Secretary Hillary Clinton and Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. Well, we're delighted to welcome the Peruvian foreign minister here today. We have a lot of common interests and concerns that we'll be discussing. I'm also looking forward to continuing that conversation about economic opportunity and social justice and inclusion when we attend the Summit of the Americas. So, Minister, thank you for being here.

Foreign Minister Belaunde. Thank you, Madame, for inviting me to this meeting this morning and to have this meeting with you. As you probably know, we have approved already a treaty agreement with Peru, and that is a good framework for development of cooperation. And as Secretary of State has said, we share common views and common values and we are in the same line fighting against poverty and trying to make a better living for our people.

Secretary Clinton. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Memorandum for the Secretary Of State, Secretary Of The Treasury, and Secretary Of Commerce

Subject: Promoting Democracy and Human Rights in Cuba

The promotion of democracy and human rights in Cuba is in the national interest of the United States and is a key component of this Nation's foreign policy in the Americas. Measures that decrease dependency of the Cuban people on the Castro regime and that promote contacts between Cuban-Americans and their relatives in Cuba are means to encourage positive change in Cuba. The United States can pursue these goals by facilitating greater contact between separated family members in the United States and Cuba and increasing the flow of remittances and information to the Cuban people.

To pursue those ends, I direct the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to take such actions as necessary to:

1. (a) Lift restrictions on travel-related transactions for visits to a person's family member who is a national of Cuba by authorizing such transactions by a general license that shall:

   • * Define family members who may be visited to be persons within three degrees of family relationship (e.g., second cousins) and to allow individuals who share a common dwelling as a family with an authorized traveler to accompany them;

   • * Remove limitations on the frequency of visits;

   • * Remove limitations on the duration of a visit;

   • * Authorize expenditure amounts that are the same as non-family travel; and

   • * Remove the 44-pound limitation on accompanied baggage.

2. (b) Remove restrictions on remittances to a person's family member in Cuba by:

   • * Authorizing remittances to individuals within three degrees of family relationship (e.g., second cousins) provided that no remittances shall be authorized to currently prohibited members of the Government of Cuba or currently prohibited members of the Cuban Communist Party;

   • * Removing limits on frequency of remittances;

   • * Removing limits on the amount of remittances;

   • * Authorizing travelers to carry up to $3,000 in remittances; and

   • * Establishing general license for banks and other depository institutions to forward remittances.

3. (c) Authorize U.S. telecommunications network providers to enter into agreements to establish fiber-optic cable and satellite telecommunications facilities linking the United States and Cuba.

4. (d) License U.S. telecommunications service providers to enter into and operate under roaming service agreements with Cuba's telecommunications service providers.

5. (e) License U.S. satellite radio and satellite television service providers to engage in transactions necessary to provide services to customers in Cuba.

6. (f) License persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction to activate and pay U.S. and third-country service providers for telecommunications, satellite radio, and satellite television services provided to individuals in Cuba, except certain senior Communist Party and Cuban government officials.

7. (g) Authorize, consistent with national security concerns, the export or reexport to Cuba of donated personal communications devices such as mobile phone systems, computers and software, and satellite receivers through a license exception.

8. (h) Expand the scope of humanitarian donations eligible for export through license exceptions by:

   • * Restoring clothing, personal hygiene items, seeds, veterinary medicines and supplies, fishing equipment and supplies, and soap-making equipment to the list of items eligible to be included in gift parcel donations;

   • * Restoring items normally exchanged as gifts by individuals in “usual and reasonable” quantities to the list of items eligible to be included in gift parcel donations;

   • * Expanding the scope of eligible gift parcel donors to include any individual;

   • * Expanding the scope of eligible gift parcel donees to include individuals other than Cuban Communist Party officials or Cuban government officials already prohibited from receiving gift parcels, or charitable, educational, or religious organizations not administered or controlled by the Cuban government; and

   • * Increasing the value limit on non-food items to $800.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

Secretary Hillary Clinton delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. Well, thank you very much, and I congratulate the IDB, President Moreno and the staff for hosting this important donors conference. I thank Secretary General Ban Ki-moon not only for the United Nations commitment, but your personal commitment with the recent trip that you took with my husband to Haiti. And I congratulate the prime minister for an excellent plan that was laid out and clearly explained, and now presented to all of us. And to Minister Oda, thank you and your government for linking the aid that we hope comes from this donors conference with the effectiveness that needs to be present.

Now, for some of us, Haiti is a neighbor, and for others of us, it is a place of historic and cultural ties. But for all of us, it is now a test of resolve and commitment. Now, some may ask, and I am sure there are some in my country and my Congress who may ask, why a small nation in the middle of the Caribbean should command so much attention. Why should countries in the Western Hemisphere, Europe, the Middle East and Asia offer assistance to Haiti in the midst of a global economic downturn? (inaudible) And I think the answer is very clear. Because what happens in Haiti affects far beyond the Caribbean and even the region. This small nation of 9 million people is on a brink. It is on a brink of either moving forward with the help of the collective community or falling further back. And it, as well as this region, will be shaped to a large extent by the decisions that we make.

On a personal note, my husband and I went to Haiti for the first time shortly after we were married, so we have a deep commitment to Haiti and the people of Haiti. Our homes are filled with art from Haiti. We have friends who hail from Haiti. But it is not only my personal concern that brings me here today. On behalf of the United States, we are here because Haiti is a neighbor and a friend. Our ties reach back to the early years of both of our nations. They have endured for generations, through our struggles for independence, through the defeat of slavery in Haiti which inspired slaves and abolitionists in my country, to the hundreds of thousands of Haitians who have emigrated to the United States and have strengthened us through their contributions in politics and business and health and education, in science, sports, and culture—the benefits of which I experienced firsthand as a senator representing New York, which has a vibrant Haitian American community.

We are also committed to creating a hemisphere in which every nation, no matter their present level of wealth or their current political circumstances, is moving in the same direction, toward greater peace, prosperity, freedom, and opportunity. With Haiti, we have the chance through global cooperation and collaboration to stand in solidarity with a government and a people who are seeking that way forward, a nation where small investments and assistance from other countries are beginning to reap dividends in economic growth, wider access to education and healthcare, stronger governmental institutions, greater safety and security, and a higher quality of life that results when material conditions improve.

Now, today Haiti is the poorest nation in our hemisphere, with one of our region's biggest gaps between the haves and the have-nots. But just two years ago, in 2007, Haiti achieved the highest rate of real economic growth since the 1990s. It is on track to reach the completion point for the IMF's Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative in the next few months. Now, that will mean that significant debt relief is on the way, freeing up approximately $4 million a month, money that Haiti can invest directly in improving the lives of its people and building futures of self-sufficiency and confidence.

Haiti does have the region's highest rate of HIV/AIDS, the highest rate of maternal mortality and child mortality. But the numbers of maternal deaths have stabilized and the numbers of HIV infections and child deaths are coming down.

Not long ago, from the 1950s until the 1980s, Haiti endured a brutal military dictatorship. The U.S. removed a military dictatorship in 1995, clearing the way for democracy. And after several years of political disputes, common in any country making a transition, Haiti began to see progress. And the national and presidential elections in 2006 really moved Haiti's democracy forward. What the president and the prime minister are seeking is to maintain a strong commitment to democratic governance which will take another step forward with elections for the senate on Sunday.

Now, like many nations, Haiti struggles against crime, particularly the global scourge of drug trafficking. But reforms to improve policing, strengthening the justice system and fighting corruption are now underway. And a peacekeeping force, led so ably by Brazil, has helped to bring stability to many communities.

Haiti made these strides through the efforts of its government and its citizens and many of the nations and institutions represented here. This represents the full range of resources and relationships, from businesses and universities to NGOs and religious and cultural groups, as well as committed individuals, which is at the heart of smart power.

The trajectory of progress for Haiti, however, has been undermined by the combined winds of hurricanes and the global economic recession. So Haiti is in danger of stalling. This conference gives us all an opportunity to reignite its path to progress by working as a team with Haiti at the helm to advance a comprehensive, long-term strategy for Haiti's growth, by coordinating hemispheric and international efforts, by targeting clear goals, by setting benchmarks to gauge our progress, and deploying our diverse skills and resources efficiently and effectively.

The president and the prime minister have identified what Haiti needs to stay on track. And with these priorities as our guide, we can make progress. Now is the time to step up our investment in Haiti, not just because the situation is dire and because the consequences of inaction could lead to significantly greater human suffering, but because Haiti has a real opportunity to make substantial progress. It has a plan to do so, and it has demonstrated the determination to carry it out.

Just think, for $150 we can pay to send one Haitian child to school for a year, or we can immunize 15 children. That is a tiny fraction of the costs of solving these problems if they escalate over time. The United States will target our support toward four areas that President Preval and Prime Minister Pierre-Louis have requested, all of which are essential for national and regional progress. First, the Haitian people need and deserve to be secure. They must be able to travel safely to work and school, and participate in civic lives without fear of violence. Second, the country needs stronger infrastructure, particularly roads, which are the circulatory system of any robust economy. And going along with the infrastructure needs is the need for jobs. So we can accomplish two things at once: putting people to work, building roads and other infrastructure throughout the country.

Third, last year's hurricanes blew a hole in the government's budget. Now Haiti is facing a huge deficit which will make it harder for them to meet their own goals and the needs of their people. Their debt obligations further constrain their ability to lay the groundwork for the future. And fourth, agriculture—you heard the prime minister refer to it—once again, providing a strong agricultural base for the people of Haiti to become more self-sufficient, as well as to move toward reforestation as part of that agricultural initiative, will give Haiti tools for growth it desperately needs. Now on each of these issues, we will lend our assistance and we seek partners with other nations to maximize our collective impact.

First, security. As you heard, the Secretary General referred to Cité Soleil. It was a no-man's land. Now there is a new sense of security and freedom in its streets. The Haitian National Police have been supported in their work by the UN peacekeeping operations. Those peacekeeping forces are more than half from Latin American and Caribbean countries. And with Brazil's lead of determination and skill, there has been an upgrade in both police functions and basic security.

But criminal networks operating in Haiti have not been eliminated. They continue to fight drug traffickers who have made the country a transit point for illegal drugs heading to the United States, Canada and Europe. We will give $2 million to fight drug trafficking through the Merida Initiative, a plan conceived by Mexico, Central America and the United States. This money will fund a secure communications network for the Haitian police, provide a maritime base, vehicles, and operational support for police drug units, provide training to promote cross-border cooperation between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and sharpen the investigation and prosecution of drug crimes.

Once security is established, opportunity can take root, and nations from Canada to Spain to Japan offered generous assistance to help repair the damage from last year's storms. But now is the time to take the step beyond—beyond peacekeeping and disaster relief to long-term reconstruction and development. Haiti has the highest unemployment rate in our hemisphere. Seventy percent of its people do not have jobs. It also has one of the region's highest growth rates. Together, these trends have created what Paul Collier has called a youth tsunami. Nearly one million young people are expected to come into the job market in the next five years.

To spur the creation of jobs, the United States passed the HOPE Act of 2006 to give garments made in Haiti tariff-free access to U.S. markets. Last October, we did extend this trade preference for another decade. Apparel is one of the largest sectors in Haiti's economy, and we see great possibility for job creation in this field, and we are especially gratified by Brazil's interest in supporting the Haitian apparel industry.

But to build a diversified economy, Haiti needs more than trade deals. It needs an infrastructure to support the flow of goods and services. The roads in Haiti, for anyone who has ever visited, are beyond inadequate. Many communities are isolated, in the year 2009, by the lack of passable roads. That prevents people from holding jobs, children from going to schools, farmers from bringing crops to market. Better roads are essential.

Haiti also needs better roads and tourist areas to promote that sector of the economy. In addition, urgent infrastructure needs include digging water catchments to prevent floods, completing a garment workers training center, and creating canals to help irrigation. As part of the $287 million in nonemergency assistance we will provide Haiti this year, we have authorized $20 million in aid to generate jobs in building roads and infrastructure. And we know that there are other ways we can use this money, but we will be more effective if we coordinate together so that we are all working off the same page, the page of the recovery plan that the prime minister described.

Now even the most responsible government in the world cannot prevent a natural disaster. The hurricanes didn't just wash away crops and houses. They washed away months of government planning. Haiti is facing an approximately $50 million budget deficit which could undermine its plans. We will provide $20 million to help pay Haiti's upcoming debt service obligations and to free up other resources, and we invite other donors to join us in taking care of this budget deficit.

Now fourthly, there is an urgent need for sustainable agriculture and food security. The combined effects of rising food prices globally and the destruction of crops of hurricanes have exposed millions of Haitians to malnutrition and destructive effects on health and productivity. We all know the effect of malnourished people. They're too weak to work. Children are too hungry to learn in school. So food security is not only a source of suffering; it is a direct threat to economic growth and global stability.

Here, we need to be creative. Now, the United States will provide a $15 million in-kind contribution of food to help Haiti as it rebuilds, but that is not an answer. We need to revitalize Haitian agriculture. We need to reforest the upper watersheds. We need to borrow from the intelligence of other nations to learn how, as we help rebuild Haiti, it can become more energy independent.

Brazil has shown the extraordinary energy efficiency of using sugar cane. What other crops could be used in Haiti? We know Haiti, like the Dominican Republic, have some of the windiest areas in our hemisphere. What more could be done to promote wind energy and solar energy? We are ready to partner with any of you who have such good ideas working with the Haitian Government. But think of the people we could put to work doing the work that Haiti needs.

Now, this work is not only a matter for governments, but it is a mission for the people of our country. I've heard from many individuals and groups who care deeply about Haiti, but they don't know how to invest their time and money in a way to make a real impact. We will, through our government, help to create a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that the Haitian Diaspora and the United States can contribute to. And we will help coordinate other NGOs, particularly those that have been started by Haitian Americans who want to give back and are looking for the best way forward.

When I think about all of that eroded bare land that I see when I fly over Haiti—and I can always tell where the Dominican Republic starts, because that's where the green starts—I think about what other countries have done to reforest. When our daughter was born, a dozen people paid to plant trees in Israel in her honor. Think of what we could do for individuals to pay to plant trees in Haiti, and then to pay Haitians to learn foresting techniques to nurture and grow those trees, and to come with alternatives to burning wood so people can be warm and cook their food. All of this is connected, and we've got to start making those connections working together.

Now, we know from empirical data that small investments go a long way, and I've seen this for myself in Haiti. In addition to traveling there as a newlywed, I traveled as First Lady. I traveled out into the country to meet a doctor who had emigrated to the United States, joined the United States Air Force, had become a colonel, but then wanted to give back to the country of his birth—return to Haiti to his hometown in Pignon, to run a center for health, women's literacy and microcredit. They had few resources, but they offered a comprehensive range of services to thousands of clients.

I have visited a family planning clinic, one of the great urgent needs in Haiti, where young people were trained to educate their peers about how to protect their health and prevent teen pregnancy. And I have met with women from a group called Women in Democracy who had attended a global conference on women's leadership that I helped to sponsor ten years ago in Montevideo. When they returned home, thanks to the Vital Voices network that they joined, they began to help support Haitian women running for office, who wanted to see a better life for their own families. Eleven years later, their organization is growing strong. They hold trade fairs for women entrepreneurs, run civic education programs to teach women their rights, support women journalists and build even more connections to the broader region. These Haitian women remind us of the resilience of the people of Haiti, but also that we will never achieve real progress unless we reach deep into Haitian society.

When I think of the successful Haitian Americans who serve in state legislatures and on city councils, who populate our hospitals as doctors and nurses from New York to Florida, who run businesses, who are creative entrepreneurs, there is no reason that could not have happened in Haiti. Talent is universal; opportunity is not. And it is our task through this donors conference to open the door of opportunity for Haitians and to send a message of what does occur through the power of collaboration.

Every poor nation that has worked hard to gain a foothold in the global economy that has been knocked off their footing is looking to see what we can do together. I'm confident that we will make not only significant pledges here, but we will match those pledges by our follow-up efforts and our coordination, and that we will demonstrate to ourselves as well as to the people of Haiti and far beyond that we can, working together, make a significant difference. Thank you all very much.

Secretary Hillary Clinton and Prime Minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. Good afternoon. I am so delighted to extend a warm welcome to the prime minister of Haiti and to her distinguished delegation. She and I were together at the donors conference on behalf of Haiti yesterday. And as you know, I will be traveling to Haiti tomorrow.

We have seen a tremendous commitment by the Government of Haiti in the face of tremendous difficulties, most particularly four hurricanes in one year. It's almost impossible to even imagine. But the government has come forth with a recovery plan that lays out very clear priorities, which we intend to work with the Government of Haiti and the people of Haiti, with businesses, NGOs, academics, the religious community, as well as other international partners to address. This is important not only for the people of Haiti, but for all the people of our region. You know, our lives are linked in so many ways, and we share a common space and a common future.

At the Haiti Donors Conference yesterday, officials of the Haitian Government and the international community discussed the plan that the Haitian Government has put forth. This will respond to Haiti's short-term reconstruction needs while addressing the longer-term development goals. We appreciated the prime minister's leadership at the conference and the constructive engagement of Haiti's government. They have set realistic and achievable goals.

And I assured the prime minister again today that the United States will remain a committed partner throughout this process. The Obama Administration is very willing to work with you, Prime Minister. And as an expression of our commitment, I announced at the conference the United States will provide more than $280 million in assistance to Haiti in 2009.

During my visit tomorrow, I will be meeting with President Preval and other officials, and I look forward to working with both the president and the prime minister. We want to help Haiti because Haiti deserves our help.

Haiti was making tremendous progress until the national disasters so tragically and unfairly interrupted that progress. In 2007, Haiti had the highest rate of GDP growth since the ‘90s, and there was no doubt Haiti was on the right track. Things happen. Hurricanes happen. But we think by focusing on security, job creation, infrastructure development, sustainable agriculture, we're going to be able to help the people and the Government of Haiti. And it's a great honor for me to be standing here with the prime minister.

And I now invite you to speak, Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Pierre-Louis. Thank you very much, Madame (inaudible). Ladies and gentlemen, the purpose of our trip here, as was mentioned by the Secretary of State, was to attend the conference. I myself and the whole delegation were extremely encouraged by the level of participation from all the donors community and especially by the United States of America, because the Secretary of State herself was there and made a very brilliant speech on behalf of Haiti and of the Haitian people.

As she mentioned also, we were on the right path and growing really seriously as the government itself was trying to reinforce the governance best practices. And the GDP was climbing and the rate was really impressive since the 1990s. And also, lots of efforts were being made to attract investment; especially we wanted to benefit from the HOPE II legislation when we were hit by the four hurricanes in a row. And the World Bank's PDNA, the post-disaster assessment, showed that the effect of hurricanes hit us really bad and close to 15 percent of the GDP. So there was a lot of efforts to—being made and that's why we were here at the donors conference.

So I want to thank especially the Secretary of State for her personal commitment and that of the United States towards—on behalf of Haiti. And I'm very happy that you are able also to go to Haiti tomorrow to meet with the president, which is also the confirmation of your involvement and that of your country. So Madame Secretary, merci.

Secretary Clinton. Merci.

Q. I'm wondering, Madame Minister, if—the donors conference did provide some significant new assistance or pledges, but it wasn't as much as I believe that you had been hoping for. And I'm wondering if you're discouraged at all or disappointed that it didn't meet the top amount that was being sought.

Prime Minister Pierre-Louis. Well, it was—thank you for the question. It was not up to the top amount, as you mentioned, but it was more than we expected. I must tell you, considering the condition of the financial crisis in the world, we were not—I personally was not expecting that much. So it's a real encouragement for us, and we're going to make sure to use these funds properly.

Secretary Clinton. And I could add to the prime minister's point that there are other donors. We're trying to collect up all the donors that are currently operating in Haiti. We were discussing in our meeting, for example, that the European Union is helping on an energy project, Brazil is helping on an energy project. So part of what we wanted the donors conference to do is to help us better coordinate all of the aid that is already in Haiti or intended for Haiti, because we want the aid to follow the very thoughtful recovery plan that the prime minister presented.

There are certain needs that Haiti has above other needs. It has many needs. We all know that. But the security needs, the infrastructure needs—these are paramount. And so part of our challenge—and I've got a team working on this here in the State Department, headed up by my chief of staff and counselor, we're going to find out where all the money is coming from and work with all the donors, both national donors and NGOs and private donors, so we don't trip over each other, we don't duplicate each other, and we get the greatest result for the people of Haiti.

Secretary Hillary Clinton and Minister Mariano Fernandez Amunategui delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

Secretary Clinton. I welcomed Minister Fernandez here today; someone who represents his country so well and who is part of the extraordinary progress that Chile has shown. We discussed a number of important matters, including the upcoming Summit of the Americas. I'm looking forward to seeing President Bachelet there, someone who I also admire greatly.

But I want to reaffirm the strong, positive relationship that the United States and Chile has, and we have plans for deepening and broadening that in the years ahead.

Foreign Minister Fernandez. Thank you very much, Secretary Clinton, for the time to receive me. As she said, we are enjoying very good relations bilaterally. We would like to really grow and deepen this relation. And the conversation was very useful for me and very important to understand the direction of the changes that we are seeing in the U.S. policies (inaudible) Latin America. We celebrate this idea and we hope that in the meeting, in the Summit of the America in Trinidad and Tobago, we will continue coming to, really, a new shape in the U.S.-Latin American relations, what we have as one of the most important goals in our (inaudible).

Secretary Clinton. Thank you. Thank you all very much.

U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Framework On Clean Energy And Climate Change

President Obama and President Calderon today announced plans to strengthen and deepen bilateral cooperation by establishing the US-Mexico Bilateral Framework on Clean Energy and Climate Change. During their first conversation in January 2009, then President-elect Obama and President Calderon discussed the need for joint efforts to reach our common goal of achieving a low carbon future and a clean energy economy. This framework builds on that discussion.

During their discussions in Mexico City today, the two leaders agreed on the importance of promoting clean energy and combating climate change and the value of joint and practical collaboration in achieving these goals. The Bilateral Framework establishes a mechanism for political and technical cooperation and information exchange, and to facilitate common efforts to develop clean energy economies. It will also complement and reinforce existing work between the two countries.

The Bilateral Framework will focus on: renewable energy, energy efficiency, adaptation, market mechanisms, forestry and land use, green jobs, low carbon energy technology development and capacity building. The framework will also build upon cooperation in the border region promoting efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to adapt to the local impacts of climate change in the region, as well as to strengthen the reliability and flow of cross border electricity grids and by facilitating the ability of neighboring border states to work together to strengthen energy trade.

Senior officials from both countries will be working over the coming weeks to further elaborate the framework. Specific areas of joint cooperation under the Bilateral Framework may include:

• • Collaborating on training/workshops and information exchanges for government officials to explore possible cooperation on greenhouse gas inventories, various greenhouse gas reduction strategies, and market mechanisms;

• • Through our collaboration in the Border 2012 program, working with our respective border states to provide opportunities for information exchange and joint work on renewable energy, such as wind and solar, that could include technical and economic project feasibility studies, project development, and capacity building in the border region. Other border work could include a bilateral border crossing planning group to develop strategies to reduce emissions from idling vehicles, among other initiatives that may be deemed appropriate;

• • Expanding our extensive bilateral collaboration on clean energy technologies to facilitate renewable power generation including by addressing transmission and distribution obstacles between our countries; fostering Energy Service Company market development; and highlighting existing and proposed areas for cooperation on clean energy and energy efficiency under the North American Energy Working Group;

• • Promoting academic and scientific exchanges on renewable energy;

• • Pursuing projects on adapting to climate change, including coastal or disaster risk reduction activities as well as adaptation in key sectors; and

• • Working jointly with other countries to take advantage of growing Mexican expertise on greenhouse gas inventories, adaptation and project planning. This work could also possibly include a shared US/Mexican initiative to help developing countries in the Americas create low carbon development strategies plans for adaptation to climate change, and monitoring and accounting for the results.

Both countries stressed that a financial architecture to mobilize investment in climate-friendly technologies is crucial to a successful agreed outcome in Copenhagen. Several countries have made specific proposals on financial mechanisms, including Mexico. Recognizing Mexico's leadership on climate change, the United States announced its support for Mexico to host the Sixteenth United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 16) in 2010. The United States was also pleased that Mexico will host a meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) in preparation for a Leaders meeting to take place in July after the G-8 meeting in Italy.

President Barack Obama delivered these remarks in Mexico City, Mexico

President Obama. Well, thank you very much. This is an extraordinary honor and an extraordinary pleasure to be here in Mexico with all of you today. I want to thank President Calderón and his wonderful First Lady and the delegation for their hospitality and facilitating this trip. And I want to thank the people of Mexico for the warmth with which I've been received, especially the young people who are here today. Thank you very much.

There is a reason why the first visit that I had with a foreign leader after my election was with President Calderón. It was a reminder, as John F. Kennedy said, that the bonds between our two countries cannot be broken. We are joined by a border, but our bonds are so much more than that. In my hometown of Chicago, the population is at least one-third made up of people of Mexican heritage. All across America, all across the United States, we have benefitted from the culture, the language, the food, the insights, the literature, the energy, the ambitions of people who have migrated from our southern neighbor.

And my hope is, is that the United States has had something to offer to Mexico, as well. So our relationship, our friendship is strong, but as President Calderón said, we can make it stronger.

At a time where all of us are dealing with an extraordinary global recession, where unemployment is on the rise, where credit has begun to shrink, where businesses are struggling, it is more important than ever that we work together not only to restore economic growth in Mexico and the United States, but also to make sure that growth is sustainable, and to make sure that growth is from the bottom up, so that each and every person—every young person here in Mexico, as well as every young person in the United States—has an opportunity to live out their dreams. At a time when the Mexican government has so courageously taken on the drug cartels that have plagued both sides of the borders, it is absolutely critical that the United States joins as a full partner in dealing with this issue, both through initiatives like the Merida Initiative, but also on our side of the border, in dealing with the flow of guns and cash south.

And at a time when Mexico is not just a regional leader, but now a global leader, as shown by its outstanding participation in the G20 summit and other multilateral organizations, it's critical that we join together around issues that can't be solved by any one nation—issues like climate change, issues like poverty, issues like terrorism. These are issues in which the United States and Mexico will have to stand side by side in order to promote common security and common prosperity.

And so it is wonderfully fitting to see the children of Mexico, as well as, I suspect, a few children of the United States here together, waving flags of both countries, because we are reminded—because we are reminded that ultimately the reason that we serve in government, ultimately the reason that bilateral relationships like this are so important, is because it allows us to promote a better future for our children.

That's what we're fighting for, for their dreams, for their opportunities, for their futures. And I'm very much looking forward to developing the kind of relationship between Mexico and the United States that will allow all the children here and all the children in both countries to thrive for years to come.

So thank you very much, Mr. President, Madam First Lady, and to all of you, for welcoming me in such a gracious way. Thank you.

Choosing a Better Future in the Americas

As we approach the Summit of the Americas, our hemisphere is faced with a clear choice. We can overcome our shared challenges with a sense of common purpose, or we can stay mired in the old debates of the past. For the sake of all our people, we must choose the future.

Too often, the United States has not pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors. We have been too easily distracted by other priorities, and have failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas. My Administration is committed to the promise of a new day. We will renew and sustain a broader partnership between the United States and the hemisphere on behalf of our common prosperity and our common security.

In advance of the Summit, we have begun to move in a new direction. This week, we amended a Cuba policy that has failed for decades to advance liberty or opportunity for the Cuban people. In particular, the refusal to allow Cuban Americans to visit or provide resources to their families on the island made no sense—particularly after years of economic hardship in Cuba, and the devastating hurricanes that took place last year. Now, that policy has changed.

The U.S.-Cuba relationship is one example of a debate in the Americas that is too often dragged back to the 20th century. To confront our economic crisis, we don't need a debate about whether to have a rigid, state-run economy or unbridled and unregulated capitalism—we need pragmatic and responsible action that advances our common prosperity. To combat lawlessness and violence, we don't need a debate about whether to blame right-wing paramilitaries or left-wing insurgents—we need practical cooperation to expand our common security.

We must choose the future over the past, because we know that the future holds enormous opportunities if we work together. That is why leaders from Santiago to Brasilia to Mexico City are focused on a renewed partnership of the Americas that makes progress on fundamental issues like economic recovery, energy, and security.

There is no time to lose. The global economic crisis has hit the Americas hard, particularly our most vulnerable populations. Years of progress in combating poverty and inequality hangs in the balance. The United States is working to advance prosperity in the hemisphere by jumpstarting our own recovery. In doing so, we will help spur trade, investment, remittances, and tourism that provides a broader base for prosperity in the hemisphere.

We also need collective action. At the recent G-20 Summit, the United States pledged to seek nearly half a billion dollars in immediate assistance for vulnerable populations, while working with our G-20 partners to set aside substantial resources to help countries through difficult times. We have called upon the Inter-American Development Bank to maximize lending to restart the flow of credit, and stand ready to examine the needs and capacity of the IDB going forward. And we are working to put in place tough, clear 21st century rules of the road to prevent the abuses that caused the current crisis.

While we confront this crisis, we must build a new foundation for long-term prosperity. One area that holds out enormous promise is energy. Our hemisphere has bountiful natural resources that could make renewable energy plentiful and sustainable, while creating jobs for our people. In the process, we can confront climate change that threatens rising sea levels in the Caribbean, diminishing glaciers in the Andes, and powerful storms on the Gulf Coast of the United States.

Together, we have both the responsibility to act, and the opportunity to leave behind a legacy of greater prosperity and security. That is why I look forward to pursuing a new Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas that will help us learn from one another, share technologies, leverage investment, and maximize our comparative advantage.

Just as we advance our common prosperity, we must advance our common security. Too many in our hemisphere are forced to live in fear. That is why the United States will strongly support respect for the rule of law, better law enforcement, and stronger judicial institutions.

Security for our citizens must be advanced through our commitment to partner with those who are courageously battling drug cartels, gangs and other criminal networks throughout the Americas. Our efforts start at home. By reducing demand for drugs and curtailing the illegal flow of weapons and bulk cash south across our border, we can advance security in the United States and beyond. And going forward, we will sustain a lasting dialogue in the hemisphere to ensure that we are building on best practices, adapting to new threats, and coordinating our efforts.

Finally, the Summit gives every democratically-elected leader in the Americas the opportunity to reaffirm our shared values. Each of our countries has pursued its own democratic journey, but we must be joined together in our commitment to liberty, equality, and human rights. That is why I look forward to the day when every country in the hemisphere can take its seat at the table consistent with the Inter-American Democratic Charter. And just as the United States seeks that goal in reaching out to the Cuban people, we expect all of our friends in the hemisphere to join together in supporting liberty, equality, and human rights for all Cubans.

This Summit offers the opportunity of a new beginning. Advancing prosperity, security and liberty for the people of the Americas depends upon 21st century partnerships, freed from the posturing of the past. That is the leadership and partnership that the United States stands ready to provide.

President Barack Obama was interviewed by CNN En Español in Washington, DC

Q. You're going to Mexico. It's your first trip to Latin America, and the White House already announced that the Mexican cartels are being included in the Kingpin Act. What does this mean, and what message are you bringing to Mexico?

President Obama. Well, first of all, the reason we're going to Mexico is because it is our neighbor, it is one of our largest trading partners, and it's a country that has enormous ties to the United States. And so it was very important for me to send a message that we are going to continue to partner with Mexico to accomplish common goals of lifting up people's incomes and growing economic opportunity on both sides of the borders. And I think that President Calderón has done an outstanding and heroic job in dealing with what is a big problem right now along the borders with the drug cartels.

The Kingpin law allows us to go after the finances, the financial underpinnings of the cartels in a much more aggressive and much more effective way. And so that's just part of a broader strategy in which the United States and Mexico will be partnering. We are putting more resources on the border. We are providing additional surveillance equipment. We are going to be dealing not only with drug interdiction coming north, but also working on helping to curb the flow of cash and guns going south.

And so there's a true partnership that's developing, and I want to make sure that the people of Mexico understand that we are going to do everything we can on our end to promote more security and more peace and more prosperity in the region.

Q. One of the issues that is discussed in Mexico is that that government spends between $7 billion and $8 billion in their war on drugs, while the U.S. destined $1.4 billion for the Merida Initiative that includes Central America and is spread out through several years. It's not seen as equitable.

President Obama. Well, first of all I think it's important to recognize that my budget has actually sought to increase by about 50 percent the amount of money that we're spending. We are already moving forward on, for example, Black Hawk helicopters to be sent to Mexico to help in the fight against the drug cartels.

So I want to put as much additional resources as we can into this effort. I think Mexico has been very serious about dealing with the problem. There are a number of Central American countries who are going to need our assistance, as well. And my commitment is to make sure that the United States, working in a multilateral fashion with all the countries in the region, are finally putting an end to the power and the strength of these drug cartels.

Q. Will immigration reform be part of this whole process? And also you've named a border czar. Was this consulted with Mexico, and what is he going to do?

President Obama. Well, the goal of the border czar is to help coordinate all the various agencies that fall under the Department of Homeland Security, and so that we are confident that the border patrols are working effectively with ICE, working effectively with our law enforcement agencies. So he's really a coordinator that can be directly responsible to Secretary Napolitano and ultimately directly accountable to me.

There has been a lot of interaction between Mexican officials and officials on our side of the border. And, you know, Janet Napolitano has already been there. She and John Brennan, who is part of my national security team, are currently there. We're going to continue to coordinate effectively.

Now, immigration reform has to be part of a broader strategy to deal with our border issues, and as I've said repeatedly, I am a strong proponent of comprehensive immigration reform. I've already met with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and committed to working with them to try to shape an agenda that can move through Congress. And this is something that I think is important not just because of the drug cartel issue; it's important because of the human costs of a ongoing flow of illegal immigrants into this country. It's something that we need to solve.

Q. You're going to Trinidad and Tobago. Most of these countries, it's the first time you meet with the leaders. They've been—they want to bring Cuba up as an issue. You've lifted restrictions on Cuban Americans. How is this issue going to play out?

President Obama. Well, you know, I have no problem with them bringing up Cuba as an issue. I think I've been very clear about my position on Cuba. What I've said is, is that we should loosen up restrictions on travel and remittances. We have now acted on that. We also believe that Cuba can potentially be a critical part of regional growth in the region.

But Cuba has to take some steps, send some signals that when it comes to human rights, when it comes to political rights, when it comes to the ability of Cubans to travel, that there is some signs that we're moving away from what has been a set of policies that have really hampered Cuba's ability to grow.

I mean, I think—think about the irony, the fact that, you know, on the one hand we're loosening up travel restrictions, and yet there are a lot of Cubans who can't leave Cuba. That, I think, is an example of the kinds of changes that we hope we can promote over time. And I think that our partners in Central and South America can be very important in helping to move away from the past and into the future.

Q. There's a movement in Latin America. Countries are resorting to democratic measures to change the constitution so that the current leaders can stay in office. It happened in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and it's also happening in Colombia. It's an internal matter, but how do you feel about those Presidents wanting to stay on, and will you bring it up at the summit?

President Obama. Well, you know, I think it's important for the United States not to tell other countries how to, you know, structure their democratic practices and what should be contained in their constitution.

All I can say is that one of the strengths of the United States government and our democracy, the reason it's been stable, is I think people have a sense that through constitutional means they can replace people who are in power who may not be meeting the interests of their populations.

If I'm not doing a good job, ultimately in some way I'm accountable because of elections. But I'm also accountable in the sense that at most I've got eight years and there's going to be some turnover.

So that's been a strength of our system. And ultimately it's up to the people of those countries to make a decision about how they want to structure their affairs.

Q. Now, more than the issues at the summit, a lot of people are focused on how you will interact with other leaders; for example, how you will face Hugo Chavez. Have you thought about that? Is it going to be any different than any other President?

President Obama. No, look, he's the leader of his country, and we'll—he'll be one of many people that I will have the opportunity to meet. And the whole message that we've tried to send throughout my campaign, throughout my recent travels overseas, at the G20 for example, has been that the United States, I think, has a leadership role to play in dealing with many of the big problems that we face.

But we also recognize that other countries have important contributions and insights. We want to listen and learn, as well as talk. And that approach, I think, of mutual respect and finding common interests is one that ultimately will serve everybody.

Q. Fidel Castro reacted to your lifting of sanctions, saying it was a positive move, but that he expected the lifting of the embargo. And he said that Cuba won't beg, but that's what eventually they expect from the U.S.

President Obama. Well, I don't expect Cuba to beg. Nobody is asking for anybody to beg. What we're looking for is some signal that there are going to be changes in how Cuba operates that assures that political prisoners are released, that people can speak their minds freely, that they can travel, that they can write and attend church, and do the things that people throughout the hemisphere can do and take for granted. And if there's some sense of movement on those fronts in Cuba, then I think that we can see a further thawing of relations and further changes.

But we took an important first step. I think it's a signal of our good faith that we want to move beyond the Cold War mentality that has existed over the last 50 years. And hopefully we'll see some signs that Cuba wants to reciprocate.

Q. Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón is considering a lawsuit filed by attorneys representing six Spaniards who were at one point held at Guantanamo. And that lawsuit wants to go after President Bush's legal team. What is your reaction to that?

President Obama. Well, you know, obviously I've been very clear that Guantanamo is to be closed, that some of the practices of enhanced interrogation techniques I think ran counter to American values and American traditions. So I've put an end to these policies.

I'm a strong believer that it's important to look forward and not backwards, and to remind ourselves that we do have very real security threats out there.

So I have not had direct conversations with the Spanish government about these issues. My team has been in communications with them. I think that we are moving a process forward here in the United States to understand what happened, but also to focus on how we make sure that the manner in which we operate currently is consistent with our values and our traditions.

And so my sense is, is that this will be worked out over time.

Q. There is a sense of mistrust in the region towards the U.S. You inherited—you said you inherited the economic crisis. Did you inherit this from previous administrations? And how are you going to convince Latin Americans that the U.S. is sincere and that you really want to—

President Obama. Well, you know, I don't want to overstate the degree of anti-American sentiment. I mean, I think that these things go in ups and downs. But there are an awful lot of people in Latin America who are inspired by traditions of equal opportunity and entrepreneurship. And there's a reason why there are consistently so many immigrants to our country from Latin America. I think people still see America as a place full of hope.

But what is also true is there has always been a tradition of concern that the United States has been heavy-handed when it comes to foreign policy in Latin America. And that's not something that just arose during the Bush administration. That's something that dates back to the Monroe Doctrine and a long history of U.S. involvement in Latin America.

So the important thing—the important message I think I have to send is that we live in the 21st century now. Times have changed. A country like Brazil is a economic powerhouse and is a big player on the world stage. My relationship with President Lula is one of two leaders who both have big countries, that we're trying to solve problems and create opportunities for our people, and we should be partners. There's no senior partner or junior partner.

When I sit down with President Calderón—you know, he's a very capable person, and Mexico is very important to the United States just as the United States is important to Mexico. And so we have this interdependence.

And if we have an attitude of partnership, then—there are going to be times where countries disagree, but that's not just true between the United States and Latin American countries; between Latin American countries there are disagreements. That's the nature of foreign policy. But I think that we can put our foreign policy on a solid footing so that moving forward it's constructive, and ultimately we're making lives better for ordinary people in all countries.

Q. Muchas gracias.

President Obama. De nada.

President Barack Obama and President Felipe Calderón delivered these remarks in Mexico City, Mexico

President Calderón. Ladies and gentlemen of the press, of the media, I would like to give the warmest welcome to Mexico to President Barack Obama, and to the delegation accompanying him. This is an historic event that will inaugurate a new era, a new relationship between our two countries.

Today in the meetings that we have held we have confirmed the determination of both governments to consolidate the very, very close contacts and links that join and bring together Mexico and the United States. We have new projects in important affairs such as security, migration, competitiveness, and global affairs.

As never before we have decided that the fight against multinational organized crime must be based on cooperation, shared responsibility, and in trust, a mutual trust.

Both governments recognize that the Merida Initiative is a very good starting point in order to strengthen cooperation in security. But we want to go beyond, we want to go further in order to liberate, to free our societies from the criminal activities that affect the lives of millions of people.

We have also agreed to expedite the times so that we can have available the resources for this Merida Initiative, and we have also decided to launch other activities that are in the hands of our governments. For example, we can adopt new measures for preventing illicit flows at the border, particularly the flow of weapons and of cash. We will also be strengthening our cooperation in information and intelligence in order to more efficiently fight against money laundering.

On the other hand, we have also agreed that both governments should produce propositions—proposals for our cooperation so that we can eventually have reform in the United States with full respect to the sovereign decisions of both congresses—of both nations, that is. Our governments will work in this sense to make migration an orderly, respectful process of human rights, a process in which human rights will be respected.

In energy and climate change, we have agreed to work together in order to guarantee a legal framework of certainty, transparency for the future; better use of cross-border resources such as gas and energy. And I have given to President Obama concrete proposals on climate change. One of them has to do with the integration of a bilateral market of carbon emissions, which coincides a lot with proposals that he has made to the U.S. audience, and other cooperation, ways of cooperation in climate change, such as something that Mexico has proposed, called the Green Fund.

We have also said that in addition to discussing our goals for carbon emissions that are linked in the fight against climate change globally, we must also act very soon in the design of new instruments, of new tools in order to fight against climate change. That is really the central proposal of the Green Fund.

And in a gesture of recognition, of acknowledgment on this topic, we know that President Obama and his government have made considerable efforts to provide new arguments to the discussion of this topic. We would also like to thank—to welcome the possibility that Mexico might be the seat of the 16th U.N. conference on climate change that will be taking place in 2010.

We have recognized and acknowledged, ladies and gentlemen, that Mexico and the United States do not have to compete among themselves, but rather they must be able to take advantage of the complementary nature of their economies in order to compete as partners with regard to other parts of the world. We have the chance to make our region more competitive and to have greater, more agile production.

And we will be working in three areas. First, in the strengthening of the border infrastructure, I have also given to President Obama a proposal to facilitate the economic flows between both countries to improve the quality of life of the residents in the border areas, and to foster the development of our two nations through very specific projects on infrastructure at the Mexican-U.S. border.

Secondly, we believe it is essential to increase our cooperation and customs so that we can have a more efficient trade. And thirdly, we have also proposed to improve our cooperation in regulatory matters regarding tariff or non-tariff issues that very often make difficult our trade between two countries.

We have agreed with President Obama that we seek agreements to truly improve the economic situation not only of the United States but of the entire region and the world. We have stated our cooperation to strengthen the democracy of the market and of regional security.

In relation to President Obama's recent security to lift the restrictions for people from the U.S. to travel to Cuba and to be able to send remittances, Mexico acknowledges that this is a very constructive, positive step for the hemispheric relations, particularly for the region.

And finally, my friends, ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you that I am absolutely convinced that President Obama's visit is just an initial step, the beginning of a relationship between two countries that are friends, neighbors, and must also be partners and allies.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much, President Obama, for your visit. The President Barack Obama now has the floor.

President Obama. I want to begin by thanking the people of Mexico for their gracious welcome. And I want to thank President Calderón for the hospitality he has shown as a host.

You know, this is my first trip to Mexico as President, and I see this visit—as I know President Calderón does—as an opportunity to launch a new era of cooperation and partnership between our two nations, an era built on an even firmer foundation of mutual responsibility and mutual respect and mutual interest. We had a productive and wide-ranging conversation and I think we have taken some very important steps down that path.

It's difficult to overstate the depth of the ties between our two nations or the extraordinary importance of our relationship. It's obviously a simple fact of geography that we share a border, and we've always been bound together because of that geography. But it's not just that shared border that links us together. It's not only geography, but it's also culture, it's also migration patterns that have taken place that have become so important.

Our deep economic ties mean that whenever—whatever steps that we're going to take moving forward have to be taken together. And that's why we worked hard, hand in hand at the G20 summit. And that's what we will continue to do at the Summit of the Americas and beyond, so that we can jumpstart job creation, promote free and fair trade, and develop a coordinated response to this economic crisis.

We also discussed our shared interest in meeting an immigration challenge that has serious implications for both the United States and for Mexico. My country has been greatly enriched by migration from Mexico. Mexican Americans form a critical and enduring link between our nations. And I am committed to fixing our broken immigration system in a way that upholds our traditions as a nation of laws but also as a nation of immigrants. And I'm committed to working with President Calderón to promote the kind of bottom-up economic growth here in Mexico that will allow people to live out their dreams here, and as a consequence will relieve some of the pressures that we've seen along the borders.

We also discussed what our nations can do to help bring a clean energy future to both countries. This is a priority for the United States. I know it's a priority for President Calderón. And I want to commend him for the work that he's already made in cutting greenhouse gas emissions, the commitment that he's made even though Mexico is not required to do so under the Kyoto Protocol. And together, we're establishing a new Bilateral Framework on Clean Energy and Climate Change that will focus on creating green jobs, promoting renewable energy, and enhancing energy efficiency. I look forward to strengthening our partnership in the upcoming Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate and in next year's U.N. climate negotiations, which I hope will be held here in Mexico.

Now, as essential as it is that we work together to overcome each of these common challenges, there's one particular area that requires our urgent and coordinated action, and that is the battle that's taking place with—with respect to the drug cartels that are fueling kidnappings and sowing chaos in our communities and robbing so many of a future, both here in Mexico and in the United States.

I have said this before; I will repeat it: I have the greatest admiration and courage for President Calderón and his entire cabinet, his rank-and-file police officers and soldiers as they take on these cartels. I commend Mexico for the successes that have already been achieved. But I will not pretend that this is Mexico's responsibility alone. A demand for these drugs in the United States is what is helping to keep these cartels in business. This war is being waged with guns purchased not here, but in the United States. More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that line our shared border.

So we have responsibilities, as well. We have to do our part. We have to crack down on drug use in our cities and towns. We have to stem the southbound flow of guns and cash. And we are absolutely committed to working in a partnership with Mexico to make sure that we are dealing with this scourge on both sides of the border.

And that's why we're ramping up the number of law enforcement personnel on our border. That's why, for the first time, we are inspecting trains leaving our country, not just those entering it. That's why our Department of Homeland Security is making up to $59 million available to defend our common border from this threat to both of our countries.

Now, as we discussed in our meeting, destroying and disrupting the cartels will require more than aggressive efforts from each of our nations. And that's why the United States is taking the following steps: We've begun to accelerate efforts to implement the Merida Initiative so we can provide Mexico with the military aircraft and inspection equipment they need when they need it.

Yesterday, I designated three cartels as Significant Foreign Narcotics Drug Traffickers under U.S. law, clearing the way for our Treasury Department, working together with Mexico to freeze their assets and subject them to sanctions.

My National Homeland Security Advisor, who is here, General Jim Jones, as well as my Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, and my top advisor on homeland security and counterterrorism, John Brennan, are all meeting with their Mexican counterparts to develop new ways to cooperate and coordinate their efforts more effectively.

In addition, as President Calderón and I discussed, I am urging the Senate in the United States to ratify an inter-American treaty known as CIFTA to curb small arms trafficking that is a source of so many of the weapons used in this drug war.

Now, there are some of the common challenges that President Calderón and I discussed in our meeting and that we're going to be working on to overcome in the months and years ahead. It will not be easy, but I am confident that if we continue to act, as we have today, in a spirit of mutual responsibility and friendship, we will prevail on behalf of our common security and our common prosperity.

So I think that this is building on previous meetings that we've had. In each interaction, the bond between our governments is growing stronger. I am confident that we're going to make tremendous progress in the future. Thank you.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President, as well.

President Obama, as a candidate for your office, you said that you wanted to see the assault ban weapon—the ban on assault weapons reinstated. Your Attorney General has spoken in favor of this. Mexican officials have also spoken in favor of it. But we haven't heard you say that since you took office. Do you plan to keep your promise? And if not, how do you explain that to the American people?

And, President Calderón—I'm sorry, if I may—would you like to see this ban reinstated? And have you raised that today with President Obama? Thank you.

President Obama. Well, first of all, we did discuss this extensively in our meetings. I have not backed off at all from my belief that the gun—the assault weapons ban made sense. And I continue to believe that we can respect and honor the Second Amendment rights in our Constitution, the rights of sportsmen and hunters and homeowners who want to keep their families safe to lawfully bear arms, while dealing with assault weapons that, as we now know, here in Mexico, are helping to fuel extraordinary violence—violence in our own country, as well.

Now, having said that, I think none of us are under any illusion that reinstating that ban would be easy. And so, what we've focused on is how we can improve our enforcement of existing laws, because even under current law, trafficking illegal firearms, sending them across a border, is illegal. That's something that we can stop.

And so our focus is to work with Secretary Napolitano, Attorney General Holder, our entire Homeland Security team, ATF, border security, everybody who is involved in this, to coordinate with our counterparts in Mexico to significantly ramp up our enforcement of existing laws. And in fact, I've asked Eric Holder to do a complete review of how our enforcement operations are currently working and make sure that we're cutting down on the loopholes that are resulting in some of these drug trafficking problems. The last point I would make is that there are going to be some opportunities where I think we can build some strong consensus. I'll give you one example, and that is the issue of gun tracing. The tracing of bullets and ballistics and gun information that have been used in major crimes—that's information that we are still not giving to law enforcement, as a consequence of provisions that have been blocked in the United States Congress, and those are the areas where I think that we can make some significant progress early.

That doesn't mean that we're steering away from the issue of the assault guns ban, but it does mean that we want to act with urgency, promptly, now. And I think we can make significant progress.

President Calderón. Thank you for your question. I want to say that, in effect, on this topic—not only on this topic, but on many of the other thorny topics of relations between the U.S. and Mexico, we have had an open, frank, trusting conversation between President Obama and myself. We have spoken of assault weapons. He is well aware of our problems. And we have described it as it is from the moment that the prohibition on the sale of assault weapons a few years ago, we have seen an increase in the power of organized crime in Mexico. Only in my administration, in the two years and four months, we have been able to see—or rather we have seized more than 16,000 assault weapons. And in the efforts we have made to track their origin—and President Obama has referred to that—we have seen that nearly 90 percent of those arms comes from the United States—those weapons come from the United States. There are about 10,000 sales points in the U.S.-Mexico border—only at the border.

On the other hand, I do believe that our relationship—the new era we must build in our relationship between Mexico and the United States must be one with trust and respect. And we definitely respect the decision of the U.S. Congress and of the U.S. people in this regard, because they are very well aware of President Obama and his government's willingness to move forward on these issues.

We know that it is a politically delicate topic because Americans truly appreciate their constitutional rights, and particularly those that are part of the Second Amendment. I personally believe that as long as we are able to explain clearly what our problems in Mexico are, then we might also be able to seek a solution respecting the constitutional rights of the Americans, at the same time will prevent—or rather avoid that organized crime becomes better armed in our country.

But we have to work on it. We have to work on it. But we fully respect the opinion of the U.S. Congress and we know that there's a great deal of sensitivity regarding this topic.

But there are many, many things that we can definitely move forward in. For example, in armament, it is not only a matter of seeing whether we can change the legislation on assault weapons—we have already said what our position is—but we might also be able to see whether they can apply existing legislation in Mexico and the United States on armament. For example, in Mexico it's a matter of enforcement, with the Export Control Act, for example—this is in the United States—I'm sorry—prohibits the export of weapons to those countries where those weapons are prohibited.

And that is the case of Mexico. If we actually comply with the U.S. law—or rather if everybody complies with the U.S. law that prohibits the sale of these weapons and their export to Mexico, we can move a great deal forward.

President Obama has made recent decisions in the last few weeks, and we value them and appreciate them—for example, to reinforce the operational capability of U.S. border agencies in order to comply with this legislation and with other laws, in order to review the flows of entry not only into the United States, but also the outgoing flows, outgoing from the U.S., to make sure that there is no illicit money, in strict compliance with United States legislation. I think these are very important steps.

But there is a problem, and only as long as we build on this trust and we clearly explain to citizens of both countries how we must find a solution, we will be able to achieve one. We do so respectfully, presenting our position, knowing full well how the U.S. people feel about this and being fully respectful of the sovereign decisions that the United States might make, or that any other country might make.

One more thing—one more thing I forgot to mention. One other thing we can do is to track the weapons that we have in Mexico. If we manage to detect weapons sold illegally in the United States in violation of this law on the control of weapons exports, or if, in the United States, they can have—probably move forward on a good registry of armament or on the prohibition of certain massive sales of weapons, for example, to a hunter or to a common citizen—we know that these people do not usually buy hundreds of rifles or assault weapons or grenades—if we can move forward in those areas, I do believe that security both of the United States and Mexico will improve because those weapons are pointing against Mexican people and Mexican officials today.

But crime is not only acting in Mexico. It is also acting in the United States. Organized crime is acting in both countries. And I do hope that those weapons that are sold today in the United States and are being used in Mexico, I hope the day will never come in which they will also be used against the North American society or against U.S. officials, just like they are now being used in Mexico.

Q. Good afternoon, Presidents. You are going to share four years of an administration, and there can be an in-depth change in this fight against organized crime in these four years. As of today, how can we establish the concrete objectives that in 2012 will allow us to say, fine, a new era began between Mexico and the United States back then?

Particularly I'm addressing this to you, President Obama. In addition to the chance that you will invest your political capital in being able to stop the flow of these weapons to Mexico, what can we hope for, what can we expect to see in terms of arresting the drug lords, the kingpins, in the U.S.? Because there are laws against corruption, but this is enabling now—in other words, the U.S. market is now the biggest for drugs. And former President of Mexico, ex-President Fox, said that in the back they have only gotten little pats in the back from his predecessors. Can we hope for more from your administration?

And to you, President Calderón, with this new era, how can you measure the detention, the arrest of drug lords in the United States, and also putting a stop to the flow of weapons? How can you measure this?

President Obama. Well, I think that we can measure this in terms of the reduction in violence; in the interdiction of drugs; in the interdiction of weapons coming south; in the dismantling of the financial structures that facilitate these drug cartels; in the arrest of major drug kingpins.

So I think we know how to measure progress. The challenge is maintaining a sustained effort. And as I said, something that President Calderón and myself absolutely recognize, is that you can't fight this war with just one hand. You can't just have Mexico making an effort but the United States not making an effort. And the same is true on the other side.

I think both our efforts have to be coordinated; both of our efforts have to be strengthened. I've made some very concrete commitments, already sending additional resources, already making additional investments. These are measurable in millions and, ultimately, billions of dollars over several years. And I believe that President Calderón has used enormous political capital to deal with this issue.

Obviously the Mexican people, particularly along the borders, have suffered great hardship. And as a consequence, if we partner effectively—and that's why I brought many of my top officials on this trip, to interact with their counterparts—I'm confident that we're going to make progress. Now, are we going to eliminate all drug flows? Are we going to eliminate all guns coming over the border? That's not a realistic objective. What is a realistic objective is to reduce it so significantly, so drastically, that it becomes once again a localized criminal problem as opposed to a major structural problem that threatens stability in communities along those borders and that increases corruption and threatens the rule of law—that's the kind of progress that I think can be made.

And so, we are going to—we're going to work as hard as we can and as diligently as we can on these issues—always mindful, though, that the relationship between Mexico and the United States cannot just be defined by drugs. Sometimes there's a tendency for the media to only report on drug interdiction or immigration when it comes to U.S.-Mexican relations. And one of the things that we talked about is the extraordinary opportunities for us to work together on our commercial ties; on strengthening border infrastructure to improve the flow of goods; on working on clean energy, which can produce jobs on both sides of the border.

So we're going to stay very focused on this. We're going to make this a top priority, but we just always want to remember that our relationship is not simply defined by these problems; it's also defined by opportunities. And that's what we want to take advantage of as well.

President Calderón. Thank you, President. I agree a great deal with you and I fully thank you for your support and understanding in this very difficult topic. I think the question is very relevant. I see a big opportunity for President Obama and myself, since we are going to be sharing the next four years as heads of our administrations, I see a big opportunity here.

And on this issue, what I hope to see at the end of my administration is actually many things. One is a reduction in the levels of criminal activities in our countries related to organized crime, which is also related to drug trafficking—they go hand in hand. We have a strategy with short-, midterm, and long-term objectives.

In the short term, for example, we have set out to recuperate the security and tranquility of our citizens, particularly in those areas that have been harder hit by the crime. And this is where we have the joint operations, where we are mobilizing not only our federal police but also the army—and this, regardless of the fact that it is not an easy matter and it hasn't been and it can change in the course of time, but at least we begin to see fruitful results in some areas.

For example, in the last quarter—or rather compared to the last quarter of last year, our first quarter of this year, there was already a drop of 27 percent in criminal activities. That is as an average for the entire country, only in Ciudad Juarez—as of the joint operation that we launched in February, between February and March violent deaths in Ciudad Juarez, crime-related—violence related to crime dropped by 80 percent.

Of course I understand that the spectacular nature of some of these operations has really attracted worldwide attention. But with a very difficult crime rate that we had last year, despite them, crime in Mexico was 10.7 deaths because of crime for every 100,000 inhabitants. It is less than what it is in Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela, or Brazil in Latin America, and it is also a lower number than the crime rates of many U.S. cities.

I believe one issue has to be, of course, that we have to cut down on crime in Mexico, for sure, but, number two, I hope, in the course of time, to be a safer border and a more efficient border. As long as—if we are able to stop the flow of drugs, illicit money and weapons, we will have greater progress both in the United States and Mexico. And one way to measure this is by appreciating and valuing the technological capabilities, particularly of nonintrusive detection at the border, so that for those who do want to make business and do want to trade, that the border is open, and those who want to commit crime, the border will be a closed area.

One way to measure this—and here U.S. cooperation is essential—is to have the right technology, particularly nonintrusive technology that will enable us to have safe borders. And the initiative, the Merida Initiative, is very much focused on this.

Now, in the midterm, we would like a renewal of our police forces in Mexico. At the end of my administration, I would like to be able to have a new federal police that will be worthy of the citizens' trust and that will be efficient. And here U.S. cooperation is also fundamental. Why? Well, because on our side we are cleaning our house, we are sweeping everything from top to bottom so that all the police forces, from the top officials at the Attorney General's office, the army, the navy, that all officials in Mexico, all police officials that we can truly trust in their honesty, and that at the same time, technologically, they will be top-notch, as the rest of the world, in investigation, in databases. We want a scientific police, one that is very well-trained in technology, and U.S. help will be very welcome and it will be essential.

We also have a judicial plan for oral trials. And I think that as we fulfill these objectives, many of them have already—are part of our agreement on safety, security and protection. With a shared responsibility that we now have with President Obama and his team, we are certain that we will reach these objectives and that our strategy, which is the correct one, will have many more possibilities of achieving success, and that at the end of our administration we will have a Mexico, a United States, that are much safer and freer of violence—violence free, rather.

Of course, drug trafficking cannot be ended by decree. As long as there is a supply of high—or rather, is high demand, there will be a high supply. But what we can control is the effect of criminal activities in society, to stop the actions of organized crime, and we can also act preventively in order to bring down the consumption of drugs in the United States, and in Mexico, too, which also begins to be a problem of great concern to us.

Q. Mr. President, thank you. Mr. President.

President Obama, you said in an op-ed that was out today that your new Cuba policy was part of an effort to move beyond the frozen disputes of the 20th century. Why then is it so limited? Why not open the door for all Americans to visit Cuba? And what will you say to your colleagues at the Summit of the Americas who want you to do more?

And, President Calderón, what do you think the United States should do more on Cuba in order to improve relations with the region? Thank you.

President Obama. Well, first of all, I don't think that we should dismiss the significance of the step that we took. We eliminated remittance restrictions and travel restrictions for Cuban Americans who have family members in Cuba. For those families, this is extraordinarily significant. For the people in Cuba who will benefit from their family members being able to provide them help and to visit them, it's extraordinarily significant. We took steps on telecommunications that can potentially open up greater lines of communication between Cuba and the United States.

And so I think what you saw was a good-faith effort, a show of good faith on the part of the United States that we want to recast our relationship. Now, a relationship that effectively has been frozen for 50 years is not going to thaw overnight. And so having taken the first step, I think it's very much in our interest to see whether Cuba is also ready to change. We don't expect them to change overnight. That would be unrealistic. But we do expect that Cuba will send signals that they're interested in liberalizing in such a way that not only do U.S.-Cuban relations improve, but so that the energy and creativity and initiative of the Cuban people can potentially be released.

We talk about the ban on U.S. travel to Cuba, but there's not much discussion of the ban on Cuban people traveling elsewhere and the severe restrictions that they're under. I make that point only to suggest that there are a range of steps that could be taken on the part of the Cuban government that would start to show that they want to move beyond the patterns of the last 50 years.

I'm optimistic that progress can be made if there is a spirit that is looking forward rather than backward. My guidepost in U.S.-Cuba policy is going to be how can we encourage Cuba to be respectful of the rights of its people: political speech and political participation, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of travel. But, as I said before, I don't expect things to change overnight. What I do insist on is that U.S.-Cuban relationships are grounded with a respect not only for the traditions of each country but also respect for human rights and the people's—the needs of the people of Cuba.

And so I hope that the signal I've sent here is, is that we are not trying to be heavy-handed. We want to be open to engagement. But we're going to do so in a systematic way that keeps focus on the hardships and struggles that many Cubans are still going through.

President Calderón. I would not pretend to give advice or suggestions to President Obama on this matter or any other. Let me just say what I personally believe—or rather what I believe about the Cuban reality. The question that has to be posed rather is whether the U.S. embargo on Cuba has worked. The reality is that the embargo has been there long before we were even born, and yet things have not changed all that much in Cuba. I think we would have to ask ourselves whether that isn't enough time to realize that it has been a strategy that has not been very useful to achieve change in Cuba.

I do think—I share fully the idea we do not believe that the embargo or the isolation of Cuba is a good measure for things to change in Cuba. On the contrary; the reality that we see there is that the reality has not changed. And it's because of internal factors, mostly, of course, but also because of external reasons, such as the embargo. Because of that, the Cubans have become impoverished.

I greet—I welcome the measures that President Obama has taken in order to change this attitude, and to try to attempt—and the attempt must be appreciated—to change the policy towards Cuba little by little. But what is clear to me is that we both share the same ideals. I think we would both like to see the world living at some point under a full democracy, a world with full respect for human rights, with no exceptions whatsoever. We would like to see a world working with people being able to take care of their families, to live in peace, and those principles that must protect humanity. That we do share.

We also share the idea that each nation must be respected in its own decisions. It's like we were saying a moment ago when we were talking about the prohibition of assault weapons. Of course, we do not want those weapons to be out in the streets, but at the same time we want those decisions to come from the people themselves and to be self-determinant. And it's the same for Cuba. But I believe that the steps President Obama has taken are very positive.

Mexico is a good friend of Cuba, and Mexico is also a good friend of the United States. We want to be a good friend of Cuba and of the United States. We want both things. And we know that one day, the day that these principles we believe in prevail, that day we will be able to be neighbors, the three of us—the United States, Cuba and Mexico.

What are the principles we believe in? Democracy, human rights, but also liberty, property, trade, free trade, free economy. And I think as long as those principles can function and bring benefits to the Cuban economy, then things can begin to change. We cannot change anything that has already taken place in the past, but I am certain that as heads of state, we can do a lot to try to make a different future, both for the world, both for our countries, and also in relation to Cuba.

I told President Obama that the best of luck in this panorama that is now so totally different from what U.S. policy has been in the past. I hope for the best, and I hope that more expeditious steps could be taken so that we can move forward in this regard, and that everything will be done with good understanding. And as Mexico can contribute in any way for two of our friends to work out what they have between themselves, I hope that we can contribute. And if our best contribution is just to maintain our respect, that is fine.

Last question.

Q. Good afternoon. For President Obama. Mr. President,—as U.S. senator in 2006 voted in favor of the approval of the construction of the border wall. I would like to know, and I think Mexicans would like to know, what is your real commitment of your administration to present a new migratory—comprehensive migratory reform? What would be its scope? And when would you approve this reform?

And on free trade, on NAFTA, it seems that because of the last events there's not a great deal of interest in the U.S. to apply or to comply with all the items in NAFTA. I would like to ask President Calderón whether you spoke of some of those issues during your conversations, whether you addressed the migratory issue and some of the NAFTA issues?

President Obama. Well, first of all, with respect to the immigration issue, I think it would be useful to point out that I also voted twice for comprehensive immigration reform that would have provided a pathway for legalization and improvement of the orderly process of migration into the United States.

I've said before that we have to have a comprehensive approach, recognizing that the United States has a very legitimate concern—if you've got hundreds of thousands of people from other countries coming into the United States without anybody knowing who they are, who when they arrive can often be exploited and, because they're not protected by various laws, undermine the wages of U.S. workers—those are legitimate concerns on the part of the United States people and the United States government. And so working effectively with the Mexican government to create an orderly border is very important. And there are a whole host of strategies that we need to pursue.

What I've also said is that for those immigrants who are already in the United States—and by the way, we focus a lot on Mexicans who have come into the United States, but the number of immigrants from Central America, from Ireland, from Poland are substantial as well; it's not—this is not just an issue with respect to Mexico—for those immigrants who have put down roots, may have come there illegally, I think they need to pay a penalty for having broken the law. They need to come out of the shadows, and then we have to put them through a process where, if they want to stay in the United States, they have an opportunity over time to earn that opportunity, for a legal status in the United States.

Now, we came close to getting that kind of reform done several years ago and then it became politicized. And my whole goal is to remove the politics of this and take a very practical, common-sense approach that benefits people on both sides of the border—and creates a secure and safe border so you don't have people who are dying in the deserts as a consequence of a disorderly and illegal migration process. I think that's a goal that President Calderón and I share and one that we discussed during our bilateral meeting.

With respect to trade, Mexico is one of our largest trading partners. The amount of commerce that flows back and forth creates wealth in Mexico and it creates wealth in the United States. I have said repeatedly that I'm in favor of free trade. I know that there has been some concern about a provision that was placed in our stimulus package related to Mexican trucking. That wasn't a provision that my administration introduced, and I said at the time that we need to fix this because the last thing we want to do at a time when the global economy is contracting and trade is shrinking is to resort to protectionist measures.

My team is working with President Calderón's team to resolve this issue. I'm hopeful that we can resolve it in an effective way. It's not helpful to a number of U.S. producers who are interested in selling into Mexico and are fearful that they may be subject to countervailing tariffs or retaliation.

So we're going to see if we can get this fixed. But I can tell you that President Calderón and I are entirely on the same page in believing that we can create greater opportunities for trade and strengthen our commercial relationships between our two countries.

I have said before in the past, and I will continue to say, that as part of the NAFTA framework, that it would make sense for labor and environmental provisions to be enforceable within that agreement rather than just be viewed as a side agreement. But I recognize that we are in a very difficult time right now economically on both sides of the border and that those kinds of negotiations are going to need to proceed in a very careful and deliberate way, because we don't want to discourage trade; we want to encourage trade right now.

So I'm confident that our administrations are going to be able to work together, and it's going to be to the benefit both of Mexico and the United States.

President Calderón. We spoke at length on migration and on trade, and particularly on the economy in general between both nations. President Obama is well aware, is very knowledgeable about the problem, and his position in favor of a comprehensive migratory reform is well known. I would simply repeat the idea—refrain the idea that we share the objective of achieving an orderly, legal, productive migration between both countries.

I have said, and I maintain, that as a Mexican, as President of Mexico, it doesn't make me particularly happy to see our people risk their lives going across a border, because I know that with every migrant that leaves we have the best of our people leaving—the youngest, the most courageous, the strongest, the hardest-working—they are the ones that are leaving. Because I have seen in many communities here in Mexico, and particularly the state I come from, where there are phantom towns now, where there are only the elderly, children, women, and no one else is left there.

So I am working hard to create in Mexico the conditions, the opportunities of work, of employment for our people here in Mexico. That is really the only way out that can put a stop to migration. I think that is the best way out, to create opportunities and employment in our country. But in the meantime, President Obama is very clear on what the problem consists of, and it's very important to establish those instruments that will enable people to come out of the shadows, as he himself has said, and that our region can gradually become more orderly, more legal and better migration flows.

I think the two of us share the idea that trade produces benefits on both sides of the border. Not only are there many Mexican workers that depend on their exports to the United States today—by the way, in a very delicate situation that we're going through because of the economic situation, the drop in U.S. industry is very co-related to the drop in our Mexican industry—but there are also many workers in the United States that depend on the purchases that we make of U.S. products. Today Mexican consumers are among the best buyers of U.S. products. Few consumers in the world buy as many U.S. products as we do here in Mexico.

So we must protect trade. And the best way of doing so is to allow it to flow naturally, with no restrictions. So going beyond the autonomous decisions that every country can take, and the legitimate exercise of the rights that are part of the pacts and agreements that we have in order to protect free trade, I agree with President Obama, we have to go further. We have to go beyond in order to improve trade between both our countries. And we do not want to restrict it. We can come to agreements; we might have certain differences; I believe that we can move a great deal forward in labor and environmental issues, but it concerns me that to reopen those things that have been proven to work well can merely create further obstacles and worsen the situation we have today.

Our focus today on practical matters—and this is why—let me just mention three things that I believe we can work on. One is infrastructure at the border. I have talked to President Obama, I have shown him a list of 200 infrastructure projects of a larger or smaller scale that can generate employment both in the U.S. and Mexico at the border, and improve our competitiveness at the border. So we have focused on six projects of border bridges, border crossing points that can lead to further employment and prosperity for our people.

The second item is customs cooperation that will enable us to have better cooperation, more expeditious cooperation, with no drop in productivity—to maybe have one single customs form, whether we're talking about exports or imports from one country to another; to have one single form that will allow us to reduce bureaucracy and make trade more expeditious.

And then also, third, concrete measures to have a harmonization of standards. Certain U.S. products, for example, need to have the units measured in pounds, and here we need them measured in kilos or in grams, we need to be able to have standards. If certain requirements differ from our two countries, I think we have to work towards a harmonization of these requirements.

So these practical matters that seem to be minor are actually quite important. And I think they can truly help us.

And let me wrap up by saying that one of the things we emphasized is that both of us are going through economic problems because of this international crisis that we're undergoing. But if we act intelligently we will understand that if we improve the North American competitiveness as a region that entails Canada, United States and Mexico, if we improve the competitive conditions of our entire region, vis-à-vis other regions such as Asia or Eastern Europe or the rest of Latin America, then I do believe we will be able to come out of this problem much, much faster.

Trade means opportunities, equal opportunities of employment and of prosperity for our peoples, always, always, and particularly today in these times of crisis and economic difficulties.

President Obama is undergoing tremendous efforts to improve things in the United States and he is exercising in international leadership to face this economic situation. We firmly support on our side this situation, doing everything we can in order to revert this critical situation. And I do believe one way to do it is by strengthening trade, not restricting it.

So, ladies and gentlemen, we now bring to an end our press conference. Thank you so much. We thank you.

Secretary Hillary Clinton and President Rene Preval delivered these remarks in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

President Preval. It is with great joy that I receive the Secretary of State of the United States today, a personal friend that I have also had the privilege of knowing, senator as well as presidential candidate in the last presidential elections.

So this is your third visit. I find, if I understand correctly, you were here once upon a time as a younger woman and have been here again not too long ago. And this would be your third visit, and I welcome you again for the third time.

The Haitian people are aware of the interest you have always paid to their nation and are very thankful to you for that fact. So I would like to thank you in their name for your continued commitment to our nation. So it is with the sentiment of great gratitude that I offer you the microphone this morning to address this nation of 9 million people who are very eager to hear from you today.

Secretary Clinton. I thank you so much, President Preval, for your kind introduction and your hospitality today. It is a pleasure to be back in Haiti. As the president said, this country holds a special place in my heart. I first came here as a newlywed with my husband, Bill, and we spent a wonderful time here exploring the country and meeting many Haitians who shared their homes and their experiences with us.

In fact, we bought some Haitian art, five paintings that have traveled with us in every house we have lived in, including the White House. And I was honored to come back as First Lady after the restoration of democracy in Haiti, and then I was deeply privileged to be the senator from New York, which has a large and thriving Haitian American community.

And I'm delighted to be here as Secretary of State on behalf of President Obama and myself at this critical moment in the history of our nations, our hemisphere, and the world. I also want to acknowledge a number of the dignitaries seated behind the president and thank them for being here with me.

Haiti and the United States share a history of friendship that dates back to the beginning of our nation. In fact, Haiti's revolt against slavery was an inspiration to people in our own country until we finally also ended slavery. Today, we are connected by many ties, from economic to social and cultural, to the many people we share in common—proud Haitians who live in the United States, many who travel back and forth to this beautiful country and who contribute so much to each of us.

I represented the United States at the donors conference for Haiti, where I made a presentation along with Prime Minister Pierre-Louis. We then met together to talk more specifically about how the Obama Administration will work to support the president, the prime minister, and the Government of Haiti, but more importantly, how we will support the people of Haiti.

We are aware of the extensive damage caused by the four hurricanes last year which interrupted the significant progress that Haiti had been making. And so at the donors conference we looked carefully at the economic recovery strategy put forth by the Government of Haiti and pledged our support.

I announced that the United States will provide $287 million in aid this year, consistent with the priorities outlined by the Haitian Government. We will be funding the creation of jobs to build infrastructure, particularly roads, which we know also must be maintained. And we want to work with the Government of Haiti to come up with a plan to be able to do that.

We will make a significant contribution toward the retirement of Haiti's debt, which will free up money that Haiti can use on pressing needs for the people of Haiti. We also will provide assistance to the Haitian police, who have been performing so well against the additional challenge posed by the drug traffickers. We wish to support food security and sustainable agriculture. We know Haiti used to be self-sufficient in agriculture, and we want to help Haiti achieve that status again.

I know that there will be an important election in Haiti on Sunday, and I saw many of the campaign posters as I drove in from the airport. I want the people of Haiti to know that the United States' commitment is to you. We need a good partner, as we have with your president and your prime minister, and we want a plan that will continue moving forward no matter who is elected.

When we start to build roads, we must finish the roads. When we start to help farmers once again make their land rich and cultivatable, we want to be sure they harvest their crops. And when we equip the police force to fight the drug traffickers, we want to work with you so that Haiti can be free of outside influence and intimidation. Because our commitment is to the people of Haiti. The president and I had an excellent conversation, reiterating what is his great hope, that he will see progress begun and finished to give the future back to the people of Haiti.

I know that there's an old Haitian proverb, Mr. President: Beyond the mountains, there are mountains. Now, some might say, well, that means you never get over the mountains. But what it says to me is you make the journey, and then you see new challenges; you get better and stronger every day. And that is our hope for the people of this wonderful nation.

Thank you very much.

President Preval. Thank you, Secretary of State. I would like to ask you to please be seated.

Mrs. Secretary of State and distinguished guests who have accompanied her today, allow me to borrow a phrase of someone who has been coming to Haiti for a very long time, 30 years now, who said that when I look at Haiti I see a glimmer of hope for this nation. Allow me to tell you why this makes clear to us the foundation of what it is that we're trying to do, this quote from Mr. Bill Clinton. In other words, how did we get here and how—what sacrifices must we make to not lose the things that we've accomplished so far?

These results are as a direct result of the continuous dialogue in political arenas and with civil society. After the 2006 elections, I extended my hand to the political parties that were there at that time, and I would like to take this opportunity to do so again with Mr. Victor Benoit, Mr. Paul—

Interpreter. I didn't—I missed some of the names.

President Preval. They are all here present with us today.

And I would like to take this opportunity here today to publicly thank them and their institutions for the progress and the advancements that they've made with their hard work. This political stability has allowed us to attack the problem of insecurity that we face, firstly with armed gangs and then by kidnappings. This success was thanks to the national police force, strongly supported by the United Nations missions here in Haiti.

I would like to publicly congratulate the chief of police, who is here with us today. I am confident to say that today the country can move forward without this threat of armed gangs. So the security having been assured, we can have the stability that is necessary to now move forward with our senatorial elections, which will further ensure the stability that we seek. Mr. Frantz Verret, the president of the electoral council—provisional electoral council, and the members of his team, I would like to thank you and congratulate you as well.

However, Mrs. Secretary of State, despite these advancements that we have made, the stability is still fragile and needs reinforcement. One of the threats to this stability is drug trafficking, which is an enemy of the rule of law, an enemy against the functioning of democratic institutions. As you mentioned in Mexico, Madame Secretary, the demand for drugs in countries such as the United States and Europe is a large concern and factor with these drug dealers. You mentioned this in your statement earlier, and I'm very happy to see that we're on the same page on this subject. Haiti has reiterated in political arenas its concern that the drug trafficking can negatively impact the rule of law and stability in our country. We await determined and efficient assistance to be able to combat this problem—another issue that is fragilizing the living conditions and the security of the population.

We recognize the importance of the international community in our country. We thank them for the technical and financial assistance they have brought us, especially over the last year. So this assistance, both technical and financial, along with the work that our government is doing, has enabled us to combat inflation by 40 percent, bringing it down to 8.4 percent.

Also, our gross domestic product, which was 3.4 percent, went to, in 2007, to 2.4 percent. And this progress was interrupted in 2008, as you mentioned, by the sharp increase in diesel fuel prices and food on a world scale, and again, of course, by four hurricanes that came through Haiti. The World Bank estimates that more than $1 billion worth of damage was caused by these hurricanes.

Haiti must continue to rely on this foreign aid which constitutes 60 percent of our current budget. This percentage must be gradually decreased as Haiti becomes more able to supplement its own income.

This can only be done with concerted efforts to increase our revenue. This must take place through modernizing our institutions to strengthen the judicial apparatus. We must also encourage private investment and make people willing and trustworthy in order that they may invest here to allow us to increase our revenue. We must improve competitiv[eness] by reducing the fees imposed at the Customs Office, by making our collecting of electrical bills more efficient.

And all of this can only be done with the participation of civil society. This is why, aside from the political dialogue, we've also initiated dialogue with civil society by setting up working groups. These organizations—these working groups are set up with members of civil society, with professionals, with private investors, and so forth, syndicates, professionals.

As you said in your expression “behind mountains there are mountains,” we must ensure that those of them that are with us while going over the first set of mountains will be there to go with us over the next, and the next, and so on.

We set up about seven working groups, the first of which is on education, and the rector of the university that heads up this working group is here with us today. The group on increasing competitivity in Haiti, this group is led by Mrs. Gladys Coupet. We have Mr. (inaudible), who is heading up the IT and communications working group. Mr. Micha Gallard is heading up the one on justice. Professor Claude Moise is heading up the working group that is going to review the constitution of 1987 so that it functions more properly and allows us to do the work that we need to do.

Haiti just celebrated the bicentennial of its independence. There is also a group that has been set up to commemorate this bicentennial and so that we don't forget all of the wonderful things that happened in our history. And Patrick Elie is heading up a reflection group on the insecurity issues that we face here in Haiti.

Why do we have these commissions and what is their purpose? My friend, Jumat, who is a journalist, was asking these very same questions not long ago: Is this just another way of deferring decisions that need to be made? My answer is simple: These working groups are a method for deepening dialogue. There are a means to reflect on themes, to reflect beyond the day-to-day and emergencies. So these working groups will allow us to share. These working groups which are comprised of private sector, public sector, industries, syndicates, professionals, they will allow us to share ideas and figure out how, over the next 10, 15, 20 years, we can move forward to accomplish our goals.

Dialogue is inevitable and essential for us to be able to move forward. It is required that we learn to live together. The United Nations Security Council, the various and sundry groups that we have around the world, the European Union—these are all forums for dialogue that will allow us to move forward. These are consultation venues that will allow us to avoid repeat mistakes.

I will be joining you in Trinidad and Tobago for the Summit of the Americas that will bring together 34 heads of state of the continent. What are we going to do? It's dialogue, again. The United States recognizes this need for dialogue to arrive at sustainable development and advancement.

We take this opportunity to thank the American Government, the new leadership of, in particular, President Obama and his understanding of how things must be in order for us to move forward.

We hope that in the next Summit of the Americas, Cuba will be with us as well, because this dialogue, this complete and total dialogue, must involve everyone in order for it to be successful. The dialogue of peace is essential for the world.

We would like to thank the United States Government and the American Administration for their role as leaders in this dialogue that is so necessary for the establishment of peace. Welcome, and thank you once again.

We will take four questions, two from foreign journalists and two from Haitian journalists.

President Preval. (In French.)

Q. Hello, I am (inaudible). I'm working for Reuters. You know, Mrs. Clinton, a lot of Haitians are living in illegal situation[s] in the United States. And those Haitians are helping so many Haitians back home here in Haiti. Many people in Haiti, including in parts of the country that were most hit by the succession of hurricanes, they rely only on those people to live, to have something to live on to survive. So what the Obama Administration and what yourself intend to do to make sure that the Haitians, the undocumented Haitians over there, could find the TPS, the temporary protected status?

And second, I'd like to ask President (inaudible) Preval. (In French.)

Secretary Clinton. Thank you. I'm well aware of how many Haitians have relatives in the United States who are working there now and providing substantial financial help, particularly because of the hurricanes. We are looking carefully at the policy which we inherited, and we are going to be considering how best to help the people who are here continue to have those resources. But at the same time, we don't want to encourage other Haitians to make the dangerous journey across the water.

So if we do make any changes in TPS status, it will go back to the beginning of the Obama Administration. So people who were there before President Obama became president would be eligible, people who came after would not be. But we haven't made a final decision. But we are looking at it very carefully for exactly the reasons, sir, that you described.

President Preval. I was very encouraged to learn that people at this conference were very much aware of the will of the Haitian people to move forward, not just at the executive level, but also at the level of civil society, public society, peasant groups, syndicates, and so forth. The conference was set up by the various donors, and together we came up with a plan for the financing. I await the details of how this assistance will be presented, but I am sure that it will be instrumental in our moving forward.

The Government of Haiti, the executive branch, and the parliament, in particular, must continue to show their commitment towards working together to accomplish these goals that we've set for ourselves.

So I would like to say again what I had said earlier in my previous statement, that it's not acceptable for Haiti to continue to need to depend on this 60 percent of financial assistance. We must endeavor to increase our own revenue. And I think that is even more important than how the donors conference went.

Second question?

Q. Mark Landler from The New York Times. A question for both Madame Secretary and the president: In a speech in Washington two days ago, I think you said, Madame Secretary, this is a—this small nation of 9 million is on a brink. With the hurricane having wiped out 15 percent of GDP, killed 800 people, and with a donors conference that raised a considerable amount of money but well short of the billion dollars some experts say is needed in totality, are you worried that we're at a moment where we could have a real backsliding and lose the gains that the country has made? How grave do you think the situation is?

And, Mr. President, if I could just ask one follow up to what you said about Cuba attending the next Summit of the Americas. I wonder whether you would react to the Obama Administration's announcements earlier this week about the relaxation of travel restrictions and remittances. Some people have said that they were really baby steps and not enough. Would you like to see more? Were you very encouraged by what you did see?

Secretary Clinton. Well, I was very encouraged by the result of the donors conference. I think it was a resounding show of international support for Haiti. I believe that we have work to do, both to demonstrate that, as partners, we can produce the results that the people of Haiti are expecting, and then increase the amount of support that will come once we have demonstrated the results.

My view about where we are today is that Haiti deserves our help. Haiti was on the right track, making progress that everyone remarked on. We have no control over the weather. Four hurricanes in one year was devastating. It would have been to any country. But it knocked Haiti off track, and we have to help Haiti get back on track.

Now, this is not so much about the United States or about any donor. It is about the Haitian people, which is why there must be a commitment no matter who wins elections, no matter whether political society or civil society, everyone is committed to making sure that the money we are investing produces results for the people of Haiti. That's what this is about for President Obama and for me and for our country. But we were encouraged by the results of the conference, and now, we want to get to work.

President Preval. Cuba is a friend of Haiti, even though we have different political systems. Cuba has helped us, especially in the arena of medicine. We have about 600 students studying medicine in Cuba and an equivalent number of doctors here in Haiti practicing.

We spoke a lot about dialogue at this conference, and President Obama also spoke of dialogue and openness. I think that dialogue is the path that leads to good cooperation. We would not like to presume to dictate the policies to the United States. We have a wish, and that wish is also the wish at the heart of the United Nations, and that is that the embargo against Cuba be lifted so that they may be permitted to participate in this dialogue that is so important.

Q. So the Secretary of State is here with the interest of stability and ensuring security. Okay. So three days from the election, of course, there are people that are manifesting and making noises and parliamentarians as well who are expressing their thoughts. And there are also parliamentarians that feel that the financial aid was not done in a clear and transparent manner. They are threatening not to validate these senators should they be elected. So the population at large is expressing—has expressed worry about this situation.

So what guarantee can you give to the Haitian population that these elections on Sunday will be honest and open and that there will not be any violence?

President Preval. Elections are the means to establish democracy and ensure the continuity of this democracy beyond the elections. Each person has his role in this game. The political parties present themselves to the people to have their votes, and they are not obliged to do so. People are called upon to vote, and they are not obliged to do that either. Of course, we hope that many people will vote.

The electoral council is the independent entity that organizes these elections. And security is provided by the national police force. We hope that all measures will be taken so that these elections can be carried out without incident. So—and we hope that the senators, once elected, will fulfill their mandates and complete this integral part of our government that is the parliament.

Article 125 is the obligation of the state to financially support these political parties in the election. These candidates are also free to obtain financial assistance from individuals, from private parties. Yesterday, we brought up this issue of Article 125 with the political parties. This question was raised late in the game, even though it is the responsibility of the executive branch to answer this type of question. It's already Thursday, a couple of days before the elections. So we're going to see what we can do as a government in the absence of the minister of justice, who is not here, and of the prime minister as well, to work towards ensuring that these events take place without incident.

Your question has an undercurrent to it because you spoke of a poor distribution of investment. We're doing everything in our power to ensure that the government is neutral in the context of these elections.

As you know, the delegates and the vice delegates play an important role in the carrying out of these elections. We have taken the additional precaution of leaving all the delegates and vice delegates in place. If it so happens that any of these people, delegates and vice delegates, who were also, by the way, present during the interim government, if it becomes obvious that any of them are misusing any of these funds in favor of their party, it is the responsibility of anyone who is aware of such actions to make this known to the provisional electoral council.

Q. Hello? Yes. For Madame Secretary, more questions on Cuba. Is it now in the Cubans' court, is the ball now in their court after President Obama relaxed travel and transfer restrictions? I'll do better, there it is. And what steps would you like to see them take, including what people have called for in the past, such as releasing political prisoners? And over what timeline would you like to see that happen?

And finally, President Preval, you answered most of my questions on Cuba, but you did mention—you called for a lifting of the embargo. But would you expect Cuba to take some steps, specific steps before the U.S. does that?

Secretary Clinton. Well, I think it is very significant that within the first 100 days of his presidency, President Obama has relaxed the regulations concerning family remittances and travel, as well as expanding telecommunications investment opportunity between the United States and Cuba. I agree with the overall emphasis on moving toward dialogue and openness throughout our hemisphere.

We stand ready to discuss with Cuba additional steps that could be taken. I think that's very clear from President Obama and my statements and actions during the last several months. But we do expect Cuba to reciprocate. President Preval just gave a very thorough explanation of the election process here in Haiti. People are out running for office because they choose to, not because they have to. People vote because they choose to, not because they are required to. That is a democracy, and it is vibrant and very important. We would like to see Cuba open up its society, release political prisoners, open up to outside opinions and media, have the kind of society that we all know would improve the opportunities for the Cuban people and for their nation.

So I think it is fair to say, as the President said himself yesterday, I believe, that we would like to see some reciprocal recognition by the Cuban Government for us to continue to engage in this dialogue and take further steps.

President Preval. I enthusiastically salute the endeavors of President Obama towards Cuba. And I am not here to dictate to the United States by what criteria they wish to carry out their dialogue with Cuba. Everybody knows that this embargo that has lasted more than half of a century has not done anything to advance things. The Cuban diaspora has shown its will, its desire for this dialogue to be open and free with Cuba. Members of the American Government have gone to Cuba to begin this process of opening up dialogue with Cuba. Many international resolutions have been taken asking for the lifting of this embargo. My conviction is that more openness would enable more dialogue, regardless of the political regimes involved.

You have similar rapports to the one that you have with Cuba; for example, China and—

President Preval. Vietnam.

Interpreter. Vietnam, thank you.

President Preval. I think that, once again, I would like to reiterate that I am not here to dictate any form of policies to the United States Government, but I would like to say again that I believe that dialogue will be easier and more free if we are open to it and if we allow it to occur—not just with Cuba, but for the—several other countries in the world, as is already the case.

Thank you very much to the journalists for the questions they have asked. Thank you, Mrs. Clinton, as well.

President Barack Obama delivered these remarks in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

President Obama. Good evening. I am honored to join you here today, and I want to thank Prime Minister Manning, the people of Trinidad and Tobago for their generosity in hosting the Fifth Summit of the Americas. And I want to extend my greetings to all the heads of state, many of who I am meeting for the first time. All of us are extraordinarily excited to have this opportunity to visit this wonderful country—and as somebody who grew up on an island, I can tell you I feel right at home.

It's appropriate and important that we hold this summit in the Caribbean. The energy, the dynamism, the diversity of the Caribbean people inspires us all, and are such an important part of what we share in common as a hemisphere.

I think everybody recognizes that we come together at a critical moment for the people of the Americas. Our well-being has been set back by a historic economic crisis. Our safety is endangered by a broad range of threats. But this peril can be eclipsed by the promise of a new prosperity and personal security and the protection of liberty and justice for all the people of our hemisphere. That's the future that we can build together, but only if we move forward with a new sense of partnership.

All of us must now renew the common stake that we have in one another. I know that promises of partnership have gone unfulfilled in the past, and that trust has to be earned over time. While the United States has done much to promote peace and prosperity in the hemisphere, we have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms. But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations; there is simply engagement based on mutual respect and common interests and shared values. So I'm here to launch a new chapter of engagement that will be sustained throughout my administration.

To move forward, we cannot let ourselves be prisoners of past disagreements. I am very grateful that President Ortega—I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old. Too often, an opportunity to build a fresh partnership of the Americas has been undermined by stale debates. And we've heard all these arguments before, these debates that would have us make a false choice between rigid, state-run economies or unbridled and unregulated capitalism; between blame for right-wing paramilitaries or left-wing insurgents; between sticking to inflexible policies with regard to Cuba or denying the full human rights that are owed to the Cuban people.

I didn't come here to debate the past—I came here to deal with the future. I believe, as some of our previous speakers have stated, that we must learn from history, but we can't be trapped by it. As neighbors, we have a responsibility to each other and to our citizens. And by working together, we can take important steps forward to advance prosperity and security and liberty. That is the 21st century agenda that we come together to enact. That's the new direction that we can pursue.

Before we move forward for our shared discussions over this weekend, I'd like to put forward several areas where the United States is committed already to strengthening collective action on behalf of our shared goals.

First, we must come together on behalf of our common prosperity. That's what we've already begun to do. Our unprecedented actions to stimulate growth and restart the flow of credit will help create jobs and prosperity within our borders and within yours. We joined with our G20 partners to set aside over a trillion dollars for countries going through difficult times, recognizing that we have to provide assistance to those countries that are most vulnerable. We will work with you to ensure that the Inter-American Development Bank can take the necessary steps to increase its current levels of lending and to carefully study the needs for recapitalization in the future. And we recognize that we have a special responsibility, as one of the world's financial centers, to work with partners around the globe to reform a failed regulatory system—so that we can prevent the kinds of financial abuses that led to this current crisis from ever happening again, and achieve an economic expansion not just in the United States but all across the hemisphere that is built not on bubbles, but on sustainable economic growth.

We're also committed to combating inequality and creating prosperity from the bottom up. This is something that I've spoken about in the United States, and it's something that I believe applies across the region. I've asked Congress for $448 million in immediate assistance for those who have been hit hardest by the crisis beyond our borders. And today, I'm pleased to announce a new Microfinance Growth Fund for the hemisphere that can restart the lending that can power businesses and entrepreneurs in each and every country that's represented here. This is not charity. Let me be clear. This is not charity. Together, we can create a broader foundation of prosperity that builds new markets and powers new growth for all peoples in the hemisphere, because our economies are intertwined.

Next, we can strengthen the foundation of our prosperity and our security and our environment through a new partnership on energy. Our hemisphere is blessed with bountiful resources, and we are all endangered by climate change. Now we must come together to find new ways to produce and use energy so that we can create jobs and protect our planet.

So today, I'm proposing the creation of a new Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas that can forge progress to a more secure and sustainable future. It's a partnership that will harness the vision and determination of countries like Mexico and Brazil that have already done outstanding work in this area to promote renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Each country will bring its own unique resources and needs, so we will ensure that each country can maximize its strengths as we promote efficiency and improve our infrastructure, share technologies, support investments in renewable sources of energy. And in doing so, we can create the jobs of the future, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and make this hemisphere a model for cooperation.

The dangers of climate change are part of a broad range of threats to our citizens, so the third area where we must work together is to advance our common security.

Today, too many people in the Americas live in fear. We must not tolerate violence and insecurity, no matter where it comes from. Children must be safe to play in the street, and families should never face the pain of a kidnapping. Policemen must be more powerful than kingpins, and judges must advance the rule of law. Illegal guns must not flow freely into criminal hands, and illegal drugs must not destroy lives and distort our economy.

Yesterday, President Calderón of Mexico and I renewed our commitment to combat the dangers posed by drug cartels. Today, I want to announce a new initiative to invest $30 million to strengthen cooperation on security in the Caribbean. And I have directed key members of my Cabinet to build and sustain relations with their counterparts in the hemisphere to constantly adjust our tactics, to build upon best practices, and develop new modes of cooperation—because the United States is a friend of every nation and person who seeks a future of security and dignity.

And let me add that I recognize that the problem will not simply be solved by law enforcement if we're not also dealing with our responsibilities in the United States. And that's why we will take aggressive action to reduce our demand for drugs, and to stop the flow of guns and bulk cash south across our borders. And that's why I'm making it a priority to ratify the Illicit Trafficking in Firearms Convention as another tool that we can use to prevent this from happening. And I also am mindful of the statement that's been made earlier, that unless we provide opportunity for an education and for jobs and a career for the young people in the region, then too many will end up being attracted to the drug trade. And so we cannot separate out dealing with the drug issue on the interdiction side and the law enforcement side from the need for critical development in our communities.

Finally, we know that true security only comes with liberty and justice. Those are bedrock values of the Inter-American charter. Generations of our people have worked and fought and sacrificed for them. And it is our responsibility to advance them in our time.

So together, we have to stand up against any force that separates any of our people from that story of liberty—whether it's crushing poverty or corrosive corruption; social exclusion or persistent racism or discrimination. Here in this room, and on this dais, we see the diversity of the Americas. Every one of our nations has a right to follow its own path. But we all have a responsibility to see that the people of the Americans [sic] have the ability to pursue their own dreams in democratic societies.

There's been several remarks directed at the issue of the relationship between the United States and Cuba, so let me address this. The United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba. I know that there is a longer—I know there's a longer journey that must be traveled to overcome decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day. I've already changed a Cuba policy that I believe has failed to advance liberty or opportunity for the Cuban people. We will now allow Cuban Americans to visit the islands whenever they choose and provide resources to their families—the same way that so many people in my country send money back to their families in your countries to pay for everyday needs.

Over the past two years, I've indicated, and I repeat today, that I'm prepared to have my administration engage with the Cuban government on a wide range of issues—from drugs, migration, and economic issues, to human rights, free speech, and democratic reform. Now, let me be clear, I'm not interested in talking just for the sake of talking. But I do believe that we can move U.S.-Cuban relations in a new direction.

As has already been noted, and I think my presence here indicates, the United States has changed over time. It has not always been easy, but it has changed. And so I think it's important to remind my fellow leaders that it's not just the United States that has to change. All of us have responsibilities to look towards the future.

I think it's important to recognize, given historic suspicions, that the United States' policy should not be interference in other countries, but that also means that we can't blame the United States for every problem that arises in the hemisphere. That's part of the bargain. That's part of the change that has to take place. That's the old way, and we need a new way.

The United States will be willing to acknowledge past errors where those errors have been made. We will be partners in helping to alleviate poverty. But the American people have to get some positive reinforcement if they are to be engaged in the efforts to lift other countries out of the poverty that they're experiencing.

Every nation has been on its own journey. Here in Trinidad and Tobago, we must respect those differences while celebrating those things that we share in common. Our nations were all colonized by empires and achieved our own liberation. Our people reflect the extraordinary diversity of human beings, and our shared values reflect a common humanity—the universal desire to leave our children a world that is more prosperous and peaceful than the one that we inherited.

So as we gather here, let us remember that our success must be measured by the ability of people to live their dreams. That's a goal that cannot be encompassed with any one policy or communiqué. It's not a matter of abstractions or ideological debates. It's a question of whether or not we are in a concrete way making the lives of our citizens better. It's reflected in the hopes of our children, in the strength of our democratic institutions, and our faith in the future.

It will take time. Nothing is going to happen overnight. But I pledge to you that the United States will be there as a friend and a partner, because our futures are inextricably bound to the future of the people of the entire hemisphere. And we are committed to shaping that future through engagement that is strong and sustained, that is meaningful, that is successful, and that is based on mutual respect and equality.

Thank you very much.

Secretary Hillary Clinton and President Leonel Fernandez delivered these remarks in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

President Fernandez. (In Spanish.)

Secretary Clinton. Thank you very much, Mr. President. And I greatly enjoyed our visit last night over dinner and then again this morning in our important meeting. I also wish to thank your foreign minister and other ministers and officials of your government for their cooperation and partnership on this visit, but, of course, in so many other ways.

I am delighted to be back in the Dominican Republic. I have been here many times. I have been in this building on several previous occasions, and I am always drawn back by the energy and vitality of the Dominican people and the beauty of your country. As the president said, I am not the only one who has made this trip between our two nations. The vibrant exchange between the Dominican people and our citizens in the United States is extraordinary. More than one million tourists from the United States visit every year, and more than one million people of Dominican descent live in the United States, and I was very proud to call many of them my constituents when I served as senator from New York.

We are linked together by a commitment to shared values and our efforts toward shared prosperity. This is a cornerstone relationship for the United States, and I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for the work you have done to promote democracy and broad-based economic growth in your country. And I would like to thank you, Mr. Foreign Minister, for the work you have done in expanding commercial ties between our countries and commerce throughout the region.

Just as we share these opportunities, we also face challenges, and we have to work together to address them. This is especially true in these difficult economic times. At the heart of our relationship is a commitment to a partnership to address our challenges and seize our opportunities. And it is critical that we focus on security. The president and I spent a lot of time talking about the security challenge. Drug trafficking, drug-related gangs are threatening the safety of citizens, tearing at the fabric of our communities, and we bear a shared responsibility to tackle this serious problem.

The United States is and will be investing millions of dollars in improved law enforcement, improved information gathering and sharing, improved judicial systems and public institutions throughout our hemisphere. The Dominican Republic is doing its part. President Fernandez is showing leadership. He will be hosting a public security meeting later this year so countries in our hemisphere can discuss together how we will fight the drug-fueled crime and lawlessness we face.

And I did ask President Fernandez to work with us and assume an even greater leadership position in the region to work with the Central American and Caribbean countries on all of these challenges and opportunities. Later today, leaders from across the region will arrive at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. We will be discussing concrete ways to improve the lives of people. I saw an example of that earlier today, Mr. President, at the Rosa Duarte School, where I saw the results of a strong partnership led by your administration and your minister of education to improve the language and mathematics skills of students and the governance of schools. And I was proud to announce the United States will continue to support these programs with an additional $12.5 million.

We want also to work with you to broaden investment, trade, and commerce in our region and hemisphere, to protect our environment, and to fight climate change, to look for more secure energy generation and distribution means. And I am very (inaudible), Mr. President, that the long and important relationship that we have had between our countries will begin to deepen and broaden under the Obama Administration and with your leadership.

So thank you for hosting me and my delegation here today. I look forward to continuing our friendship and our dialogue, and making concrete, positive changes in the lives of the people of our two nations and of our neighbors throughout the region and hemisphere. Thank you, Mr. President.

President Fernandez. (In Spanish.)

Q. Thank you very much. I have a question for both of you, please. This morning in Venezuela, Raul Castro indicated that Cuba would be very receptive to a dialogue with the United States, and he said that all the issues would be on the table—human rights, the release of political prisoners, freedom of the press. I wonder, Madame Secretary, whether that constitutes the kind of reciprocity that you were calling for yesterday in Haiti. And if so, would—this could be the opening for a series of next steps, and what might those steps be?

And for the president, you spoke of the role that the U.S. would like the Dominican Republic to play with Cuba and Haiti and other countries. I just wonder how (inaudible) what your reaction was to what the Obama Administration announced earlier in the week with regard to travel restrictions and remittances. And would you like to see the Obama Administration go further (inaudible)?

Secretary Clinton. Well, Mark, let me begin by (inaudible) how earlier this week President Obama announced the most significant policy changes toward Cuba by the United States Government in decades. And we are continuing to look for productive ways forward because we view the present policy as having failed.

You are all familiar with the Administration's general view that engagement is a useful tool to advance our national interests and our goals of promoting human rights, democracy, peace, prosperity, and progress.

So we have seen Raul Castro's comments. We welcome this overture. We are taking a very serious look, and we will consider how we intend to respond.

Secretary Clinton. Let me say that our relationship is excellent. We cooperate on a range of important matters. Now between any two nations, there will be issues that have to be worked out. We have discussed a number of those in our meetings today. I think that some of what I could hear in your question is not factually based in terms of any conclusions or assessments that have been made. But there are issues that we have to resolve better, and that's what we're doing. We're doing it in a spirit of partnership and respect.

And as to the point you made about President Fernandez meeting with leaders throughout the region, we believe that is a positive undertaking by President Fernandez. The new Administration does not agree with the policies of a number of leaders in our region. We think they are not in the best interests of the people of the countries. But we also believe that we should be having more dialogue and discussion. President Fernandez has illustrated that. His leadership has demonstrated it. And we think that is not only to the benefit of the Dominican Republic, but to the entire region, and it is right that an opportunity for us working with President Fernandez to bridge some of these other leaders.

Finally, if I could say a word on Haiti, the prior question that went to President Fernandez—as you may know, I was in Haiti yesterday. I had a lengthy meeting with President Preval and other officials in his government along with representatives of opposition political parties. I attended the donors conference on behalf of the United States where we made a significant (inaudible) to assist Haiti with security, with (inaudible) payments, with (inaudible). We want to work on sustainable agriculture. This is an area where the United States and the Dominican Republic will work very closely together. The Bilateral Commission will begin working on the issues. The United States stands ready to assist Haiti and to work with the Dominican Republic to provide a greater opportunity for the people of Haiti. This is a complex challenge, but we are very committed to working together and we think we can make a difference.

Q. Thank you for your advice. So as you come up to the Summit of the Americas, will the recently warmed state (inaudible) between the United States and Cuba (inaudible) action (inaudible) of the United States, will they have a snowballing effect on the region? Will it take the bite out of your tensions with Venezuela and other leftist governments in the region, (inaudible) President Fernandez?

And finally, if I may ask, Senator Mitchell is traveling to the Middle East. What chance does he have to—Prime Minister Netanyahu to be back (inaudible) two-state solution (inaudible) Saudi Arabia, and what about the Saudi peace initiative (inaudible)?

Secretary Clinton. Well, first, with respect to the Summit of the Americas, President Obama and I are very much looking forward to this opportunity. We will be meeting all of the assembled representatives in large plenary sessions and then in smaller groups as well, as some limited number of bilateral meetings.

But our message is the same. The United States wants to engage our hemisphere. This is our backyard. We are neighbors and friends and partners on so many fronts. We obviously have disagreements with some of the leadership in certain countries in Latin America. But we approach that from a practical, not an ideological perspective. Practically, we think that vibrant markets and open political systems and dynamic democracies and free speech and good governance and the rule of law are in the best interests of the people of all of these countries.

And so when leaders interfere with that and they substitute personal actions for rule of law and good governance, that's troubling to us. Because what we want is for every child in this hemisphere to have a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential. When I was looking at those beautiful children at the Rosa Duarte school today, I could see that the government of this country is investing in these children. And therefore, they will have a better future. We want to help every country realize that dream for their own people. So let's be united against the scourge of drug trafficking which robs people of their freedom, of their future, which undermines civil society. Let's work together on social inclusion so that no group of people are excluded from any country's civil, social growth. Let's work together on health and education and our young people.

So there is so much that we want to explore with other countries at this summit. The United States will continue to defend our interests and our values and our security. That is what is our highest priority. But we think there are many opportunities for us to be more closely aligned with all countries. Indeed, our—as the President said in his inaugural address, holding out our hand if people unclench their fist, and that is what we're hoping to see. Let's put ideology aside. That is so yesterday. Let's figure out how we're going to help people. Let's figure out how we're going to have governments that are respected by their own people. Let's work on solving transnational problems like drug trafficking. And let's then have a spirit of cooperation and partnership in this hemisphere that will benefit us all. And that is our hope and our goal for this first summit that we'll be attending.

Q. (Inaudible.)

Secretary Clinton. Oh, thank goodness. I'm so focused on Latin America and the Western Hemisphere, it's hard to shift gears and think about the rest of the world.

Before I say something, though, in response to your question—and I hope you'll forgive me. I'll give an abbreviated answer. There will be time later for you and I to talk about the Middle East peace process. I did want to take a moment to express my concerns about the reports coming in of an earthquake in Afghanistan, in eastern Afghanistan. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people in that country, particularly in the affected region. The United States and the international community will work to help the areas deal with the impact of the earthquake, and I understand the first convoys from an American reconstruction team has arrived in the area, so we'll get a clearer analysis of what is needed. But I can pledge that more help will be on the way for the people and Government of Afghanistan.

And finally, because I don't want to impose on our friends here in the Dominican Republic, Senator Mitchell is in the region. He's having very productive and fruitful talks with a number of governments throughout the area. The United States is committed to a two-state solution. That has been our policy for a number of years now. Everyone in the region knows that is our policy. We have welcomed the Arab peace initiative, which, for the first time, put the Arab League led by Saudi Arabia on record in favor of a two-state solution, in which Israel will be granted the recognition that it deserves from its neighbors in the region. The new government of Israel has just taken office. We will be following up on the intensive conversations that Senator Mitchell is having in the days and weeks ahead. But I will just conclude by underscoring our commitment to a two-state solution.

Q. (In Spanish.)

Secretary Clinton. Well, I have been very candid in saying that the United States shares responsibility for the upsurge in drug trafficking and related lawlessness and violence because of the big demands within the United States. And that is why we want to work closely together with the Government of the Dominican Republic to come up with a plan that will work. There will be an important meeting in—next month in the region to discuss how we can better coordinate our efforts, what the United States can contribute in the forms of assistance, training, equipping, logistics in respect to preventing the continuing efforts of the drug traffickers not only to peddle their drugs, but to corrupt officials, intimidate people, take over areas within countries if they are able to do so.

All of this will be on the table. We will look at every aspect of how to get active drugs (inaudible) trafficking surge, and I look forward to working with the Dominican Republic. They bring great strengths to the table, and we're going to have a very open discussion about what we all need to be doing.

New $100 Million Microfinance Growth Fund for the Western Hemisphere

The global credit crisis is having a significant and harmful impact on the availability of finance for micro and small businesses that provide a majority of the jobs in the Hemisphere. This is one of the factors jeopardizing recent hard won gains in reducing poverty. While the region has a wealth of microfinance institutions, these lenders are now confronting a serious shortage of private finance from both international and local sources. As the supply of lending is shrinking, the demand for smaller loans is expanding as job loss escalates and the newly unemployed are falling back on micro and small enterprises as their sole source of income. To address this shortfall, the Treasury Department brought together key U.S. and multilateral institutions to develop a rapid response.

Today the President announced a new partnership of the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) for the purpose of launching a new Microfinance Growth Fund for the Western Hemisphere. The fund will provide stable medium and longer-term sources of finance to microfinance institutions and microfinance investment vehicles to help rebuild their capacity to lend during this difficult period and to increase the supply of finance for micro and small businesses as recovery takes hold.

Debt and equity financing of $100 million, subject to each partner's board approval, has already been identified as initial capital for the fund. The MIF will take the lead role in structuring this facility, identifying managers, and defining the lending strategy and the operational procedures, together with other investors. The MIF will launch a request for statements of interest next month.

The fund partners challenge other private and public organizations to join this effort and assist in reaching the ultimate goal of raising $250 million.

Microfinance Growth Fund

The facility: The Microfinance Growth Fund will be established as a Delaware limited partnership to make medium and long term senior loans and subordinated loans to microfinance institutions (MFIs), microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs), and other financial intermediaries that fund micro and small enterprises in Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC). This facility is designed to be a public-private partnership. The funding provided by the facility is intended to support sustained growth of micro and small enterprises in light of the contraction of external financing sources, tighter liquidity in local banking markets, and the projected increased demand.

Potential market size: According to a recent report funded by MIF, there are an estimated 565 MFIs currently financing about nine million microenterprises in the region, with an outstanding loan portfolio of US $9 billion. Loan growth rates have averaged over 40% per year since 2002, as MFIs had ready access to debt and equity financing, from both domestic and international sources, to meet their funding needs. As domestic and external debt financing contracts, regional MFIs could confront a financing shortage of up to US $750 million this year.

Investment Objective: The principal investment objective of the facility will be to provide senior and subordinated medium and long term loans to credit-worthy MFIs, either directly, or indirectly, through MIVs.

Target size and market: A first closing of US $100 million, out of which US $20 million will be equity and US $80 million senior debt. The fund is intended to reach a broad range of sustainable MFIs, including smaller institutions with limited international access to credit that nevertheless play an important and active role.

Fund Manager: The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and other potential investors will conduct a competitive process to select a management company that will be responsible for administering the fund according to pre-established credit criteria. The management company will be selected on the basis of knowledge of and presence in the LAC microfinance and financial sector, previous track record, proven relevant experience, reputation, management, professional capacity, proposed structure, management fees, and cost. MIF will launch a request for statements of interest next month.

Equity Partners: A group of leading investors has been identified that have agreed to collaborate in the design of the facility and that will undertake to present the proposal to their Boards for commitment of the initial US $20 million. These include members of the IDB group (MIF and the Inter-American Investment Corporation or IIC) and other well known and respected public and private sector investors.

Senior debt: The equity will be leveraged by senior debt from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and IIC.

The United States and the 2009 Summit of the Americas: Securing Our Citizens' Future

On April 17-19, President Barack Obama attended the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, along with the 33 other democratically elected Heads of State and Government of the Western Hemisphere. The President used his first meeting with many of his regional counterparts to start engaging in a new relationship with countries of the Americas and to forge partnerships and joint approaches to work on the common challenges facing the people of the Americas—the economic crisis, our energy and climate future, and public safety. The theme of the Summit was “Securing Our Citizens' Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security, and Environmental Sustainability.”

Over the past three days, the Summit leaders demonstrated their commitment to promote human prosperity by agreeing to cooperate to address the current financial crisis, strengthening efforts to reduce inequality, improving food security, promoting health, and improving the quality of education. In the spirit of partnership, leaders committed to developing strategies to promote access for our people to reliable, efficient, affordable and clean energy, especially for the poorest sectors. Leaders also agreed to take actions to promote environmental sustainability. Recognizing the importance of addressing the threats to security in our hemisphere, leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen public security. Leaders also affirmed that the aspirations and goals for the Americas depend on strong democracies, good governance, the rule of law, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. President Obama announced measures of the past three days that reinforce the U.S. commitment to work jointly to advance the goals agreed to in Trinidad and Tobago.

Social Inclusion and Economic Development

In recent years, the Western Hemisphere has made significant progress in social inclusion, the reduction of poverty, and democratic governance. Still, much more needs to be done and President Obama committed to work jointly to protect these advances in a period of economic crisis.

• * Economic Recovery. President Obama led efforts to triple the size of a reformed International Monetary Fund from $250 billion to $750 billion, which will have significant impact on emerging markets in the region. The United States also supported expanding the Inter-American Development Bank's short term crisis response through changes in lending limits and capital ratios.

• * Microfinance Growth Fund for the Western Hemisphere. The President announced a new partnership of the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) for the purpose of launching a fund that will provide stable sources of finance to microfinance institutions and microfinance investment vehicles to help rebuild their capacity to lend during this difficult period and to increase the supply of finance for micro and small businesses as recovery takes hold. The partners have identified $100 million in initial capital and will look for additional partners with the ultimate goal of $250 million.

• * Social Protection Network. President Obama announced his support for the Inter-American Social Protection Network, which will share best practices, including the development of new conditional cash transfer programs. The President also announced that 1,500 students from marginalized groups would receive scholarships to learn English, and 1,300 students would receive scholarships over five years through the Scholarships for Education and Economic Development (SEED) program to study in the United States.

• * Education Partnerships for At-Risk Youth. The President proposed a pilot program to form partnerships with countries that have the highest levels of inequality, significant numbers of unemployed and at-risk youth, and considerable potential for leveraging additional public and private sector resources. This program would add a focus on youth at risk such as out of school youth, under-employed youth, and ex-gang members.

Energy and Climate Change

Approximately 50 percent of U.S. oil imports come from the Western Hemisphere. By increasing green energy cooperation, we will set our economies on a clean energy growth path and curb global greenhouse gas emissions.

• * Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas. President Obama invited countries of the region to participate in an Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas; a voluntary and flexible framework for advancing energy security and combating climate change. Countries will be encouraged to suggest tangible ideas for cooperation, including on energy efficiency, renewable energy, cleaner fossil fuels, and energy infrastructure. President Obama also asked Secretary of Energy Chu to advance further cooperation with his counterparts this June in Peru at the Americas Energy Symposium.

• * Global Climate Change. President Obama expressed his commitment to working with his regional counterparts toward a strong international climate agreement at Copenhagen. He will also work closely with Brazil, Canada, and Mexico through the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate.

Citizen Safety

Public safety and crime are among the top concerns of citizens throughout the region. President Obama emphasized the need for partnerships that address this issue, focusing on our co-responsibility to address threats to public safety.

• * Firearms Trafficking. The United States must do more to reduce the number of illegal firearms which flow to Latin America and the Caribbean. President Obama announced his commitment to seek ratification of the Convention on Illicit Trafficking in Firearms Convention (CIFTA) in 2009, and offering technical assistance to trace illicit firearms and control, store, or destroy excess national stockpiles.

• * Caribbean Basin Security Dialogue. President Obama announced that he would engage the Caribbean Community member states and the Dominican Republic in a strategic security dialogue with the intent of developing a joint security strategy, which may include future increased financial and technical assistance to address shared challenges such as transnational crime, illicit trafficking, and maritime and aviation security. The next meeting between the Caribbean Community and Common Market and the United States is scheduled to take place in May in Suriname.

• * Enhance Public Security Cooperation. President Obama has asked the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security to meet with all of their counterparts in the hemisphere to address violent crime in our communities.

President Barack Obama delivered these remarks in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

President Obama. Well, we just concluded a very productive summit. And I want to thank the people of Trinidad and Tobago for their wonderful hospitality and their gracious welcome. I want to thank Prime Minister Manning and First Lady Manning, his government, for the hospitality they've shown me and our entire delegation.

I do not see eye to eye with every regional leader on every regional issue. And I do not agree with everything that was said at this summit by leaders from other nations. But what we showed here is that we can make progress when we're willing to break free from some of the stale debates and old ideologies that have dominated and distorted the debate in this hemisphere for far too long. We showed that while we have our differences, we can—and must—work together in areas where we have mutual interests, and where we disagree we can disagree respectfully. We showed that there are no senior or junior partners in the Americas; we're simply partners, committed to advancing a common agenda and overcoming common challenges.

Over the past few days, we also discussed what we can do to ensure that the policies we pursue in our own countries advance and do not undercut our broader regional recovery. Together, these efforts will help drive economic expansion in the United States and across the hemisphere and ensure that we do not see an erosion of the progress that we've made to lift people out of poverty and into the middle class.

Second, we're acting boldly, we are acting swiftly, and we are acting in concert to combat threats that are endangering the safety and security of citizens across the Americas. This week, I traveled to Mexico, where I met with President Calderón to advance our shared commitment to combating the drug cartels, stemming the southbound flow of guns and money, and protecting citizens on both sides of our common border.

We're also taking a number of other key steps in concert with our regional partners. So when I met with the Central American nations and the Caribbean nations, they had similar concerns and we pledged to work together to defend our nations and keep our people safe. The United States is investing $30 million in enhanced security partnerships with Caribbean nations to ensure that they have the resources they need to combat drug traffickers seeking to enter their borders from Mexico and Central America. And I'm also making it a priority to ratify the Illicit Trafficking in Firearms Convention and to enhance cooperation with nations across the region to reduce the threat of existing weapons stockpiles.

Third, we're taking a critical step to drive our economic expansion, enhance our security, and protect the bounty and beauty of the hemisphere with a new Energy-Climate Partnership of the Americas that I proposed. Through this partnership, we will harness the progress being made by nations across the hemisphere—from Brazil's work on biofuels, to Chile's investments in solar power, to Mexico's efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, to El Salvador's work on geothermal energy.

This is a voluntary and flexible partnership that nations across this region are invited to join; a partnership that will enhance energy efficiency, improve our infrastructure, and support investments that can make energy more affordable. In doing so, we can create the jobs of the future, promote renewable sources of energy, and make the Americas a model for cooperation.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. The spotlight on your visit here was on the handshake and smiles with Hugo Chavez, but we didn't see much interaction with some of the other leaders of the region like Daniel Ortega, Rafael Correa, or Evo Morales, who yesterday accused the United States of still interfering in its affairs and, even though it's too soon, he says, of not seeing much of change. Did you have any private meetings with any of these leaders, and if so, can you tell us what was discussed?

President Obama. Well, I had meetings with all the leaders involved, including Daniel Ortega, who was the chairperson of the Central American meeting. I had very cordial conversations with President Morales and President Correa. And I think it's just that President Chavez is better at positioning the cameras.

And in all these conversations, here's what I emphasized: that we're not going to agree on every issue, but that as long as we are respectful of democratic processes, as long as we're respectful of principles of sovereignty for all nations, that we can find areas where we can work in common. And my sense is, if you talk to any of those leaders, that they would say that they feel encouraged about the possibility of a more constructive relationship.

Now, specifically on the Bolivia issue, I just want to make absolutely clear that I am absolutely opposed and condemn any efforts at violent overthrows of democratically elected governments, wherever it happens in the hemisphere. That is not the policy of our government. That is not how the American people expect their government to conduct themselves. And so I want to be as clear as possible on that.

But one of the things that I mentioned in both public remarks as well as private remarks is that the United States obviously has a history in this region that's not always appreciated from the perspective of some, but that what we need to do is try to move forward, and that I am responsible for how this administration acts and we will be respectful to those democratically elected governments, even when we disagree with them.

Scott Wilson, Washington Post.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. You said during the summit that you were here not to debate the past. You also said we must learn from our history. You just referred to this history. What have you learned over two days of listening to leaders here about how U.S. policy is perceived in the region? And can you name a specific policy that you will change as a result of what you've heard?

President Obama. Well, I think that what was reemphasized in all the discussions that I had was a sense, on the one hand, that the United States is critical to the economic growth and opportunities in the region. Even the most vociferous critics of the United States also want to make sure that the United States' economy is working and growing again, because there is extraordinary dependence on the United States for exports, for remittances.

And so in that sense people are rooting for America's success. I do think that there is a strain of thought in the region that, in the past, many of the problems surrounding economic growth and opportunity or the lack thereof resulted because of a too rigid application of a free market doctrine imposed by the IMF—what is termed the “Washington consensus.”

I think in some cases, those issues have been addressed. At the G20 summit, for example, we talked about the need to create a reformed international financial—set of international financial institutions that provide additional flexibility, provide more voice and vote to developing countries. In some cases, it may be just a carryover of knee-jerk anti-American sentiment, or simply differing—differences in terms of economic theories and how the economies should grow.

One thing that I thought was interesting—and I knew this in a more abstract way but it was interesting in very specific terms—hearing from these leaders who when they spoke about Cuba talked very specifically about the thousands of doctors from Cuba that are dispersed all throughout the region, and upon which many of these countries heavily depend. And it's a reminder for us in the United States that if our only interaction with many of these countries is drug interdiction, if our only interaction is military, then we may not be developing the connections that can, over time, increase our influence and have—have a beneficial effect when we need to try to move policies that are of concern to us forward in the region.

And I think that's why it's so important that in our interactions not just here in the hemisphere but around the world, that we recognize that our military power is just one arm of our power, and that we have to use our diplomatic and development aid in more intelligent ways so that people can see very practical, concrete improvements in the lives of ordinary persons as a consequence of U.S. foreign policy.

Chuck Todd.

Q. A lot of people are going to start trying to write about the “Obama doctrine.” What should be the—what are the pillars of that that you think people should be taking away—after observing you on the world stage the last three weeks, what are the pillars of the Obama doctrine?

President Obama. Well, you know, I will leave it up to you, Chuck, to write the definitive statement on Obamaism. But there are a couple of principles that I've tried to apply across the board: Number one, that the United States remains the most powerful, wealthiest nation on Earth, but we're only one nation, and that the problems that we confront, whether it's drug cartels, climate change, terrorism, you name it, can't be solved just by one country. And I think if you start with that approach, then you are inclined to listen and not just talk.

And so in all these meetings what I've said is, we have some very clear ideas in terms of where the international community should be moving; we have some very specific national interests, starting with safety and security that we have to attend to; but we recognize that other countries have good ideas, too, and we want to hear them. And the fact that a good idea comes from a small country like a Costa Rica should not somehow diminish the fact that it's a good idea. I think people appreciate that. So that's number one.

Number two, I think that—I feel very strongly that when we are at our best, the United States represents a set of universal values and ideals—the idea of democratic practices, the idea of freedom of speech and religion, the idea of a civil society where people are free to pursue their dreams and not be imposed upon constantly by their government. So we've got a set of ideas that I think have broad applicability. But what I also believe is that other countries have different cultures, different perspectives, and are coming out of different histories, and that we do our best to promote our ideals and our values by our example.

And so if we are practicing what we preach and if we occasionally confess to having strayed from our values and our ideals, that strengthens our hand; that allows us to speak with greater moral force and clarity around these issues.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. You've heard from a lot of Latin America leaders here who want the U.S. to lift the embargo against Cuba. You've said that you think it's an important leverage to not lift it. But in 2004, you did support lifting the embargo. You said, it's failed to provide the source of raising standards of living, it's squeezed the innocent, and it's time for us to acknowledge that this particular policy has failed. I'm wondering, what made you change your mind about the embargo?

President Obama. Well, 2004, that seems just eons ago. What was I doing in 2004?

Q. Running for Senate.

President Obama. Is it while—I was running for Senate. There you go. Look, what I said and what I think my entire administration has acknowledged is, is that the policy that we've had in place for 50 years hasn't worked the way we want it to. The Cuban people are not free. And that's our lodestone, our North Star, when it come to our policy in Cuba.

It is my belief that we're not going to change that policy overnight, and the steps that we took I think were constructive in sending a signal that we'd like to see a transformation. But I am persuaded that it is important to send a signal that issues of political prisoners, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, democracy—that those continue to be important, that they're not simply something to be brushed aside.

What was remarkable about the summit was that every leader who was participating was democratically elected. We might not be happy with the results of some elections; we might be happier with others; we might disagree with some of the leaders, but they all were conferred the legitimacy of a country speaking through democratic channels. And that is not yet there in Cuba.

Now, I think that as a starting point, it's important for us not to think that completely ignoring Cuba is somehow going to change policy, and the fact that you had Raul Castro say he's willing to have his government discuss with ours not just issues of lifting the embargo, but issues of human rights, political prisoners, that's a sign of progress.

And so we're going to explore and see if we can make some further steps. There are some things that the Cuban government could do. They could release political prisoners. They could reduce charges on remittances to match up with the policies that we have put in place to allow Cuban-American families to send remittances. It turns out that Cuba charges an awful lot, they take a lot off the top. That would be an example of cooperation where both governments are working to help Cuban families and raise standards of living in Cuba.

So there are going to be some ways that the Cuban government I think can send some signals that they're serious about pursuing change. And I'm hopeful that over time the overwhelming trend in the hemisphere will occur in Cuba, as well. And I think that all of the governments here were encouraged by the fact that we had taken some first steps. Many of them want us to go further, but they at least see that we are not dug in into policies that were formulated before I was born.

Bill Plante. No? Bill is not here? That's shocking. Dan from CNN.

Q. During the campaign you were criticized by some within your own party for perhaps not being able to be tough on foreign policy matters. Now you've had this friendly interaction with Mr. Chavez. Are you concerned at all about how this might be perceived back in the U.S. as perhaps being soft? Already one senator is calling this friendly interaction irresponsible. And as a quick follow-up, if I may, when you got the book from Mr. Chavez, what did you really think?

President Obama. I think it was a nice gesture to give me a book; I'm a reader. And you're right, we had this debate throughout the campaign, and the whole notion was, is that somehow if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness. The American people didn't buy it. And there's a good reason the American people didn't buy it—because it doesn't make sense.

You take a country like Venezuela—I have great differences with Hugo Chavez on matters of economic policy and matters of foreign policy. His rhetoric directed at the United States has been inflammatory. There have been instances in which we've seen Venezuela interfere with some of the—some of the countries that surround Venezuela in ways that I think are a source of concern.

On the other hand, Venezuela is a country whose defense budget is probably 1/600th of the United States'. They own Citgo. It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States. I don't think anybody can find any evidence that that would do so. Even within this imaginative crowd, I think you would be hard-pressed to paint a scenario in which U.S. interests would be damaged as a consequence of us having a more constructive relationship with Venezuela.

So if the question, Dan, is, how does this play politically, I don't know. One of the benefits of my campaign and how I've been trying to operate as President is I don't worry about the politics—I try to figure out what's right in terms of American interests, and on this one I think I'm right.

Q. I'll take that one. Mr. President, as you're concluding your summit here and the meeting in Mexico, there is a U.S.—a U.N. conference, the world conference on racism in Geneva tomorrow. The U.S. is boycotting. And what say you about that? And is Zionism a main issue in the reason why the U.S. is boycotting the racism conference?

President Obama. Well, let me, first of all, say that I believe in the United Nations. I believe in the possibility of the United Nations serving as an effective forum to deal with a whole host of transnational conflicts.

And so I want to be as encouraging as I can, and I've said that to the General Secretary.

For that reason, we're actually—have pursued a seat on the Human Rights Commission, the U.N. Human Rights Commission, because even though up until this point we haven't been very pleased with how it's operated, we think that it's worthwhile for us to go in there and try to make it into a constructive organization because of the extraordinary range of human rights violations that exist around the world. And I think America should be a leader; we can't opt out of those discussions.

Now, in that same spirit, I would love to be involved in a useful conference that addressed continuing issues of racism and discrimination around the globe—which, by the way, are not a particular province of any one country. Obviously we've had our own experiences with racial discrimination, but if you come down to Central and South America and the Caribbean, they have all kinds of stories to tell about racial discrimination.

Somebody mentioned earlier President Morales. Whatever I think about his politics, the fact that he is the first indigenous—person of indigenous background to be elected in a country that has a enormous indigenous population indicates how much work remains to be done around the world.

So we would love to engage constructively in a discussion like that. Here's the problem: You had a previous conference—I believe it was in 2001, maybe it was 2002—I think it was 2001—in which it became a session through which folks expressed antagonism towards Israel in ways that were oftentimes completely hypocritical and counterproductive. And we expressed in the run-up to this conference our concerns that if you incorporated—if you adopted all the language from 2001, that's just not something we could sign up for.

So if we have a clean start, a fresh start, we're happy to go. If you're incorporating a previous conference that we weren't involved with that raised a whole set of objectionable provisions, then we couldn't participate or it wouldn't be worth it for us to participate because we couldn't get past that particular issue.

And unfortunately, even though I think other countries made great efforts to accommodate some of our concerns and assured us that this conference would be more constructive, our participation would have involved putting our imprimatur on something that we just don't believe.

So what we've said—and I said this to Secretary General Moon who was here addressing the summit—we're happy to work with them to see if we can move forward on some of these issues. Hopefully some concrete steps come out of the conference that we can partner with other countries on to actually reduce discrimination around the globe. But this wasn't an opportunity to do it.

Q. Mr. President, you haven't addressed the Iranian journalist. I think people would like to hear about that.

President Obama. I will. Obviously I am gravely concerned with her safety and well-being. We are working to make sure that she is properly treated and to get more information about the disposition of her case.

She is an American citizen, and I have complete confidence that she was not engaging in any sort of espionage. She is an Iranian American who was interested in the country which her family came from. And it is appropriate for her to be treated as such and to be released.

We are going to be in contact with—through our Swiss intermediaries—with the Iranian government and want to ensure that we end up seeing a proper disposition of this case.

Okay? Thanks. Thank you, guys.

Joint Statement by President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Harper

The Governments of the United States and Canada have reviewed and approved the restructuring plans of Chrysler LLC and its subsidiaries, including Chrysler Canada Inc.

As a result, thanks to the considerable contributions and sacrifices of company management, the United Auto Workers and Canadian Auto Workers, and major lenders, and a successful partnership agreement with Fiat SpA, our Governments are in a position to extend support to help Chrysler restructure itself and re-emerge as a globally competitive automaker.

“We appreciate the close and cooperative relationship between the U.S. and Canadian governments during this period of restructuring in the auto industry. Together, we have put in place a financing package that will give Chrysler a chance to achieve financial viability,” said President Obama.

“I want to thank President Obama and the U.S Automotive Task Force for their close cooperation with Canada on this challenging issue. Thanks to our joint efforts, there is now a road ahead to a stronger Chrysler and a stronger industry in the future on both sides of the border,” said Prime Minister Harper.

The Governments will provide $US 10.5 billion in financing, including short term and medium term capital and debtor-in-possession financing to assist with the court-supervised restructuring of Chrysler LLC. Of this amount, the United States is contributing $US 8.08 billion and Canadian governments (including the Government of Canada and Government of Ontario) $US 2.42 billion.

The United States will have 8 percent of the equity of the restructured Chrysler LLC, and Canada and Ontario will have 2 percent, and the United States will appoint four independent directors to the new Chrysler LLC board, while Canada will appoint one independent director.

The close cooperation of our Governments acknowledges that the automotive industries in Canada and the United States are tightly linked, with major automobile manufacturers and suppliers operating on both sides of the border in a completely integrated way. The cost sharing reflects the historic shares of auto production in both countries for Chrysler, which will be maintained under this restructuring agreement.

The United States and Canada are committed to continuing to work together closely as we chart the path to a stronger automobile industry in both countries, both in the short term as we complete similar efforts on General Motors restructuring plan, and in the long term as we seek to ensure a competitive, environmentally responsible automobile industry for the future.

President Barack Obama delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

Q. With the flu outbreak spreading and worsening, can you talk about whether you think it's time to close the border with Mexico, and whether—under what conditions you might consider quarantining, when that might be appropriate?

President Obama. Well, first of all, as I said, this is a cause for deep concern, but not panic. And I think that we have to make sure that we recognize that how we respond—intelligently, systematically, based on science and what public health officials have to say—will determine in large part what happens.

I've consulted with our public health officials extensively on a day-to-day basis, in some cases, an hour-to-hour basis. At this point they have not recommended a border closing. From their perspective it would be akin to closing the barn door after the horses are out, because we already have cases here in the United States. We have ramped up screening efforts, as well as made sure that additional supplies are there on the border so that we can prepare in the eventuality that we have to do more than we're doing currently.

But the most important thing right now that public health officials have indicated is that we treat this the same way that we would treat other flu outbreaks, just understanding that because this is a new strain we don't yet know how it will respond. So we have to take additional precautions—essentially, take out some additional insurance. That's why I asked for an additional $1.5 million, so that we can make sure that everything is in place should a worst-case scenario play out.

I do want to compliment Democrats and Republicans who worked diligently back in 2005 when the bird flu came up. I was part of a group of legislators who worked with the Bush administration to make sure that we had beefed up our infrastructure and our stockpiles of antiviral drugs like Tamiflu. And I think the Bush administration did a good job of creating the infrastructure so that we can respond. For example, we've got 50 million courses of antiviral drugs in the event that they're needed.

So the government is going to be doing everything that we can. We're coordinating closely with state and local officials. Secretary Napolitano at the Department of Homeland Security, newly installed Secretary Sebelius of Health and Human Services, our Acting CDC Director—they are all on the phone on a daily basis with all public health officials across the states to coordinate and make sure that there's timely reporting, that if as new cases come up that we are able to track them effectively, that we're allocating resources so that they're in place.

The key now I think is to make sure that we are maintaining great vigilance, that everybody responds appropriately when cases do come up. And individual families start taking very sensible precautions that can make a huge difference. So wash your hands when you shake hands. Cover your mouth when you cough. I know it sounds trivial, but it makes a huge difference. If you are sick, stay home. If your child is sick, keep them out of school. If you are feeling certain flu symptoms, don't get on an airplane. Don't get on any system of public transportation where you're confined and you could potentially spread the virus.

So those are the steps that I think we need to take right now. But understand that because this is a new strain, we have to be cautious. If this was a strain that we were familiar with, then we might have to—then I think we wouldn't see the kind of alert levels that we're seeing, for example, with the World Health Organization. Okay?

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. You've said in the past that waterboarding, in your opinion, is torture. Torture is a violation of international law and the Geneva conventions. Do you believe that the previous administration sanctioned torture?

President Obama. What I've said—and I will repeat—is that waterboarding violates our ideals and our values. I do believe that it is torture. I don't think that's just my opinion; that's the opinion of many who've examined the topic. And that's why I put an end to these practices. I am absolutely convinced it was the right thing to do—not because there might not have been information that was yielded by these various detainees who were subjected to this treatment, but because we could have gotten this information in other ways, in ways that were consistent with our values, in ways that were consistent with who we are.

I was struck by an article that I was reading the other day, talking about the fact that the British during World War II, when London was being bombed to smithereens, had 200 or so detainees. And Churchill said, we don't torture—when the entire British—all of the British people were being subjected to unimaginable risk and threat. And the reason was that Churchill understood you start taking shortcuts, and over time that corrodes what's best in a people. It corrodes the character of a country.

And so I strongly believe that the steps that we've taken to prevent these kinds of enhanced interrogation techniques will make us stronger over the long term, and make us safer over the long term, because it will put us in a position where we can still get information—in some cases, it may be harder, but part of what makes us, I think, still a beacon to the world, is that we are willing to hold true to our ideals even when it's hard, not just when it's easy.

At the same time, it takes away a critical recruitment tool that al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations have used to try to demonize the United States and justify the killing of civilians. And it makes us—it puts us in a much stronger position to work with our allies in the kind of international coordinated intelligence activity that can shut down these networks.

So this is a decision that I am very comfortable with. And I think the American people over time will recognize that it is better for us to stick to who we are, even when we're taking on a unscrupulous enemy.

Okay. I'm sorry.

Q.—administration sanction torture?

President Obama. I believe that waterboarding was torture. And I think that the—whatever legal rationales were used, it was a mistake.

Mark Knoller.

Q. Thank you, sir. Let me follow up, if I may, on Jake's question. Did you read the documents recently referred to by former Vice President Cheney and others, saying that the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques not only protected the nation, but saved lives? And if part of the United States were under imminent threat, could you envision yourself ever authorizing the use of those enhanced interrogation techniques?

President Obama. I have read the documents. Now, they haven't been officially declassified and released, and so I don't want to go into the details of them. But here's what I can tell you—that the public reports and the public justifications for these techniques—which is that we got information from these individuals that were subjected to these techniques—doesn't answer the core question, which is, could we have gotten that same information without resorting to these techniques? And it doesn't answer the broader question. Are we safer as a consequence of having used these techniques?

So when I made the decision to release these memos and when I made the decision to bar these practices, this was based on consultation with my entire national security team, and based on my understanding that ultimately I will be judged as Commander-in-Chief on how safe I'm keeping the American people. That's the responsibility I wake up with and it's the responsibility I go to sleep with.

And so I will do whatever is required to keep the American people safe, but I am absolutely convinced that the best way I can do that is to make sure that we are not taking shortcuts that undermine who we are. And there have been no circumstances during the course of this first hundred days in which I have seen information that would make me second-guess the decision that I've made.

Chuck Todd.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to move to Pakistan. Pakistan appears to be at war with the Taliban inside their own country. Can you reassure the American people that, if necessary, America could secure Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and keep it from getting into the Taliban's hands or, worst-case scenario, even al Qaeda's hands?

President Obama. I'm confident that we can make sure that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is secure—primarily, initially, because the Pakistani army I think recognizes the hazards of those weapons falling into the wrong hands. We've got strong military to military consultation and cooperation. I am gravely concerned about the situation in Pakistan not because I think that they're immediately going to be overrun and the Taliban would take over in Pakistan; more concerned that the civilian government there right now is very fragile and don't seem to have the capacity to deliver basic services—schools, health care, rule of law, a judicial system that works for the majority of people. And so as a consequence it is very difficult for them to gain the support and the loyalty of their people.

So we need to help Pakistan help Pakistanis. And I think that there's a recognition increasingly on the part of both the civilian government there and the army that that is their biggest weakness.

On the military side you're starting to see some recognition just in the last few days, that the obsession with India as the mortal threat to Pakistan has been misguided, and that their biggest threat right now comes internally. And you're starting to see the Pakistan military take much more seriously the armed threat from militant extremists.

We want to continue to encourage Pakistan to move in that direction. And we will provide them all the cooperation that we can. We want to respect their sovereignty, but we also recognize that we have huge strategic interests, huge national security interests in making sure that Pakistan is stable and that you don't end up having a nuclear armed militant state.

Q. But in a worst-case scenario—

President Obama. I'm not going to engage—

Q.—military, U.S. military could secure this nuclear—

President Obama. I'm not going to engage in hypotheticals of that sort. I feel confident that that nuclear arsenal will remain out of militant hands. Okay?

Jeff Mason.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, when you met with the Hispanic caucus a few weeks ago, reports came out that the White House was planning to have a forum to talk about immigration and bring it to the forefront. Going forward, my question is, what is your strategy to try to have immigration reform? And are you still on the same timetable to have it accomplished in the first year of your presidency? And also I'd like to know if you're going to reach out to Senator John McCain, who is Republican and in the past has favored immigration reform?

President Obama. Well, we reach out to Senator McCain on a whole host of issues. He has been a leader on immigration reform; I think he has had the right position on immigration reform, and I would love to partner with him and others on what is going to be a critical issue. We've also worked with Senator McCain on what I think is a terrific piece of legislation that he and Carl Levin have put together around procurement reform. We want that moved and we're going to be working hard with them to get that accomplished.

What I told the congressional Hispanic caucus is exactly what I said the very next day in a town hall meeting and what I will continue to say publically, and that is we want to move this process. We can't continue with a broken immigration system. It's not good for anybody. It's not good for American workers. It's dangerous for Mexican would-be workers who are trying to cross a dangerous border. It is putting a strain on border communities who oftentimes have to deal with a host of undocumented workers, and it keeps those undocumented workers in the shadows, which means they can be exploited at the same time as they're depressing U.S. wages.

So what I hope to happen is that we're able to convene a working group, working with key legislators, like Luis Gutierrez and Nydia Velázquez and others, to start looking at a framework of how this legislation might be shaped. In the meantime, what we're trying to do is take some core—some key administrative steps to move the process along to lay the groundwork for legislation, because the American people need some confidence that if we actually put a package together we can execute.

So Janet Napolitano, who has great knowledge of this because of having been a border governor, she's already in the process of reviewing and figuring out how can we strengthen our border security in a much more significant way than we're doing. If the American people don't feel like you can secure the borders, then it's hard to strike a deal that would get people out of the shadows and on a pathway to citizenship who are already here, because the attitude of the average American is going to be, well, you're just going to have hundreds of thousands of more coming in each year. On the other hand, showing that there's a more thoughtful approach than just raids of a handful of workers—as opposed to, for example, taking seriously the violations of companies that sometimes are actively recruiting these workers to come in—that's again, something that we can start doing administratively.

So what we want to do is to show that we are competent in getting results around immigration, even on the structures that we already have in place, the laws that we already have in place, so that we're building confidence among the American people that we can actually follow through on whatever legislative approach emerges.

Q. Do you feel confident—

President Obama. I see the process moving this first year, and I'm going to be moving it as quickly as I can. I've been accused of doing too much. We are moving full steam ahead on all fronts. Ultimately, I don't have control of the legislative calendar. And so we're going to work with legislative leaders to see what we can do.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. During the campaign you criticized President Bush's use of the state secrets privilege. But U.S. attorneys have continued to argue the Bush position in three cases in court. How exactly does your view of state secrets differ from President Bush's? And do you believe Presidents should be able to derail entire lawsuits about warrantless wiretapping or rendition, if classified information is involved?

President Obama. I actually think that the state secret doctrine should be modified. I think right now it's over-broad. But keep in mind what happens is, we come into office, we're in for a week—and suddenly we've got a court filing that's coming up. And so we don't have the time to effectively think through what, exactly, should a overarching reform of that doctrine take. We've got to respond to the immediate case in front of us.

I think it is appropriate to say that there are going to be cases in which national security interests are genuinely at stake, and that you can't litigate without revealing covert activities or classified information that would genuinely compromise our safety. But searching for ways to redact, to carve out certain cases, to see what can be done so that a judge in chambers can review information without it being in open court—you know, there should be some additional tools so that it's not such a blunt instrument. And we're interested in pursuing that. I know that Eric Holder and Greg Craig, my White House Counsel, and others are working on that as we speak.

Secretary Hillary Clinton delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

Joint Statement by Secretary Napolitano and Canadian Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan on the U.S.-Canada Border

Canada-U.S. Framework for the Movement of Goods and People Across the Border During and Following an Emergency

The Honorable Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Honorable Peter Van Loan, Canadian Minister of Public Safety, recognize the unique nature of the U.S.-Canada border and share a determination to tackle common threats that we face, including terrorism and organized crime.

“We are working in partnership to ensure we manage the border in a way that contributes to the well-being of our two countries and recognize that we can enhance our security without compromising trade.

Together, the United States and Canada create and trade over a billion dollars worth of goods and services each day. We are committed to a collaborative approach to our border—one that enhances our security and public safety while facilitating the trade and travel that connects our two countries.

Building on a longstanding relationship of cooperation and collaboration, we share the following goals and plan to meet twice a year to monitor progress:

• * Develop joint threat and risk assessments to assist the two countries in forming a common understanding of the threats and risks we face.

• * Advance initiatives that manage risk while facilitating the movement of legitimate goods and people; and enhance our ability to assist one another in times of emergency.

• * Endeavour to share information relevant to preventing people or goods that threaten our mutual safety and security from entering either nation or from crossing our shared border, consistent with our respective laws, including our privacy laws.

• * Where our national laws inhibit or prohibit such sharing, we will strive to ensure that our separate systems prevent entry of dangerous people or goods to either country or across the shared border.

• * Expand integrated law enforcement operations along our shared border and waterways to prevent criminals and/or terrorists from using the border to evade enforcement or to inflict harm on our two countries.

• * Seek to leverage resources where possible by exploring models for joint or shared border facilities, equipment, and technology, as well as for cross-designation of personnel as appropriate.”

Secretary Hillary Clinton delivered these remarks in San Salvador, El Salvador

Secretary Clinton. Thank you. I am delighted to be with you today and I feel privileged to be in El Salvador at this historic moment for the Salvadoran people. The transfer of power that we will witness tomorrow exemplifies the progress that has occurred throughout our hemisphere during the past two decades. This gathering—which is being co-hosted by two parties who were once at war—is hard evidence of the strength and durability of democracy and the promise it holds not only for this country, but for our region.

The United States is grateful for the productive relationship we have had with El Salvador during President Saca's time in office, and we are looking forward to similarly strong cooperation and friendship with the government of President-elect Funes.

In El Salvador and throughout the region, we are focused not on old battles but on new partnerships that improve lives, advance democratic principles, and promote the common good—and we seek to work in a spirit of mutual respect with those who share our goal to make the Americas more peaceful and more prosperous.

President Obama has emphasized that it's not important whether ideas come from one party or another, so long as they move us in the right direction. This meeting builds on the work of the previous U.S. administration, but the President and I are also committed to re-launching Pathways to Prosperity, and expanding its work to spread the benefits of economic recovery, growth, and open markets to the most vulnerable and marginalized citizens of our region.

To achieve the shared prosperity we seek, we must integrate our commitment to democracy and open markets with an equal commitment to social inclusion.

Rather than defining economic progress simply by profit margins and GDP, our yardstick must be the quality of human lives, whether families have enough food on the table; whether young people have access to schooling from early childhood through university; whether workers earn decent wages and have safe conditions at their jobs; whether mothers and fathers have access to medical care for themselves and their children so that children dying before adulthood is a rarity, not an accepted fact; and whether every person who works hard and takes responsibility has the promise of a brighter future.

The global financial crisis has reinforced how closely our economies are linked—if there was any doubt before, there should be none now. We know that commerce between our nations is and will be a crucial part of our economic recovery. And that trade should be an integral part of our national development strategies. Achieving the type of broad-based prosperity that citizens of the Americas deserve and demand will require us to harness the talents of all our citizens.

Pathways to Prosperity can and will help spread the benefits of economic engagement and trade to women, rural farmers and small businesses, Afro-descendents, indigenous communities, and others too often left on the sidelines of progress.

To succeed, we must:

• * Set concrete goals;

• * Broaden the scope and the impact of our efforts; and

• * Develop a plan with mile markers that will allow us to assess our progress.

The 14 Pathways countries represent 34 percent of the world's GDP—we know how to get things done. Our work within this partnership should focus on achieving tangible results. We all need to be in what I call the solutions business.

We already have examples of cooperation on trade and development producing real progress for our citizens. In Honduras, the Food for Progress program found new markets for the potatoes grown by 1,400 small farmers.

As a result, the farmers' sales doubled, and they increased their average annual income from less than $800 to $2,100. In Peru, the Micro and Small Enterprise Facilitation Program has helped more than 80 municipalities implement new regulations for business creation. They've cut business registration time by 80% and reduced costs by more than half. In Chile, collaborative work to satisfy trade and sanitary regulations allowed small farmers to take advantage of the season difference between the northern and southern hemispheres, and secure new markets for strawberries and other summer crops in the U.S. and Canada. We've also seen successful efforts to protect labor rights. And our newest trade initiatives, like Peru's Free Trade Agreement with the United States, have been designed to encourage good environmental stewardship.

The farmers, small businesses, and workers that benefit from these programs know the difference between rhetoric and results. We need to build on these successes, and ensure that all citizens of our hemisphere can share in the benefits of economic engagement and social equity.

For Pathways, this will mean expanding beyond our current focus and our current membership. We should work to promote educational exchanges and language training programs to harness the power of underprivileged youth and lay the foundation for regional cooperation among future generations. We should provide technical assistance to rural businesses and others who lack easy access to global markets. I hope we will supply women entrepreneurs with mentors, training, and other tools for success, as the United States is planning to do through its Pathways Envoys program. We can expand the availability of microcredit loans.

And Pathways should be open to working with new partners including other nations and sub-regional banks that share our commitment to open markets and greater social inclusion. I want to note the presence of the observer countries—Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago—that are here today. Going forward, I hope you and other countries from our hemisphere will join us in this initiative as full members.

The Americas are becoming more connected and more dynamic. As this trend continues, our region will need to provide greater leadership on a broad array of global issues. Pathways is one example of the kind of multilateral partnership that can help address the complex challenges of the 21st century.

Today, in El Salvador, let us look back and acknowledge the progress we have made in building democracy and peace throughout our region. But let us also embark together down a new path defined by shared responsibilities, shared opportunities, and a commitment improve the life of every citizen in the Americas. We are part of the same family, this continent is our common home, and we will inhabit a common future. Let us do all we can to harness the untapped human potential that covers this vast hemisphere.

New Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas

Secretary Hillary Clinton and President Mauricio Funes delivered these remarks in San Salvador, El Salvador

President Funes. Good afternoon, colleagues of the press, international/national press, we thank you for your patience and your high doses of tolerance for having—for being here in presidential house for the generation of news. We have just sustained a very important meeting with the Secretary of State of the United States of America, Mrs. Hillary Clinton and a part of her staff, where we have (inaudible) the commitment for improving our relationship (inaudible) during the speech this morning at the amphitheater this morning on the occasion of my speech. The relations with the United States for our government and for the Salvadoran people are strategic and fundamental relations, which we want to strengthen and reinforce.

We have the best purpose to (inaudible) interested in strengthening it—the United States—and can continue being a strategic partner to face common problems that are troubling both our nations. And as I just said, I thank President Obama and his government (inaudible) the interest that he has placed in Latin America and particularly the Central American region, and now our country, El Salvador. Traditionally, United States is a country whose governments have been concerned, are facing and calling on the countries of Central America to (inaudible) against organized crime, drug traffic, international terrorism. And I have said to Madame Secretary that you can find the new government of El Salvador an ally to work together on that.

But we also need the Government of the United States—we need their support, understanding, so that the Salvadorans can make (inaudible) go against an enemy that we consider as dangerous as organized crime, and this is to go against poverty and social inequality. And this is for the Government of the United States through the impact that it has in the multilateral banks and international monetary funds and IDB and World Bank can help us. As I have shared it this morning with the Salvadoran people, we are receiving a country in a critical situation and a government with very unfortunate public finances. And we need to (inaudible) to international credit. We need to (inaudible) to the request of new loans with international banks. As I have said and Mrs. Secretary has understood it well that as El Salvador reduces poverty, social inequality, and we can generate better and more jobs and improve the living conditions of the Salvadorans. We won't have Salvadorans—or at least we will reduce an important amount of Salvadorans that when they don't see development possibilities here, they will move to United States.

I have heard with great satisfaction on the part of Mrs. Secretary of State the commitment of the Government of United States to continue giving us support that has been given up until now, and I have also listened with great satisfaction from Mrs. Secretary the interest to assist, to resolve helping—to help solve our problems that are common, not only here but in the United States, and to institutionalize a permanent dialogue mechanism that will allow us to get our governments closer with one sole purpose, to make of the United States and of El Salvador and all of Latin America very more prosperous, equal, and fair societies.

Therefore, in this first formal meeting that I have had with Madame Secretary, and now as constitutional president of the republic, I cannot do anything else but bring a sentiment of great satisfaction because of the (inaudible) of this meeting and having discovered or confirmed something that I had already found. Madame Secretary, a deep human feeling, a particularly clear feeling of solidarity with the problems that the Salvadoran people live and have publicly, Mrs. Secretary, my appreciation for those expressions that you have had for the Government of El Salvador and for the Salvadoran people.

Secretary Clinton. Thank you so much, Mr. President. And it has been a pleasure and an honor being with you, your wife Vanda, your new government and the people of El Salvador today for this historic occasion. I am very excited by the energy and commitment that you've put forth in your inaugural address that we've had a chance to discuss in greater depth during our meeting. And I want to convey our warmest congratulations to you and your country on behalf of President Obama and the United States.

I know that President Obama is looking forward to building a personal relationship with you, and I extended an invitation for President Funes to come to Washington, D.C., as soon as the schedules of the president and our President can be arranged.

I have attended many inaugurations, but this was one of the most joyful, most exciting that I have ever been privileged to witness.

The United States is taking a new approach to our hemisphere, based on the principles of shared responsibility and mutual respect. And the conversation that President Funes and I just concluded reflected that spirit.

We discussed our joint commitment to promoting the security of our citizens by fighting crime and drug trafficking, expanding economic opportunity in order to diminish poverty and the effects that it brings in the lives of people, improving education, emphasizing social inclusion. We are committed to working with you to find common solutions for our common challenges.

So, Mr. President, as I told you, the United States stands ready to assist you and your new government. This is a commitment that President Obama and I share, and we will look forward to deepening and broadening our cooperation and to ensure that the very exciting feeling that was generated by this day with your new government, your transparency, your willingness to admit the problems that you face, your openness to find solutions to those problems, will result in better lives, better opportunities, and a better future for the people of El Salvador.

And Mr. President, I also wanted just to take this opportunity to recognize the decision by the Brazilian federal court today ordering a young American boy, Sean Goldman, to be reunited with his father, David. It's taken a long time for this day to come, but we will work with the Goldman family and the Brazilian Government with the goal of ensuring this young boy's return.

We want to see the rule of law. We want to see governments working together. But more than that, Mr. President, we want to see people-to-people exchanges and experiences. And so we are here today not only representing the Obama Administration and not only representing more than one million Salvadorans who live in the United States, but representing the people of our country who join with you in your commitment to making sure that your people have the best opportunities that a government can provide for them.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Q. Thank you. Madame Secretary, we want to ask you first—you have expressed concern—am I being heard? Okay. Okay, Madame Secretary, you have expressed some concerns about the behavior of anti-U.S. leaders in this region and the growing influence of China, Russia, and especially Iran, while the United States was disengaged from the region. How do your efforts to engage left-to-center leaders such as President Funes fit into the Obama Administration's strategy to mend ties in Latin America and promote U.S. interests here?

Mr. President Funes, we also have a question for you.

Do you support the U.S. position that Cuba, with whom you have decided to normalize relations, should only rejoin the OAS after it releases political prisoners and adheres to the OAS's Democratic Charter? And if so, will you urge your fellow Latin American leaders who support the U.S. position in San Pedro Sula tomorrow?

Thank you.

Secretary Clinton. Well, let me start by saying that the United States, under the Obama Administration, is committed to reengaging in Latin America, to working with all countries, and we have begun doing that. We believe that lifting people out of poverty in our hemisphere, narrowing the intolerable income gap that exists between the rich and the poor in our hemisphere, working for greater social inclusion, improved education and healthcare, these are our goals. This is what we believe. This is what President Obama stands for.

So I cannot speak for any other countries' mercantile or political interests. I can only underscore the shared values, the common purpose that we feel we have with our friends and neighbors in this region.

And as we discuss a lot of our problems that we have in common today, it is very clear that President Obama and President Funes share so much in common. Some might say President Obama is left-of-center. And of course, that means that we are going to work well with countries that share our commitment to improving and enhancing the human potential. I want to see a region where every boy or girl has a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential, not just my daughter, not just that beautiful young boy that the president carried out of the inauguration today that he and Vanda are so proud of, but every child. I think that is our mission.

So we look forward to our close working relationship. Let me just say on the second question, President Obama has done more in four months to reach out to Cuba than has been done at least in the last eight years and longer, because we believe that it is in the Cuban people's interest and the interest of our region for Cuba to be more integrated. So we are now going to be embarking on very important talks with Cuba on migration and mail service and so much else.

So we think that there is an opportunity for Cuba to be more involved. But at the same time, we want to see the peaceful transfer of power that we saw this morning possible in Cuba. We want to see democracy, like we saw this morning, available to the Cuban people. So we are working with our friends in the hemisphere so that we can have a commitment to democracy and human rights and social inclusion and the advancement of our people at the same time as we open up to a better relationship with Cuba going forward. And we don't see those as mutually exclusive. We think that we're acting in the best interests of the Cuban people as well as our region.

President Funes. My dear friend of the press, I would do wrong to start my presidency (inaudible) the sovereign exercise the Government of United States has of normalizing its relationship with the people and the Government of Cuba according to the (inaudible) that the government of (inaudible). I took a decision, a transcendental decision for El Salvador. We normalized relations with the people and Government of Cuba that were interrupted since 1961. We did that because we considered that we could not be the only country in Latin America that did not have relations with Cuba, and we have had relations. There's important Salvadoran (inaudible) have relations and business relations, direct business relations with the Cuban Government. The most important company and probably the only international airline travels to Cuba and its partner is the Cuban Government because the company (inaudible) relations with the Cuban Government (inaudible) another government that through all these years have been benefitted with a solidarity, potential that this government has shown to face the sanitary situation that all of Latin America countries have—you know what El Salvador has faced, ill diseases when its own resources have not been capable to decrease the impact in the poor people such as (inaudible) the Cuban Government, without having diplomatic relations with the other government, with the previous government, has sent members of the medical team and the repercussions to—it has helped the people of the country.

What I did today was a historical (inaudible) and pay a debt that other governments have not wanted to pay. It's a necessary normalization of these relations. Other countries of the continent have relations with Cuba, and nobody (inaudible) them anything about it. Now the rhythm of normalization of relations that the Government of the United States wants to impress to the process that it has initiated and as Madame Secretary says, President Obama has done in the last few months more than other governments have done before. That is decision of the Government of the United States. It's not me who will impose conditions, and much less am I going to judge the Government of United States for what they consider are the conditions that the Cuban Government should have in order to enter into OAS as far as democratic president, that Cuba enters again into the Organization of American States, and this is the aspiration that many presidents and leaders of Latin America have, such as some presidents expressed during the recent summit in Trinidad and Tobago. If the Government of United States has decided to place conditions to that entry, that's the sovereign decision of the Government of United States, and I do not have to judge the conditions that the Government of the United States has placed. I want to say I respect and (inaudible) the conditions I wish to mention and highlight the interest and the effort that the Government of United States is doing under the leadership of President Obama to close a chapter in the relation—history of their relations that the Government of United States has with Cuba and (inaudible) regards the wills and the will of both heads of state so wishes, there will be a normality of relationships as soon as possible for benefit of both governments.

Q. I understand that you have underscored that one of the central axis of the meeting that you just held was combat to organized crime. In the region, organized crime has surpassed the efforts of the Mexican Government. It threats to surpass the efforts of the Guatemalan Government. And recently, we learned that high heads of the police of El Salvador may be involved with drug activity.

For President Funes, first of all, what concrete actions does your government intend to take in combating drug traffic (inaudible) in the state?

And for Madame Secretary Clinton, how can the Government of the United States (inaudible) the drug traffic continues devouring the countries in the region?

President Funes. The penetration of drug traffic in instances of the state such as the case of the national civil police, and as could be the case of other institutions, is a problem that not only is for El Salvador, but we can also find it in the rest of the region.

We have been concerned about the information that we have read in the newspapers of possible links between organizations (inaudible) to drug traffic and money laundering with some heads of the police in the eastern part of the country. I was the first one as president-elect, and without having the power of intervening because I was still not president. President Saca was still the president of the republic. I asked that these investigations (inaudible) judicial, because from a press investigation you cannot derive into any important issues unless the authorities can investigate. There is no doubt that the police throughout all these years have been—has been contaminated. My commitment is precisely to provoke this decontamination. Therefore, I have taken special care by designating the directors of the national civil police, the director and deputy director, and some heads of important units that have to do with combating drug traffic precisely for them to be police who have had a career and who have throughout their career have had institutional way of working. They will have to initiate the investigations within the police, so that in case those connections could be found, then derive (inaudible) responsibilities. This is a mission that the new heads of the national civil police are to make a revision within the police and all of the members of police and establish those relations.

Of course, I'm concerned. And the (inaudible) thing I can allow is that drug traffic finishes with the institutions of state. But this is not a problem that has to do only with the heads of the police. This is a problem of political will. As president of the republic, I cannot allow that the heads of the police have connections with organized crime. I said it during my speech this morning. I'm going to be acting with a rigid hand, not only for the delinquents but also within the police. I am aware of the fact that there's more honest police than the bad elements. The bad elements need to leave the police. And if we have to establish criminal responsibilities, we shall have them.

Secretary Clinton. Well, I'm really impressed by the president's commitment to the restoration of law and order and the end of corruption among public officials and the diminishment of the power of drug traffickers, because he understands so well that this is a cancer that can take over the state and undermine the good people of El Salvador.

We have worked closely with Colombia for many years. We have seen a lot of progress there, the strengthening of institutions, standing against the drug traffickers. We are now working with Mexico and, as you know, following that story, there is a great deal of courage being shown by the Mexican Government going after corrupt officials, police, electeds and others. We will do whatever the President believes is in the best interest of El Salvador. We will provide the technical assistance and the financial assistance that the new administration here needs, because we want to be on the side of a president who will take on these criminals and drug traffickers.

Thank you very much.

Q. Hello, President Funes, for you first. Do members of your government and party still bear a grudge against the United States for the support it gave to the military and right-wing government during the civil war? And if this is so, does this make it difficult for you to pursue a more productive relationship with the United States, as you seem to desire?

And for Secretary Clinton, do you think it would be a good idea to apologize to some members of his government just to move things forward and forget the past?

President Funes. The idea that there is some sort of rancor of leadership from the FMLN towards the United States (inaudible) of the support during the conflict, the then (inaudible) of United States is a concept that is probably in some maybe (inaudible), but it's not in the leadership of the FMLN. For many times back, the leadership of the FMLN hasn't (inaudible) to build an expedited flowing of relationship with different authorities of (inaudible) Government of United States, not only with this government but the previous administrations of President Bush. As a candidate to the presidency of the republic one month after I was proclaimed—and I'm referring to December 2007—I visited the Department of State and I had a very important meeting with officers of the Department of State, and I was accompanied by important leaders of the FMLN, and at no point were there any expressions of rancor or rejection to strengthen the relations as a result of what happened in the past.

My friend, El Salvador is living challenges that bring them to have a different attitude than historically had been taken by leaderships and governing elites of the past. We are willing to turn the page, see the changes that are beginning around the world. You would have never imagined many months ago that Cuba could establish that open dialogue, frank and sincere, with the Government of United States, and vice versa. You would have never imagined a left-wing government and a candidate proposed by a party which was in the past was against the military, now at present is a commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Yesterday, I signed the orders of change that have allowed to constitute a new high command and defined new heads and new commanders of brigades in the military units, an order that has been well received in the different instances of the armed forces.

And here in El Salvador, nothing has happened. The FMLN won. I won last—past 15th of March, and the country is still standing. It didn't enter into a crisis. The—and the money didn't leave the country. The problems that we're facing—and I recognize during my speech this morning—were not caused by the Salvadoran people, nor by us. These are the responsibility of elites that were governing in the past and who did not make good decisions, and the decisions at the moment—the historical moment allowed them to take. I am convinced that we need to turn the page and start to see the future. The past has to be examined to not repeat the mistakes of the past, but my leadership is not having revenge or confrontation. To the contrary, we're going to build a national unity government and a tolerant government with our opposition, and I am convinced that the armed forces is an institution with the discipline, democratic, that is one of the institutions that has progressed more in these (inaudible) since the peace accords. And therefore the commanders that have been appointed members of the high command at different brigades necessarily and (inaudible) because of their military education and the context that we're giving it, have (inaudible) the civilian authority represented by me.

Secretary Clinton. Well, I can only echo that eloquent answer by the president. We're looking to the future. We have so much work to be done on behalf of the people who are depending on this president and our President to make decisions that will improve their lives. And that's the substance of our conversation. That's what we're going to be working on together, trying to create that future that the people of El Salvador have voted for, and to make the changes that they so yearn for. And the United States wants to be a good partner and a friend to El Salvador, and we intend to do so.

Secretary Hillary Clinton and Minister Kenneth Baugh delivered these remarks in San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Secretary Clinton. One of the goals that President Obama and I have is to deepen our relationship with the Caribbean. We know how important each of your countries are in our effort to forge not only closer relations, but more prosperity and more security and greater social inclusion. And I look forward to working with all of you. This morning, I hope that we'll be able to discuss the U.S.-Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, trade and economic recovery, climate change and energy, and of course, our new policy toward Cuba.

Let me just briefly run through some of these issues before we turn it over to my colleague here and then have a chance to just visit informally. With the U.S.-Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, President Obama has made a $45 million commitment. We hope it will really help our Caribbean friends and neighbors. We want to help with the common challenges that we face using tools of law enforcement, the military, and development. There was a technical meeting in Suriname on May 20th, and we're having the working groups that came out of that meeting currently laying the foundation for a follow-up meeting in the United States later this year.

This was a topic of many conversations in Trinidad and Tobago at the wonderful summit that you hosted. And I am very anxious to get your ideas about how we can help you. I mean, it was the single biggest issue that we heard from the Caribbean countries, that you are being subjected to relentless pressure from the narcotraffickers and the criminal gangs. And we want you to know that President Obama is ready to do whatever we think will work to assist you.

Second, I want to encourage greater economic cooperation. Our economies are clearly highly interconnected. We know that commerce between our countries can be a great part of our economic recovery. And I hope that each of your governments will be willing to work with the United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk, an excellent choice for that position, whom I hope you will get to meet, to convene in trade and investment council meetings. We're going to place special emphasis (inaudible) promoting balanced trade policies that will affect and enhance the prospects for all of our people. And that's one of our problems with trade is that not enough of it has reached the people most marginalized and vulnerable, and we have to try to do better on that.

Third, as you know, your countries and the southern part of our country are particularly vulnerable to both climate change and energy price fluctuation. I hope we can work together with the Energy and Climate Change Partnership of the Americas that President Obama announced at the summit and find concrete solutions. We stand ready to help with investment ideas, technology ideas, clean energy approaches, as do other countries in the hemisphere, like Brazil most notably. We want to work together to tackle this problem.

And finally, I want to emphasize the United States under President Obama is taking a completely new approach to our policy toward Cuba. We have eased restrictions on family travel and remittances. As I was getting ready in my hotel room this morning, I had CNN on and I saw just a cheerful reunion between a man and his little baby boy, who he hadn't seen for a year and a half because of the prior travel restrictions. We have authorized greater telecommunications links. We've announced the resumption of bilateral immigration and direct mail talks.

And we do look forward to the day when Cuba can join the OAS. But we believe that membership in the OAS must come with responsibility. And we owe it to each other to uphold our standards of democracy and governance that have brought so much progress to our hemisphere. It's not about reliving the past; it's about the future and being true to the founding principles of this organization. I know we've had some discussions about this. I hope we will have more. The Caribbean nations have played a key, constructive role in those discussions, and I'm confident we can come up with a common way forward.

I'm exciting about building this relationship. And at this point, I'd like to turn to Foreign Minister Kenneth Baugh of Jamaica, who will deliver welcoming remarks.

Foreign Minister Baugh. Thank you very much. I feel so very honored this morning sitting beside Her Excellency Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Excellency, I would just like to take the opportunity of responding to what you have said and to commend yourself, the President, and the United States of America for the initiative that has been taken in regard to Cuba. We definitely feel that there is a very positive movement based on the signals that have been sent, and as you just mentioned, the activities that are now taking place that all goes well for its very near future.

I am proud to sit beside you, not only because you are the Secretary of State for the United States of America, but in your own right, as a woman of history and somebody who has demonstrated great courage and great determination over the years that you have been in politics.

We have the audacity to hope.

Secretary Clinton. Nicely done, (inaudible).

Foreign Minister Baugh. That we do it in the context of our renewed spirit of engagement with the United States and CARICOM, which is really characterizing new Administration of the United States of America. I wish to take the opportunity to emphasize the commitment of CARICOM to strengthen the ties of friendship, cooperation, trade, tourism and investment with the United States of America.

Out of the Summit of the Americas, so ably sponsored and hosted by (inaudible) Trinidad and Tobago, we dare to hope that hemispheric unity and solidarity is not a vain and elusive dream, but that an historic economic cooperation and trade, and a large, unified, secure market may not be a distant reality.

We recall the very positive and constructive engagement between CARICOM heads of state and of government and President Barack Obama in the margins of the Summit of the Americas. We recall also the very constructive engagement between CARICOM foreign ministers and Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon in the margins of COFCOR. COFCOR is the Council for Foreign and Community Relations, I'm presently the chairman of COFCOR. And that meeting was held recently in Jamaica. I really enjoyed that meeting and enjoyed the presentation of Mr. Tom Shannon.

We express satisfaction at the CARICOM-U.S. meeting on May 20 in Suriname on security cooperation, and I'm very pleased, Excellency, that you have made special mention of the concerns of security in the Caribbean.

We will work on the process of high-level dialogue between CARICOM and the United States of America, in addition to meetings at the level of heads and foreign ministers, also includes encounters with United States congressional representatives and regular contact between senior officials. I remember Congressman Engle coming to Jamaica (inaudible) tremendous set of meetings between himself and Prime Minister Golding and (inaudible).

We look forward to CARICOM and the United States Summit. We are looking forward to a date for that, because I know the President is committed to that, and the opportunity that such a meeting would provide to advance our cooperation and understanding in relation to the CARICOM-U.S. agenda, including a will to consolidate and build institutional mechanisms for our continued dialogue and cooperation. That is between CARICOM and the United States of America. This is something that was started last year at the United Nations in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.

OAS Resolution

The member nations of the OAS showed flexibility and openness today, and as a result we reached a consensus that focuses on the future instead of the past: Cuba can come back into the OAS in the future if the OAS decides that its participation meets the purposes and principles of the organization, including democracy and human rights. Many member countries originally sought to lift the 1962 suspension and allow Cuba to return immediately, without conditions. Others agreed with us that the right approach was to replace the suspension—which has outlived its purpose after nearly half a century—with a process of dialogue and a future decision that will turn on Cuba's commitment to the organization's values. I am pleased that everyone came to agree that Cuba cannot simply take its seat and that we must put Cuba's participation to a determination down the road—if it ever chooses to seek reentry. If and when the day comes to make that determination, the United States will continue to defend the principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter and other fundamental tenets of the organization. This outcome is in keeping with our forward-looking, principled approach to relations with Cuba and our hemisphere.

We must now build on this success by meeting our goals with actions that move us beyond rhetoric to results, and advance the mission which each of our nations have pledged to pursue: strengthening good governance, democratic institutions, an unwavering commitment to fundamental human rights and freedoms, and the rule of law—the underpinnings of democracy and the founding principles of this organization.

Secretary Hillary Clinton and Minister Lawrence Cannon delivered these remarks in Niagara Falls, Canada

Foreign Minister Cannon. Canada and the United States have committed this morning to amending the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. This is important for both nations. These inland waters are the largest system of fresh water in the world, a foundation for billions of dollars in trade, shipping, agriculture, recreation, of course, and other sectors. The Government of Canada has taken significant efforts in the past three years to protect the Great Lakes, and today, this joint stewardship of the environment represents a cornerstone of the Canada-United States relationship. This aspect of our long history of collaboration will remain strong as we begin a second century of jointly managing our shared waters. The agreement has been a model of international cooperation and has achieved numerous successes.

However, as you know, the Great Lakes are still at risk and need more to be done. So we will be doing that together.

The Secretary of State and I also discussed the global economic downturn and the risks of protectionism, cooperation in the Americas, and Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan. Our country's prosperity and security are inseparable from those of the United States. Americans, as you know, are our closest neighbors, allies, and trading partners.

Every day, there is trade to a value of $2 billion that cross our common border from Canada. And Canada is the first export market for 35 of 50 of the American states.

People are worried by a rising tide of protectionism developing in the United States in various circles, and our government is very concerned, in particular, about the negative impacts of Buy America legislation being felt on Canadian businesses. Now, Canada's and the United State's shared history demonstrated we can do great things. When we work together, we are able to, of course, serve our mutual interests. Now, this is crucial as we are engaged in emerging from this crisis, and we want to be able to emerge from this crisis stronger, better, and, of course, in a more prosperous manner.

Thank you. Merci.

Secretary Clinton. Thank you very much, Minister Cannon.

I've had a delightful morning here, and I want to thank my Canadian hosts, especially Foreign Minister Cannon, the members of the International Joint Commission, and the many distinguished colleagues from both sides of the border who have made this celebration so memorable.

We are celebrating, because the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Boundary Waters Treaty marks a recognition of a ground-breaking agreement, one of the first in the world to recognize the environmental consequences of managing our natural resources, ensuring clean drinking water, protecting the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system, the Niagara Falls and Niagara River that are such magnificent treasures. So for me, it's a particular delight both to have been back in Western New York; many friends from Niagara and Erie counties—I just am delighted to see them, but also to be here in Canada, because Canada is such a trusted ally, a friend, a valued trading partner and a democratic model for the world.

This treaty, which we have celebrated, is not a static document. It's a living instrument of our cooperation and partnership. It has provided an effective framework for the last 100 years, but now we have to take stock of where we are and how we're going to be proceeding with confidence and effectiveness into the future. As we look at the strong foundation that this treaty has helped to establish between our countries, it's truly remarkable: $1.6 billion in goods that flow across the border everyday, supporting millions of jobs; the world's largest energy-trading relationship. I want to underscore that, because I'm not sure that enough Americans know, Minister Cannon, that you are our number one supplier of energy in the world, and we are grateful for that. We collaborate closely on citizen safety and defense, and, as both the Minister and I have noted, we have soldiers serving side-by-side together in Afghanistan to try to prevent the spread of terrorism and extremism.

So our common values are deeply rooted. But we have to work together even more closely. After this morning's ceremony, the Minister and I had a chance to review some of our other important matters. Obviously, we discussed international and global concerns that we are both deeply engaged in, and we discussed our nation's plan to revise and update the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement to protect the Great Lakes Basin for future generations. We reviewed our joint efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere around the globe. We discussed the challenges in Pakistan, the Middle East, Iran, and elsewhere. We talked about our equal commitment to our own hemisphere, and I'm very grateful for the Canadian Government and the Minister's particular emphasis on working with us in Haiti, working to strengthen our relationships with our neighbors to the south.

We also have been very focused on ensuring that nothing interferes with the trade between our countries. I deeply respect the Minister's comments and his concerns, but as President Obama said, nothing in our legislation will interfere with our international trade obligations, including with Canada. But we want to take a hard look, and the Minister and I discussed this, as to what more we can do to ensure that the free flow of trade continues. We consider it to be in the interests of both of our countries and our people.

So as always, it's great to be in Canada, and we deeply appreciate our close working relationship the Minister and I have forged over a relatively short period of time, and we look forward to continuing close collaboration and cooperation. Thank you very much.

Q. Madame Secretary, welcome to Canada.

Secretary Clinton. Thank you.

Q. Canada's government and many Canadian businesses have said that our economy and our bilateral relationship is being hurt by the Buy American policy. Secretary Clinton, why is it in there, and if you don't call it protectionism, what is it? And to Minister Cannon, how deeply is this hurting Canada's economy and our relationship with the United States?

Secretary Clinton. Let me just reiterate that the provision is not being enforced in any way that is inconsistent with our international trade obligations. And we take that very seriously. Obviously, Canada is our number one trading partner. It is a mutually beneficial relationship that we intend to not only nurture, but see grow.

And I am well aware of the concerns that there may be elements of the international trade obligations or absences of agreements that should be looked at so that we can promote more procurement and other kinds of trade interactions. And I have assured Minister Cannon that we will take a very close look at that.

Foreign Minister Cannon. Thank you. On—I was able this morning to bring Secretary of State Clinton up-to-date, up-to-speed on the Prime Minister's visit last week to—with Premier Charest, who, as you know, is the premier responsible for the Council of the Federation. This issue was discussed. As you know, the premiers have agreed to look at the procurement issue as being one of importance. My colleague, Minister Day, as well, did go and travel to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, so I was able to bring the Secretary of State to—up-to-speed on this issue, and at the same time, get assurances that we would look to find different options to make sure that what we already have built in terms of a solid foundation continue—can continue to flourish and to prevail.

So we still have work ahead of us, and we're looking forward to doing that.

I had the opportunity to indicate to Secretary of State Clinton and bring her up-to-speed on the recent meeting with Premier Charest. Well, as the premiers, members of the Council of the Federation, Premier Charest being the chair, and the commitment from all premiers to look at the whole issue of procurement and public expenditures so that such expenditures be part and parcel of perhaps even an agreement with the Americans.

My colleague, Minister Stockwell Day, took the same undertaking with the Canadian Federation of Municipalities. So this enabled me to allude to these events with the Secretary of State, and also enabled me, by the same token, to look at what options might be open to us in upcoming months. As I mentioned a moment ago, there is a very solid basis upon which we can work; indeed, there are other issues to be worked on, but—and that we've always been able to reach an agreement with the Americans on a number of topics. I don't think this impediment is a major one, and we will continue our dialogue.

Q. (Inaudible)

Secretary Clinton. First, let me say how gratified we were that the United Nations Security Council reached and agreement on a very strong resolution that contains not only new sanctions and the authorization for inspections of ships that may be carrying contraband or weapons of mass destruction or other dangerous technology from North Korea, but that the resolution represented a unified response to the provocative actions that have been taken by the North Koreans over the last several months.

This was a tremendous statement on behalf of the world community that North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and the capacity to deliver those weapons through missiles is not going to be accepted by the neighbors, as well as the greater international community. We intend to work with our partners, including Canada and others, to enforce the provisions of this resolution in a vigorous way, to send a clear message that we intend to do all we can to prevent continued proliferation by the North Koreas.

I will add, however, that the North Korean's continuing provocative actions are deeply regrettable. They have now been denounced by everyone. They have become further isolated, and it is not in the interests of the people of North Korea for that kind of isolation to continue. So the Six-Party Framework, which the North Koreans left, turning their back on the obligations to continue with denuclearization, is still an open opportunity for them to return. And we are going to be consulting closely with our friends and allies, not only in Northeast Asia, but more generally, to determine a way forward in response to further actions.

But I think these sanctions and the authorizations included in this resolution give the world community the tools we need to take appropriate action against the North Korean regime.

Foreign Minister Cannon. Canada already, of course, abides by Resolution 1718 that was passed in 2006. And we've implemented that resolution and the binding sanctions, of course, that were introduced.

We as well are very—and we welcome the additional imposition of—by Resolution 1874. Canada, of course, is very, very pleased that the world community has come together in a united response at the (inaudible) to be able to signal to the international—to North Korea the international community's determination that their recent conduct is inacceptable. So we're very pleased by this Security Council resolution, as well.

We're also pleased by the new resolution's calls upon North Korea to return immediately to the Six-Party Talks and to demand, of course, that these talks that are extremely important in terms of nonproliferation and the use of nuclear weapons get going.

Canada, of course, is very much abiding by Resolution 1718 that was adopted in 2006, and we are very happy with that recent resolution, adopted by the UN Security Council. Canada will apply with determination all the provisions contained therein. For that matter, we're delighted to see that the international community has sent a very clear signal to North Korea. And will add, by way of conclusion, that for our part, it's important that the discussions amongst the six parties resume as quickly as possible, and we're delighted that this resolution also calls upon the Government of North Korea to go back to the negotiating table, so that we might limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Q. (Inaudible).

Secretary Clinton. First, with respect to our shared border, there is certainly no argument that we each have to take additional security steps, given conditions in the world. I mean, I think we both regret those. We are sorry that we have to respond to them, but nevertheless, that is the reality. And we are doing everything we can in the Obama Administration to listen and work with our Canadian counterparts.

There have been several very productive discussions already between our Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, and her Canadian counterpart. Because we know that we want to maintain this extraordinary relationship that we have with the right amount of security to protect our citizens on both sides, without interfering in the free movement of goods and people that we value so greatly.

Sometimes we need to help each other really understand fully the challenges that we are each facing to make sure we achieve that common goal. I would still argue that although we do have law enforcement on our border in greater numbers than we did ten years ago, compared to a border that I know of anywhere, just about, in the world, this is a demilitarized, free, open border with appropriate law enforcement personnel and technology in the interest of protecting our two peoples.

So we will work very closely with the Canadian Government, and we will try to solve problems that have arisen between our governments in the past to make sure that we are doing what we need to do with security in a way that does not interfere with all of the other interests that we share.

We are both members of the Arctic Council. We, and Canada, with its very extensive presence on the Arctic waters, along with Russia, Norway, and—Denmark, right?—are the members of the Arctic Council. We want to work closely together. We want to foresee issues and try to resolve them so that they don't become problems. And we feel, as one of the five nations working with the others, that we have an opportunity here, and we intend to take this very seriously. Obviously, there are questions of sovereignty and jurisdiction that have to be acknowledged and respected, but what we don't want is for the Arctic to become a free-for-all. If there is going to be greater maritime passageways through the Arctic, if there is going to be more exploration for natural resources, if there are going to be more security issues, I think it's in the Canadian and the United States' interests to try to get ahead of those, and try to make sure we know what we're going to do to resolve them before countries that are not bordering the arctic are making claims, are behaving in ways that will cause us difficulties.

Foreign Minister Cannon. Let me respond by saying at the outset how very pleased I was one of the first initiatives that Secretary of State Clinton took on was to be able to host the Antarctica Joint Arctic Council Meeting in Washington a couple of months ago, which was, I think, a strong indication, once again, of our country's commitment to not only this border here, but, of course, to our northern border. And what I can say on that is that there are no obstacles. We have been able to manage the issues as it should be between the two neighbors. We, of course, as a country, as well as the United States, Russia, and the other members of the Arctic Council, have agreed to abide by, of course, the United Nations Convention, the Law of the Seas, to go forward and do the mapping. We've been able to, as a Canadian Government, assume our responsibilities, assert our responsibilities in terms of sovereignty by our infrastructure programs. So from that perspective, it's going extraordinarily well, as well as, as Hillary Clinton just mentioned, Peter Van Loan, who, as you know, is our minister responsible for—I was going to say homeland security, but for border crossings and has worked extremely well with the Secretary of State, Secretary Napolitano, over the course of the last several weeks. They've established a working relationship, which I feel is something that is extraordinarily good in terms of moving forward. And so I'd say that on that front as well, things are going very, very well.

Briefly, I would say this: I congratulated Secretary of State Clinton for the initiative she took at the very outset of her mandate, and by convening in Washington a joint meeting between the Arctic Council and the Antarctica Council. At that time, we were able to examine a variety of subjects that arise in the extremities of the globe. And as I mentioned, we were—we have always been able to manage our difficulties in a very positive, healthy manner. That is what exists in the arctic part of our country.

We are members of the Arctic Council with three other countries. We are committed into various provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas. We have also noted, with a great deal of satisfaction and interest, the work that is being done by Minister Peter Van Loan, who is the minister responsible for public safety here in Canada, as well as with the American Secretary for Homeland Security, Mrs. Napolitano, to deal with issues that arise in common to both our countries. In that regard, many steps are being taken. So we're very happy with the progress that has been made.

And I will tell you, by way of conclusion, that the relationship between Canada and the U.S. again continues to shine, and it is a real breath of fresh air and a ray of sunshine for many countries in the world when we want to see how borders should be managed and the relationship between two countries. We are great, great friends.

Secretary Clinton. Thank you. Thank you all.

Foreign Minister Cannon. Thank you. Merci.

President Barack Obama and President Michelle Bachelet delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

President Obama. Well, I want to thank President Bachelet for taking the time to visit with me today. We had a chance to get to know each other at the Summit of the Americas, and we've spoken on the phone repeatedly. I find her one of the most compelling leaders that we have, not just in the hemisphere but around the world. I congratulate her and her entire team for managing the Chilean economy and the political process in Chile in such a excellent fashion, and I think she's doing an outstanding job.

Obviously the friendship between the United States and Chile is strong. We have very strong commercial ties, in part because of the free trade agreement that exists between Chile and the United States. One of the things that we've discussed here is how we can continually deepen that relationship. So we are announcing cooperative projects on clean energy. There is enormous interest both in the United States and in Chile in how we can develop solar power and wind power and biofuels and a whole host of other clean energy strategies that will make the people of both countries more prosperous and less dependent on imported energy needs. So we are going to be starting a cooperative project in Chile on this issue.

In addition, we think that there [are] tremendous possibilities for cooperation on science and technology, so a specific project that we've discussed is a cancer research center that can help us make progress on that deadly disease.

More broadly, I look to President Bachelet for good advice and good counsel in terms of how the United States can continue to build a strong relationship with all of Latin America. And I think the good progress that we began to make at the Summit of the Americas can be built on with some very concrete steps in the months and years to come. We consider Chile to be one of our most important partners in that process. And so I expect that in the months to come we'll be working very closely together.

The last point I would make is—and I mentioned this, actually, at my press conference with the White House correspondents—I think Chile is to be congratulated on having managed their economy and their fiscal surpluses during good times in such a way that they have now been able to manage the bad times in a good way. And I think that it's an example for all of us that good fiscal policy, good economic policy, ultimately allows for prosperity through good times and bad times.

And I think that as we move forward in some of the global discussions around how to respond to the deep recession that the world is going through, that we look to countries like Chile to underscore the fact that no matter how big or small the country is, good economic policies can help grow the economy throughout the world.

So we're very grateful to you for your visit, we're glad that you're going to be here for a couple of days, and I look forward to returning the favor by visiting Chile sometime soon.

President Bachelet. Thank you very much, President Obama. As you say, we have had a wonderful conversation and it is because we feel that we are so close to the way President Obama's administration is understanding the world, its challenges, and how to build relations with (inaudible) of the countries of Latin America.

Of course, he is an idol in our country. I mean, everybody was so enthusiastic about this meeting. And that is because of real reasons, because we understand that the way you are developing your leadership is one who inspire us and makes us feel very comfortable and very confident, too.

And we have congratulated President Obama because of all its foreign policy, all of its efforts to not only nationally but also internationally have a good response to the economic crisis. We have been exchanging points of view on how we can also be part of the solution in the Latin American region to cope, to respond to this economic crisis, how to assure that the countries of Latin America can have the capitals, the flows of capital that they need in order to recover the economy, and be able to tackle challenges like poverty, like health problems, and educational problems, and so on.

Of course, he already mentioned that we have been signing today, earlier today, this cooperation through energy and we are really enthusiastic about clean energy as we share the idea that the crisis should be responded—also trying to tackle with climate change issues. And clean energy will be a very important, I would say, a support in this direction. Chile has great conditions for solar energy and some others, so we are really enthusiastic about these common efforts.

We will continue also with other initiatives like Chile-California plan, like equal opportunities plan where lots of Chileans have come to the United States to make master degrees, postgraduate studies to help with Chile's development. And also, Chile is willing to be a very good partner of the United States in this cooperation within the region so we can have a closer relation with the United States and all the Latin American countries.

We're also are working on health in cancer, but also we have been working with the people—with the CDC regarding the human flu, and I think it will be very important also for the United States, because when—in autumn, there will be another probably—another wave of the human flu. Whatever is learned from Chile, we have good diagnostic capacities, good registration capacity will be upheld for future treatments here in the United States, for vaccine use and so on.

President Obama. And since the President is a doctor, you can take her word for it, that's very helpful.

All right, guys. Thank you, guys. Thank you very much.

Q. Just two questions, Mr. President.

Mr. Finkenbinder. Thank you, this way—

President Obama. Actually, Ben, I'm going to make an exception. We'll get one question from the Chilean press. How's that?

Q. Mr. President, yes, I'd like to ask you, I realize that your agenda is moving forward. But I'd like to ask you, President Bachelet in a previous trip to the United States made echo of an old joke: “There's never been a coup d'état in the United States, because there's no American embassy.” The point being that almost—

President Bachelet. That was a joke from an American guy. I just said it was a good joke.

President Obama. Yes, it is.

Q. The point being that almost no Latin American nation has been free from CIA—bloody CIA intervention, Chile being a prime example, President Bachelet being one of its victims. Is it time for a historical apology?

President Obama. Well, look, I think you answered your own question right at the beginning, which is I'm interested in going forward, not looking backward. I think that the United States has been an enormous force for good in the world. I think there have been times where we've made mistakes. But I think that what is important is looking at what our policies are today, and what my administration intends to do in cooperating with the region.

And I was very clear in Trinidad and Tobago at the Summit of the Americas that we are interested in a partnership in which we are focused on, how can we improve the day-to-day living standards of ordinary people? And that that focus on human development is one that transcends boundaries, should transcend ideologies. I don't have a litmus test in terms of, you know, whether a government is center-right, center-left, this or that. My approach is if the United States is working together with a country to promote the well-being, the health, the education, the economic opportunities of people in both countries, then we're going to have a good relationship. And I'm confident that we are moving in that direction and I think that Chile is going to be an excellent partner in that process.

As President Bachelet mentioned—you know, I think this—the flu situation is a good example of what the 21st century is going to look like. There are no borders on the flu. This is not an American problem or a Mexican program or a Chilean problem; this is a world problem. And given that the flu season is happening now in the southern hemisphere, if we get good information and we're both assisting countries in the southern hemisphere, but also learning from the data that is being generated, that will then help the people of the United States. And it's a good metaphor, I think, for a whole range of issues—from climate change to poverty to terrorism—whatever the issue, so many of these issues now cross borders. We can't look at them in isolation, and that, I think, is going to be the basis for a strong working relationship in the future.

So, thank you.

Situation in Honduras

The action taken against Honduran President Mel Zelaya violates the precepts of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and thus should be condemned by all. We call on all parties in Honduras to respect the constitutional order and the rule of law, to reaffirm their democratic vocation, and to commit themselves to resolve political disputes peacefully and through dialogue. Honduras must embrace the very principles of democracy we reaffirmed at the OAS meeting it hosted less than one month ago.

President Barack Obama and President Alvaro Uribe delivered these remarks in Washington, DC

President Obama. Well, I am very pleased to have President Uribe here today with his delegation from Colombia. The relationship between the United States and Colombia has been extremely strong. We've had great cooperation on a whole range of issues, and President Uribe's administration I think has, under very difficult circumstances, performed admirably on a whole range of fronts—on security, on reducing the influence of the drug cartels, in improving the economic situation for his people, and stabilizing the country. He has performed with diligence and courage. And so we are grateful for his friendship and I'm glad that he was able to come and visit us here today.

In our discussions, we talked about a range of issues. We discussed, most prominently, the interests of both countries in moving forward on a free trade agreement. This is something that has been discussed for quite some time. I have instructed Ambassador Kirk, our United States Trade Representative, to begin working closely with President Uribe's team on how we can proceed on a free trade agreement. There are obvious difficulties involved in the process and there remains work to do, but I'm confident that ultimately we can strike a deal that is good for the people of Colombia and good for the people of the United States.

I commended President Uribe on the progress that has been made in human rights in Colombia and dealing with the killings of labor leaders there, and obviously we've seen a downward trajectory in the deaths of labor unions and we've seen improvements when it comes to prosecution of those who are carrying out these blatant human rights offenses. President Uribe acknowledges that there remains more work to be done, and we look forward to cooperating with him to continue to improve both the rights of organized labor in Colombia and to protect both labor and civil rights leaders there.

Along those same lines, we obviously think that the steps that have already been made on issues like extrajudicial killings and illegal surveillance, that it is important that Colombia pursue a path of rule of law and transparency, and I know that that is something that President Uribe is committed to doing.

We spoke about the regional challenges. The drug trafficking that has been such a cancer in the life of Colombia affects the region as a whole. When I last met with President Calderón of Mexico, he indicated the extraordinary challenges that that country is facing. Mexico and Colombia are not alone in this. Throughout the region in Central and South America, we are seeing this problem. It's important that the United States steps up and cooperates effectively in battling the adverse effects of drug trafficking.

And that includes, by the way, the United States reducing demand for drugs. We have responsibilities. We have responsibilities to reduce the trafficking of guns into the south that help strengthen these cartels and the flows of money and money laundering that at times involves not just the south—Southern Hemisphere but also the Northern Hemisphere. And so looking for additional ways that we can cooperate on those issues is very important.

Finally, we spoke about the fact that our relationship is much broader than simply our common enemy in the drug traffickers. We want a proactive, positive agenda for human development throughout the region and inside Colombia. And so exploring ways that we can advance clean energy cooperation, how we can advance efforts to improve child nutrition, reduce infant mortality, expand health care to ordinary people—that is part of what I think President Uribe's comprehensive vision is: that you don't just use military tools to defeat the enemies of progress, but you use a comprehensive approach that includes improvements in rule of law and improvements in people's day-to-day well-being and their opportunities for economic advancement as very powerful weapons to restore order and to ensure that people feel confident in the future.

And so we want to be a partner with Colombia on these issues. I'm grateful, again, for President Uribe's friendship, and I'm confident that we are going to be working diligently in the future to advance the interests of both countries. So, thank you very much.

President Uribe. Thank you.

President Uribe. President Obama, I want to express our gratitude again to you, to your Cabinet, and to the United States. Colombia in this alliance with the United States has received a great help for us to confront the challenges our people have suffered for long, long time.

I have said to President Obama that Colombia, since the middle of the ‘40s, in the last century, has not lived one single day in complete peace. The help of your government is very important for the hope of the new generations of Colombians. Thank you, President Obama.

We have had opportunity to speak about many problems, as President Obama has said. I said to President Obama, I made to him some comments about confidence in Colombia; about security, the advances, the problems we still face; about investment, its relationship with the free trade agreement as a signal to give confidence in Colombia; and about social cohesion, the advances in education, in micro-lending, in health—the problems we still face, problems in poverty, in income distribution.

And in the case of human rights, Colombia is rule of law in the utmost expression of public opinion participation. We—I am the first with a duty to support of our armed forces, but for that reason of their honor, every soldier, every policeman in Colombia understands that we need credibility for this policing of democratic security, and credibility depends on effectiveness and on transparency. And transparency is a question of human rights.

Therefore, we are open, we are very receptive, to receive any advice, any suggestion on how we are going to fulfill our goal of ceasing civil violations of human rights in Colombia.

About surveillance, I have said to President Obama that during our administration we have restructured 427 state agencies and we are in the process to restructure the state agency for surveillance. We hope to issues these decrees in the coming three weeks, and we hope that we can solve the endemic problems of these institutions, of this institution for good.

I have said to President Obama about the importance of the help of the United States for us and the region as a whole to advance social cohesion; help directly from the United States or through the multilateral banks. For instance, in education and in child nutrition, we have advanced a lot, but we lack infrastructure; coverage has surpassed infrastructure. In child nutrition, we have advanced a lot, but we lack coverage in education for those under six, not to mention other of our problems. But we have a recognition to advance in security, human rights, state restructure, to advance in economics, to advance in social cohesion, and for all these things it is very important to have the permanent support of President Obama, of the government of the United States, of the Congress of the United States.

My gratitude again, President Obama. And we are waiting for you in Colombia.

President Obama. Thank you.

Q. President Obama, did you talk about the reelection?

President Obama. Hold on, hold on. We're going to do—we only have time for two questions. I'm going to call on a U.S. reporter, and then President Uribe, you can make a decision on which one of the Colombian reporters you want to call on.

So, Doug Palmer of Reuters.

Q. Right here. Thank you very much. You talked about the FTA, and you also talked about some of the obstacles to getting the FTA through Congress. I wonder, do you have a sense of how close Colombia is to where it needs to be in order for you to send the agreement to Congress? Is that something that can be accomplished this year?

And then I also wondered if you would comment on the coup in Honduras and what additional steps the U.S. might be considering there.

President Obama. Well, let me first of all speak about the coup in Honduras, because this was a topic of conversation between myself and President Uribe.

All of us have great concerns about what's taken place there. President Zelaya was democratically elected. He had not yet completed his term. We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the President of Honduras, the democratically elected President there. In that we have joined all the countries in the region, including Colombia and the Organization of American States.

I think it's—it would be a terrible precedent if we start moving backwards into the era in which we are seeing military coups as a means of political transition rather than democratic elections. The region has made enormous progress over the last 20 years in establishing democratic traditions in Central America and Latin America. We don't want to go back to a dark past. The United States has not always stood as it should with some of these fledgling democracies, but over the last several years, I think both Republicans and Democrats in the United States have recognized that we always want to stand with democracy, even if the results don't always mean that the leaders of those countries are favorable towards the United States. And that is a tradition that we want to continue.

So we are very clear about the fact that President Zelaya is the democratically elected President, and we will work with the regional organizations like OAS and with other international institutions to see if we can resolve this in a peaceful way.

With respect to the free trade agreement, obviously a lot of work has already been done on the free trade agreement, and we are hopeful that we can—we can move forward to completion. I don't have a strict timetable, because I'm going to have to consult with Congress obviously on this issue. We've got a lot on our plates, if you haven't noticed. And I think that the burden is not simply on Colombia; I think Colombia has done a lot of excellent work. It is a matter of getting both countries to a place where their legislatures feel confident that it will be ultimately to the economic benefit of these countries.

I have noted a special concern that is bipartisan and shared both by this administration and Congress, that the human rights issues in Colombia get resolved. President Uribe has assured me that he is interested in resolving those issues. And, as I said, great progress has been made. I trust that we can make more progress. And I think that will help shape the overall environment in which this issue is being debated in Congress.

Okay? You want to call on—

President Uribe. Entonces, Natalia Orozco.

Q. President Obama, President Chavez, it's not a secret, wanted to be reelected; President Zelaya wanted to be reelected; and President Uribe hasn't decided yet. Are you worried about what relation of those leader[s], and can have effects in the Western Hemisphere? Do you have a message for them?

President Obama. Well, first of all, I think it's very important that, in all these countries, it's not for the United States to make these decisions. It's for the people of these countries to make these decisions. And one of the clear policies that we want to put forward is that we stand on the side of democracy, sovereignty, and self-determination.

We know that our experience in the United States is that two terms works for us and that after eight years, usually the American people want a change. I related to President Uribe the fact that our most revered President, or at least one of our two most revered Presidents, George Washington, part of what made him so great was not just being a founder of our country, but also the fact that at a time when he could have stayed President for life, he made a decision that after service, he was able to step aside and return to civilian life. And that set a precedent then for the future.

But as I said, each country, I think, has to make these decisions on their own, and I think what's ultimately most important is that the people feel a sense of legitimacy and ownership, and that this is not something imposed on them from the top, that it's not—does not involve manipulations of the electorate or rigging of the electoral process or repression of opposition voices, but that whatever is determined is done in an open, transparent way so that people feel confident that whoever is in power represents their voices and their interests.

President Uribe. Let me make some comments about this question. I brought to the table some topics that I call topics of internal debate in Colombia at this moment. And one of the topics I brought to talk about it with President Obama is this topic. And I want to summarize.

I said to President Obama, first, I am concerned, because I am a member of one generation of the four or five generations that have not lived one single day in peace in Colombia or prosperity. Therefore, I consider that Colombia needs to extend in that time security, democratic values, investment in social responsibility and social cohesion—with adjustments.

I don't believe in stagnation, and I don't believe in gross changes. I believe in one goal, in one mission, with dynamism, with daily adjustments. And I have said in the second point of this comment that I consider that this is happening, it is necessary to extend these policies. It is not convenient to perpetuate the precedent.

And I have said to President Obama what I want to say to you. Colombia is a country of solid democratic institutions. When we speak about institutions, we cannot speak in abstract about institutions. We have to speak about institutions in concrete terms. We have 1,102 mayors directly elected by the people; 32 governors. The regions in Colombia invest 51 percent of the public expenses. My government has built governments with all the regional governors and mayors regardless their political regions, and they have many, many political regions.

The justice, administration is independent in Colombia. Colombia has solid free press. Colombia has bodies, independent bodies, for control. Colombia is a country with very solid institutions.

I beg you, journalists, to separate the convenience or inconvenience of perpetuating the precedent with the qualification of our institutions. Anyway, our democratic institutions are totally solid.

President Obama. Right, and the other thing I should say is that if I were to serve two terms, I'm fairly confident that I would not have the 70 percent approval rating that President Uribe has.

All right, thank you very much, everybody.

Secretary Hillary Clinton delivered these remarks in Washington, DC