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PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, first of all, I want to thank President Santos and the people of
Colombia for the extraordinary hospitality in the beautiful city of Cartagena. We're
having a wonderful time. And usually when I take these summit trips, part of my job
is to scout out where I may want to bring Michelle back later for vacation. So we'll
make sure to come back sometime in the near future. (Applause.)
I want to acknowledge Luis Moreno of IDB, as well as Luis Villegas of the National Business
Association of Colombia, for helping to set this up, and everybody who's participating.
As President Rousseff indicated, obviously we've gone through some very challenging times.
These last three years have been as difficult for the world economy as anything that we've
seen in our lifetimes. And it is both a result of globalization and it is also a result of
shifts in technology. The days when we could think of each of our economies in isolation,
those days are long gone. What happens in Wall Street has an impact in Rio. What happens
in Bogota has an impact in Beijing.
And so I think the challenge for all of our countries, and certainly the challenge for
this hemisphere, is how do we make sure that that globalization and that integration is
benefiting a broad base of people, that economic growth is sustainable and robust, and that
it is also giving opportunity to a growing, wider circle of people, and giving businesses
opportunities to thrive and create new products and new services and enjoy this global marketplace.
Now, I think the good news is this hemisphere is very well positioned in this global economy.
It is remarkable to see the changes that have been taking place in a relatively short period
of time in Latin and Central America and in the Caribbean. When you look at the extraordinary
growth that's taken place in Brazil, first under President Lula and now under President
Rousseff, when you think about the enormous progress that's been made here in Colombia
under President Santos and his predecessor, what you see is that a lot of the old arguments
on the left and the right no longer apply.
And what people are asking is, what works? How do we think in practical terms about delivering
prosperity, training our people so that they can compete in the global economy? How do
we create rule of law that allows businesses to invest with some sense of security and
transparency? How do we invest in science and technology? How do we make sure that we
have open and free trade at the same time as we're making sure that the benefits of
free trade are distributed both between nations but also within nations?
And the good news is I think that, through various international organizations and organizations
here within the hemisphere, we've seen enormous progress. Trade between the United States
and Latin, Central -- South America, Central America and the Caribbean has expanded 46
percent since I came into office -- 46 percent.
Before I came to Cartagena, I stopped in Tampa, Florida, which is the largest port in Florida.
And they are booming and expanding. And the reason is, is because of the enormous expansion
of trade and commerce with this region. It's creating jobs in Florida, and it's creating
jobs in Colombia, and it's creating jobs in Brazil and throughout the region. Businesses
are seeing that if they have an outstanding product or an outstanding service, they don’t
have to restrict themselves to one market, they now have a regional market and ultimately
a global market in which they can sell their goods and succeed.
A couple of things that I think will help further facilitate this productive integration:
Number one, the free trade agreement that we've negotiated between Colombia and the
United States is an example of a free trade agreement that benefits both sides. It's a
win-win. It has high standards -- (applause) -- it's a high-standards agreement. It's not
a race to the bottom, but rather it says each country is abiding by everything from strong
rules around labor and the environment to intellectual property protection. And so I
have confidence that as we implement this plan, what we're going to see is extraordinary
opportunities for both U.S. and Colombian businesses.
So trade agreements of the sort that we have negotiated, thanks to the leadership of President
Santos and his administration, I think point the way to the future.
In addition, I think there is the capacity for us to cooperate on problems that all countries
face, and I'll take just one example -- the issue of energy. All of us recognize that
if we're going to continue to grow our economies effectively, then we're going to have to adapt
to the fact that fossil fuels are a finite resource and demand is going up much faster
than supply. There are also, obviously, significant environmental concerns that we have to deal
with. So for us to cooperate on something like joint electrification and electric grid
integration, so that a country like Brazil, that is doing outstanding work in biofuels
or hydro-energy, has the ability to export that energy but also teach best practices
to countries within the region, create new markets for clean energy throughout the region
-- which benefits those customers who need electricity but also benefit those countries
that are top producers of energy -- that's another example of the kind of progress that
we can make together.
On the education front, every country in the region recognizes that if we're going to compete
with Asia, if we're going to compete with Europe, we've got to up our game. We have
to make sure that we've got the best-trained workers in the world, we've got the best education
system in the world. And so the work that President Rousseff and I are doing together
to try to significantly expand educational exchanges and send young people who are studying
science and engineering and computer science to the United States to study if they're Brazilian,
down to Brazil to study best practices in clean energy in Brazil -- there's enormous
opportunity for us to work together to train our young people so that this hemisphere is
filled with outstanding entrepreneurs and workers, and allows us to compete more effectively.
So there are a number of areas where I think cooperation is proceeding. Sometimes it's
not flashy. I think that oftentimes in the press the attention in summits like this ends
up focusing on where are the controversies. Sometimes those controversies date back to
before I was born. (Laughter.) And sometimes I feel as if in some of these discussions
or at least the press reports we're caught in a time warp, going back to the 1950s and
gunboat diplomacy and Yanquis and the Cold War, and this and that and the other. That's
not the world we live in today.
And my hope is, is that we all recognize this enormous opportunity that we've got. And I
know the business leaders who are here today, they understand it; they understand that we're
in a new world, and we have to think in new ways.
Last point I want to make -- I think when you think about the extraordinary success
in Brazil, the success in Colombia, a big piece of that is governance. You can't, I
believe, have, over the long term, successful economies if you don't have some basic principles
that are being followed: democracy and rule of law, human rights being observed, freedom
of expression. And I think -- and also personal security, the capacity for people to feel
as if they work hard then they're able to achieve, and they have motivation to start
a business and to know that their own work will pay off.
And I just want to compliment both Brazil and Colombia, coming from different political
traditions, but part of the reason why you've seen sustained growth is governments have
worked effectively in each country. And I think that when we look at how we're going
to integrate further and take advantage of increased opportunity in the future, it's
very important for us not to ignore how important it is to have a clean, transparent, open government
that is working on behalf of its people.
And that's important to business as well. The days when a business feels good working
in a place where people are being oppressed -- ultimately that's an unstable environment
for you to do business. You do business well when you know that it's a well-functioning
society and that there's a legitimate government in place that is going to be looking out for
its people.
So I just want to thank both of my outstanding partners here. They're true leaders in the
region. And I can speak, I think, for the United States to say that we've never been
more excited about the prospects of working as equal partners with our brothers and sisters
in Latin America and the Caribbean, because that's going to be the key to our success.
(Applause.)
* * * *
MR. MATTHEWS: President Santos, I guess there are some issues in America -- we have a very
large Hispanic population. Ten percent of our electorate is going to be Hispanic in
background. We are the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world after Mexico. People
have dual languages in the United States, of course, but there is so much Spanish speaking.
You have the chance to sit next to President Obama now. Do you want to ask him about the
ways you think the United States could help your country in the drug war?
* * * *
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Do you want me to respond?
MR. MATTHEWS: Yes, sir.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, this is a conversation that I've had with President Santos and others.
Just as the world economy is integrated, so, unfortunately, the drug trade is integrated.
And we can't look at the issue of supply in Latin America without also looking at the
issue of demand in the United States. (Applause.)
And so whether it's working with President Santos or supporting the courageous work that
President Calderón is doing in Mexico, I, personally, and my administration and I think
the American people understand that the toll of narco-trafficking on the societies of Central
America, Caribbean, and parts of South America are brutal, and undermining the capacity of
those countries to protect their citizens, and eroding institutions and corrupting institutions
in ways that are ultimately bad for everybody.
So this is part of the reason why we've invested, Chris, about $30 billion in prevention programs,
drug treatment programs looking at the drug issue not just from a law enforcement and
interdiction issue, but also from a public health perspective. This is why we've worked
in unprecedented fashion in cooperation with countries like Mexico on not just drugs coming
north, but also guns and cash going south.
This is one of the reasons why we have continued to invest in programs like Plan Colombia,
but also now are working with Colombia, given their best practices around issues of citizen
security, to have not just the United States but Colombia provide technical assistance
and training to countries in Central America and the Caribbean in finding ways that they
can duplicate some of the success that we've seen in Colombia.
So we're mindful of our responsibilities on this issue. And I think it is entirely legitimate
to have a conversation about whether the laws in place are ones that are doing more harm
than good in certain places.
I personally, and my administration's position, is that legalization is not the answer; that,
in fact, if you think about how it would end up operating, that the capacity of a large-scale
drug trade to dominate certain countries if they were allowed to operate legally without
any constraint could be just as corrupting if not more corrupting then the status quo.
Nevertheless, I'm a big believer in looking at the evidence, having a debate. I think
ultimately what we're going to find is, is that the way to solve this problem is both
in the United States, us dealing with demand in a more effective way, but it's also going
to be strengthening institutions at home.
You mentioned earlier, the biggest thing that's on everybody's minds -- whether it's the United
States, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica -- is, can I find a job that allows me to
support my family and allows my children to advance and feel secure. And in those societies
where you've got strong institutions, you've got strong business investment, you've got
rule of law, you have a law enforcement infrastructure that is sound, and an economy that's growing
-- that country is going to be like a healthy body that is more immune than countries that
have weak institutions and high unemployment, in which kids see their only future as participating
in the drug trade because nobody has actually trained them to get a job with Google, or
Pepsi, or start their own small business.
And so I think that it's important for us not to think that if somehow we look at the
drug issue in isolation, in the absence of dealing with some of these other challenges
-- institutional challenges and barriers to growth and opportunity and the capacity for
people to climb their way out of poverty, that we're going to be able to solve this
problem. The drug issue in this region is, in some ways, a cause, but it's also, in some
ways, an effect of some broader and underlying problems. And we as the United States have
an obligation not only to get our own house in order but also to help countries in a partnership
to try to see if we can move in a better direction. (Applause.)
* * * *
MR. MATTHEWS: Mr. President, do you want to respond? I think the question that seems to
be apparent here in the last couple of days is, first of all, tremendous enthusiasm, a
zeitgeist here that's almost unusual in the world for positive optimism about the development
in this part of the world. It's not like it was -- just isn't the way it was we grew up
with.
The challenge I think you just heard from the President of Brazil was the notion that
Latin America is not interested in being our complementary economy anymore -- the agricultural
end while we do the industrial end; they do the provision of raw materials and we do the
finest and highest-level high-tech work. How do we either respond to Brazil's demand, really,
to be partners and rivals -- they want to use our educational resources, they want to
come north to learn how to compete with us -- right, Madam President? You want to be
equals. You want to learn everything we know, and then take it back and shove it at us,
right? (Laughter.) Isn't that it?
Well, anyway, that's the response -- I'd ask you for your response. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Chris, I'm not sure you're characterizing what President Rousseff said
-- (laughter) -- but this is what happens when you get some of our U.S. political commentators
moderating a panel. (Laughter.) They try to stir up things that may not always be there.
(Applause.) And Chris is good at it. He's one of the best. (Laughter.)
But, look, this is already happening. This is already happening. Brazil has changed,
Colombia has changed -- and we welcome the change. The notion somehow that we see this
as a problem is just not the case, because if we've got a strong, growing, prosperous
middle class in Latin America, those are new customers for our businesses. (Applause.)
Brazil is growing and that opportunity is broad-based, then suddenly they're interested
in buying iPads, and they're interested in buying Boeing airplanes and -- (laughter.)
PRESIDENT ROUSSEFF: Boeing -- Embraer. (Laughter and applause.)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I was just trying to see how she'd respond to that. (Laughter.) But
the point is, is that that's a market for us. So we in the United States should welcome not just
growth, but broad-based growth, of the sort that President Rousseff described.
I'll give you just -- I said I was in Tampa. All those containers that are coming in, they
have, in some cases, commodities coming from Latin America, but they also have finished
products that are coming in from Latin America. We have commodities that are going into Latin
America that we're sending back on those containers, as well as finished products. And so this
is a two-way street.
When I came into office, one of my first decisions was to say that the G20 was not a temporary
thing to respond to the world economic crisis; this should be the permanent forum for determining
and coordinating direction in the world economy. And frankly, there were some folks who were
members of the G8 who were upset with me about that determination, but realistically you
can't coordinate world economic issues if you don't have China and Brazil and India
and South Africa at the table -- and Mexico. That's not possible.
So the world has changed. I think the United States and U.S. businesses stand to benefit
from those changes. But it does mean that we have to adapt to that competitive environment.
And all the advantages that President Rousseff mentioned we have as the United States -- its
flexibility, our scientific edge, our well-educated workforce, our top universities -- those are
the things that we continue to have to build and get better at. And that's true for every
country here.
Every one of the businesses here are going to be making determinations about where you
locate based on the quality of the workforce, how much investment you have to make in training
somebody to handle a million-dollar piece of equipment. Do you feel as if your intellectual
property is going to be protected? Do you feel as if there's a good infrastructure to
be able to get your products to market? And so I think this is a healthy competition that
we should be encouraging.
And what I've said at the first summit that I came to, Summit of the Americas that I came
to, was we do not believe there are junior partners and senior partners
in this situation. We believe there are partners. And Brazil is in many ways ahead of us on
something like biofuels; we should learn from them. And if we're going to be trying to mount a regional
initiative, let's make sure that Brazil is taking the lead. It doesn’t have to be us
in every situation.
Now, the flip side is -- and I'll close with this -- I think in Latin America, part of
the change in mentality is also not always looking to the United States as the reason
for everything that happens that goes wrong. (Applause.)
I was in an interview -- several interviews yesterday. These were actually with Spanish-speaking
television stations that have broadcast back in the United States. And the first interviewer
said, why hasn't the United States done more to promote democracy in the region, because
you've done a lot in the Arab Spring but it seems as if you're not dealing with some of
the problems here in Latin America. The next questioner said, why are you being so hard
on Cuba and promoting democracy all the time? (Laughter and applause.) That’s an example,
I think, of some of the challenges we face that are rooted in legitimate historical grievances.
But it gets -- it becomes a habit.
When it comes to economic integration and exchanges, I am completely sympathetic to
the fact that there are challenges around monetary policy in developed and less-developed
countries. And Brazil, for example, has seen the Real appreciate in ways that had been
hurtful. I would argue a lot of that has to do with the failure of some other countries
to engage in rebalancing, not the United States. But having said that, I think there's not
a country in Latin America who doesn’t want to see the United States grow rapidly because
we're your major export market.
And so most of these issues end up being complicated issues. Typically, they involve both actions
in the United States as well as actions in the other countries if we're going to optimize
the kind of growth and prosperity and broad-based opportunity that both President
Santos and President Rousseff have spoken about.
And the United States comes here and says: We're ready to do business. We
are open to
a partnership. We don’t expect to be able to dictate the terms of that partnership,
we expect it to be a negotiation based on mutual interest and mutual respect. And I think
we're
all going to benefit as a consequence of that. (Applause.)
MR. MATTHEWS: Thank you very much, President Rousseff, President Santos, and my President,
President Obama. Thank you. It's been
an honor.