SECRETARY KERRY MEETS WITH EMBASSY STAFF IN MEXICO CITY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Meeting With Embassy Mexico City Staff

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Mexico City, Mexico

May 21, 2014

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AMBASSADOR WAYNE: Okay. Good afternoon, everybody. It’s a great honor for me to have the pleasure of introducing Secretary of State John Kerry. Mr. Secretary, thanks for carving out this time on your first official visit as Secretary of State to Mexico City. As you can see, we have a great, dedicated team here of Mexicans and Americans who work together on all sorts of issues to make our relationship better and to promote our interests. But we’re really pleased that you’re with us and we very much appreciate all the hard work and dedication that you have been showing in the service of our country as Secretary of State, and helping give us guidance and the other embassies around the world.

So thanks very much for being with us, and I give you the Secretary of State. (Applause.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Muchas gracias. Thank you very, very much, Tony. Muy buenas tardes. How are you? Everybody good? Como les va?(Laughter.) Okay. You got some energy in here. Thank you. Thank you, (inaudible). That is the best welcome I’ve had anywhere in the world. Thank you. (Applause.) I love it. Somebody said somebody up there had something to do with the Navy? Is that true? Are you guys a Navy mariachi band? (Laughter.) I was in the Navy; I never knew we could do that. (Laughter.) That’s outstanding. Thank you guys very, very much. Really appreciate it. I’d love to hear more. We can dance and whatever into the night.

I am really, really happy to be here, very privileged to be here with Tony, who is really an outstanding ambassador. He’s had extraordinary experience. Been here since 2011 I guess, and is doing an amazing job of not just marshaling this very, very important relationship, but also managing the extraordinary transition that is taking place here. We just keep getting bigger and bigger. I think we’ve got 2,700 people, 1,700 of whom are local employees. And I want to say a huge, huge thank you –muchas gracias – to those of you who work here, giving of yourselves to the effort of the United States to help build our relationship with Mexico. Everyone here is really grateful to you for what you do, so thank you very, very, very much. Thank you. (Applause.)

I know a lot of you are very nervous about what’s going to happen with this transition to the new embassy compound. I promise you I will exert all the power of the Secretary of State to make absolutely certain that when you move into the new compound, the jugo verdes will flow. (Laughter.) Does that matter to you or not? I don’t know. I was told it’s a big deal around here. Is that true? No. Only with some of you. How many people love it? Jugo verdes, right? That’s all. I’ve been misinformed. What’s the matter with the rest of you? What’s the matter with jugo verdes? (Laughter.)

Let me just say to everybody here, President Obama has now been out here five times, and Vice President Biden was obviously here last September. The President was here most recently, and now I’m here on my first trip as Secretary of State – and I promise you not my last trip. And I want to just emphasize how really both exciting and critical this relationship is. I just looked over here and I see Laura Dogu, our DCM, who is also the winner of the Baker-Wilkins Award for best DCM around. So congratulations to you. (Applause.) And her husband, Aydin , who I just met. Thank you both very much, and thank you very much, Laura, for that extraordinary leadership.

I just came from a really, really unbelievably friendly, open, constructive meeting with President Pena Nieto. And I tell you, it’s interesting to listen to him talk about the possibilities of this relationship and what we’ve achieved and what we want to achieve. Obviously, we have challenges. That’s why you’re here in these numbers. This is a critical relationship. It’s our hemisphere; it’s our neighbor; it’s an historic, long cultural attachment with enormous possibilities and potential to still develop and define. And when I think of the journey – I spent 29 years in the United States Senate – when I think of the journey from the early days of that incredibly divisive and difficult fight over NAFTA, and now you look at this journey and what has been accomplished. Our economy has grown, our jobs have grown, our jobs have gone through an incredibly sort of revolutionary kind of transition as we’ve modernized and moved into the technology era, the management of data and information, new kinds of jobs. And Mexico is doing exactly the same thing. And now we’re working on this absolutely critical relationship, the T – actually two relationships, but the TPP, which is going to be critical to all of us with respect to Asia Pacific, the Asia – and the future of the relationship in terms of both jobs and security. There are masses of young people all around the world looking for opportunity and for jobs.
The challenge to governance is really greater than it’s ever been. We have to deliver, and it requires a kind of cooperative effort that is different from anything we’ve ever known. We have this extraordinary amount of money – a billion dollars a day, unbelievable economic relationship that is moving one way and the other way between our nations. We have a million people a day crossing the border legally one way or the other. It’s an astounding relationship in that regard. And we’re only tapping into it because there’s still too many people yet to fully reach their economic potential in our country and in Mexico. So that’s the challenge, together with the challenge, obviously, of people who don’t like anything to do with modernity or who want to fight back against law and rule of law and structure. So Mexico is fighting some of that battle, and we’re trying to help them do that.

We have a whole bunch of unaccompanied children crossing over the border. It’s an enormous challenge, and we need to meet the challenge even as we are trying to fix our immigration laws, which I hope we could do this year. We passed that bill in the Senate. We now need to and want to pass it in the House of Representatives. I still have hopes that might be possible this year, and that would revolutionize the relationship between us.

But we have to make certain that we don’t let people exploit that issue or create problems with it, so we need to get ahead of it. We have too many guns coming from the United States of America into Mexico. We need to do our fair share of making certain that that’s not disrupting their capacity to fully develop and reach their potential, and to control the communities and the streets and not have chaos in certain places, or challenges by criminal enterprises.
So this is hard stuff. Building community is hard work, but it works. You can see it. You can measure the difference that we are making together every day in our countries, and particularly nearer the borders and in the communities that feel the greatest impact of the flow of those people.

So I just want to say thank you to you for what you’re doing. It’s a big embassy; it’s one of our biggest in the world, and it probably is going to grow, because the population’s going to grow and the challenges are going to grow. And when you add all the consulates and the 20 – I think it’s 26 agencies that – 29 agencies – 29 agencies that are all working together in a coordinated way, that’s more agencies by far than almost every other embassy in the country – in the world has.

So this is a big deal, and I am very, very happy to finally be able to get here and begin a series of engagements which we think are going to mature over the next year on the innovation, research, education front. The bilateral discussion that we had today where we’re actually pinning down real steps that we can take to guarantee that we’re going to expand the opportunities of Fulbright English language, of students moving across both borders both ways and learning in each other’s countries – that’s how you build relationships. I’ve seen that all over the world. I can’t tell you how many foreign ministers, finance ministers, environment ministers, prime ministers, presidents I meet somewhere in the world who brag to me privately how pleased and excited and incredibly affected they were by their relationship to the American university that they went to in their youth. And it builds a foundation of understanding, a relationship on which we have an ability to get through, sometimes, the toughest times.
So a profound thank you to every single one of you. You – I say this everywhere I go because I believe it: We, all of us – me, you, everybody involved in this – gets to wake up every morning – a lot of people who go to work don’t – liking what you do, loving the fact that you get to make a difference in the lives of other people and in the life and definition of your country. If you’re a local employee, Mexican working to help Americans do that, you’re still – you’re making a difference for Mexico and for the United States. And if you’re American, you’re making a difference for both, and that’s the way you build community, that’s the way you build stability, that’s the way you provide opportunity to young people, that’s the way you build the future. How many people get to get up and not punch the clock or go in or do something where they don’t feel that way? So it’s a blessing. And I hope we all work very, very hard as part of a family, which is what we are in the State Department, to keep it that way.

So thank you all. God bless you for what you do, and keep on doing, all the way (inaudible). (Applause.)

PARTICIPANT: (Off-mike.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Let me – I actually wrote a note down on that. I want to call everybody’s attention to two very, very special people: Arturo Montaño Robles – (applause) – and Ana Elena Tappan Alvarado. (Applause.) I can’t believe either of them, they look so young. I can’t believe either of them have worked here in Mexico City at this embassy for 42 years. That is amazing – amazing. (Applause.) Thank you.

And I want to – no, no, don’t go away. Don’t go away. Don’t go away. Stay here. No, no. (Laughter.) I want you to say thank you also, because everybody here knows that you don’t just serve alone; your families serve when you come home late at night, and you’re traveling, you’re doing whatever or you’ve had to leave them for a while. The families also contribute. And I particularly want to call attention – Arturo’s wife, Lucinda, and his daughter, Lucy, are here. You guys stand up and let everybody say thank you to you too, okay? Thank you, Lucy. (Applause.)
And Ana Elena has brought her brother and her sister, Ricardo and Silvia. Ricardo, Silvia, thank you very, very much. (Applause.) No, don’t get up. That’s okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for the reminder.

SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS AT COUNCIL OF THE AMERICA'S CONFERENCE

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks at the Council of the Americas' 44th Conference on the Americas

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Loy Henderson Hall

Washington, DC

May 7, 2014

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I’m very, very happy to be here with all of you, and I thank you for coming here for this meeting. Delighted to be introduced by John. My sister Peggy works up at the UN and she had a chance to work for John, who has served the President and Hillary Clinton and myself so well on the Foreign Affairs Policy Board, and it’s a pleasure for me to be able to welcome him back to the State Department. He’s one of our eminence grises who shares great experience, a road well-traveled, and a lot of good input to some of the very complicated challenges that we’re facing today. He’s also witnessed firsthand the remarkable transformation of the Western Hemisphere, and I think the truth is, we both know, it’s really just the precursor to things to come. And I think the size of the gathering here today, the quality of people assembled here, is testimony to that.

I want to thank Roberta Jacobson for her leadership. As our Assistant Secretary, she is constantly on the road and engaged actively in a lot of the transformations that are taking place here. I also want to thank Senator Tim Kaine, who’s hiding behind the house photographer here. (Laughter.) Tim, I had the pleasure of serving with also on the committee – the Foreign Relations Committee – and he’s just a superb senator and good friend and represents a state which is as forward leaning on trade and technology and the future as any state in the country – a state, I might add, that’s been growing and changing markedly over these last years. So I’m delighted that Tim is here, and you’re going to hear from him, and he does understand the stakes here.

I’m also proud that my governor, Governor Deval Patrick, is here. He’s also going to share some thoughts with you. Deval is in his last year of a two-term stewardship of the state, could have chosen to run again, but I think wants to return to the private sector for a period of time, despite a number of entreaties to do otherwise. And we are deeply appreciative. It was the first state to pass a sensible healthcare plan in the United States, and I just read yesterday that the life expectancy in Massachusetts has risen markedly, definitively, since that has been put in place. So quality of life is up, and businesses in our state are not complaining, but rather, think it’s been a very effective means of providing coverage and lowering costs.

So this is a great opportunity to share thoughts. I mean, this – yeah, I’m just back from Africa yesterday – midnight last night, or the night before last – and I was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, South Sudan, Ethiopia. And I’ll tell you this is a world of extraordinary opportunity right now, but also of remarkable change. The transformations taking place are really hard to describe. It’s a very different world from the world I grew up in. I’m a Cold War child who learned how to duck under the desk and take cover for the event of a nuclear war, and some of you here may have shared that experience. Since then, we’ve seen the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the remarkable bursting out of an incredible number of pent-up demand in various places, not the least of which is manifested in this increased sectarianism, increased religious distortion, exploitation, which results in extremism, as well as ideological extremism.

And we see, with what is happening in Nigeria with Boko Haram, the extents to which this can disrupt the world. It’s a challenge to all of us. And what I saw in Africa convinced me, as I talked to leader after leader and asked them how they balance this tension of these challenges that they face – they all talked about poverty and the need to alleviate poverty, and that much of this challenge comes out of this poverty where young people are grabbed at an early stage, proffered a little bit of money. Their minds are bended, and then the money doesn’t matter anymore; they’ve got the minds, and they begin to direct them into these very extreme endeavors.

And for all of us, the truth is it’s not something far away. Every American needs to understand that this is related to security at home, related to the capacity for job growth in the future, related to stability that the absence of may demand, at some point in time, the deployment of some of their sons and daughters to some far-off place in the world. We are all connected today. And everybody increasingly in these countries is dealing with some kind of mobile device, and they’re all tuned in, 24/7, 365 – everybody is connected. And no politician in any part of the world can operate with complete impunity as a result of that.

So this is the world we live in. I might add, in this new era of new partnerships, we think that the partnership means you’ve got to share resources and assets, like in football or soccer. So we’re here to humbly request the services of Lionel Messi for the month of June. We think that would work just fine for our interests. (Laughter.) I had a chance to see the World Cup right here in the other auditorium over there. Vice President Biden and I held an event to celebrate the coming of the World Cup. And we had the actual World Cup there. And I relished it because in all honesty, I wasn’t sure that I would see it here again very soon. (Laughter.) We’re in the tier of death. I don’t know if you know that. We’re poised to take on some of the toughest teams. But I have confidence in our team. They’re coming on strong and we have high hopes.

The bottom line is this: When you travel the world, as I get to as Secretary of State representing our great nation and all of the opportunities that all of you represent in our businesses, I really get to see both the challenge and the opportunity. And the opportunity is staggering, absolutely extraordinary. There are so many schools that need to be built, so many roads that need to be built, so much transportation infrastructure that needs to be built, so many people in the world still living on less than $2 a day or less than a dollar a day in many places – all of whom are thirsting to be part of that growing middle class that you see in countless numbers of countries.
So if you’re in business, as you all are, you’re staring at untold opportunity. And I’ll speak in a moment about some of that. You see regions of the world, obviously, that are in crisis and full of promise at the same time, all of them struggling to break out of an old cycle of this violence and poverty, despair, and corruption. Everywhere I go, when I meet with the foreign ministers or prime ministers or presidents, leaders of these countries, in some case monarchs still, you will find those leaders are struggling to open doors and make tough decisions. And I share with them the stories of what we are doing in this hemisphere. It’s a great example. I tell them the story of the American journey, and I can say America North and South. We are proof positive, really the real evidence, if you will, of what can await a lot of countries in the world if they finally make tough decisions and make the right decisions.

And I share this for one simple reason: It’s true. I came to the senate in 1985. John referred to that a moment ago in his introduction, how we were there together working together during a very difficult time. I know he remembers it very, very well. It was a period when the region only seemed to land in the headlines for the wrong reasons – violence, upheaval, repression, whether it was Guatemala or Nicaragua or El Salvador or Colombia. I remember when we were struggling over the Plan Colombia. We were dealing with the questions of narcotics and corruption. It was a very difficult era – a government literally under siege. I think thirteen supreme court justices were assassinated in one moment, and presidential candidates were assassinated. There was a question as to the viability of the system. But today, this story of this hemisphere is exhibit A that incredible progress is possible when there’s the right kind of leadership.

Today it’s crystal clear that if we work together and play our cards right, the Western Hemisphere can become literally the most stable and prosperous region in the world. That’s the possibility that we think we’re looking at.

Just think about it. Over the last decade, the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean grew at a rate of 4 percent a year, and this growth has lifted the lives of citizens. In the past decade alone, as trade between the United States and the Americas nearly tripled, more than 73 million people in Latin America were lifted out of the poverty that I referred to a few minutes ago. Seventy-three million people – you could take all the people in New York, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, and Bogota, and you still wouldn’t be halfway to that number of people who have been lifted out of poverty.

It’s a great story. It didn’t happen by accident. It happened by integrating markets, by incentivizing innovation, by creating new opportunities for citizens of all backgrounds. In short, it happened because leaders and institutions were willing to make the tough decisions to break away from the past, to try to make peace where there were insurgencies, and to open up new markets with trade agreements. They were prepared to commit to the future.

But even as we celebrate the growth that has spread through our hemisphere, it doesn’t mean we can sort of sit back and say, “Okay, job done, take a break.” It means that we have to develop a strategy to invest in the lasting, shared prosperity needed to lift up our section of the world for decades to come, and I believe that’s possible. That’s our goal. I believe there are four areas in particular where we will get the most return on our investments, and none of them, I think, will surprise you.

First and foremost is education. I’m preaching to the choir, I know, but we’ve got to make sure, still, despite your acceptance of this, it doesn’t automatically translate into the kind of political process necessary to guarantee we’re doing what we need to do. And the numbers of young people coming online in countries is staggering and way ahead of the numbers of desks and chairs and teachers and buildings for them to get that education. The fact is that the people in our hemisphere, youngAmericanos, are global learners, and we have to make sure that they can be those global learners so that they can thrive in the economies that we are developing.
And that is exactly the thinking behind President Obama’s 100,000 Strong in the Americas, an effort to increase student exchanges throughout our hemisphere in both directions. And we’re very successfully moving to grow to those numbers. All you have to do is ask a young woman from Paraguay by the name of Cecilia Martinez Gomez. She was a terrific student in high school, and when she was finished, she decided that she wanted to come to the United States for college and study English. The only problem was every program that she came across was far too expensive for her to be able to consider it. Through the connections that we have built with 100,000 Strong, Cecilia was able to participate in a program at Wichita State University in Kansas where she then eventually earned her bachelor’s degree. A couple of years later, she went on to get a master’s degree in public administration. And now she’s thriving and giving back.

So education’s only the first step, and I think everybody here understands that. Then you have to answer the question: So what comes next? You come out of school. Can you find a job? Is your economy growing? Will you have the skills necessary to be able to do what you want to do? And what happens to all these young people after graduation? And that’s why trade and economic integration are the next areas that we need to put our effort into and our investment.
Now, already, the United States has free trade agreements with 12 countries in the hemisphere. That is more than any other region in the world. And under the President’s leadership, we have also helped expand the hemisphere’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Chile and Peru, and beyond, and also to include Canada and Mexico. A number of nations in our hemisphere are already particularly important Pacific Rim players, and many of those without a Pacific coast are actually taking steps to now strengthen their ties with Asia as a result. So we’re looking to our partners in the Americas as a natural complement to our strategy in the 21^st century Pacific. And you all saw the success of the President’s trip in moving Prime Minister Abe to a point of acceptance of and advancing the TPP, and also advancing it in Philippines and South Asia.

We’ve also redoubled our commitment to NAFTA, which actually turned 20 this year. I remember that debate, a very tough, very bitter debate which lingered in our politics for some period of time. But it remains the greatest single step toward shared prosperity in this hemisphere. And in recent years, we’ve seen greater collaboration between the United States, Canada, and Mexico than ever before in our history, growing all the time. I will be in Mexico in a few weeks to continue that dialogue, and the President was there just a few weeks ago. Tim Kaine, I think, is going to talk to you a little bit about the critical relationship we share with Mexico. But today, I’m pleased to be able to share with you this – my plan to be there in Mexico City later in the month, because Mexico has become a very valued partner on so many issues, especially on the economic challenges both within North America and beyond. So I’m very much looking forward to my visit.

But for all the success and growth that we’ve seen, I don’t think there’s anybody sitting here who doesn’t think we can do more. Of course we can, and we have to do more. And if we do, then the Western Hemisphere – think about this – the Western Hemisphere can wind up being literally the leader of the global market for decades to come. And I say that with some sense of assurance when I look at some of the developmental issues, challenges of infrastructure, challenges of politics, challenges of capital flow and other – market access, other kinds of things that exist in other parts of the world. But if we get the TPP and the TTIP, both of which equal 40 percent of the market each, globally, you are talking about changing trade relationships and business capacity all across the planet.

Real economic integration will require us to do two things: reduce the cost of doing business across borders by opening up trade throughout Central and South America, and increase access to international markets for big business and small business alike. As we’ve seen here in the United States, this will require some more creative thinking. Over the past decade, U.S. small businesses have generated the majority of net growth in new jobs, but still less than 1 percent of America’s 30 million small companies export their goods and services out of the country.

That’s one of the reasons why President Obama has launched the Small Business Network of the Americas. The Network connects more than 1,000 small businesses – small business development centers in the United States with thousands of centers in Latin America in order to help build the kind of relationships that make exporting more easy and effective at the same time, and accessible to people.

Now, that’s just one of many programs that we have in place to make it easier for entrepreneurs in the hemisphere to access markets, to access capital, training, and leadership opportunities. We’re also very proud of the Pathways to Prosperity Innovation Challenge and the Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Americas initiative, better known as WE Americas.

So far, WE Americas has benefited some 20,000 women. An example: an entrepreneur, Vanessa Mazorra, who comes from El Salvador, and she owns a clothing and accessories company. Not so long ago, she produced about 500 pieces a month. But thanks to WE Americas support from the State Department and USAID, she has been able to significantly expand her operations and begin exporting internationally, including to the United States. Today, she produces nearly 3,000 pieces a month and growing. And last year, the Salvadoran Corporation of Exporters named her the Small and Medium Enterprise Exporter of the year. That’s what can happen. And it’s a program that we are excited about and will grow and want to work with you to try to get out there and get other people to understand exists.

Day after day, we are seeing how relatively small investments – these are not big deals, complicated – but relatively small investments can have enormous business benefits. And this spreads way beyond just the individual – spreads into the community, and ultimately even an entire country as you begin to attack that fundamental issue of creating a middle class and lifting people out of poverty.

Continued economic growth will also require us to invest in the third area I want to discuss today very quickly: energy security. You all saw the report, I hope, today – the front page of The Washington Postand New York Times – are very clear about a very important report released by the Administration yesterday with respect to climate change. I, again, see this all over the world, and I think you probably do too, the consequences. Yet you will still read within the article the doubts some Americans still have about this being a frontline issue. But today it is clear that the world’s new energy map – and this is a huge transformational moment in this regard – the world’s new energy map is no longer centered on the Middle East but on the Western Hemisphere. The region will account for two-thirds of the growth in the world’s oil supply over the next two decades. But oil and gas are only part of the big picture. And we also know that while many of the hemisphere’s largest countries are increasingly global energy producers, many of the hemisphere’s smallest countries are bearing the brunt of the burden when it comes to high-energy prices and the disastrous impacts of climate change, as the scientific report from the White House yesterday just confirms.

Unfortunately, these impacts are only going to get worse. And without serious reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions, we are looking at some very expensive choices for people. So this hemisphere needs to commit and needs to lead the world in terms of moving rapidly to energy resources that are used more responsibly and more sustainably. And there are leaders here among you who are doing exactly that. For example, last year Mexico passed
comprehensive climate change legislation that included ambitious greenhouse gas targets. I can’t emphasize enough: If you really want to address the problem of climate change, you enhance energy security and you reduce energy costs. And we know exactly what we have to do. The solution to climate change is energy policy. And we have to do a better job, all of us, in investing in new clean energy technologies and connecting energy markets from Chile to Canada.

And here in the United States, this is an extraordinary opportunity. We don’t even have a grid. We have an east coast grid, a west coast grid, a Texas grid, and a little line that goes from Chicago out towards the Dakotas. That’s it. Huge centerpiece opening in the belly of America. You can’t sell energy from those wind farms of Minnesota or Iowa to somewhere in the South. You can’t sell solar thermal energy from the South to the North where they need it. It’s ridiculous. It’s almost insulting for a great country like ours with our capital and our capacity not to have yet developed a modern, smart energy grid for this nation.

So we believe in this future of energy policy for this hemisphere, of linking Canada, U.S., Mexico, to all the way down through Latin America. And that’s exactly the idea behind a program that we have created called Connecting the Americas 2022. This initiative is about encouraging private sector investment in renewable energy and ultimately providing cheaper, cleaner, more reliable power for citizens all across the region. And already we are seeing encouraging progress. The final 25 miles of SIEPAC power transmission, the line in Costa Rica, ought to be completed later this year. And once that happens, all six Central American countries will be linked into one power grid for the first time in history. Think what could happen if we could all be linked ultimately.

Finally – and by the way, this is the biggest market in the world. The market that made America wealthy in the 1990s, where every single quintile of American income earner saw their income go up, was a $1 trillion market with 1 billion users. The market I just described for energy is a $6 trillion market today, 4-5 billion users, and going up to 9 billion users over the course of the next 20, 30, 40 years. It’s the biggest market in the history of human kind, and we need to be on the frontline of tapping into it and leading the world to it. And by the way, what I saw in Africa was this extraordinary demand for energy. It’s a huge restraint on growth, and one of the key components of what they need to do. So this is global, and if we don’t do it in the right way – read today’s newspapers – it’s going to be disastrous.

So if we want to bring about the prosperous, stable future that we dream of, the fourth area that all governments in the Americas must invest in is good governance. If we manage revenue effectively and transparently and maintain a sufficient tax base, then our nations can invest in the services and infrastructure needed to support social mobility and competitive economies. But I got to tell you: Corruption and fragile institutions drive down investor confidence and deny citizens economic opportunities, exacerbating crime and insecurity, chasing away capital, and leaving doubts about the possibilities. And they produce an environment, as a result, where innovation and economic growth simply can’t thrive.

That’s one of the many reasons why the United States is deeply concerned by the deteriorating situation in Venezuela, for instance. We believe the future of Venezuela is for the people of Venezuela to decide. And the people in the streets have legitimate grievances that deserve to be addressed. And the serious and worsening economic and social challenges in Venezuela can only be resolved with the input of those people. So we support the UNASUR-sponsored dialogue in the hope that it will allow Venezuelans to come together and take on the challenges that they face. But make no mistake: We will never stop defending the basic human rights that are essential to any functioning democracy, including the freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly.
Now for these same reasons, of course, we remain concerned about the Cuban people. None of us want to see the Cuban people continue to be left behind as the rest of the hemisphere advances. Since 2009, President Obama’s Cuba policy has been geared towards loosening the dependence of Cubans on the state and strengthening independent civil society. There’s an important overlap between U.S. policy and the emerging micro-entrepreneurial sector in Cuba.
President Obama’s goal has always been to empower Cubans to freely determine their own futures. And the most effective tool we have to promote this goal is helping to build deeper connections between the Cuban and American peoples. The hundreds of thousands of Cuban Americans who now send remittances and who travel each year under the President’s policies, they are critical to ensuring that the Cuban people have more of the opportunities that they deserve.

Now I know the Council of Americas has proposed steps that could be taken to further support Cuban entrepreneurs, and we want to thank you for those recommendations, and we very much appreciate those suggestions as we continue to evaluate the policies that we have in place today, and I can promise you we will do so.

We are immensely proud of this hemisphere’s positive trajectory, and we look forward to helping it move forward in the days ahead, including next month when our Deputy Secretary of State Heather Higginbottom leads the U.S. delegation to the OAS General Assembly in Paraguay. But it’s clear to all of you, I think, for our trajectory to continue in the direction we want it to, for these investments in education and the other investments that I’ve described – in trade and economic integration, in energy security and in good governance – for all of these to bring home the unity and the integration and the future that we want, we all are going to have to stay together, we’re going to have to continue to engage; we’re going to have to continue to push leaders, in some cases, to lead to the full potential. And in the end, I’m convinced this hemisphere has the ability to define a hemispheric future that is very different from anything that we lived in the 20^th century.

The 21^st century can be a time of new definition of possibilities for people. And as you see the incredible input of people who have come to America as immigrants from throughout this hemisphere, who love the fact that that they are today American, but always will remember where they came from and take pride in their language and their culture and make America richer because of it – that’s the definition that we get to make. We are – the beauty of America is we’re not defined by ethnicity and we’re not defined by – or we shouldn’t be. Maybe in some places people still fall into bad habits. But basically that’s not what defines America. America is defined as an idea. An idea. Read the Declaration of Independence. Look at the Constitution. That defines the idea. And more and more people are excited by and buying into that idea. And I’m convinced that if we focus on the things I laid out today, we’re going to give that idea definition that will have resonance all across this planet.

The one thing I have said since the day I was nominated for this job is economic policy is foreign policy, and foreign policy is economic policy. And we see that more today in this globalized world than at any other time. So all of you are instruments of our ability to market our values and protect our interests at the same time. And I thank you for being part of the Council and your willingness to do that. Thank you. (Applause.)

U.S., CANADA AND MEXICO DISCUSS ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT

FROM:  JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Thursday, February 13, 2014
U.S., Canada and Mexico Antitrust Officials Participate in Trilateral Meeting in Washington to Discuss Antitrust Enforcement

The heads of the antitrust agencies of the United States, Canada and Mexico – Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, Chairwoman Edith Ramirez of the Federal Trade Commission, Canadian Commissioner of Competition John Pecman and President Alejandra Palacios Prieto of the Mexican Federal Competition Commission – met today in Washington, D.C., to discuss their mutual efforts to ensure continued effective antitrust enforcement cooperation in our increasingly interconnected markets.

The discussions covered a wide range of topics, including recent enforcement developments, cooperation and mutual support, and priority setting and efficiency in resource constrained environments.

“Working with our antitrust colleagues across both United States borders to ensure effective antitrust enforcement is good for businesses and consumers,” said Assistant Attorney General Baer.  “The department values its close law enforcement relationships with Canada and Mexico, and I look forward to our continued efforts to work together to combat anticompetitive activity.”

The meetings build on the foundations laid by the 1995 antitrust cooperation agreement between the United States and Canada, the 1999 agreement between the United States and Mexico and the 2001 agreement between Canada and Mexico.  The agreements commit the antitrust agencies to cooperate and coordinate with each other to make their antitrust policies and enforcement as consistent and effective as possible.

The three nations also are parties to the North American Free Trade Agreement, which includes a competition chapter that provides for cooperation among them in antitrust investigations.

SECRETARY KERRY TOUTS LOWERING U.S. TRADE BARRIERS

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Remarks at the Launch of the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Partnership
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Loy Henderson Auditorium
Washington, DC
January 17, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, Ben, thank you very, very much. Thanks for your incredible collaboration and leadership on all of this. Mr. Vice President, thank you for being here with us today. And Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, old pal, thank you for being here and being part of this. And Roberta Jacobson, I just – her ears should be burning because I just swore in a new class of civil servants here, and I just called her “the best of the best” and a whole bunch of things, and so – look at her, she’s – (laughter). But she is doing a spectacular job. And Evan Ryan, who’s not up here, shares efforts on this, and we have a great team. And it’s really exciting to be able to be engaged in this kind of an initiative.

I know Roberta from her time as an OAS fellow in Argentina. Really found her worldview shaped through that experience. And so she comes to this with a very personal kind of early commitment that really helps us to translate this into the program that it’s becoming and going to become. And Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, likewise. I’ve watched her for years and years and years as she and I –

MS. TOWNSEND: A hundred years. (Laughter.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, you know. You and I – I actually knew Kathleen when she was – that puts me in a different category, and I think Senator Biden, too. So whatever happens, I’m – (laughter) – I’m way the hell ahead of you, so relax. (Laughter.)

I’m really pleased to see that Steve Vetter is here. He leads the Partners of the Americas, and that’s created opportunities across the hemisphere for more than five decades, no small accomplishment. And I’m also happy that Steve Ferst is here from NAFSA, another organization which has done so much to promote these kinds of global exchanges.

And most of all, I want to thank the fellow to my left, the Vice President of the United States, for being with us because his presence here really underscores the Administration’s priority of creating shared prosperity across the hemisphere. On official visits to Panama, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, and throughout his five years in the White House and well before that in the 30 years or so that he was on the Foreign Relations Committee, the Vice President has helped to make this priority a reality. And because of his pragmatic and personal commitment to this kind of diplomacy, connecting young people to the future, to opportunity – which is really getting people in touch with our values and their interests, and that marriage is critical. And the Vice President is a key asset for the President of the United States in helping us to engage and reach out in this kind of a program.

He and I both believe – as does President Obama. I think if there’s any topic that the President has put sort of first among equals, if you will, it’s education. And I – we share the belief, all of us here on this podium, education is the great equalizer of the 21st century, because of the dramatic changes that have taken place in the workplace and the challenges of globalization. And the success of many of the leaders in this room is, frankly, a testament to that reality. The Costa Rican ambassador, Muni Figueres, received her BA at City College in New York. Nester Mendez, the ambassador from Belize, did graduate work right down the street at George Washington. And Jose Antonio Meade, who I met with this morning in a trilateral with our friends from Canada, he is Mexico’s foreign secretary and he received his PhD at my alma mater, Yale University.

You have no idea how many people you meet – when I go around the world representing the country and meet a foreign minister, environment minister, finance minister, prime minister, president – who with pride talk about their time in the United States at one college or another or graduate school and what it has meant to shaping their views.

All of the people I just mentioned are distinguished diplomats who come from three different nations, and they pursued very different programs of study. But for each one of them, studying abroad in the United States helped them succeed in a much more internationalized world. As President Obama said last year in Mexico, “When we study together, we learn together, we work together, and we prosper together.” And that’s why the President launched this initiative of 100,000 Strong. It’s an ambitious goal: double the two-way traffic of young people studying in our respective universities.

So I’m proud to announce today that the State Department, with our partners in the private sector, have already raised – and we’ve just begun – have already raised a total of 3.65 million to promote study abroad and cross-cultural learning across the Americas. And as I said, that’s the beginning. We’re going to continue this effort.

These investments are going to help universities develop greater capacity to support study abroad, and they will challenge and reward institutions to find innovative ways to spur greater exchanges and to encourage schools and students who haven’t traditionally participated in this to come to see its value.

I am genuinely proud that the State Department is doing this, and I want to thank Santander Bank and ExxonMobil for their contribution as members of the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Founding Circle. I want to applaud Coca-Cola, Freeport McMoRan, and the Ford Foundation for being the initiative’s first contributing partners.

It’s also fitting that we host this event on that same day that Foreign Secretary Meade and I celebrated the 20th anniversary of NAFTA. And through two decades, the vast majority of North Americans have seen incredible benefits as we’ve lowered the barriers to trade, brought talent together and investments across the lines. We now trade about $1.2 trillion a year, compared to $77 billion with Brazil a year, and about $59 billion with India. So we massively, as North America, dwarf, and we haven’t paid enough attention, frankly, to building the longer-term future by creating this kind of relationship.

So I can tell you this: No matter where we’re from, every one of us shares the same basic aspiration – opportunity, security. And we all know that that better future is within reach if you have the chance to reach for the brass ring which comes from education. We are living in a world where countless countries, including this hemisphere, have vast populations under the age of 30 – 65 percent in some, 60 percent; 50 percent under the age of 21, 40 percent under the age of 18. And if those young people who are able to be wired and see what the rest of the world is getting and doing don’t have an opportunity to reach out and touch that, we’re all going to inherit the consequences of our lack of focus and inattention.

So it’s my honor now to introduce someone who has done so much in promoting these partnerships and this prosperity across our two continents, the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden. (Applause.)

NAFTA TRADE DEAL TOUTED BY U.S., CANADIAN AND MEXICAN GOVERNMENTS

FROM:  STATE DEPARTMENT 
Joint Press Availability With Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird and Mexican Foreign Secretary Jose Antonio Meade
Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Ben Franklin Room
Washington, DC
January 17, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning. Buenos Dias. Bonjour. Nice to be here with everybody, and I’m particularly delighted to welcome my friends and North American counterparts, Secretary Meade and Minister Baird. We’re happy to have them in Washington here today.

I have had a chance to meet bilaterally a number of times with both the secretary and the minister, but this is the first time that we’ve been able to meet all three of us, trilaterally, since I became Secretary of State, and I’m very grateful to both of them for making the trip here. And I hope, as I said to them today, to visit their countries, both of them, very, very soon.

During my years in the Senate and certainly since becoming Secretary, I’ve often found myself in absolute awe about how extraordinary this continent really is. While we often wind up traveling to trouble spots in the world, the truth is that North America is a remarkable, remarkable unity of three very important and powerful countries that share values and interests, and are operating on those values and interests every single day. We are three nations separated by peaceful borders. We are neighbors. We’re partners. And we come together to confront the full range of challenges that we face, and believe me, this is something that is not everyday everywhere in the world today.

Together, our North American nations are promoting democracy and our shared values at home and around the globe. We’re encouraging daily our cooperation on matters of international peace and security. We work together on nonproliferation, on Syria, on Middle East peace, on a host of different challenges to our security. And we’re also collaborating to address all of them more effectively than any of us could do alone. And that’s the power of North America and this relationship.

Through initiatives like the North America-Central America Security Dialogue, we’re also working to improve citizen security throughout the Western Hemisphere and beyond. And we’re reducing the impact of national disasters. We’re providing assistance in the face of health, humanitarian challenges. We’ve launched trilateral initiatives like the North American Plan for Animal and Pandemic Influenza, which was critical during the H1N1 outbreak of 2009, and remains intact today in order to help us address similar challenges, should they arise at any moment.

We’re also taking steps to support economic growth that is inclusive, shared. Just a few weeks ago, we marked the 20th anniversary of NAFTA. And I think we have learned a couple of important lessons that can help inform the vision of NAFTA. The first lesson is free trade works. In a world where economic policy is foreign policy, free trade is a key ingredient for shared prosperity, for shared growth, and shared security. Every single day, the United States does more than $3.4 billion of trade in our NAFTA partnership. And that is about a third of all the trading that we do. It is done between this partnership. More than $1 trillion of trade a year, more than $100 billion of trade a month – that is more trade that we engage in with Brazil annually, and each month we do more trade than we engage with with India annually, just to give you a sense of the vitality of this partnership.

Over the past 20 years, we have opened up a new North American marketplace. We have integrated supply chains and re-imagined entire industries, from agriculture to aerospace. Today, North America is far more than the sum of three economies. It’s the collective output of what has become a fully integrated manufacturing center. If you buy a car in Mexico, it may well have been assembled in Canada and contained Made-in-America parts. There are workers in Wichita, Kansas putting the finishing touches on aircraft that contain fuselages assembled in Mexico and engines built in Canada. This kind of economic integration is benefiting all three of our nations economically, and has also improved living standards and working conditions across the board.

I will tell you, because I was involved in the NAFTA debate in the United States Senate, I remember how intense that debate was. It divided America. And we could never really have envisioned, even in the best arguments, what has happened in those 20 years.

The second lesson that we can learn from the past couple of decades is that globalization isn’t slowing down any time soon. And no matter how much there is some dislocation, and we acknowledge there can be, the fact is that no political leader, no country can put that genie back in the bottle. When I joined my fellow senators in supporting and ultimately passing NAFTA, we didn’t do it because it was easy. We did it because we believed it was a risk worth taking, and it has proven true. NAFTA was at the vanguard of the wholly interconnected world that we face today. And as I always say, nobody has any way of transforming the realities of this desire of people everywhere to have better jobs, more jobs, more education, more opportunity that comes with that opening up.

So yes, globalization can be a challenge. But it really has meant that our countries have to be more dynamic. We have to be more competitive. We have to be more innovative. That’s not always easy. But globalization is an enormous opportunity, and if we can take advantage of it as we build on this strong partnership, we believe that it will help all of us to provide better opportunity and more security to our citizens.

If we want to compete, we actually have to make it even easier to trade, easier for people to invest in our countries. We talked about that this morning. We talked about how we can improve the trans-border movement of both goods and of people. We talked about how the Trans-Pacific Partnership could particularly have an impact on the global economy and also be enormously beneficial to each of our economies. And if our nations want to compete, the United States, Canada, and Mexico are best approaching these challenges as partners, not as competitors.

That includes on the subject of energy. I look forward to discussing with my counterparts the opportunities for energy cooperation, and we talked about that today – ways in which we can address the enormous challenge of climate change, which we all agree in our nations must be addressed, but also how we address the question of taking advantage of the vast resources we have on this continent, bring greater energy opportunity to our citizens, but do so in ways that are environmentally sustainable and responsible.

Next month, President Pena Nieto will host President Obama and Prime Minister Harper in Mexico for the North American Leaders meeting. And the lessons of the past will be at the forefront of our minds, but our focus fundamentally needs to be on the future, and that’s where it will be – on the growth of our markets, the strength of our partnership, the health and well-being of our people, and the security of our continent for years to come.

Mr. Secretary.

FOREIGN SECRETARY MEADE: Thank you and good morning to all. Thank you, Secretary Kerry. Thank you, Minister Baird. This has been, I think, a very good meeting for Mexico. It has allowed us the opportunity to talk about issues that are very relevant to the region. Just at the outset, I would like to recognize from Mexico the very long hours, the very long days of Secretary Kerry, the risks that he has taken in order to construct a better world. And I think that many of those risks have paid off, and Mexico recognizes that hard work. We had a very good meeting this morning in addressing many regional interests.

I would like to thank the members of the press.

(Via interpreter) I would also like to thank Mexican and Hispanic correspondents for their attendance.

(Inaudible) of common interest to our governments. As Secretary Kerry said, the North American (inaudible) drive the vision of 21st century North America. We will work towards becoming the most competitive and dynamic region in the world. We will be honored to host President Obama and Prime Minister Harper in Toluca in February. Today’s meeting focused on ensuring that we are on track to deliver our commitments. We discussed many topics, on how to make – how to work towards increasing our shared prosperity, our leadership, on the opportunities of international engagement, and the security of citizens in the North American region.

President Pena Nieto has said repeatedly that he believes that a 21st century North America is called on to become the most competitive and dynamic region in the world. We know that this is something that President Obama and Prime Minister Harper also share. We have many things that will support our work to make North America competitive and dynamic. As Secretary Kerry said, and I know Minister Baird believes, we have shared values, we have shared goals, we have a working partnership that has worked to the benefit of our people.

But we also are a region that enjoys an important number of competitive advantages going forward. We have as a region very competitive labor costs, we have huge transportation and logistical advantages, we have qualified and hard-working human capital, we are enjoying a new energy paradigm that people would not have envisioned some years back, we have great economies of scale due to the size and interrelation of our urban areas, and we have had a framework that has worked and that has worked well.

As we mark the NAFTA 20th anniversary, it’s important and interesting to see the size of the results. As this press conference is going on, more than $2 million of good are being traded every minute within our three economies. And behind that trade, there has been job creation and prosperity for the region. Mexico really looks forward to partaking in an effort to advance prosperity in the region that is both shared and inclusive. We know that we must seize new areas of opportunities that lie before us. We need to collaborate more on education, on science, on technology, and innovation. We have the opportunity to work together in addressing regional concerns of better engaging with Central America, the Caribbean, and the Latin American regions. We know that by working together, we can achieve more. We think that we have the regional institutions, the political framework, and the political will now in place to implement the decisions that we have taken.

The North American idea is a very good friend of Mexico and of North America because of what Pastor says – it’s stronger than ever. Mexico, the U.S., and Canada are working together to further our regional community, and that commitment was reaffirmed amongst all of us earlier this morning.

Again, thank you, Secretary Kerry. Thank you, Minister Baird, for your partnership in this endeavor.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much, Secretary Meade. Minister Baird.

FOREIGN MINISTER BAIRD: Thank you very much, John.

(Via interpreter) It’s a great pleasure for me to be here today and to celebrate the good partnership and the good relations between our two countries.

(Inaudible) for your hospitality, John. We had great discussions today celebrating 20 years of NAFTA and the huge and significant economic growth in trade that we’ve seen between our three countries. We also have seen the growth of our political relations with the trilateral relationship to look what we can do to work together to see more jobs, more hope, and more opportunity, what we can do to make our economies more competitive, what we can do to boost incomes, boost job creation in all three of our countries. NAFTA has been an unqualified success, and one of the great side effects is the strengthened political relationship between all three countries where, on issue after issue after issue, there is a strengthened partnership where not only are we working together, but rowing together and getting a lot farther a lot faster than any of us could have ever have hoped 20 years ago.

We had an opportunity to discuss security, border management, infrastructure. We had the opportunity to talk about regulatory cooperation, all things that can help boost job creation. And this remains a significant priority for Canada, and we look forward to the continued preparations for a successful summit. We appreciate the significant leadership from President Pena Nieto. The scale and the speed of the reforms which have taken place in his first year in office are remarkable. And we had a strong relationship with the Calderon administration and we’re very pleased with the first year of our relationship with the new administration.

I want to thank you as well, John, for the significant American leadership that we have seen from you, particularly with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I look forward to visiting Israel later today – tomorrow when I will leave, and to doing all we can to support your noble efforts to seek a resolution to one of, if not the most, intractable issue in the world. Obviously, your leadership as well, with respect to trying to bring a political solution and an end to the violence and the war by Assad against his own people, is remarkable and we will be there in Geneva to support you in those common values and efforts that we strongly support. Thank you very much. Merci beaucoup.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much, John. I think we’re – Jen will manage the questions.

MS. PSAKI: The first question will be from Michael Gordon of The New York Times.

QUESTION: A question for Secretary Kerry. Sir, after you became Secretary of State, you made the point repeatedly that it was important to change Bashar al-Assad’s calculation in order to achieve a political solution at Geneva II. Now almost a year later, it’s clear that the Assad regime believes its position is stronger than ever. In his letter to the United Nations, the Syria foreign minister, who will be leading the delegation to Geneva II, suggests that the purpose of going to Geneva is to fight terrorism, not discuss a political transition. In fact, he says some point in the invitation the Syrian Government received from the UN are “in conflict with the legal and political position of the state of Syria.”

Sir, my question is: How can you expect to make progress toward a political transition at Geneva II if the Assad government does even accept the purpose of the conference, which is what its own letter suggests. Have you been in contact with the Syrian Government over the past 24 hours to obtain an assurance that it accepts the purpose of the meeting? And doesn’t the Syrian foreign minister’s letter mean that more pressure needs to be brought to bear on the Assad government in order to make political headway? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much, Michael. Yesterday I addressed directly the revisionism of the Syrian regime in its effort to try to divert the purpose, which will not be successful. More than 30 nations are going to assemble, all of whom, thus far, and if there are more, will be and must be committed to the Geneva I communique. Now, you were with me in Paris the other day when Foreign Minister Lavrov stood up and reiterated that the purpose of this conference is the implementation of the Geneva I communique.

Nobody would have believed that Assad would have given up his chemical weapons. But he did. And the reason he did is that his patrons came to understand that he had to. And I believe, as we begin to get to Geneva, and begin to get into this process, that it will become clear that there is no political solution whatsoever if Assad is not discussing a transition and if he thinks he’s going to be part of that future. It’s not going to happen. The people who are the opponents of this regime will never, ever stop. There will be a low-grade insurgency at least, and worse, potentially even a civil war if it continues, because they will not stop.

Now we also are not out of options with respect to what we may be able to do to increase the pressure and further change the calculation. And I think we’ve made that clear to the Russian foreign minister and others, and nor are other players short of an ability to be able to have an impact here.

So I think they can bluster, they can protest, they can put out distortions. The bottom line is: We are going to Geneva to implement Geneva I. And if Assad doesn’t do that, he will invite greater response in various ways from various people over a period of time. So I’m not particularly surprised that he is trying to divert this. He’s been doing this for months, trying to make himself the protector of Syria against extremists, when he himself has even been funding some of those extremists – even purposely ceding some territory to them in order to make them more of a problem so he can make the argument that he is somehow the protector against them. Nobody is going to be fooled. We’re not going to be fooled by this process.

So Foreign Minister Lavrov has stated: They are supporting the Geneva I communique and the government has to come and negotiate around the communique. And since Russia is one of the primary benefactors of the Assad regime, we believe the Russians have a high stake in helping to make certain that Assad understands exactly what the parameters of this negotiation are.

MODERATOR: Second question is for (inaudible) from (inaudible) de Mexico.

QUESTION: Thank you. Secretary Kerry, you mentioned that you discussed how to improve the transit of goods and people here in North America. Many people here in the U.S. have been asking the three governments to update NAFTA to take into account the new reality, for example, of the recently passed energy reform in Mexico. So I’d like to get a sense of the three of you whether your governments will be willing to update NAFTA or even reopen it formally.

And Secretary Kerry --

SECRETARY KERRY: To open what?

QUESTION: Reopen NAFTA formally to include some new recent issues such as energy reform. And Secretary Kerry, especially for you, what are your response to those who believe that at some point the U.S. should include Canada and Mexico in the TTIP negotiations, if only to avoid future conflicts between the NAFTA rules and whatever you end up agreeing with the Europeans.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me speak first, and I’d like each of our – my guests to address this also. Over the last 20 years, as I mentioned, we’ve developed this incredible network of trade agreements in the Western hemisphere. And we have long-wanted to open up those benefits. I think that stepping up, all of us, to the TPP, is a very critical component of sort of moving to the next tier, post-NAFTA. So I don’t think you have to open up NAFTA, per se, in order to achieve what we’re trying to achieve. There are plenty of ways for us in cooperative, and we discussed a lot of them this morning with respect to borders, with respect to regulations, with respect to energy cooperation, technology, innovation, investment – there are a host of things that we can move forward on that will take us to the next level without having to sort of go back and kind of reopen it. I think we’re well-engaged and looking forward to a much more robust relationship.

And what we did do today was set down a series of specific items that we will follow up on quickly, so that these can be the items that our presidents and prime minister wind up engaging on in the meeting in February. And I think today’s meeting holds out the prospect that that can be a more productive and more specific engagement as a result.

Mr. Baird.

FOREIGN MINISTER BAIRD: Now listen, we believe that NAFTA’s been an unqualified success, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations, which all three of us are in, offer us the opportunity to strengthen the trilateral partnership, and we’re keen to use that opportunity to do so.

FOREIGN SECRETARY MEADE: NAFTA has worked well on many levels. In the last 20 years, trade in the region multiplied by three, foreign direct investment in the region multiplied by eight. Mexico is now the third trading partner of both the U.S. and Canada. We’re the second and the fifth market of the U.S. and Canada, respectively. Just to put in perspective, Mexico is the first market for exports of Arizona, California, and Texas. We’re the second largest export market for other 20 states. Again, to put the numbers in perspective, exports to Mexico just from the U.S. were larger than exports to China and Japan together. They were larger than the sum of exports to Germany, France, Holland, and the UK put together. And that is a platform over which we have an opportunity to build.

I agree with what Senator – with what Secretary Kerry and what Minister Baird said. We do not think it is necessary to reopen NAFTA, but we think we have to build on it to construct and revitalize the idea of a dynamic North America. North America is the single most important economic bloc today. The three economies standing here before you today explain about a third of the world economy. We explain – we are the largest exporters of most advanced industries, and we have therefore the obligation to review how the economic process is going in such a way as to remove any obstacles for trade, investment, and economic prosperity to be a reality to the citizens of all three of our countries.

The commitment that we have reached today will allow us to help develop an agenda, to follow it through, to have mechanisms that allow for the commitments that we’ve reached to be fully implemented. In terms of the trade relationship with Europe, at some point we will have three bilateral trade agreements with the European Union. It is in the interest of Mexico that those negotiations are to the benefit of the North American region. We think that that is in the best interest of Canada and the U.S. as well, and we will work to ensure that those negotiations further increase North American competitiveness, with a view, eventually, to having a more integrated perspective from North America and the European Union, rather than just a view of three bilaterals.

MODERATOR: Thank you. A question from Alex Panetta of the Canadian Press.

QUESTION: My question’s on a bilateral matter, a Canada-U.S. issue, the Keystone Pipeline. Last February, Secretary Kerry, you said you were hoping to be in a position to offer a decision on Keystone in the near future. It’s been almost a year. Since then, the Canadian Government has said it wouldn’t take no for an answer on Keystone. This week, your Canadian interlocutor is in Washington, has repeatedly asked for a decision soon because apparently the uncertainty is becoming untenable for the oil industry. So I would ask you to answer your Canadian friend.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I always answer my Canadian friend, but I have to do it according to our administrative process, and the rules and regulations under which I have to operate, and I think he understands that. We are currently engaged in the Environmental Impact Statement analysis. An analysis will be made with respect to the national interests ultimately, and we’re just not at that point yet. I haven’t received it. They haven’t finished it.

There were a lot of questions that were raised in all of the public comment period, and those comments have necessitated appropriate answers. The public has a role in this. We’re all accountable to our publics. The democratic process demands that we do that. So we are doing it, and I can promise our friends in Canada that all the appropriate effort is being put into trying to get this done effectively and rapidly. And my hope is that before long, that analysis will be available, and then my work begins.

FOREIGN MINISTER BAIRD: If I could as well respond. This is obvious, John and I have had discussions about this in the past, and we’ll be meeting bilaterally later today. Obviously, this is a tremendously important project for the future of prosperity of the Canadian economy. Twenty-six months ago, Hillary Clinton called, explained the concerns that the Administration had, particularly with the aquifer in Nebraska. We’re pleased that the proponent has worked constructively with the state, realigned the pipeline, gone through the process. We hope the final State Department report is out in short order, and that the Administration will be in a position to make a positive decision. This is a great project for the future economic prosperity of Canada. It’s a great project. It’ll create a lot of jobs here in the United States. It’s a great project which will increase the energy security of our closest friend and ally, and we obviously want to see and look forward to a positive decision to energy security, and a positive decision to job creation.

MS. PSAKI: Thank you, everyone.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all very much. Appreciate it.

"THE EVOLUTION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION" INFORMATION FROM THE CIA WORLD FACTBOOK

FROM: CIA WORLD FACTBOOK

The evolution of what is today the European Union (EU) from a regional economic agreement among six neighboring states in 1951 to today's hybrid intergovernmental and supranational organization of 27 countries across the European continent stands as an unprecedented phenomenon in the annals of history. Dynastic unions for territorial consolidation were long the norm in Europe; on a few occasions even country-level unions were arranged - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were examples. But for such a large number of nation-states to cede some of their sovereignty to an overarching entity is unique.

Although the EU is not a federation in the strict sense, it is far more than a free-trade association such as ASEAN, NAFTA, or Mercosur, and it has certain attributes associated with independent nations: its own flag, currency (for some members), and law-making abilities, as well as diplomatic representation and a common foreign and security policy in its dealings with external partners.

Thus, inclusion of basic intelligence on the EU has been deemed appropriate as a new, separate entity in The World Factbook. However, because of the EU's special status, this description is placed after the regular country entries.

Following the two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century, a number of European leaders in the late 1940s became convinced that the only way to establish a lasting peace was to reconcile the two chief belligerent nations - France and Germany - both economically and politically. In 1950, the French Foreign Minister Robert SCHUMAN proposed an eventual union of all Europe, the first step of which would be the integration of the coal and steel industries of Western Europe. The following year the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was set up when six members, Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, signed the Treaty of Paris.

The ECSC was so successful that within a few years the decision was made to integrate other elements of the countries' economies. In 1957, envisioning an "ever closer union," the Treaties of Rome created the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the six member states undertook to eliminate trade barriers among themselves by forming a common market. In 1967, the institutions of all three communities were formally merged into the European Community (EC), creating a single Commission, a single Council of Ministers, and the body known today as the European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament were initially selected by national parliaments, but in 1979 the first direct elections were undertaken and they have been held every five years since.

In 1973, the first enlargement of the EC took place with the addition of Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The 1980s saw further membership expansion with Greece joining in 1981 and Spain and Portugal in 1986. The 1992 Treaty of Maastricht laid the basis for further forms of cooperation in foreign and defense policy, in judicial and internal affairs, and in the creation of an economic and monetary union - including a common currency. This further integration created the European Union (EU), at the time standing alongside the European Community. In 1995, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU/EC, raising the membership total to 15.

A new currency, the euro, was launched in world money markets on 1 January 1999; it became the unit of exchange for all EU member states except the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark. In 2002, citizens of those 12 countries began using euro banknotes and coins. Ten new countries joined the EU in 2004 - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia - and in 2007 Bulgaria and Romania joined, bringing the membership to 27, where it stands today.

In an effort to ensure that the EU could function efficiently with an expanded membership, the Treaty of Nice (signed in 2000) set forth rules aimed at streamlining the size and procedures of EU institutions. An effort to establish a "Constitution for Europe," growing out of a Convention held in 2002-2003, foundered when it was rejected in referenda in France and the Netherlands in 2005. A subsequent effort in 2007 incorporated many of the features of the rejected Constitution while also making a number of substantive and symbolic changes. The new treaty, initially known as the Reform Treaty but subsequently referred to as the Treaty of Lisbon, sought to amend existing treaties rather than replace them. The treaty was approved at the EU intergovernmental conference of the 27 member states held in Lisbon in December 2007, after which the process of national ratifications began. In October 2009, an Irish referendum approved the Lisbon Treaty (overturning a previous rejection) and cleared the way for an ultimate unanimous endorsement. Poland and the Czech Republic signed on soon after. The Lisbon Treaty, again invoking the idea of an "ever closer union," came into force on 1 December 2009 and the European Union officially replaced and succeeded the European Community.

U.S.-CANADA RELATIONS

Map Credit:  U.S. State Department

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

U.S. Relations With Canada

Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs

Fact Sheet

June 29, 2012 

U.S.-CANADA RELATIONS

The United States and Canada share two borders and their bilateral relationship is among the closest and most extensive in the world. It is reflected in the high volume of bilateral trade--the equivalent of $1.6 billion a day in goods--as well as in people-to-people contact. About 300,000 people cross between the countries every day by all modes of transport. In fields ranging from security and law enforcement to environmental protection to free trade, the two countries work closely on multiple levels from federal to local.

U.S. defense arrangements with Canada are more extensive than with any other country. The Permanent Joint Board on Defense provides policy-level consultation on bilateral defense matters and the United States and Canada share North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mutual security commitments. U.S. and Canadian military forces cooperate on continental defense within the framework of the binational North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

The Beyond the Border initiative outlines a vision for perimeter security and economic competitiveness whereby the United States and Canada work in partnerships within, at, and away from our borders to achieve enhanced security and accelerate the legitimate flow of people, goods, and services between our two countries. The United States has several successful joint law enforcement programs with Canada such as the Integrated Border Enforcement Teams (IBET), Border Enforcement Security Taskforces (BEST), and the ShipRider Integrated Cross Border Maritime Law Enforcement program. Senior leadership engages in these efforts through fora such as the Cross Border Crime Forum (CBCF), which is chaired by the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security with their Canadian counterparts. As part of the Beyond the Border Action Plan, U.S. and Canadian officials are enhancing cross-border law enforcement radio interoperability and building on the successes of programs such as IBET, BEST, and ShipRider to develop the next generation of integrated cross-border law enforcement.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) conducts preclearance operations at eight Canadian airports, allowing air travelers to arrive at domestic terminals in the United States by screening and making admissibility decisions about U.S.-bound travelers and their accompanying goods or baggage prior to departure. The United States and Canada intend to enhance preclearance operations and expand them to also cover land, rail, and ferry/cruise travel as part of the Beyond the Border Action Plan.

The United States and Canada work together to resolve and manage transboundary environmental and water issues. A principal instrument of this cooperation is the International Joint Commission established under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty. Under the Columbia River Treaty, Canada and the United States jointly regulate and manage the Columbia River as it flows from British Columbia into the United States. The two countries cooperate on a range of bilateral fisheries issues and international high seas governance initiatives, and are both founding members of the Arctic Council.

The bilateral Clean Energy Dialogue is charged with expanding clean energy research and development; developing and deploying clean energy technology; and building a more efficient electricity grid based on clean and renewable energy in order to reduce greenhouse gases and combat climate change in both countries. Canada is an ally of the United States in international climate change negotiations. Canada participates in the U.S.-led Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate; the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, which aims to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technologies in major industrial sectors; and the International Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, which researches effective ways to capture and store carbon dioxide.

U.S. Assistance to Canada

The United States provides no foreign assistance to Canada.

Bilateral Economic Relations

The United States and Canada share the world's largest and most comprehensive trading relationship, which supports millions of jobs in each country. Canada is the single largest foreign supplier of energy to the United States. Recognition of the commercial viability of Canada's oil sands has made it the world's third largest holder of oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela and is the only non-OPEC member in the top five. Canada and the United States operate an integrated electricity grid that meets jointly developed reliability standards, and they provide all of each other's electricity imports. Canadian uranium helps fuel U.S. nuclear power plants.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) among the United States, Canada, and Mexico aims to reduce trade barriers and establish agreed upon trade rules. It has resolved long-standing bilateral irritants and liberalized rules in several areas, including agriculture, services, energy, financial services, investment, and government procurement. The Regulatory Cooperation Council seeks to further stimulate trade by increasing regulatory transparency and cooperation between the United States and Canada and eliminating unnecessary regulatory differences and duplicative actions that hinder cross-border trade and investment.

Canada and the United States have one of the world's largest investment relationships. The United States is Canada's largest foreign investor, and Canada is the fifth-largest foreign investor in the United States. U.S. investment is primarily in Canada's mining and smelting industries, petroleum, chemicals, the manufacture of machinery and transportation equipment, and finance. Canadian investment in the United States is concentrated in finance and insurance, manufacturing, banking, information and retail trade, and other services.

Bilateral trade disputes are managed through bilateral consultative forums or referral to NAFTA or World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute resolution procedures. Canada has challenged U.S. trade remedy law in NAFTA and WTO dispute settlement mechanisms. The two countries negotiated the application to Canadian goods of "Buy American" provisions for state and local procurement under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The United States has encouraged Canada to strengthen its intellectual property laws and enforcement. Canada passed an important copyright law on June 28, 2012.

Canada's Membership in International Organizations

In addition to their close bilateral ties, Canada and the United States cooperate in multilateral fora, including international efforts to combat terrorist financing and money laundering. The two countries belong to a number of the same international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO, WTO, G8, G20, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Organization of American States, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Canada accepted an invitation to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership regional trade agreement being negotiated among the United States and other countries.