Obama tours S America to deliver and promote business
Yi Aijun and Lin Yu | Saturday, 19 March 2011
Yi Aijun and Lin Yu
With wife and daughters in his company, U.S. President Barack Obama will on Friday kick off a five-day tour of South and Central America to deliver as well as promote business, analysts say. In Santiago, Chile, his second leg of the tour, which also takes him to Brazil and El Salvador, the president will deliver a major policy address articulating the importance of Latin America to the United States. "No coincidence" "It is no coincidence" that Obama opts to dwell on his Latin America policy on the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Alliance for Progress by President John F. Kennedy to establish economic cooperation between the United States and Latin America, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the press on March 10 after meeting with Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno at the State Department. "He has a general theme in Latin America, there is a promise," Mauricio Cardenas, director for Latin America Initiative at the Brookings Institution think tank, told Xinhua in an interview. Four months into his presidency, Obama promised to Latin America leaders at their Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago in April 2009 that Washington's ties with the region would be based on cooperation and a relationship among equals. "He made a great first impression," Cardenas said. Yet the United States has been overwhelmed since with recession, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and Iran's nuclear program, and Latin America "has been pushed to the side," Cardenas said. With a population of some 400 million, the economy of the Central and South America region has been growing at about 6 percent rate, said Michael Froman, the White House deputy national security advisor for international economic affairs. "We export about 160 billion U.S. dollars to them, and we have a trade surplus with the region," Froman said at a recent White House briefing on Obama's upcoming visit, adding that the exports support about 900,000 jobs in the United States. Obama aims to double U.S. exports by 2014 to create more jobs at home. Growth and job creation are on his top agenda as he seeks reelection in 2012. "This trip fundamentally is about the U.S. recovery, U.S. exports, and the critical relationship that Latin America plays in our economic future and jobs here in the United States," Froman said. Ted Piccone, deputy director for foreign policy at Brookings, described Obama as "the right messenger," saying by bringing his family along, he "adds a very nice touch to some of the images." "New alliances for progress" As South American democracies have matured and deepened in the decades since the transition from "authoritarian rule," along with a robust economic growth, leaders have sought to "diversify" their foreign policy partners and give priority to relationships beyond the United States, Cynthia Arnson, director for Latin American Program at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, testified in December before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. "I will travel to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador to forge new alliances for progress in the Americas," Obama announced in his State of the Union address on Jan. 25. In his trip to deliver an overdue promise, Obama will talk about different things in each stop. "In Brazil, it's going to be more conversation about business and economic opportunities, mutually important for these two countries," Cardenas said. The White House said that as the two largest economies in the Western Hemisphere, the U.S. and Brazil share "one of the most important trade and economic relationships in the world." U.S. goods and services exports to the world's seventh largest economy in 2010 are estimated to be more than 50 billion U.S. dollars, supporting more than 250,000 jobs in the U.S., the White House said. With President Dilma Rousseff taking office on Jan. 1 and seeking to forge closer bilateral ties frayed over disagreements over a number of issues, Iran's nuclear program in particular, and trade disputes about ethanol and U.S. subsidies of cotton growers, the White House turns to tapping the "greater potential" in bilateral business ties. Particular attention goes to energy and infrastructure. Froman explained that Brazil will become "a major player in the global energy markets" with its recent discovery of offshore oil about twice the reserves of the United States. "It's already a partner and a leader in the renewable area, and we have a deep relationship with them on biofuels, on wind, on solar, on a number of other issues," he added. He noted that as the host of the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, Brazil is expected to invest over 200 billion U. S. dollars in additional infrastructure, saying that "we believe we can be a major partner of theirs in terms of providing infrastructure services and infrastructure-related exports as they go about that effort." In Chile, which is ahead of the rest in Latin America in terms of economic development and became the first nation in the region in 2003 to sign a free trade agreement with the U.S., "one of the issues visible" is about visa waivers for the Chileans, but also some type of cooperation and partnership on energy, Cardenas said. "We know that the Chileans need to develop the renewable sources of energy - wind, geothermal - and that's a big priority for them, but they need the technology as well. So they need cooperation, especially in solar energy," he told reporters in a Brookings briefing about Obama's trip. The problems in El Salvador relate to organized crime and drug war. "I think it's going to be more about getting more support from the U.S., both through currency and the Merida Initiative," Cardenas said. According to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, levels of violence in the Central American state are among the highest in the world. The United States launched the Merida Initiative in August 2007, involving Mexico and the Central America states in fighting drug trafficking and organized crimes, but the program leans heavily toward Mexico. Contributing to the problems is U.S. huge consumption of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines estimated to exceed 60 billion U.S. dollars annually. Of which, an estimated 18- 39 billion dollars flow southward in the form of bulk cash and high-caliber weapons for the cartels in Mexico and Central America. Obama has acknowledged that "a demand for these drugs in the United States is what is helping to keep these cartels in business. " Obama's trip comes at a time when he is facing a battle over budget at home and an array of crises abroad, but he presses on with his schedule. "You have to remember that economic growth in the United States is the president's top priority, this trip is very focused on economic opportunities for the United States and the trade relationship," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. Kevin Casas-Zamora, a senior fellow in Foreign Policy and the Latin America Initiative at Brookings, observed that given the complexities of the international situation and the domestic situation in the U.S., the level of engagement with Latin America "has not been bad." He explained that issues at the core of U.S.-Latin America relations include trade, immigration and narcotics, "you have to make politically costly decisions" in order to do "something interesting" regarding these issues. "And political capital is not something that President Obama is going to spend lightly at this point," he added. - Xinhua
With wife and daughters in his company, U.S. President Barack Obama will on Friday kick off a five-day tour of South and Central America to deliver as well as promote business, analysts say. In Santiago, Chile, his second leg of the tour, which also takes him to Brazil and El Salvador, the president will deliver a major policy address articulating the importance of Latin America to the United States. "No coincidence" "It is no coincidence" that Obama opts to dwell on his Latin America policy on the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Alliance for Progress by President John F. Kennedy to establish economic cooperation between the United States and Latin America, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the press on March 10 after meeting with Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno at the State Department. "He has a general theme in Latin America, there is a promise," Mauricio Cardenas, director for Latin America Initiative at the Brookings Institution think tank, told Xinhua in an interview. Four months into his presidency, Obama promised to Latin America leaders at their Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago in April 2009 that Washington's ties with the region would be based on cooperation and a relationship among equals. "He made a great first impression," Cardenas said. Yet the United States has been overwhelmed since with recession, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and Iran's nuclear program, and Latin America "has been pushed to the side," Cardenas said. With a population of some 400 million, the economy of the Central and South America region has been growing at about 6 percent rate, said Michael Froman, the White House deputy national security advisor for international economic affairs. "We export about 160 billion U.S. dollars to them, and we have a trade surplus with the region," Froman said at a recent White House briefing on Obama's upcoming visit, adding that the exports support about 900,000 jobs in the United States. Obama aims to double U.S. exports by 2014 to create more jobs at home. Growth and job creation are on his top agenda as he seeks reelection in 2012. "This trip fundamentally is about the U.S. recovery, U.S. exports, and the critical relationship that Latin America plays in our economic future and jobs here in the United States," Froman said. Ted Piccone, deputy director for foreign policy at Brookings, described Obama as "the right messenger," saying by bringing his family along, he "adds a very nice touch to some of the images." "New alliances for progress" As South American democracies have matured and deepened in the decades since the transition from "authoritarian rule," along with a robust economic growth, leaders have sought to "diversify" their foreign policy partners and give priority to relationships beyond the United States, Cynthia Arnson, director for Latin American Program at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, testified in December before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. "I will travel to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador to forge new alliances for progress in the Americas," Obama announced in his State of the Union address on Jan. 25. In his trip to deliver an overdue promise, Obama will talk about different things in each stop. "In Brazil, it's going to be more conversation about business and economic opportunities, mutually important for these two countries," Cardenas said. The White House said that as the two largest economies in the Western Hemisphere, the U.S. and Brazil share "one of the most important trade and economic relationships in the world." U.S. goods and services exports to the world's seventh largest economy in 2010 are estimated to be more than 50 billion U.S. dollars, supporting more than 250,000 jobs in the U.S., the White House said. With President Dilma Rousseff taking office on Jan. 1 and seeking to forge closer bilateral ties frayed over disagreements over a number of issues, Iran's nuclear program in particular, and trade disputes about ethanol and U.S. subsidies of cotton growers, the White House turns to tapping the "greater potential" in bilateral business ties. Particular attention goes to energy and infrastructure. Froman explained that Brazil will become "a major player in the global energy markets" with its recent discovery of offshore oil about twice the reserves of the United States. "It's already a partner and a leader in the renewable area, and we have a deep relationship with them on biofuels, on wind, on solar, on a number of other issues," he added. He noted that as the host of the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, Brazil is expected to invest over 200 billion U. S. dollars in additional infrastructure, saying that "we believe we can be a major partner of theirs in terms of providing infrastructure services and infrastructure-related exports as they go about that effort." In Chile, which is ahead of the rest in Latin America in terms of economic development and became the first nation in the region in 2003 to sign a free trade agreement with the U.S., "one of the issues visible" is about visa waivers for the Chileans, but also some type of cooperation and partnership on energy, Cardenas said. "We know that the Chileans need to develop the renewable sources of energy - wind, geothermal - and that's a big priority for them, but they need the technology as well. So they need cooperation, especially in solar energy," he told reporters in a Brookings briefing about Obama's trip. The problems in El Salvador relate to organized crime and drug war. "I think it's going to be more about getting more support from the U.S., both through currency and the Merida Initiative," Cardenas said. According to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, levels of violence in the Central American state are among the highest in the world. The United States launched the Merida Initiative in August 2007, involving Mexico and the Central America states in fighting drug trafficking and organized crimes, but the program leans heavily toward Mexico. Contributing to the problems is U.S. huge consumption of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines estimated to exceed 60 billion U.S. dollars annually. Of which, an estimated 18- 39 billion dollars flow southward in the form of bulk cash and high-caliber weapons for the cartels in Mexico and Central America. Obama has acknowledged that "a demand for these drugs in the United States is what is helping to keep these cartels in business. " Obama's trip comes at a time when he is facing a battle over budget at home and an array of crises abroad, but he presses on with his schedule. "You have to remember that economic growth in the United States is the president's top priority, this trip is very focused on economic opportunities for the United States and the trade relationship," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. Kevin Casas-Zamora, a senior fellow in Foreign Policy and the Latin America Initiative at Brookings, observed that given the complexities of the international situation and the domestic situation in the U.S., the level of engagement with Latin America "has not been bad." He explained that issues at the core of U.S.-Latin America relations include trade, immigration and narcotics, "you have to make politically costly decisions" in order to do "something interesting" regarding these issues. "And political capital is not something that President Obama is going to spend lightly at this point," he added. - Xinhua