Americas Society Recognizes President Juan Manuel Santos with Gold Insigne
Americas Society Recognizes President Juan Manuel Santos with Gold Insigne
During remarks, the president outlined Colombia’s economic and foreign policy accomplishments, as well as new efforts to forge peace in the country. Access the video and transcript.
Gold Insigne Award Dinner: President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos
Location: New York City, New York
Date: September 26, 2012
Well, thank you, John. Thank you, Susan. And hello to all of you. Let me start by saying how grateful I am, delighted, and how honored I feel receiving this recognition. Who would have thought in 1995, when I joined the Council of the Americas, the board of international advisers, that I would be back here in 2012 receiving this medal? I really feel very happy. And thank you very much for this award—not in my name; in the name of my team, my government, and 46 million Colombians.
Let me say a few words about what’s happening in Colombia and in the region. Two years ago, when I came to speak at the Council, taking advantage that you were here with the U.N. General Assembly, I told the members of the Council and the guests at that time that I wanted a government that I hope would be recorded in history as a government that was reformist, progressive, and decent. And I summed up our plans in the National Planning Department and the national plan that we approved in Congress with three words: more security, more employment, and less poverty. Two years later—a year later I told you how we were still planning much of what we were doing. And now when we start the second half of the government, I think we can show some concrete results.
