Ambassador
Ambassador Gutierrez's Speech
THE U.S. SUPPORT TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTH AMERICA AND ARGENTINA: ECONOMY, SECURITY AND SOCIAL WELFARE
Speech to the Club de la Union Nacional
April 27, 2006
Introduction
Good afternoon. I would like to thank Dr. Martin Schwab for the opportunity to speak here today. As Dr. Schwab indicated in his remarks, I am coming to the end of my three years as U.S. Ambassador to Argentina. My wife Miriam and I have had a wonderful tour here, and we will certainly return to visit friends and see more of your beautiful country during the coming years.
I am a career diplomat, and have spent the past twenty-nine years moving from country to country every few years. The waning days of a diplomat's stay in a particular country naturally become a time for reflection, both on one's own role and on the broader relationship of one's country with the host nation or region.
So this opportunity to discuss the U.S. role in Argentina and the region comes at a good time, and I look forward to sharing some thoughts with you and later to answering some of your questions.
Regional
President Bush has made clear, through his steady engagement, that he considers the security and prosperity of this hemisphere to be of utmost importance.
If anyone wonders why this region is important, it is easy to explain. We view the countries of the hemisphere as our partners, and the partnership is mutually beneficial.
This hemisphere represents $15 trillion in GDP and includes 900 million market-oriented consumers, and three of our top four foreign energy suppliers are in this neighborhood.
Latin America is the fastest-growing market for U.S.-made goods. The hemisphere boasts our largest and second-largest trading partners, Canada and Mexico. The Western Hemisphere as a whole is now buying more U.S. exports than Europe and East Asia combined. U.S. companies have invested four times as much in Mexico as in China.
Last year, the United States purchased over $220 billion in products from Latin America and the Caribbean -- ten years ago that figure was only $86 billion. On top of that, last year our direct investment in the region totaled $304 billion.
Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs in the U.S. depend on our trade with the region. At least that many jobs elsewhere in the hemisphere depend on the same trade.
Remittances flowing from the United States to the region amount to another $32 billion.
And more importantly, over the next decade U.S. trade and investment with those countries -- not including Canada -- are projected to exceed that with either Europe or Japan.
Moreover, the Bush administration has been a stalwart supporter of economies in this hemisphere before the international financial institutions -- especially when those economies have found themselves in periods of great difficulty.
One significant example was an exceptionally large IMF package for Brazil in 2002, with the support of the United States.
Uruguay received an important bridge loan directly from the United States that gave it the time necessary to reach an IMF accord to help that country restructure its debt.
And I don't think that anyone would deny that Argentina enjoyed unstinting backing from Washington when it was struggling to stabilize its financial situation, even in the face of skepticism from some of our European partners.
We have also developed a program, the Millenium Challenge Account, to help reward sound policies and prevent crises, which will increase U.S. development assistance by up to $5 billion annually.
To be eligible for this new money, nations must govern justly and honestly, uphold the rule of law, and fight corruption. They must invest in their people -- for example, by improving education and health care.
Three countries from our own hemisphere were among the first 16 to be declared eligible for MCA assistance: Bolivia, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
In addition, the $15 billion of additional monies sponsored by President Bush under the terms of his Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief will be of particular benefit to a number of our Caribbean neighbors.
And of course we have a robust trade agenda in the hemisphere. Canada, Mexico, Chile and the CAFTA-DR countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and the DR) are free trade partners, and in 2005 we signed FTAs with Peru and Colombia. We are continuing to engage with Panama and Ecuador toward FTAs with those countries.
Before long, the U.S. will have negotiated bilateral and regional FTAs with most of the 29 countries that want to proceed with the FTAA. It will then be simply a matter of bringing these FTAs into one single agreement. We remain committed to the ideal of a comprehensive FTAA.
These trade agreements benefit all the countries involved, and those benefits extend far beyond simple commerce. They help to strengthen institutions, stigmatize corruption, break down entrenched interests, and increase overall competitiveness.
But the heart of our strategy is much more than economics alone. We have an enormously broad inter-American agenda that includes, among other priorities:
-- the strengthening of the hemisphere's democracies
-- the protection of human rights
-- the fight against corruption, terrorism, and illegal narcotics
-- social development
So, what are we doing to help?
Well, we contributed to the search for peaceful, democratic solutions to recent political crises in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Haiti, working with other countries of the region to forge practical formulas for preserving constitutional order and defending democracy.
We have proven a steady and reliable partner to Colombia, completing Plan Colombia. Alongside our Colombian friends, we are harvesting the remarkable results of that policy. As a result of President Uribe’s leadership and sustained U.S. support, Colombia has made great progress against narco-traffickers and terrorists — crime is at its lowest level in 16 years and nearly 16,000 paramilitaries and other terrorists have either demobilized or deserted.
With our neighbors we are confronting the threat of violent gangs that constitute an urgent threat to our common security. We are also working ceaselessly, both bilaterally and multilaterally, to fight terrorism, illicit arms trafficking, illegal drugs, and corruption in the region.
We pursue many of our goals multilaterally, working daily with the UN in places like Haiti and with the OAS throughout the hemisphere to further the interests shared by all the democratic nations of the region.
For example, after four decades of silence on the subject of Cuba in the halls of the OAS, we raised the issue of the brutal crackdown against dissidents in April 2001, and 14 of Cuba's Latin American neighbors joined Canada, the Bahamas, and us in issuing a declaration calling for Cuba to respect the Inter-American Democratic Charter.
We are also preparing for the happy day of Cuba's eventual freedom. President Bush released in May 2005 the first comprehensive U.S. government strategy to ensure that Cuba's eventual transition is as smooth as possible.
That's a little bit about what we're doing to promote prosperity and security in the wider region. Now I would like to say a few words about our work with Argentina to that end.
The U.S. and Argentina
The U.S. and Argentina have many things in common, including shared democratic values, and there are many areas where bilateral cooperation has borne mutual benefits. For example:
• The U.S. has worked closely with the GOA this year in its role as a rotating member of the UN Security Council. Cooperation has occurred in such areas as peacekeeping, UN reform, the Iran nuclear issue, counter-terrorism and non-proliferation.
• The U.S. and the GOA have worked together to strengthen democracy in the hemisphere. Argentina's participation in the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti and the exemplary conduct of its armed forces there has been critical for the people of that country.
• On the security front, U.S.-Argentina military relations are excellent. Argentina participates in programs like the Proliferation Security Initiative, the aim of which is to halt the spread of WMD.
• The Department of Homeland Security and the GOA's national tax authority, AFIP, recently signed an agreement to implement the Container Security Initiative in the Port of Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires is the first port in Latin America to participate in CSI.
• The Department of State and Department of Energy are negotiating an agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to implement the Megaports initiative in the Port of Buenos Aires to help detect the movement of radioactive materials through Argentina's ports. The implementing agencies will be the Prefectura and Customs. This initiative benefits the safety of both Argentina and the U.S.
• The FBI is cooperating with Argentine law enforcement agencies and judicial authorities in criminal investigative and terrorism matters, information sharing, and training initiatives which assist in the resolution of major crimes in Argentina and the U.S.
• The DEA works closely with the Argentine Gendarmeria, Federal Police and Prefectura to combat drug trafficking in and through Argentina.
• Through agencies such as the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, the United States contributed $10 million to the Pierre Auger cosmic ray observatory in Malargue, Mendoza, where U.S. and Argentine scientists are working as part of an international team of researchers. NASA and INVAP have worked together in the construction of components for satellites.
• Many GOA officials and business executives have received Fulbright scholarships.
• The U.S. Embassy recently established an intern program where promising Argentine university students are given an opportunity to work in the policy-related sections of the Embassy.
In addition, there are some 540 U.S. majority-owned companies in Argentina. Those companies did not abandon Argentina during the crisis and are long-term investors in the country. Those companies employ over 200,000 Argentines, and they pay well and provide generous benefits.
Conclusion
What I have tried to convey today is that the U.S. is very actively engaged in the hemisphere, and that engagement brings innumerable benefits to us and to our neighbors. Regarding Argentina specifically, our two countries have and will continue to have many areas of common interest. The U.S. will continue to work on those areas where we can work together. There are also those areas where the U.S. and Argentina do not agree, such as the area of trade. In those areas, we will leave the door open until such time as circumstances allow us to work together. Thank you again for giving me this opportunity to share my reflections.