The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke by phone earlier today. The two leaders discussed regional security issues and Middle East peace. They agreed to continue the close coordination between the United States and Israel on a range of security issues.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
President Obama will host President Ollanta Humala of Peru at the White House on Tuesday, June 11. The President looks forward to following up on U.S. efforts to support the Humala Administration's agenda of social inclusion, broad based economic growth, and citizen security. The two presidents will also discuss our joint work to advance negotiations toward completion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, as well as cooperation on education, energy and climate change, science and technology, and the bilateral trade relationship.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
President Obama will host President Sebastián Piñera of Chile at the White House on Tuesday, June 4. The President looks forward to discussing a broad range of bilateral, regional, and global issues during their Oval Office meeting, including our joint work in advancing negotiations toward the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. The President also welcomes the opportunity to underscore the strong bonds of friendship between the United States and Chile and discuss our cooperation on energy, education, environmental conservation, and economic development in Latin America.
The White House
Office of the Vice President
Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will travel to Brazil, Colombia, and Trinidad and Tobago during the week of May 26th, 2013. In each country, the Vice President will meet with key leaders to discuss the full range of bilateral and regional issues. In Brazil, he looks forward to the opportunity to meet with President Rousseff and Vice President Temer and discuss ways to deepen our economic and commercial partnership and further our engagement on the broad array of bilateral, regional, and global issues that connect our two countries. In Colombia, the Vice President will meet with President Santos to build on security relations and focus on ways to further the prosperity of our two countries. In Trinidad and Tobago, the Vice President looks forward to meeting with Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar as well as leaders of other Caribbean countries, whom Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar has graciously offered to invite. This trip will be an important chance to discuss our collective efforts to promote economic growth and development, access to energy and our ongoing collaboration on citizen security.
Additional details about the Vice President and Dr. Biden's trip will be released at a later date.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
NOMINATIONS SENT TO THE SENATE:
Anthony Renard Foxx, of North Carolina, to be Secretary of Transportation, vice Ray LaHood.
Michael Froman, of New York, to be United States Trade Representative, with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, vice Ronald Kirk, resigned.
Melvin L. Watt, of North Carolina, to be Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency for a term of five years. (New Position)
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For six decades, the U.S.-ROK Alliance has served as an anchor for stability, security, and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, in the Asia-Pacific region, and increasingly around the world. President Barack Obama of the United States of America and President Park Geun-hye of the Republic of Korea, meeting in Washington, D.C. on May 7, 2013, present this Joint Declaration in celebration of sixty years of bilateral partnership and shared prosperity. The two leaders affirm that the Alliance is well-placed to address the opportunities and challenges of the future.
The U.S.-ROK Alliance, forged in the Korean War and founded on the 1953 United States-Republic of Korea Mutual Defense Treaty, has evolved into a comprehensive strategic alliance with deep cooperation extending beyond security to also encompass the political, economic, cultural, and people-to-people realms. The freedom, friendship, and shared prosperity we enjoy today rest upon our shared values of liberty, democracy, and a market economy.
Building on the past sixty years of stability on the Korean Peninsula, we continue to strengthen and adapt our Alliance to serve as a linchpin of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and to meet the security challenges of the 21st century. The United States remains firmly committed to the defense of the Republic of Korea, including through extended deterrence and the full range of U.S. military capabilities, both conventional and nuclear.
This year also marks another milestone for our two nations - the first anniversary of the entry into force of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). This agreement embodies the positive evolution of our partnership and demonstrates how deeply the United States and the Republic of Korea are committed to a shared future of growth and prosperity. We are pleased to note the positive results of the KORUS FTA, including increased trade and investment between our two countries, and recognize its potential for expanding bilateral cooperation and business opportunities, including in the energy sector. Our two countries will fully implement the KORUS FTA to ensure that the agreement serves as an economic growth engine in both our countries.
We are pleased with the significant progress made in realizing the 2009 Joint Vision for the Alliance of the United States of America and the Republic of Korea, which lays out a blueprint for the future development of our strategic Alliance. We pledge to continue to build a better and more secure future for all Korean people, working on the basis of the Joint Vision to foster enduring peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and its peaceful reunification based on the principles of denuclearization, democracy and a free market economy. In this context, the United States and the Republic of Korea will continue to work through the Alliance to bring North Korea in to compliance with its international obligations and promote peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, including through the trust-building process initiated by President Park.
We share the deep concern that North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missiles programs and its repeated provocations pose grave threats to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia. Both the United States and the Republic of Korea are determined to achieve the peaceful denuclearization of North Korea and are working with other Six-Party Talks partners and the international community to insist that North Korea adheres to its international obligations and commitments. While we invite North Korea to take the path that leads out of isolation and to join the community of nations as a responsible member, we are resolved to continue to defend our citizens against North Korea’s provocations by strengthening our comprehensive, interoperable, and combined defense capabilities, to include shared efforts to counter the missile threat posed by North Korea and integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems. Because both the United States and the Republic of Korea share a deep concern for the well-being of the North Korean people, we encourage North Korea to invest in, and improve, the conditions for its citizens and to respect their basic human rights.
The peace and prosperity of both our nations are inextricably linked to regional and global security and economic growth. Based on the solid U.S.-ROK Alliance, we are prepared to address our common challenges and seek ways to build an era of peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia. The U.S.-ROK Alliance is an increasingly global partnership, and the United States welcomes the Republic of Korea’s leadership and active engagement on the world stage, including in international fora. We will strengthen our efforts to address global challenges such as climate change and to promote clean energy, energy security, human rights, humanitarian assistance, development assistance cooperation, counter-terrorism, peaceful uses of nuclear energy, nuclear safety, non-proliferation, cybersecurity, and counter-piracy.
Our sixty years of partnership and shared prosperity have demonstrated that the strength of our Alliance stems from the close relationships between our peoples. The large Korean-American community in the United States not only serves as a significant link between our two countries, but also makes countless contributions to the strength and vitality of American society. We pledge to continue programs and efforts to build even closer ties between our societies, including cooperation among business, civic, academic, and other institutions.
As allies and Asia-Pacific nations, we look forward to shaping together the future of Asia for generations to come.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
The full text of the op-ed by President Obama is printed below. The piece was published yesterday in the Miami Herald and can be found HERE.
Improving our Partnership with Latin America
By Barack Obama
Last week, I was proud to visit Mexico for the fourth time as president and to meet with Central American leaders in Costa Rica. It was a chance for me to reaffirm our friendship with a region to which tens of millions of immigrants and Americans trace their roots.
It was also an opportunity to highlight the impressive progress being made across Latin America, one of the world’s most dynamic regions, and forge new partnerships that will help improve the lives of all our citizens.
I went because this is a moment of great promise for our hemisphere. Today, almost all the people of the Americas live in democracies. Latin America has some of the world’s fastest growing economies. And across the region, tens of millions of people have escaped poverty and entered the middle class.
This represents an incredible opportunity for all our countries, especially when it comes to my top priority: creating good, middle-class jobs here in America. Because, as I saw in my visit to the port of Miami in March, one of the best ways to do that is by expanding trade that allows us to sell more products around the world.
Right now, over 40 percent of our exports go to Mexico, Central and South America, and those exports are growing faster than our trade with the rest of the world. That’s creating more jobs here in the United States, but it’s also benefitting people across the entire hemisphere. The United States is the largest source of foreign investment in the Americas. And the trade agreements I’ve signed with Colombia and Panama are creating new markets for businesses in our countries.
One of our largest, most dynamic relationships is with Mexico. The United States is Mexico’s largest customer, buying most of Mexico’s exports, and Mexico is the second largest market for U.S. exports, buying more than $200 billion worth of products Made in America each year. Our companies and workers assemble products together. All this supports millions more jobs in both countries.
I believe that there’s even more that the people of the United States and Mexico can build together. That’s why President Peña Nieto and I committed to expanding trade and investment and creating even more jobs for our people.
I conveyed a similar message to President Chinchilla of Costa Rica and other Central American leaders. Over the last six years, U.S. exports to Central American nations have increased by over 94 percent, and imports from those countries have risen by nearly 87 percent. Broad-based economic growth is reinforcing the hard-won political and social gains of the last two decades. And that’s why I reaffirmed the United States’ strong support and commitment to building a more prosperous Central America.
That’s important, because broad-based economic growth doesn’t just create more jobs and opportunity in these countries — it also reduces illegal immigration to the United States. Commonsense immigration reform is one of my top priorities. The bill introduced in the Senate doesn’t include everything I want, but it’s largely consistent with the principles I’ve laid out: better border security, a path to citizenship, and a legal immigration system that unites families and attracts highly-skilled workers. And I’m hopeful that we can make comprehensive immigration reform a reality this year.
Today, tens of millions of Americans trace their origins back to Mexico and Central America. Millions of workers are earning a living from good jobs made possible by the trade between our nations. The United States is a more prosperous and more diverse country thanks to our partnerships with our southern neighbors. And I’m confident that we can build on our common heritage, our economic relationship and our shared values to enrich the lives of all our people.
Barack Obama is the President of the United States.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of Iowa and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by severe winter storm during the period of April 9-11, 2013.
Federal funding also is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe winter storm in the counties of Dickinson, Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola, and Sioux.
Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.
W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Joe M. Girot as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area.
FEMA said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.