41st Washington Conference on the Americas: Opportunities in a Changing Americas
41st Washington Conference on the Americas: Opportunities in a Changing Americas
Mexico's President Felipe Calderón, El Salvador's President Mauricio Funes, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined us as speakers at our annual conference.
Council of the Americas held its annual Washington Conference on the Americas on May 10 and 11, hosting presidents, ministers, secretaries, and other top officials from across the hemisphere. With a focus on a new era in the Americas, speakers stressed ways to deepen ties. “For our security and strategic interests, we have to design an architecture of cooperation, and we are looking more and more to increasingly capable partners in the hemisphere,” said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, one of the first speakers of the day. President of Mexico Felipe Calderón, who delivered closing remarks at the conference, discussed integration in North America and across the hemisphere, saying: "The closer we are, the more competitive we will be, and the faster we will grow.” Access coverage of speakers' remarks and presentations below.
Speakers (in order of appearance):
- Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Western Hemisphere Affairs.
- Hillary R. Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State
- Ken Salazar, U.S. Secretary of the Interior
- Mauricio Funes, President of El Salvador
- James M. Flaherty, Minister of Finance, Canada
- John McCain, Senator of Arizona, U.S. Senate
- Juan Carlos Echeverry, Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Colombia
- Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, President of Mexico
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State of Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela
As the first speaker at the conference, the assistant secretary focused on a new era in the Americas. He said the region moved away from an “old narrative” of the United States “trying to mold feckless neighbors” to a new scenario of vibrant partnerships. He noted that innovative approaches have led to the embrace of democracy, sound policy, and the countries of the Americas being more integrated than ever, “creating incentives for cooperation.”
“We know this is a work in progress,” said Valenzuela. “The U.S. is showing multiple actions to help sustain our common success…in the Americas.” He pointed to President Barack Obama’s participation in the 2009 Summit of the Americas and his March 2011 tour of Latin America. The assistant secretary, citing the fact that free-trade agreements have fueled hemispheric economic growth, highlighted Obama’s announcement that he would pursue approval of trade pacts with Colombia and Panama.
Valenzuela, who will leave his post this summer to return to teaching at Georgetown University, discussed Cuba and Venezuela during the question-and-answer session following his remarks. He said that, while the administration condemned the treatment of political prisoners and the imprisonment of U.S. contractor Alan Gross in Cuba, the administration’s move to ease travel restrictions to the island seeks to build ties with civil society. He also said that, while there were concerns regarding Venezuela’s moves toward authoritarianism and signs of an increase in narcotrafficking. But he applauded Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’ move to moderate and improve ties with Caracas.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
“There is power in our proximity,” said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her address to the Washington Conference. The secretary referred not just to geography, but also integrated economies, shared values in terms of democracy and human rights, and common culture across the Americas. She noted that, as the United States seeks to rebuild its own economy, it looks to its partners in the region. “For our security and strategic interests, we have to design an architecture of cooperation, and we are looking more and more to increasingly capable partners in the hemisphere,” she said. “For our core values, as we promote democracy and human rights here and around the world, we can point time and time again to what is happening for our partners and friends in this hemisphere.”
With an eye to linked hemispheric economies, the secretary noted that the Obama administration seeks to gain passage of pending free-trade agreements with Colombia and Panama “early this year,” along with renewal of the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act. These three hemispheric trade deals could add as much as $10 billion and 70,000 jobs to U.S. economy, noted Clinton. With that in mind, “bipartisan support is being forged in Congress” to pave the way for these pacts’ approval. Steps taken involve tax-law changes in Panama and an action plan already gaining implementation in Colombia that increases human rights protection for trade union leaders and has a June 15 deadline. Through passage of the trade deals, the Americas will see trade integration “from the Rockies to the bottom of the Andes.” The secretary said: “Now, I’m not talking out of school when I say that free trade agreements always raise hard questions and they spark a lot of healthy debate in our country. But today, I am happy to report we are making great progress on both agreements.”
Other areas for progress on hemispheric partnerships, said the secretary, included movement on a cross-border trucking program to allow approved Mexican trucks to carry goods into the United States and, in return, lead to the decrease in retaliatory Mexican tariffs on specific U.S. products. She also discussed how President Obama’s trip to Latin America in March 2011 led to bilateral agreements with Brazil in areas that range from biofuel cooperation to infrastructure development ahead of Brazil’s hosting of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. In Chile, the president delivered a major speech about the Americas and Obama’s visit to El Salvador allowed for the opportunity to launch a plan that seeks to support self-sustaining economic policies in Latin America.
“The Western Hemisphere has seen such tremendous progress and it is due to effective, thoughtful leadership,” said Clinton. She said that that democratic strides have taken place across the region, with Cuba as a notable exception. To that end, Washington seeks to build person-to-person relationships, particularly with Cuban civil society, in preparation for when the country turns to democracy. The Obama administration has thus eased some restrictions, including some types of travel restrictions.
But the secretary also pointed to regional shortcomings, in particular inequality, saying: “We still struggle with this in the hemisphere.” Other issues include, in some places, inadequate education, the need to strengthen democracy, weak fiscal policies, and too much violence related to organized crime. On the last point, she highlighted a $200 million program to support civil society groups and build institutions in Central America with an eye to stem narcotrafficking, as well as working with Colombia and Mexico to harvest and build on security expertise.
Clinton pointed out that the Americas must seek solutions with regional ties in mind. “We are interdependent, and we have to deal with the real questions that interdependence poses,” she said. The large Spanish-speaking population in the United Sates is an example of this interdependence, and demonstrates the need for comprehensive immigration reform, which the president renewed the call for on May 10. One way to build on this relationship is through a program known as “100,000 Strong in the Americas,” allowing for large-scale educational exchange.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
The interior secretary outlined the three drivers of the Obama administration’s energy policy: to produce more oil and gas, to increase the use of alternative energy, and to encourage greater energy efficiency. He spoke of the “nightmare of the Gulf of Mexico” when the Macondo well blew up, noting that the United States “didn’t have what we needed to have to deal with that kind of oil spill.” But, he said, the results of that terrible spill were important lessons that the United States must share with the world to prevent such a disaster from ever happening again.
The secretary described several initiatives the United States is engaged in to ensure that best practices are disseminated and implemented for deepwater drilling for oil and gas. With Mexico, the United States is developing what Mexican President Felipe Calderón calls “one standard” to ensure that both countries adhere to the same standards and procedures for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The two countries are also negotiating a transboundary zone in the Gulf and hope to have an agreement by the end of 2011. This agreement would allow Mexico to move forward with oil and gas development in the Gulf as well as allow the United States to begin to develop oil and gas resources within the transboundary zone on its side of the Gulf of Mexico.
The secretary emphasized that the challenges of deepwater drilling go beyond the Gulf of Mexico, and that the same sort of risks have to be dealt with worldwide. He outlined U.S. involvement in efforts to address these issues in Brazil and in the Arctic Circle.
Recently returned from a visit to Brazil, Secretary Salazar described the deepwater oil reserves 150 miles off the coast of that country as potentially the largest reserves in the Western Hemisphere. But, while the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico was one mile below the seafloor, Brazil’s reserves are located more than four miles beneath the ocean bed. The challenges, as well as the opportunities, are enormous, according to Salazar. For this reason, an important area of cooperation between the United States and Brazil involves working together to share best practices for deepwater drilling.
In addition to the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil, the Arctic Circle also has huge potential for oil and gas development, and, like the Gulf and Brazil, faces hurdles. The Arctic Council, a group of Arctic Circle countries, will meet this week in Greenland to talk about oil and gas development and conservation issues. The key question facing this group, said Salazar, is: “How do we move forward in a responsible way?”
President of El Salvador Mauricio Funes
During his remarks, the president of El Salvador traced Latin America’s changes from the time of the Cold War through periods of civil wars and dictatorships to the current era. He stressed that two words can describe this new era: “multilateralism and globalization.” Funes pointed to examples, from the EU to Mercosur, and added that President Obama’s relations also signal multilateralism through “a new relationship between the United States and Latin America.”
The president gave an overview of how El Salvador experienced a parallel of what the Latin American region experienced, from the civil war to peace accords that set out to create a new democracy to 2009, when—after five consecutive terms of one party in power—the country voted for alternation. With his victory as the representative of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front party, El Salvador has been able to strengthen democratic institutions. “This period of dialogue should be the preface to a new era of security,” said the president.
Funes also gave an overview of his country’s economic struggles in recent years, given that El Salvador suffered a recession sparked by the U.S. economic crisis of 2008. As a result, in 2009, El Salvador saw its economy contract by 3.8 percent. Last year this contraction was reversed, and forecasts place 2010 growth at 2.5 percent. Funes pointed to a number of positive indicators, such as growth in remittances and recovery in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. Also the fiscal deficit has decreased from 5.6 percent to 4.2 percent of GDP. Still, he noted, El Salvador’s economy must grow by 4 percent by the end of 2014, add 250,000 new jobs, and increase exports by 20 percent to keep inflation in check and expand its financial outlook.
The president also outlined security challenges, given Central America’s location as a transit point between Mexico and Colombia. As a result, his government has increased the military’s presence by 8,000 and the number of police forces by 4,000 to combat organized crime.
In closing, the president spoke optimistically about the U.S.-Salvadoran partnership and El Salvador as a country that will benefit from the Obama administration’s Partnership for Growth, supporting self-sustaining economies in the Americas. But he also cautioned about challenges, such as the fact that a country such as his, which is a net importer of raw materials with a poorly diversified export market, face the hurdles of rising food prices. Finally, he raised concerns about institutional weakness, saying that “democratic problems can be resolved with more democracy.” In closing he said that there was no greater priority for his government than “peace, security, and dignity” for El Salvador.
Canada’s Minister of Finance James Flaherty interviewed by HITN's Destination Casa Blanca Host and PBS NewsHour Senior Correspondent Ray Suarez
Canada’s Minister of Finance James Flaherty spoke to HITN's Destination Casa Blanca Host and PBS NewsHour Senior Correspondent Ray Suarez about the recent elections in Canada, Canada’s economy, trade, and NAFTA. After five years of minority government in Canada, on May 2, the Canadian electorate delivered Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party a majority government, with 167 seats in parliament. The Liberal Party was reduced to only 34 seats, and the leftist New Democratic Party vaulted to 102 seats to became the main opposition party, in a historic first. With the stability a majority government brings, the Conservative Party will be able to plan better for the medium and long terms, according to Flaherty.
Flaherty noted that jobs and the economy were the main focus of the elections, and that, under the Conservatives, Canada came out of the recession in better shape than most countries. In addition to his party’s management of the economy, Flaherty gave credit to fiscal reforms in the 1990s. He warned that governments always have to be prepared for economic crisis and said, “We want to have fiscal room to act as we did in 2008.”
Given the strong integration of the Canadian and U.S. economies, Suarez asked Flaherty how Canada was able to manage the downturn in exports to the United States. For Flaherty, the key has been Canada’s effort to diversify its trading partners. “We are a trading nation, relatively small,” he said, “and we need to make sure we expand our trading opportunities.” In the absence of significant advances in the Doha trade-negotiation round of the World Trade Organization, Flaherty said that Canada has to move ahead on its own. He noted that Canada is currently negotiating trade deals with the European Union and India, among others, and is rapidly expanding trade with China. Canada is also building trade ties in the Americas [in addition to NAFTA, Canada has trade agreements with Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, and Peru].
Suarez asked Flaherty how NAFTA has worked for Canada, commenting that in every U.S. election, “NAFTA gets pulled out of the closet and ceremonially flogged and then put back in the closet.” As Flaherty sees it, NAFTA has been very beneficial for both Canada and the United States. “Think about how many American jobs would be lost if NAFTA went away.”
U.S. Senator John McCain interviewed by Americas Society and Council of the Americas Chairman John Negroponte
Americas Society and Council of the Americas Chairman John Negroponte spoke with U.S. Senator John McCain about the importance of hemispheric relations, the need for comprehensive immigration reform, and the urgency of passing the Colombia and Panama trade agreements before the congressional recess in August.
McCain emphasized the importance of hemispheric relations, noting that “sometimes we in government aren’t as attentive to our hemisphere as we should be.” He praised Latin America’s two largest economies, calling Brazil’s tremendous economic progress one of the untold success stories of recent years. “The sleeping giant has awakened,” he said. In regard to Mexico, McCain called the challenges the government there faces an “existential threat.” He professed to be a “great admirer of President Calderon” and his effort to take on the drug cartels, and identified U.S. demand for drugs as the source of the problem.
Remarking on President Obama’s call for immigration reform in a speech the day before, Negroponte asked McCain his views on the chances for comprehensive immigration reform before the 2012 presidential election. McCain said he agrees with President Obama that we need comprehensive immigration reform. He cited a Government Accountability Office statistic that the U.S. doesn’t have operational control of about 40 percent of the border. McCain lamented that in his home state of Arizona, the Tucson area of the U.S.-Mexico border is the source of marijuana and people smuggling. McCain and Senator Jon Kyl have a plan to secure the border, which, according to McCain, he presented to Obama. Calling himself an “eternal optimist,” he said, “I still await the opportunity to sit down and do some serious negotiations with the administration.”
Last week the Obama administration signaled that it was ready to begin technical discussions with Congress on the pending trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. Negroponte asked McCain for his views on whether the agreements would be ratified by summer. McCain called ratification of these agreements “imperative,” but said the sticking point is trade adjustment assistance. The figure the Democrats are asking for, according to McCain, is too high. “I’m guardedly optimistic that we can get this thing done but I do believe that it has to be by the August recess. It’s very important that we have a schedule to get this thing done,” he said. He urged the audience to weigh in with members of Congress and the administration on the free trade agreements, calling the agreements good for our hemisphere and good for the American people.
In response to Negroponte’s question about his views on the U.S. ethanol tariff, McCain said, “Since the days of P.T. Barnum no greater hoax has been perpetrated on American people than ethanol subsidies.”
Colombia’s Minister of Finance Juan Carlos Echeverry
Minister Echeverry spelled out Colombia’s main goals: “More security, more jobs, and less poverty.” He outlined the Colombian government’s focus areas to advance those three aims: land reform, including an increase in land taxes to boost infrastructure; increased investment in public goods such as education, health, and justice; infrastructure expansion, with a plan to invest $50 billion over the next eight years; combating corruption; an improved business climate, particularly given rising domestic demand; and fiscal equilibrium. A package of reforms, ranging from compensation for victims of violence to a constitutional amendment supporting fiscal sustainability, will also support efforts to meet the government’s goals.
“There is a very bright future for us,” said Echeverry. He noted renewed calls in the United States in support of the U.S. -Colombia free-trade agreement, and his confidence in its approval this year. Moreover, he said, Colombian labor are increasingly competitive when compared with China’s. While the cost of labor in China’s manufacturing industry has gone from 60 cents to $1.50 per hour, Colombia’s stands at $1.70 per hour. As a result, U.S. companies are looking to Latin America and, particularly, Colombia for its labor force. Echeverry said that, with the help of expanding agribusiness, Colombia hopes to surpass Argentina to become the third largest economy in Latin America, after Brazil and Mexico.
During a question and answer session, the minister addressed concerns about infrastructure development, particularly give the severe flooding that hit Colombia in recent months. He noted that, by selling 10 percent of Ecopetrol—accounting for 4 percent of GDP—along with increased revenue from land taxes will help rebuild flood-damaged areas and build infrastructure.
President of Mexico Felipe Calderón
During remarks that closed the conference, the president laid out his vision for Mexico, a country that he noted is emerging from economic turbulence and now has a vibrant democracy. His remarks not only pointed to Mexico’s economic and social accomplishments, but stressed the need to deepen North American and hemispheric integration while working with the United States to tackle the issues of immigration, security, and climate change.
In 2010, Mexico witnessed 5.5 percent GDP growth and added 150,000 new jobs to its economy, said Calderón. Forecasts for 2011 place growth levels at at least 4.5 percent. “There is still much to be done in Mexico in order to reach our growth potential,” said the president, adding that, for that reason, the country has focused on infrastructure development “like never before,” investing 5 percent of GDP into that sector.
He noted that his country is investing in human capital as well, building 90 new universities. Each year, 90,000 engineers and technicians graduate in Mexico—more than in Canada or Brazil. Now, 98 percent of Mexican families have electricity and more than 90 percent have running water and television, while 95 million Mexicans now have access to public health services. This focus on health, education, housing, and public services is making Mexico “a predominantly middle class nation,” he said.
The president went on to focus on Mexico’s market friendly economy, with tariffs reduced to 5 percent between 2008 and 2010. Also, the country rose in the World Bank’s Doing Business rankings from the seventy-third spot to the thirty-fifth since Calderón took office. He added that Mexico offers the United States the lowest cost for manufacturing in the world, including when compared to China. The new Pacific Alliance signed in Lima in April—which included the economies of Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru—accounts for $900 billion in trade and helps make Mexico a bridge in the Americas.
With that, he turned to North American ties, saying: “The region that is the most competitive will be the most prosperous as well.” He noted the complementary nature of Mexico’s large labor force and the United States’ capital-focused economy. “The closer we are, the more competitive we will be, and the faster we will grow.”
In particular, he focused on three areas for bilateral partnership. First, he discussed migration, saying: “The current immigration system is broken and it has become a new bottleneck for growth and prosperity.” He urged the United States to start viewing immigration as an economic problem, adding that it’s a process that needs to occur in a legal, safe way.
Second, he discussed security. “This is not a Mexican problem, this is a common problem, and we need to fix that together,” he said. Calderón described how his government inherited crime-related issues from the past, when organized crime operated with impunity. For that reason, he adopted a multi-pronged strategy to confront narcotrafficking: containing organized crime using the temporary solution of involving the army; building and renewing law enforcement agencies by increasing police forces and police training; reforming the judicial system and moving toward oral trials; and attacking the social sources of crime through social programs. But he stressed that the United States can contribute by doing more to attack money laundering and reduce drug demand, saying: “Without decrease in demand it is impossible to decrease crime.” He added that, of 100,000 illicit arms captured in Mexico, 84 percent had been sold in the United States.
The third and final area that Calderón stressed for bilateral partnership was climate change. He offered condolences for the lives lost during recent tornadoes and flooding in the United States, noting that they offer a “powerful reminder that something is happening and that the climate is changing.” He added, “We are paying a very high price for the lack of action” concluding, “We must have the leadership of the United States in this challenge.”
