously there are some sectors that don't traditionally benefit. But small and medium enterprises can be the ones that benefit the most. That happened in Peru, for example, when the Peru-U.S. FTA—we saw a major uptick of the number of SMEs that benefitted from this free trade agreement. We hope that that happens in Colombia as well, because thus far, Colombia has per capita exports which are very low, but we still have the great potential to bolster our free trade and our exports in those sectors that are vulnerable—which have been identified as vulnerable, are the focus of a series of policies and efforts that will help them weather the storm, to be transformed, to be more competitive, and to be able to face the competition that will open up with this new FTA. That has happened with every free trade agreement that has been signed in the past.

What's important is that the final result yields more benefits than otherwise. And we have no doubts that in this case it will have more benefit for everyone.

Q. Thank you, sir. Yesterday, the President of Brazil was talking about the importance not only of growing the economic pie but making sure that it's divided more equitably. I wondered how you think that applies within the United States, where the idea of spreading the wealth around isn't always warmly greeted, and how, for example, with this free trade agreement you make sure that the benefits are widely shared. And if I may, sir, on an unrelated topic, if I could get your reaction to Prime Minister Netanyahu's comment that the P5-plus-1 had given Iran a freebie with this additional time.

And for President Santos, what responsibility do you believe the countries of Latin America, especially those that have become more democratic, have for helping to bring Cuba into the democratic fold?

President Obama. The goal of any government should be to create security for its citizens, and to give them opportunity to achieve prosperity and to pass that prosperity on to their kids. And I'm a strong believer that the free market is the best tool ever invented to create wealth.

But what's true in every country is that we always have to think about whether every single person is getting a fair shot, where they actually have opportunity. Is everybody doing their fair share to support the common efforts that are required to create a platform for growth? Is everybody playing by the same set of rules? And I think the history of the United States, the reason we became an economic superpower is because—not only perfectly, not always consistently, but better than any other country on Earth—we were able to give opportunity to everybody. That's what the American Dream was all about.

So when we have debates now about our tax policy, when we have debates now about the Buffett Rule that we've been talking about where we say if you make a million dollars a year or more you shouldn't pay a lower tax rate than your secretary, that is not an argument about redistribution—that is an argument about growth. Because the history of the United States is we grow best when our growth is broad-based. We grow best when our middle class is strong. We grow best when everybody has opportunity. And that means that somebody who has a great idea and selling a great product or service, we want them to get rich. That's great. But we also want to make sure that we as a society are investing in that young kid who comes from a poor family who has incredible talent and might be able to get rich as well.

And that means we've got to build good schools, and we've got to make sure that that child can go to college. And we also want to make sure that we keep our scientific edge, and that means we've got to invest in basic research. And that means that we've got to have some basic safety net, because people are more willing to take risks that are required for the free market to work if they know that if they fall on hardship, if something happens, that there's still some floor that they can't fall beneath, and that they'll be able to retire with some dignity and some respect.

And so one of the things that we're going to be talking about over the next several months as we debate the budget and government spending and the proper role of government, is just—I want everybody to remember, I'm going to say this repeatedly—this is not an argument about taking from A to give to B. This is not a redistributionist argument that we're making. We're making an argument about how do we grow the economy so that it's going to prospering in this competitive 21st century environment. And the only way we're going to do that is if people like me, who have been incredibly blessed, are willing to give a little bit back so that the next generation coming along can succeed as well. And the more people that succeed, the better off the country is going to be.

With respect to the Iranian talks, I've been very clear on this. Iran has violated U.N. Security Council resolutions. They're the only country that's a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the NPT, that cannot convince the international community that they are abiding by the rules governing the NPT. And not just the United States, but the world community is now imposing some of the toughest sanctions that we've ever seen, and there are more to come. And it is my view that it would be contrary to the security interests of the United States, and destabilizing for the world and the region if Iran pursues, develops, obtains a nuclear weapon. So I've been very clear, and I've been talking about this quite a bit lately.

What I've also been clear about is that the best way to resolve this issue is diplomatically, and my belief that we still have a window in which to resolve this conflict diplomatically. That window is closing, and Iran needs to take advantage of it. But it is absolutely the right thing to do for the U.S. government, working in concert with the other permanent members of the Security Council, with Germany, with the rest of the world community, to pursue this path.

Part of the reason we're been able to build a strong international coalition that isolates Iran around the nuclear issues is because the world has confidence that I've been sincere and my administration has been sincere about giving Iran an opportunity to pursue peaceful nuclear energy while foreclosing the pursuit of a nuclear weapon. That strengthens our hand. That's part of the reason why we've been able to execute on these strong sanctions. And we're going to keep on seeing if we make progress.

Now, the clock is ticking. And I've been very clear to Iran and to our negotiating partners that we're not going to have these talks just drag out in a stalling process. But so far, at least, we haven't given away anything—other than the opportunity for us to negotiate and see if Iran comes to the table in good faith. And the notion that somehow we've given something away or “a freebie,” would indicate that Iran has gotten something—in fact, they've got some of the toughest sanctions that they're going to be facing coming up in just a few months if they don't take advantage of these talks. I hope they do.

Was there an—you guys ask too many questions. I start forgetting them.

President Santos.

President Santos. Any foreign policy has a formula: Interests plus principles equals a foreign policy. So how do you combine these interests and principles, and how you defend those principles is what makes a foreign policy. In our case and in the case of many countries—countries that believe in freedom and democracy—we have the obligation to make sure that those principles are applied in every form possible and in every place possible.

But there are different formulas to defend and apply those principles as well. There are certain paths that are more effective than others. In some cases, sanctions may work. Generally they don't, but they may work in some cases. In some other cases, it has been proven that sanctions are not the solution, and in these cases we need to then pursue the defense of those principles through other ways.

And in our case, Colombia and other Latin American countries that believe in democracy and believe in freedom, we have the obligation to pursue those principles following the most effective path. And I believe that that can yield the best results.

President Obama. Thank you very much, everybody.

President Santos. Muchas gracias.

Secretary Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Antonio Aguiar de Patriota gave the following remarks in Brasilia, Brazil

Secretary Clinton. Thank you so much, Antonio. And it is a great pleasure, as always, to be back in Brazil, especially just one week after the very constructive meeting that was held between our two presidents. We have deepened and broadened our cooperation on so many issues, and our Global Partnership Dialogue is now bringing together our experts on both sides to discuss in depth what we can do to advance our cooperation on the economy, on education, on some of the key challenges such as cyber security that we are both dealing with.

And it is exciting for us to be in this partnership because we have a long history together. In the 19^th century when Brazil won its independence, the U.S. was the first country to recognize Brazil. And in the 20^th century, when a U.S. Secretary of State made the first ever official visit to a foreign country, it was to Brazil—Secretary Elihu Root, who came here in 1906. So we now—Antonio and I—decided that we have to have a 21^st century partnership. It's time for us to be really looking at the opportunities and challenges we face and how we can do better together.

A week ago, Antonio and I were together in Washington at a standing-room-only business meeting at the United States Chamber of Commerce. And earlier today, I was privileged to speak to a business group of Brazilian business leaders. We know that we're making progress in bilateral trade and investment, creating jobs for both of our peoples, but there's more to do. I will be sending an innovation delegation to Brazil later this year with some of our top entrepreneurs, educators, and tech leaders to meet with their Brazilian counterparts.

And this is—in addition to the very exciting partnerships which President Rousseff highlighted when she was in the United States, particularly with her visits to Harvard and MIT. Through the Science without Borders initiative, Brazil will send 100,000 students to study science and technology at foreign universities. Many of them will be welcomed in the United States. And we, in turn, under President Obama's initiative, 100,000 Strong, want to send a hundred thousand U.S. students to Latin American universities. And of course, we expect many to come here to Brazil.

In the meeting this afternoon, we received an update on the U.S.-Brazil global partnership. We discussed Latin America, of course. We discussed Africa. We discussed some of the hotspot issues at the time, now of Iran, Syria, and so much else. But I think it's important to emphasize that at the heart of this partnership are values. We are two of the largest democracies in the world, two of the most diverse countries in the world. We share a commitment to opportunity for all people. And tomorrow, President Rousseff and I will kick off the high-level meeting of the Open Government Partnership here in Brasilia, which she and President Obama launched eight months ago. This Open Government Partnership is intended to fight corruption, promote transparency, empower citizens to make the case that both Brazil and the United States believe so strongly that democracy delivers results for people.

So it's exciting that we're building these habits of cooperation between our governments, our private sectors, our universities, our civil societies, and our citizens. And I'm looking forward to the work ahead. We've set up a very busy agenda for ourselves, but we are committed to doing everything we can to help lay the foundation for this 21^st century partnership. Thank you, Antonio.

Q. Madam Secretary, thank you. (In Portuguese.)

Secretary Clinton. Well, first, let me say that the United States absolutely admires Brazil's growing leadership and its aspiration to join the United Nations Security Council as a permanent member. We believe that the long-term viability of the United Nations Security Council depends upon updating it to the 21^st century to recognizing that it has to reflect the world that exists today, not the world that existed when it was formed. So for that reason, we are committed to serious, deliberate reform efforts in the UN, not only on the Security Council, but frankly, in a number of areas of UN process and functioning.

And in fact, I think we believe that the United States has shown a greater commitment to real UN reform than many of our counterparts on the Security Council. But we also have learned that until other countries are committed to UN reform, we're not going to make the progress that we need, and I think it would be very hard to imagine a future UN Security Council that wouldn't include a country like Brazil with all of its progress and the great model it represents of a democracy that is progressing and providing opportunity for its people.

Q. Madam Secretary?

Secretary Clinton. Yes.

Q. On Afghanistan, a number of U.S. officials have said that the Haqqani Network is behind the attacks in Kabul and elsewhere at the weekend. In your conversation with Foreign Minister Khar, what sense did she give you that the Pakistanis would be willing to go after the Haqqani Network and deepen counterterrorism involvement that has fallen by the wayside?

And if I may on North Korea—the traditional double-barreled questions. You spoke to Foreign Minister Yang on Friday, and I was wondering what sense you got from him that he's willing to put enough pressure on the North Koreans not to go ahead with a nuclear test.

Secretary Clinton. Well, first with regard to Afghanistan, the United States strongly condemns yesterday's cowardly attacks. Once again, we extend our condolences to the victims and their families. I spoke to Ambassador Ryan Crocker in Kabul yesterday, first to check to see how everyone was doing. Thankfully, despite the attacks, the Embassy and our personnel associated with it were safe.

We also were impressed by and I conveyed my appreciation to the Afghan National Security Forces for the effective response which they provided. Remember, they were in the lead on this. They were the ones who ended the sieges, captured the insurgents, and are in the process of compiling evidence about the nature and origin of this attack.

Now, I think it's fair to say that despite how contemptible these attacks were, they were not successful. They were another failed effort by extremists to try to undermine the slow but steady progress that Afghanistan is making to stability. And as the transition to security leadership by the Afghans themselves continues, we know there will be more challenges, because it's not in the interests of all of these adversaries to see Afghanistan be able to provide security for itself. So they will continue to test, they will continue to assassinate, they will continue to attack, and we are going to stand with the people and the Government of Afghanistan. We are going to continue to work with the Afghan National Security Forces along with our NATO-ISAF partners, and we believe and we have evidence of this that the insurgency is failing despite their ability to launch spectacular attacks from time to time.

The investigation over the origin of these attacks is ongoing, but there are already indications of Haqqani involvement. The Haqqani Network is a very determined foe of the stability, security, and peace of the Afghan people. So we'll see what the full investigation shows, but it's not premature to refer to the evidence that is being compiled.

When I spoke with the Pakistan foreign minister, Foreign Minister Khar, today, I certainly expressed my strong conviction that there has to be a concerted effort by the Pakistanis with the Afghans, with others of us, against extremists of all kinds, whether they threaten the Pakistani people, the Afghan people, or the American Embassy. And when I was in Pakistan last October, I made it very clear both publicly and privately that Pakistan had to work with us to squeeze the Haqqani Network. And I'm going to continue to make that point, to press it hard, and our consultations with the Pakistanis are proceeding. But the Haqqani Network is a threat to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the people of the region. So we're going to take it very seriously.

With respect to North Korea, look, we are working to ensure that the new North Korean leadership hears unequivocally from the international community that their provocative behavior will not be rewarded. And the fact that the UN Security Council unanimously approved a presidential statement deploring the North Korea failed satellite launch underscores that it violated UN resolutions and that these actions constitute a threat to regional peace and security and that there will be consequences to this behavior. There unfortunately have to be consequences.

We very much, very much hope to see a different attitude from the Government of North Korea—not for the United States or Japan or South Korea first and foremost, but for their own people. And so as you may know, we were negotiating the potential of trying to assist them and had reached agreement with them to try to provide nutritional assistance since they cannot feed their own people. Unfortunately, they decided to launch this—or to attempt to launch this missile, which was clearly in violation of the UN Security Council. So the Security Council has directed the North Korean Sanctions Committee to designate more North Korean companies for asset freezes, to identify further sensitive nuclear and missile technologies that will be banned from sale to Pyongyang, among other measures. And we have all agreed—that includes China—that there will be further consequences if they pursue another provocative action.

So let me say this again: Here in Brasilia, a country that has demonstrated what good leadership, what a partnership between the people and the government can produce, the new, young leadership of North Korea has a very stark choice. They need to take a hard look at their policies, stop the provocative action, open to the rest of the world, work to educate their people, feed their people, put their people first ahead of their ambitions to be a nuclear power, and rejoin the international community. We would welcome that.

Q. (In Portuguese.)

Secretary Clinton. Well, let me begin, and then perhaps the minister would also add some comments.

I did meet with Graca Foster this morning and came away very impressed with her personally and also with the commitment Petrobras has to maximizing the benefits for the Brazilian people of the extraordinary potential of the pre-salt deepwater reserves. And we discussed a long list of issues, because what Brazil is doing is complicated and demanding, expensive, and there are ways in which our government and our international oil companies, along with others from elsewhere in the world who have expertise and experience, technologies, innovative approaches, can partner with Petrobras under the conditions that are set by the Brazilian Government. She is a very knowledgeable person and extremely practical. She knows that a lot of what is going to be happening in deepwater drilling off the coast of Brazil will take a very high level of investment. And insofar as it is possible, the United States and our companies stand ready to participate.

We discussed Chevron. Obviously, we want to be a good partner to Petrobras and Brazil. There are problems in deepwater drilling. We suffered through them in our own Gulf of Mexico. So we know how challenging this path is, but we also know how important it is for Brazil to do this. And it was an excellent discussion. We had some of our experts with us. We're setting up an ongoing dialogue to get very practical. I am not the person to talk to about wellheads, but there are a lot of people in our government and in our private sector who you could talk to about wellheads and different pressures and the like.

So I think she put it well. She said she wanted a very material agenda, that we would talk about what Petrobras's needs were; and insofar as we had anything to offer, we would make that available. And it's of course up to Petrobras and the Brazilian Government to decide the way forward.

Foreign Minister Patriota. (In Portuguese.)

Q. (Inaudible) Argentina, Madam Secretary. (Inaudible) Argentina (inaudible)?

Secretary Clinton. Oh. Well, I think that's going to be a decision that will be rightly debated, and I'm not going to offer an opinion. I don't know all the details. But I think competition and having an open market for energy and other commodities is a much preferable model. And the decisions that are taken by nations are ones that they have to justify and live with. But clearly, I think the model of openness, outreach, competition, market access are ones that have proven successful the world over.

Q. Madam Secretary, in Syria the violence is clearly still continuing. There are reports of four people killed in Homs, four in Idlib, two in Hama, all today. Given that the ceasefire seems to be unraveling before it's even managed to take hold, you must be thinking about what to do if it does indeed fail to take hold. How do you plan to respond if it doesn't?

And on Iran, the Iranian foreign minister said that if the P-5+1 were to start—start easing sanctions, it would be much easier to resolve the nuclear issue. Can you conceive of starting to ease sanctions before Iran ceases uranium enrichment, as is called for in so many UN Security Council resolutions?

Secretary Clinton. Arshad, I'm not going to prejudge the outcome of the process in Syria, because the first tranche of UN monitors is beginning to deploy today. Clearly the burden is on the Assad regime to demonstrate their commitment to all aspects of Kofi Annan's six-point plan. And we're not interested in new promises; we're not interested in new conditions or new excuses. We want action. I think the world wants action. That's why the Security Council acted in a unified way to support Kofi Annan's initiative.

Much of Syria is quieter, but I agree with you that the people of Homs continue to endure renewed shelling by the regime. So we know the ceasefire is not complete, but it appears as though the violence is down significantly. So rather than setting conditions on the monitors, what the Assad regime needs to do is to make clear that they're going to silence their guns, withdraw their troops, and work toward fulfilling the six-point plan. That means, as it has always meant, pulling out of the towns and cities; allowing peaceful demonstrations like what we saw over the weekend, where thousands of Syrians came out to demonstrate peacefully; releasing political prisoners; and allowing a peaceful transition to begin.

So this week will be critical in evaluating the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2024. And we're hoping for the best. We want to see a peaceful period for the people of Syria and we want to see a political process begin. But if violence is renewed, if the regime reverts to shelling its own people and causing a great deal of death and injury, then we're going to have to get back to planning what our next step is. So we're planning for a good outcome, positive results, and we're talking with others on the Security Council and beyond about what would be next steps if that does not prove successful.

Switching to Iran, look; the initial discussions between the P-5+1 and Iran were serious and focused on the nuclear issue. The P-5+1 was unified in calling for Iran to demonstrate the peaceful intent of its nuclear program and to fully comply with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Iran agreed that the terms of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty should serve as the framework for the discussions going forward, and we set the next round for Baghdad toward the end of May.

We want this to be a sustained effort. Between now and the next round, there will be experts meetings, there will planning, and we have to address the concerns of the international community. We're going to take this one step at a time; but clearly, any process would have to have reciprocal expectations and actions, and there has to be evidence by Iran that they would be seriously moving toward removing a lot of their nuclear ambiguity that exists now, that they would be much more open and transparent, and that they would take steps to respond to the UN Security Council resolutions and the international community's concerns.

So we are watching. You've heard me say before I believe in action for action. But I think in this case, the burden of action falls on the Iranians to demonstrate their seriousness. And we're going to keep the sanctions in place and the pressure on Iran as they consider what they'll bring to the table in Baghdad, and we'll respond accordingly.

Secretary Hillary Clinton gave the following remarks in Brasilia, Brazil

Secretary Clinton. Thank you very much. And it is, for me, a great pleasure to be here in Brasilia with leaders from government and business who are committed to strengthening the ties between our two countries.

And I am so pleased that I could be here only one week after some of you were in Washington at the event that was held there for businesses and the very successful visit of President Dilma Rousseff to Washington with President Obama. I see some faces that I saw in the crowd at the American Chamber of Commerce when I addressed you just a week ago, which is no surprise to me, because this is such a critical partnership in so many dimensions. And the economic dimension is growing increasingly important, not only to the two countries that are represented here, but indeed to the region and the world.

As many of you know, last year, trade between Brazil and the United States reached nearly $75 billion, much of that in sectors that are driving innovation and creating jobs in both our countries. And Brazilian investment in the United States has grown considerably in recent years, now standing at 15.5 billion, making it one of the largest sources of investment from Latin America.

So this partnership is already benefitting both countries, and I thank the National Confederation of Industry and our co-hosts from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for working to strengthen economic ties. But I'm here because I think we can do so much more. I believe that the opportunities and potential for greater investment, trade, growth, and jobs is only now being tapped.

I was delighted this morning to meet with Gracas Foster, the head of Petrobras, to talk about the exciting future that lies ahead of Brazil because of the extraordinary reserves on your coastline. And this opportunity carries with it a lot of responsibility, which she is shouldering. Of course, for me, it's exciting to be in a country where the head of your government and the head of your oil company are both led by such visionary, hard-working leaders who happen to be women. That's a good—another good way in which Brazil is leading.

It was 96 years ago today—this very day—that the U.S. Chamber opened its doors in Brazil. American companies like General Electric were just beginning to explore markets beyond America's border. And those industrial pioneers knew that doing business in foreign countries required support and a structure for building relationships with governments and the private sector. What was true then is true today. CNI and AmCham are both instrumental in maintaining the relationships among the private sector and the Brazilian and U.S. Governments.

But a lot has changed in 96 years. Economic issues have become even more central to our engagement with other countries. And increasingly, a goal of U.S. foreign policy is to drive economic growth; drive it for ourselves, of course, but drive it regionally and globally. We call that economic statecraft. How do we create conditions for open and fair economic activity among countries so every country, and even every individual, has a chance to compete?

Now, of course, a country's economic strength in turn shapes its foreign policy and, more broadly, its role in the world. If our economies are prosperous and dynamic, we are able to invest more resources in our own people. We're also able to be good stewards of the global economy, and the whole idea of a global economic order based on the rule of law and transparency and fair and open competition advances.

Now certainly the United States and Brazil understand the complex entanglement of all these issues. What happens to one of us affects every other country in the Americas. And as the hemisphere's two largest democracies, we understand that our values must guide the way we exercise economic power. A vibrant private sector and strong economic ties with our partners are good for business, but also good for our people.

I think one of the reasons Brazil is so widely admired in the world today is not just because you are getting richer, which you are, not just because you're growing a middle class, which you are, but because you have committed to lifting Brazilians out of poverty, because you are opening doors of opportunity for children—no matter who their parents, no matter where they're from—to have the same chance that every other child in Brazil would have.

Now, I often describe a successful society as being like a three-legged stool. One leg has to be responsible, accountable, inclusive government. One has to be a strong, well-functioning private sector, essential for creating wealth and jobs to grow the economy. And the third leg has to be a robust civil society that speaks out for those who can't speak for themselves, who speak for not only people living in poverty, who are victims of discrimination or lack of education or healthcare, but also speak out for the environment, which we have all inherited, and to help hold government and business accountable when their rights are being ignored.

Now, if those three legs are out of balance, the stool can't stand up. If any leg is weak—if government is corrupt, if civil society is stifled, if the private sector is irresponsible—the stool will collapse.

Brazil's success story is a model of three strong legs and a very strong stool, fair and balanced, a strong economy translating into shared prosperities. Brazil has ascended to the world stage as an emerging economic dynamo, lifting millions of Brazilians into the middle class while maintaining and improving democratic institutions.

But for either of our countries, there is no guarantee that progress or prosperity will continue. It is our job to answer this question: In a time of economic uncertainty and a constantly changing global marketplace, how do we maintain economic momentum and growth that fuels inclusive sustainable prosperity in both our countries?

Well, a big part of the answer is innovation. That's why Brazil and the United States are making innovation a key element of our bilateral relationship. That was highlighted during President Rousseff's trip to Washington last week. And we are putting these words and these aspirations into actions.

For example, in January of this year, Microsoft opened a new technology and innovation center in Brazil, its largest in Latin America, as an incubator for new ideas, where students, NGO leaders, entrepreneurs can access cutting-edge technology. One of the first projects to spring from this facility is new software that transforms spoken words into sign language.

Meanwhile, Boeing is partnering with the Inter-American Development Bank and Embraer to develop a sustainable supply chain of biofuels for aviation. And this project will establish a research and development center where teams will go work to develop a cost-effective way to convert sugarcane into airplane fuel. I don't need to tell you that Brazil is at the forefront of biofuels, and what you have done over 30-plus years now to produce sugarcane ethanol into manmade use has been extraordinary. But now we want to tackle the problem of aviation fuel together and see what we can do.

Cisco is investing half a billion dollars here over the next three years to create a center focused on IT entrepreneurship. Cisco and its partners will work with startups to develop and manufacture technology to support efforts in urban development, public safety, education, and health.

So the American companies seeking to expand in Brazil are investing the research and development that will underpin the 21^st century economy. And our two governments are eager to see these efforts succeed. Now the government won't pick winners or losers, and government cannot do the innovation and the technological development that the private sector must do, but governments can work closely with business leaders to create the conditions where these ideas can take hold.

Just last month, the third Joint Commission Meeting on Science and Technology took place here in Brasilia. Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation Marco Antonio Raupp and Dr. John Holdren, President Obama's science advisor, met with private sector representatives to discuss how we can better foster innovation and competitiveness. And later this year, I will send an innovation delegation to Brazil made up of some of our top entrepreneurs, educators, and tech leaders to meet with their Brazilian counterparts to discuss how we can support a thriving innovation ecosystem here in Brazil.

We consider private sector innovation so important because the knowledge and technology developed are not only good for a company's bottom line, they help us meet the challenges of our time: clean energy development, urban renewal, food security, efficient and effective governance. So when companies move forward with kind of innovative new initiatives I'm describing, they're doing more than creating jobs; they are helping to create the economy of the future. We're also working together about how to promote sustainable agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. We're working together in counternarcotics enforcement. So we have a lot on our agendas.

One of the most exciting efforts was a partnership between the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, and IBM. Mayor Paes saw that the city's 30 separate government agencies didn't have a way to communicate and share information efficiently. That is a problem for every government, I will confess. But he knew that poor coordination was wasteful and hindered the efficient use of government resources to serve people. So he worked with an IBM, a unit called “Smarter Cities,” to develop a first of its kind ever operations center. Now data from all those agencies is compiled and stored in one place. This is obviously a very promising new venture for IBM that we expect to see replicated around the world, but is also helping Rio prepare for the World Cup and the Olympics and operate in a smarter, effective way.

Now, the difference between a great idea that stays an idea and one that's actually implemented and yields results has a lot to do with people-to-people ties. And we need to do more to foster connections between the people of Brazil and the United States so we can all find more ways to work together and to seek common ground and common solutions. So we're excited by the programs we are setting up to encourage more student exchanges.

President Rousseff has launched her Science without Borders initiative to send 100,000 Brazilian students abroad to study science and technology in foreign universities, and many will come to the United States during the next four years. She visited Harvard and MIT during her time in the U.S. last week, and we cannot wait to welcome Brazil's future scientists to our country. President Obama has announced a similar effort to send 100,000 U.S. students to universities in Latin America, including in Brazil.

But this effort needs to go beyond student exchanges. There are 50 million at-risk young people across Latin America and the Caribbean who don't have the training or education they will need to compete in a modern economy. To that end, the United States is investing in the New Employment Opportunities Partnership. And the International Youth Foundation is working with private sector partners—including Microsoft, Walmart, Caterpillar, and others—to launch a series of hiring and mentoring projects across Latin America. This initiative aims to train 1 million disadvantaged youth across the region during the next 10 years.

We were just at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, and one of the common concerns expressed by leaders, particularly the fast-growing economies in Latin America, is that there are jobs in all of our countries, including the United States. But there are not often the people where the jobs are to fill the jobs. They don't have the skills, they're not in the right geographic location. So when you have all these companies advertising more engineers and technicians and other skilled workers and the jobs are not being filled and yet our unemployment rate remains stubbornly high, that's a problem throughout our hemisphere. And so we have to be smart about how we bridge those gaps so that companies can get the employees you need in a timely way.

We're also happy to see travel increasing between our two countries. I see a lot of Brazilian tourists on the street when I'm in New York, and it looks like everybody's having a good time. Well, how could you not in New York? But Brazilian tourists spent nearly $7 billion on travel and tourism-related goods in the U.S. last year. That's a rise of nearly 150 percent since 2009. Now we want to see more tourism, and we want to see the efficiency of our processing tourists increase, so President Obama and I will work together to increase our capacity to process visas from the two countries where demand is highest—Brazil and China. And we are opening new American consulates in two states. One governor is here. We're expanding the flights between Brazil and the United States to make sure our airlines can keep up with demand. So we are very excited about what this can offer.

So as I look at where we stand in our new, more durable, stronger, deeper relationship, I know we've got to keep exploring new avenues for growth, but we also have to solve some of the problems that were mentioned. We need to redouble our efforts to conclude a double taxation treaty. We need to explore a bilateral investment treaty. We need to consider in the future free trade agreements. We need to look at how the United States and Brazil can anchor economic growth and democratic values not only for the region, but around the world.

We all know there is competition and comparison going on. There are those, who work for some countries, who say it would be much more efficient if you didn't have democracies, if you just made a decision from the top down, and boy would we grow, everybody get out of our way. Well, I think Brazil and the U.S. have it right. As challenging as democracy can be—and we've been at this a very long time, and we know how difficult improving and perfecting democracy is—can you imagine our two countries with our diverse populations, with our tendency for people to speak their minds, thinking that we can do anything other than keep focused on democracy? And I think we've done pretty well, so I think we can have our own case to date that our economic growth, rooted in democracy and our values, will certainly withstand whatever might come in the future. And we will look for ways to send those messages to other countries in our work, for example, to support development in Africa.

So for me, it's a great pleasure to be here to reiterate the messages of friendship and partnership that our two presidents conveyed last Monday, to once again highlight the strong economic partnership and business-to-business relationship between our two countries. I am certainly committed to making sure that the private sector plays an important role in the future as we develop even greater ties, and I thank all of you for being part of a standing—this essential partnership. It's good for Brazil, it's good for the United States, it's good for Latin America and our hemisphere, and I think it's good for the world.

Thank you all very much.

Secretary Leon Panetta gave the following remarks at the Superior War College in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Secretary Panetta. Thank you very much for that kind introduction and bom dia to all of you. It is a great privilege and a great honor for me to be here in Rio de Janeiro during my first visit to Brazil, and my first trip to South America as the United States Secretary of Defense.

This city is known across the world for its great beauty, its beaches, its natural wonders and its vibrant culture. I come from a coastal city in California. I was born in Monterey, California. And Monterey draws its history from a long legacy of Central and Latin America that contributed to its history over the years. As an Italian, I feel a very strong connection to this place and to its people and to its history.

It is especially gratifying to be here at the Escola Superior de Guerra. In Italian we say guerra, so I hope you understand, either guerra or guerra, we know what that's about. I am proud of the support that the United States offered in helping to establish this school in 1949, and I am proud of the connections that have been built between this institution and the United States Department of Defense. I know the National Defense University in Washington is very much looking forward to hosting General Cherem I believe that's next month, and to further enhancing our growing cooperation on professional military education.

This visit to Brazil is very meaningful to me because, like so many in the United States, I have felt a special kinship for Brazil. It is a kinship borne out of common values that we both share, common values that have enriched both of our nations that share abundant natural resources, nations that are made strong by our democratic institutions, and nations that are guided by a shared dream to forge a better world for our children.

Our nations have also been shaped by the common experience of our diverse people, from our ancient indigenous cultures to the legacy of African slavery, to the great many families that made their way to our countries from Europe and European immigration.

My own story is in many ways the story of the United States of America, and in many ways it is the story of Brazil as well.

I am the son of Italian immigrants who left Italy in the early 1930s to make a new life for themselves in the United States. Growing up, I would ask my father, “Why did you travel those thousands of miles to a strange country?” They came from a poor area of Italy, but in the very least they had the comfort of family. And I asked him “Why would you pick up, leave your family and travel all of that distance to a strange country?” And I will never forget his response. He said, “Because your mother and I believed that we could give our children a better life.”

That dream, that conviction motivated millions of others to uproot their lives and set out for the New World. Millions came to the United States, and millions came to Brazil. Their story should remind all of us how much the United States and Brazil share in a common experience and common interests, including our common interest in advancing peace and security in the 21st century.

This shared interest in peace and security is the foundation of the strong and vibrant partnership that the United States and Brazil are building together—a partnership where the goal is as simple as the immigrant dream of my parents: to give our children a better life, to give our children a more secure life.

Today I'd like to address the U.S.-Brazil defense relationship because I believe we are at a critical point in the history of our two nations where we have the opportunity to forge a new, strong, innovative security relationship for the future. We have before us a truly historic opportunity to build that defense partnership—a strategic partnership based on mutual interest and mutual respect, a partnership premised on our conviction that a strong and prosperous Brazil that takes its rightful place as a global leader in the world will be a force for peace and a model for other nations in the 21st century.

This opportunity comes as the United States finds itself at a crucial turning point after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, a war against al Qaeda and terrorism, a war against al Qaeda and al Qaeda's militant allies, particularly after the attack on 9/11. We have scored significant gains against al Qaeda. We have weakened al Qaeda's leadership and we have weakened their ability to carry out the kind of attacks that they conducted on 9/11. We have brought the war in Iraq to a responsible conclusion. And in Afghanistan we have begun a transition to Afghan security and governance and responsibility, and despite challenges—and there remain real challenges that need to be confronted, but the reality is that because of the great leadership of General Allen, our commander of U.S. and NATO forces, the strategy that he has designed is working. It's succeeding. The goal of a secure and sovereign Afghanistan that is not a safe haven for terrorists to plan the kind of attacks that they planned on 9/11—that goal is within sight.

These transitions have allowed the United States to focus new energy on emerging opportunities and challenges across the globe, including here in the Western Hemisphere.

The international security challenges that confront us are still very real and very threatening. Transnational threats like violent extremism, the destabilizing behavior of nations like Iran and North Korea, we see now rising powers across Asia-Pacific and we see continuing turmoil across the Middle East and North Africa. At the same time, we are dealing with the changing nature of warfare, the proliferation of lethal weapons and materials, and the growing threat of cyberintrusion. The cyber area in many ways, I believe, is a potential battlefield of the future. And here in this hemisphere, we face illicit drug trafficking and natural disasters.

These challenges affect us all: our people, our economies, our future way of life. And the world is so deeply interconnected that they are truly beyond the ability of any one nation to resolve these challenges alone.

All of this is happening at a time in the United States when we are also confronting a record deficit and a record debt. Defense has a role to play in helping to reduce that deficit, but I do not believe, as someone who has been involved in budget issues throughout a great deal of my career in Washington—I do not believe that we have to choose between national security and fiscal security, and for that reason at the Pentagon the chiefs of all of our services, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, all of our secretaries were involved in an effort to design a strategy for the United States defense force not just for today, but for 2020 so that based on that strategy we could make the important budget decisions that have to be made in order to create the United States defense force for the future. As a result of that effort, we have put forward a new defense strategy that aims to meet the challenges that I discussed—in large measure to meet those challenges by reinvigorating our defense and security partnership across the globe.

Let me describe the key elements of that strategy. First, the United States military will become smaller and leaner as we draw down from the two wars, but the great strength of that force will be its agility, its flexibility, its ability to rapidly deploy when called upon, and the fact that it will always be technologically advanced.

Second, we will rebalance our global posture to emphasize the threats in the Asia-Pacific region and in the Middle East, in recognition of the many challenges and opportunities in those regions.

Third—and this is of particular importance when it comes to this hemisphere—we will seek to reinvigorate our security relationships throughout the world by building innovative defense partnerships, building alliances, building relationships particularly in Europe, Africa and here in the Western Hemisphere.

Fourth, we will ensure, as we must, that the United States military remains capable of confronting aggression and defeating any opponent anytime, anywhere. We must have the capability to confront more than one enemy at a time, and to be able to defeat them.

And lastly we must prioritize and protect investments in new technologies—those technologies for the future such as intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, unmanned systems, space, cyberspace, special operations and the capacity to quickly mobilize when necessary.

This new strategy recognizes that the United States remains a global power, but that more and more nations are making and must make an important contribution to global security. We welcome and encourage this new reality because frankly it makes the world safer and all of our nations stronger.

It is with this strategic outlook that I've just described and this belief in the possibilities of new partnerships that I have come to Brazil. Yesterday in Brasilia, Minister Amorim and I began a new dialogue directed by President Obama and President Rousseff when they met earlier this month in Washington.

The Defense Cooperation Dialogue has the potential to help transform United States-Brazil defense cooperation because it provides a way for our two defense establishments to focus on areas where there is an unfulfilled potential for our two countries to do much more working together.

With Brazil taking its rightful place as a global leader, we recognize that the nature of our relationship in 2012 is and should be fundamentally different from what it was in 1824 when the United States was the first country to recognize an independent Brazil, or in 1942, when Brazil made the decision to enter World War II alongside the United States and later became the only South American nation to send troops into battle during that war. And also different from the 1908s and the 1990s when the U.S. assumed that it alone could provide security for this region.

Today, this is a relationship between two global powers, and we welcome Brazil's growing strength. We support Brazil as a global leader and seek closer defense cooperation because we believe that a stronger and more globally engaged Brazil will help enhance international security for all of us. With our deepening partnership, Brazil's strength is more than ever our strength.

We have already glimpsed some of the benefits in recent years as our defense relationship has moved steadily towards a closer cooperation. Let me give you a few examples.

In the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, thousands of United States and Brazilian military personnel worked side by side to provide emergency relief to the Haitian people. It was our countries' largest combined military operation since World War II.

Only a few months after the earthquake in Haiti, the United States and Brazil signed two important agreements to facilitate defense cooperation and the sharing of sensitive military information.

Our two militaries also have expanded joint training and exercises. The United States military has been receiving more requests to participate in Brazilian-hosted military exercises and attend Brazilian military schools. For example, U.S. military personnel are once again training in the Brazilian army's Instruction Center for Jungle Warfare. Our naval personnel are exercising together on a regular basis both near and far, from the shores of Rio de Janeiro to the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of Africa. And two years ago, the U.S. Air Force participated for the first time in the Brazilian Air Force's CRUZEX multinational air exercise. The U.S. Air Force looks forward to having Brazil participate in the Red Flag exercise next year.

And these are just a few examples of how much our cooperation has increased, has made our militaries stronger, and advanced regional and global security. I believe our defense relationship is now as strong as it has been at any point since World War II.

And still, I think we can all agree that there is much more we can do together, and that it is in all of our interests to pursue a shared vision of deeper defense cooperation that advances peace and security in the 21^st century.

The dialogue that Minister Amorim and I began yesterday I believe will lay the groundwork to deepen cooperation across a range of areas in the future. For example, both Brazil and the United States have outstanding, world-class scientific and research communities that would benefit from an increased sharing of information and joint research in areas of defense. In the spirit of President Rousseff's “Science Without Borders” initiative, I would like to find a way for our defense institutions to improve cooperation on research through exchange programs between our scientific establishments and joint research projects.

Along these lines, I believe that cybersecurity holds great promise for increased cooperation. Cyber, as I said, in many ways represents the battlefield of the future. Cyber has the potential to cripple a nation, to take down its power grid system, to take down its governmental systems, to take down its financial systems. That is a real potential today. Both our nations have critical infrastructure that is targeted every day for intrusion and potential attack. For that reason, I believe both of our nations must leverage our extensive technical expertise and exchange more information on cyber policies, on training and on best practices.

Exchanges of best practices on defense support for civil authorities could also be helpful as Brazil prepares to host the World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016. I know the Brazilian people are very proud that their country will be hosting these important events, and I congratulate you on this achievement. The United States stands ready to share our own experiences and our own lessons learned in providing security for similar events of such global prominence.

Looking not only off the field, but beyond our borders, there are even more opportunities to heighten defense collaboration and cooperation in areas of shared interest. For example, both of our nations have historic connections to Africa and have a strategic interest in the stability of that continent. We should explore ways for our two militaries to work together to assist African militaries, such as by conducting combined exercises and by other forms of training to try to improve their ability to provide better security on what we all know to be a volatile continent.

Another international challenge is the threat of natural disasters, and here the United States and Brazil could move more closely cooperate to better respond when other countries—particularly in this hemisphere—call for international assistance in response to a major disaster.

As two economic powerhouses in this hemisphere, our two nations have built a flourishing trade relationship that includes extensive trade in the defense arena, but this, too, is an area ripe for growth. In particular, the United States seeks to increase high-tech defense trade flowing in both directions between our two countries.

I know that the United States export controls have sometimes created the impression that we seek to limit trade, but let me assure you that the United States strongly supports the sharing of advanced technologies with Brazil. In fact, the United States government has approved close to 4,000 export licenses—requests that were made each year involving the export of significant technology to Brazil, ranging from weapons and aircraft to integrated combat systems for navy ships and submarines. This is on a par with the United States government's license approval rate for treaty allies, for our closest partners. Please make no mistake: we will work with you to advance defense trade.

Perhaps the most prominent example of our willingness to partner with Brazil on advanced defense technology is the United States government's offer to provide our Super Hornet fighter aircraft to the Brazilian air force. This offer, which has the strong support of the United States Congress, contains an unprecedented advanced technology sharing that is reserved for only our closest allies and partners.

But this offer is about much more than providing Brazil with the best fighter available. With the Super Hornet, Brazil's defense and aviation industries would be able to transform their partnership with U.S. companies, and they would have the best opportunity to be able to move into worldwide markets.

We fully understand that Brazil is not looking just to be the purchaser of a fighter aircraft, but rather a full-fledged partner in the development of cutting-edge aviation technology. We share that goal, and I am hopeful that the Brazilian government will ultimately choose to purchase the Super Hornet for the air force's next-generation fighter. We have put forward a very strong offer and it is an offer that reflects how important we believe the partnership is between the United States and Brazil.

From deepening scientific exchanges and defense trade to developing a common approach to meeting international security challenges in this hemisphere and beyond, I believe I will come away from my visit to Brazil deeply optimistic about the future—the future of our defense relationship and the future of our cooperation and the future of our partnership. And in that light I look forward to hosting Minister Amorim in the next dialogue in Washington.

We understand that we won't agree on everything. No two countries, not even the closest allies, ever do. But I do believe that our common interests, our common values are so great and the possibilities that come from our cooperation are so tangible that we must seize this opportunity to build a stronger defense relationship in the future.

Let me close by telling you about U.S. Army Sergeant Felipe Pereira, a 28-year-old Brazilian who moved to America at the age of 17 to learn English at a Nebraska college and he now serves as a squad leader in the storied 101st Airborne Division.

Sergeant Pereira earlier this month was awarded one of the military's highest decorations, the Distinguished Service Cross. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary valor on the battlefield in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In the aftermath of a roadside bomb detonation that killed two of his teammates, Sergeant Pereira drove into enemy fire to evacuate wounded soldiers even though he was wounded himself.

His actions saved the lives of at least two others, and they reflect extraordinary bravery and extraordinary courage. They are a tribute to him. They are a tribute to his Brazilian heritage. And they are a tribute to the close ties of family and affection that bind our two nations together.

May his example guide all of us to work together, to fight together for that dream of our parents'—the dream of a better and more secure life for our children and for a peaceful and more secure world for both of our nations in the 21st century.

Today the United States, Brazil, and for that matter all of the nations of this hemisphere, share a common destiny—a destiny of hope, of peace, of prosperity, of security, and of democracy for all of our people.

Thank you very much.

Remarks by President

Obama and Mexican

President Barack Obama and President Felipe Calderon gave the following remarks in Los Cabos, Mexico

President Calderon. Good morning, Mr. President, President Barack Obama, President of the United States; distinguished members of the delegations, and distinguished members of media. Thank you for being with us today.

First I would like to say that it is very important for me to be able to share great news with you. But before doing that, I would like to thank personally, and on behalf of the Mexican nation, President Barack Obama for his valuable decision by executive order to give an opportunity for young people who were not born in the United States but who arrived in that great nation before they were 16 years of age, or who are studying in university, or who have served in the United States armed forces, for them not to be deported for at least a period of two years, so this is a clear and certain situation for them.

We believe that this is very just. It's a humanitarian action. And it's an unprecedented action in our opinion. And in this sense, Mr. President, we would like to thank you for the valor and courage that you had in implementing this action. I am sure that many, many families in the United States of America are thankful to you as well.

I'd also like to inform you that President Barack Obama and I have had a very fruitful meeting. We have touched upon issues of great relevance for the success of the G20 summit. But there's one topic of the greatest importance that we'd like to share with you, and that is that the United States, together with the other eight countries that make up the TPP—the Trans-Pacific Partnership—have welcomed Mexico for it to join the negotiations of this initiative.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is an expansion of the trade agreement that was known initially as P-4, and that began in 2006 by Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. And this commercial trade initiative was added into by Australia, the United States, Malaysia, Peru, and Vietnam afterwards. So this is one of the free trade initiatives that's most ambitious in the world and would foster integration of the Asia Pacific region, one of the regions with the greatest dynamism in the world. And this region negotiating the TPP represents 26—of the world's GDP, 15 percent of exports and 12 of imports.

But most importantly, at this time of recession in some areas of the world, of a slowdown in others, the TPP, or Trans-Pacific Partnership, perhaps represents the greatest potential area of growth in an entire decade. So this is a great piece of news for Mexicans because it implies jobs and economic growth for at least the next two decades.

So the invitation that is made to Mexico by these nine nations to join the negotiations of the TPP also recognizes Mexico's efforts in trade and reaffirms Mexico's weight within the new economic and international financial context.

The fact that President Barack Obama has communicated to me that Mexico is being invited to join this negotiation is a sample of the solidarity of our relationships, and the joint, or shared, responsibility that President Obama has taken on in our bilateral agenda, as well as issues of competitiveness and greater trade. Better and more trade is more jobs and growth for Mexicans, more growth and jobs for the United States as well.

So it's very important for Mexico to join this process. I know that other nations want to join the TPP, and I hope that they'll be able to do that soon. Clearly, current members of the TPP have recognized the possibilities of what this means and the contribution to the Mexican economy in being part of this process.

Our business sector has welcomed this initiative, and I'd like to thank that sector for supporting the Mexican government in entering into this. And I'm sure that this will imply a great deal of jobs for us. In short, I believe that the TPP and the United States' support for Mexico's joining the initiative opens a door to Mexico in the 21st century in terms of trade integration. And I'm sure that the negotiations that we will be undertaking in the next months will be beneficial for Mexico, beneficial for the United States, and beneficial in general for all of the countries who have a coast on the Pacific. And this will be enable us to have further economic growth and prosperity as a result.

Thank you very much, Mr. President, for both things—for the humanitarian action that you undertook this week, as well as for the support to Mexico in this matter.

President Obama. Well, thank you very much. Let me begin by thanking President Calderén and the Mexican people for their extraordinarily gracious hospitality in this beautiful setting. We are confident that this will be a very productive summit thanks to all the organization and efforts that have been made by you.

On the bilateral relationship, I think that because of the work that we've done together, Mr. President, the bonds that were already so strong between our two countries have become stronger. And the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations that you just referred to are a good example.

We are obviously two of our most important trading partners to each other, but we both recognize that growth is going to take place in the Asia Pacific region. We are part of that network of nations that are growing and dynamic. And for us now to be able to create a high standard trade agreement that further increases job opportunities, commercial opportunities, investment opportunities, I think will benefit citizens in both our countries that are eager to compete and to be able to prosper in a global market.

And you have personally shown significant courage and hard work in being able to join these negotiations. We appreciate your negotiations efforts. We think it will be good for Mexico; we think it will be good for the United States; and we think it will be good for the region as well.

With respect to the summit, obviously we are going to be very busy over the next day and a half. The world is concerned about the slowing of growth that has taken place. A lot of attention has been centered on Europe. Now is the time, as we've discussed, to make sure that all of us join to do what's necessary to stabilize the world financial system, to avoid protectionism, to ensure that we are working hand-in-hand to both grow the economy and create jobs while taking a responsible approach long term and medium term towards our fiscal structures.

I think the election in Greece yesterday indicates a positive prospect for not only them forming a government, but also them working constructively with their international partners in order that they can continue on the path of reform, and do so in a way that also offers the prospects for the Greek people to succeed and prosper.

And we are going to be working under your leadership with our European partners and with all countries to make sure that we're contributing so that the economy grows, the situation stabilizes, confidence returns to the markets, and most importantly, we're giving our people the chance if they work hard to succeed and do well.

And from everything that we've seen your leadership on this summit I think will help us take one important step in a series of steps that are going to be required to continue to improve global economic prospects.

So I just want to thank you for all your leadership and your friendship. I want to thank all the members of your administration. I remember hosting one of these G20s and I know that as much work as it is for us, it's even more work for them. So we appreciate that very much.

President Calderon. Thank you.

President Obama. Thank you, Mr. President.