Op-Ed by Vice President Joe Biden in The Wall Street Journal: The Americas Ascendant

The following op-ed by Vice President Joe Biden appeared today in print in The Wall Street Journal.

Biden: The Americas Ascendant
The spread of free trade and democracy has been a boon to the hemisphere.
By Vice President Joe Biden

Last week, during a five-day trip through Latin America and the Caribbean, I visited a cut-flower farm outside Bogota, Colombia, an hour’s drive from downtown that would have been impossibly dangerous 10 years ago. Along the way I passed office parks, movie theaters and subdivisions, interspersed with small ranches and family businesses. At the flower farm, one-quarter of the workers are female heads of households. The carnations and roses they were clipping would arrive in U.S. stores within days, duty free.

What I saw on the flower farm was just one sign of the economic blossoming in the year since a U.S. free-trade agreement with Colombia went into force. Over that period, American exports to the country are up 20%.

The U.S. experience with Colombia reflects a larger economic boom across the Western Hemisphere that offers many exciting partnership opportunities for American business. In Rio de Janeiro, I met with Brazilian and American business leaders—representing the aerospace, energy, construction and manufacturing sectors—who laid out a remarkable vision for prosperity that spans the Americas. As these business leaders made clear, Latin America today is a region transformed. Elections that once were exceptions are now largely the norm. In a growing number of places, conflicts between left and right have given way to peaceful, practical governance. And in the process, Latin America’s middle class has grown 50% in the past decade alone. By some estimates, it is nearly the size of China’s.

There is enormous potential—economically, politically and socially—for the U.S. in its relations with countries of the Western Hemisphere. And so the Obama administration has launched the most sustained period of U.S. engagement with the Americas in a long, long time—including the president’s travel to Mexico and Costa Rica last month; my own recent trip to Colombia, Trinidad, and Brazil; Secretary of State Kerry’s participation in the Organization of American States’ annual meeting in Guatemala; the president of Chile’s visit to Washington this week and a planned visit to Washington by the president of Peru. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff arrives in Washington in October for the first state visit of the second term.

As leaders across the region work to lift their citizens out of poverty and to diversify their economies from commodity-led growth, the U.S. believes that the greatest promise—for Americans and for our neighbors—lies in deeper economic integration and openness.

The process is further along than you might think. Not only is the U.S. deepening what is already a trillion-dollar trading relationship with Mexico and Canada—we also have free-trade agreements that stretch nearly continuously from Canada to Chile.

One of the most promising developments is the year-old Alliance of the Pacific among Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. This pact, involving four of the region’s fastest-growing countries, now has nations across the world seeking to participate or to play a positive supporting role. We’re one of those nations. By committing to lowering trade barriers and integrating diplomatic and commercial interests, alliance members are showing that pragmatism, not ideology, is the secret to success. The effort also serves as a reminder of the deep connections between our enhanced engagement in this hemisphere and our Asia-Pacific rebalance.

For Brazil, as for the U.S., one of the most important frontiers is energy. From biofuels to deep-water oil reserves to shale gas to hydroelectric, Brazil is energy-rich, and that has tremendous implications globally. Brazil already is a leading expert in renewables and deep-water extraction, but both of our countries can advance further if we work together. I know from my meeting with President Rousseff that Brazil is equally committed to an energy partnership.

Ultimately, all of these economic opportunities rest on democratic protections and citizen security. Through the Inter American Democratic Charter, the nations of the hemisphere committed to promote and defend representative democracy; this commitment remains as important as ever to the success of the Americas. And from Mexico to the Caribbean to Colombia, we remain invested in long-term security partnerships. The U.S. will continue to stand by Colombia as it seeks to bring an end to the longest-running conflict in the Americas and inspires other countries in the region to overcome their own challenges.

That’s going to require some honest conversations, like the one that will take place next week at the OAS General Assembly on drug policy. Similarly, many countries have serious concerns about weapons coming from the U.S. and are angry about our criminal-deportation policy for its lack of transparency. We won’t shy away from these kinds of difficult discussions.

Here at home, we need to reform our immigration system because it is the right thing to do for our own country. But it also will strengthen our standing in the hemisphere. Success in international relations, like any relationship, comes down to respect. And fully realizing the potential of these new relationships requires treating people from other nations living inside our borders with respect.

The changes under way invite the U.S. to look at Latin America and the Caribbean in a very different way. The defining question for U.S. policy is no longer “what can we do for the Americas?” It is “what can we do together?”

In the 1990s, we imagined a Europe that is whole, free and at peace. Today, I believe we can credibly envision an Americas that is solidly middle-class, secure and democratic—from the Arctic Circle to the Tierra del Fuego and everywhere in between.

Remarks to the Press by Vice President Biden and Brazilian Vice President Temer

Diplomatic Center
Brasilia, Brazil

1:08 P.M. (Local)

VICE PRESIDENT TEMER: (As interpreted) It’s my pleasure to welcome Vice President Joe Biden.

And on a more personal note, I’d like to say that some time ago as a representative of Brazil at taking office of the President of Mexico, I was happy to sit next to Vice President Biden.  And there we had the opportunity to have a long conversation at the time, at a Latin America dinner there, for a very long dinner.  So we had the opportunity to talk about many issues that are of interest to Brazil and the U.S.

And particularly at the personal level, both of us were from the legal field, and we had the opportunity to exchange a lot of ideas on that occasion.  And I think that has strengthened our ties of friendship I believe between myself and Vice President Biden.

And it is precisely within the context of growing and closer ties between Brazil and the U.S., and that's the setting for the visit of Vice President Biden, following the visit paid by President Obama, and followed by a trip of President Dilma to the United States.  And now in July, President Dilma will pay a state visit. 

And as you may know, a state visit is a very special visit to the United States.  And that is done only once a year.  That's the information I have received.  And that reveals --  that shows the importance of the relationship between Brazil and the U.S. and also the closer relationship between the U.S. and Brazil.

And I say so to you, the members of the press, that it’s very often said that we in Brazil have had -- have kept a very close relationship with African and South American and the Arabian countries.  And that is true because we did build those closer ties.  But we have not withdrawn from a very close relationship with the United States of America.  We also -- because the bilateral trade between Brazil and the U.S. is a very close one after our -- second only to China -- and the relationship -- trade relationship between Brazil and the U.S.  And so we are both sides very much interested in strengthening these ties, the commercial ties, which are being strengthened by these visits I have just mentioned.

And talking to Vice President Biden we have addressed topics that he had already addressed with President Wilma, especially in the field of energy, of technological innovation regarding a program we are very proud of here in Brazil, which is the Science Without Frontiers.  And I have underscored to Vice President Biden that the U.S. is the country that is most sought after by those who receive the scholarships from the Science Without Borders program.

And as a sign of this we have over 5,000 students -- graduate and undergrad students -- who have gone to the U.S. so as to add to their own education the technological knowledge they receive in the U.S. and bring it to our country.

And I also comment on a statement he did in Rio de Janeiro saying that it is not -- democracy and social development are not incompatible.  And as a rule I highlighted to Vice President Biden that in our country, we adopted in our country since in our institution we have been able to bring together the concepts of liberalism with those of the welfare state.  And liberalism is perceived as the wider freedom, the freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and also -- and specifically the freedom of press -- with a high degree of preservation of individual rights. 

And on the other hand, we have been able to adopt the rules of the welfare state as we ensure the right to housing, which have generated programs such as the family grant program, the housing program Minha Casa, Minha Vida, which has allowed millions of people to graduate from extreme poverty and move up to the middle classes in our country.  And this has promoted an international insertion over our country and international scenario and -- within the international scene.

So we have -- as I said, we have addressed topics such as energy, technological innovation.  We also have referred to several international issues, and I wish -- I’m very pleased to share some opinions with Vice President Biden regarding international conflicts -- as example, the issues in Syria and the Palestine-Israel conflict.  And we have both highlighted that there is a strong coincidence in the stands taken by both governments of Brazil and the U.S.

And I have not left -- I did not forget to mention and I was well received by Vice President Biden, we have been reinforced of the interest of Brazil to have a seat at the U.N. Security Council as we have also received the support for application of Sao Paulo in Brazil for the 2020 Expo.  So next week in Paris, there will be another event which will be defining the city to host the Expo 2020.  And Brazil and Sao Paulo are applicants, and so we are advocating this possibility.

And as final remarks, I wish to highlight how honored we feel with your visit.  And as you will see in the words to be followed by Vice President Biden, he is much more communicative than myself, and he will speak very properly about the reasons that have brought him to Brazil and the enthusiasm he takes home after his contact with Brazil. 

And as you see, Vice President Biden, the press will pay keen attention to your words.  Thank you.

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN:  Thank you very much, Mr. Vice President.  Let me begin by saying I don't want to go home.  I wish we were able to stay and take advantage of the hospitality longer.  My wife and my granddaughters are with me as well, and they are now looking at that beautiful lake and the gigantic swimming pool in the hotel we’re staying in.  I think I’m going to have trouble getting them on the plane.

If you wonder about -- and I joked earlier in my visit in Rio de Janeiro where some Brazilians refer to Brazil as a developing country, you are no longer a developing -- you are a developed country.  And if you need any evidence of that is the World Cup, Pope Francis coming here first, the Olympics.  And now my friend is lobbying me on 2020.  I tell you it’s amazing.

We have become friends.  We got a chance to not only learn about each of our countries a little more when we were at the inauguration of the President of Mexico, but we learned we have some deep and common interest, particularly constitutional law which we both taught, as well as my passion and his for equality for women worldwide.  And it’s been a common bond beyond what -- I guess you didn't like what I said, huh?  You turned the lights out.

But let me say that earlier today I had a wide-ranging discussion with your President.  She’s a leader who is literally laser focused on addressing the issues that matter most to the people of Brazil.  And the good news is the issues that matter most to the people of Brazil are the issues that matter most to the people of the United States.

And I didn't have to spend long -- although we had a long conversation that went well beyond what either of us had anticipated -- I now understand why President Obama considers her such a good partner.  And that's why we both -- the President and I -- are anxious, truly anxious for her to visit in October. 

We occasionally have -- in the past have had more than one state visit in a year, but the President wanted to make a statement that the first state visit of this year is extended to your President as an evidence of our respect and our desire to further deepen the relationship.

And we’re extremely pleased that the President actually accepted the invitation.  And this is the first state visit in the second term.  And as I said a reflection -- a reflection of our great respect for your country.

As I said on Wednesday, I believe that 2013 can and should mark the beginning of a new era in U.S.-Brazil relations.  But words will not get us there.  We have a good deal of work that we have to get done between now and the end of the year to make that promise a reality.  But we’re on our way.

Over the past four years, the President of the United States has been here.  I have been here.  Ten of our Cabinet members have been here.  That has never happened before in the history of the relationship to the best of my knowledge between our country and yours.   And it is a clear reflection of how important we believe this relationship to be. 

We both acknowledge that there are gaps between what we have accomplished together and what we are capable of together.  And I discussed with your President and Vice President the ambitious agenda that I think we should be focusing on to bridge that gap.

We spoke about how to deepen trade and investment in both our nations.  Our annual trading relationship has now surpassed $100 billion a year, but there is literally no reason -- no reason why the world’s largest and seventh largest economies can’t increase that fivefold over time.  That would generate so many jobs in both our countries and further tighten the relationships between our countries.

We spoke about how to remove barriers to trade and also how to achieve greater certainty for investors in both our countries.  You have significantly increased direct foreign investment in the United States, and we welcome it, and we seek more.

On energy, we discussed how we can build a partnership that reflects the ambition of both our countries in this area.  As some of you know, two days ago, I spent time at your state-owned and actually now private and state enterprise going through a deep briefing on the promise of pre-salt oil that is immense.  The find is immense.

We also talked about how we could work together on areas that you have far surpassed us.  You produce 50 percent of your energy with renewable energy.  Our goal is to get to 20 percent by the middle of the next decade.  We have a lot to learn from you -- a lot to learn from you.

We also think -- and it’s been discussed you may be able to learn something from us in being able to access shale gas.  The access of shale gas in an environmentally sound way has radically altered America’s energy prospects -- radically altered those prospects.

Energy now, natural gas is less than $2 in the United States.  It’s $17 or more in Europe and other places.  It has great potential for your country, as well as for ours.

We discussed the growing place and presence on the world stage that Brazil has, and we made plans to do more to fight hunger in Haiti and promote development in Africa.  And I want to applaud Brazil’s $900 million write-off of African debt.  You are not only a serious player in the international community, you are an incredibly responsible player.
And as I said on Wednesday, and I said to you earlier, Brazil is no longer an emerging nation.  Its actions like the one that I’ve just mentioned show -- show -- how Brazil has emerged.  That doesn't mean there isn’t more work to do.  Both Brazil and the United States have to keep working at the persistent challenges we face:  delivering jobs to our constituencies, growth, tackling inequity, promoting opportunity and security for all.

But the world has much to learn from Brazil’s success.  You’ve shown that nation’s need not choose between democracy and development, between market-based economies and smart social policy.  I think that is -- I think you underestimate what a profound impact the last 15 years and the way you’ve arrived at your success has had on the rest of the world.  There are scores of nations today, from the Arab Spring, across all continents trying to determine is it possible -- is it possible -- to have development and democracy.  Brazil has demonstrated that it is possible.  Not only possible, but it’s the best path to development.

We talked about the critical importance of tapping our people’s shared passion for innovation in education.  My wife, who is with me today, is a full-time professor at a community college.  She teaches a full load.  She has an expression she’s used for the last 10 years:  Any country that out-educates us will out-compete us.  Any country that out-educates us will out-compete us.

You not only have great raw materials and great resources, you have human resources that are tremendous, and we are anxious to work with you.  When President Obama announced his 100,000 Strong initiative, and your President announced your Science Without Borders -- I believe that's the name of -- Science Without Borders or Without Frontiers, we embraced it.  And the fact of the matter is 5,000 Brazilian students seeking undergraduate and graduate degrees are in a total of 46 states within the United States of America attending what we respectfully would suggested are the finest research universities in the world.

It is good for us, and it is good for you.  We always learn -- we learn from that.  The reason we have been successful is because we’ve invited the world in, because we’ve expanded immigration, and we expand invitations to come and see us.

But there’s a secondary reason I might say, Mr. Vice President, we think this is so important.  You and I were talking about this very briefly on the way down. 

Ladies and gentlemen, those nations that are the closest, cooperate the most, and even when they have differences, negotiate those differences are those nations where each other’s nation understands, has a feeling for, has a taste for, has a sense of the people in the other nation.  There’s only way to do that:  Be there.  Be there.

That's why through our ambassador, we have gone from 12 weeks I believe it is to two days or three days to get a visa.  That's why we’re doubling the consulates we have here available.  We want Brazilians coming to the United States -- not merely for commerce, but to see us, to begin to understand us with our faults and all -- our faults and our strengths -- because we’re convinced that if our people see firsthand what’s happening here in Brazil, meet firsthand your people and the same occurs, this relationship will become tighter and tighter.

Ladies and gentlemen, finally I want to raise an issue that the Vice President and I have pursued in our public life, the scourge of violence against women.  Your administration, Mr. Vice President, your leadership has taken on domestic violence, and you’ve pulled it out of the shadows.  I’m the author of the Violence Against Women Act in my country, the first fundamental change we’ve had in terms of how we legislatively view the role of the government in accommodating the end of domestic violence.

You’ve set up domestic violence hotlines that have significantly increased reporting of abuse and opened new shelters for victims, exactly what we did.  There was a famous Justice of one -- of our Supreme Court.  He said, the best disinfectant is sunlight.  Sunlight is the best disinfectant.  And shining a bright light on the abuse of women, shining a light on the abuse that takes place is the one certain way to end the abuse.

I leave Brazil full of optimism -- optimism -- about what we can accomplish together.  This is a moment of -- for relationships to begin to take on a different texture, a greater depth.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are the first, you are the seventh largest economy in the world.  We are both great democracies.  We both are inclusive peoples.  It is hard to imagine how this hemisphere can meet its potential without the relationship between the two largest nations in the hemisphere working together, and the international implications of that are profound.

So I look forward, as the President does, to your President’s visit.  I look forward to coming back many times, and I look forward to the great good we can do for both our people by working together.

And, Mr. Vice President, thank you for your hospitality, and I want to thank the press for paying attention in my visit to what I’ve had to say.  I appreciate it very much.  (Applause.)

END
1:29 P.M. (Local)

Readout of Vice President Biden’s Call with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki

Vice President Biden spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki today.  Discussion focused on Syria, and both leaders agreed on the importance of a negotiated end to the conflict.  The Vice President expressed concern about the security situation in Iraq and pledged continued U.S. support for Iraq in its fight against terrorism.   The Vice President also spoke about the importance of outreach to leaders across the political spectrum.  Both leaders expressed their ongoing commitment to deepening the U.S.-Iraq strategic partnership, as outlined in the Strategic Framework Agreement. 

Background Conference Call with Senior Administration Officials on Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden's Trip to Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil

Via Teleconference

3:37 P.M. EDT

MS. TROTTER:  Thanks, everyone, for joining today’s call.  Our hope is to provide you with a more detailed sense of the Vice President and Dr. Biden’s schedule and goals during their trip next week to Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil.

This call will be on background and our speakers are happy to take questions after they give some brief opening statements at the top.  We’d like to keep this call as focused on the trip as much as possible and just remind everyone it’s one question per person. 

With that I will turn it over to our first official who you can quote as a senior administration official.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Thanks, everyone, for joining the call.  As you all know as this point, Vice President Biden will be making his fourth trip to the region next week since he became Vice President.  And it follows on President Obama’s recent visit to Mexico and Costa Rica as our latest demonstration of the United States’ commitment to reinforcing our partnerships in the Americas. 

It will also be our latest demonstration of an approach to engagement from the beginning that has been based on mutual respect and shared responsibility. 

President Obama and Vice President Biden right from the outset of their time in office have made clear their view that the Americas represent a region of opportunity for the United States, and they're looking at the period that we’ve entered now as a time to really ramp up our engagement in the hemisphere in every part of the hemisphere, in Mexico, in Central America, the Caribbean and South America.  And you will see a number of visits in the coming months, most immediately President Piñera of Chile and President Humala of Peru, and further travel by the Vice President to the region later in the year as well.

When we look to the Americas, we see a region that has reduced poverty by over 50 percent in the last decade and has seen tens of millions of people join the middle class.  And I said earlier that we look at this as a region of opportunity, and it’s in no small part because the countries of the region are among our most important trading partners, and that's only becoming more true as time goes on.  Our economies, our societies, our people are becoming more and more connected.

The Vice President gave remarks on May 8th to the Conference of the Americas at the State Department where he laid out the vision and the agenda for the administration’s approach to the hemisphere in the second term.  And his sort of fundamental, underlying point was that our objective is to work with our partners across the hemisphere to promote a hemisphere that's middle class, secure and democratic.  And that's the message that he’s going to be carrying with him when he goes on this trip next week.

Now, the countries that the Vice President is going to visit are all very different.  But they each have governments that share our democratic values, that are focused on delivering for their citizens and on working as partners to advance common interests across the region and around the world.  The countries of the Americas, including Colombia and Brazil, are playing an increasingly large and important role in global affairs, and that's just one more reason for why the hemisphere and the region are so important to U.S. interests.

So before going to your questions, I just want to take a minute to talk through the specifics of the Vice President’s itinerary and the purposes of each of the stops along the way.  So he will depart Sunday for Bogota and will begin his trip in Colombia.  On Monday, he’ll have the opportunity to meet with President Santos.  And his visit to Bogota will be a chance to reaffirm the strength of our relationship with one of our most important partners in the Americas.  It will allow us to highlight the remarkable progress on security in Colombia, both our support for President Santos’s efforts to bring an end to conflict in the Americas.

The Vice President last was in Colombia in 2000, so he will personally get to see the distance that Colombia has traveled over the last 13 years.  He'll also have a chance to meet with people and business leaders who will demonstrate firsthand to him the importance of our commercial relationships in the years since our free trade agreement came into force.  

In Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday, the Vice President will meet with President Carmona and Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar and participate in a meeting and working lunch with a number of other Caribbean leaders who have been invited by Trinidad and Tobago to a regional meeting with the Vice President.

And in that series of meetings, we anticipate good discussions on regional efforts to promote economic growth; on cooperation around citizen security; on energy issues, and other issues that are high on the priority list of our partners across the Caribbean.

Then on Wednesday, in Brazil, the Vice President will visit Rio de Janeiro, where he will have a public speaking event to help frame our view of Brazil at a strategic partner of the United States, and the trajectory of the U.S.-Brazil partnership as we head into the future.  He will also tour a Petrobras site and discuss our energy cooperation, meeting with Petrobras officials and Brazilian officials to discuss issues related to the future of energy, both in Brazil and the United States and the global energy picture.  And he will also have the opportunity to discuss with local leaders issues around security and social inclusion.

And then in Brasilia, on Friday, the Vice President will meet with President Rousseff and with Vice President Temer, and have a chance to talk about the architecture of the partnership that we’ve built together over the last four years, and then get down to the specifics in terms of the bilateral and global agenda that our two countries share moving forward.

It's our perspective that we've already accomplished a significant amount with Brazil, but we think there's much more that we can do together to promote the common interest and common values that we share.

So that gives you I think a lay-down of the trip over the course of next week, and as sense of the context in which it's taking place and the main purposes.  And with that, we -- my colleague and I would be happy to take your questions. 

Q    I wanted to ask -- as you guys well know, President Xi of China is going to be right on the heels of Vice President Biden, particularly in Trinidad, but doing his own Latin American tour.  And the Chinese tend to show up with a lot of deliverables, whether it's financing for a stadium or expanding financing for ports or roadways or whatever.  What kind of deliverables does Vice President Biden bring to the region?  Is there any concern that the Chinese showing up a few days later and perhaps making a lot of announcements about new investment in the region might undercut the perception of U.S. commitment to Latin America? 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I'll go ahead and address that question.  So, first of all, we don't really see ourselves as being in competition with any particular actor in the Americas.  There is of course a natural commercial competition that exists across the board in all countries. 

And we're very pleased with the type of trade that we engage in throughout the Americas, a very diversified level of -- type of trade.  It's a trade that emphasizes the value-added products from many countries throughout the region.  So we're content on that -- and we're moving in a good direction.  We do of course want to promote commercial growth and economic growth throughout.  And that's been a big theme of this administration in its relations with the Americas.

With respect to our cooperation in the Caribbean, we have a very strong level of cooperation regarding energy, regarding the environment, regarding sustainable growth and economic growth and regarding citizen security.  And these are all areas that have been signaled to us by our partners in the Caribbean as being very important to them.  And we're very pleased to be able to continue that, that high level of cooperation.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  And just to add to what my colleague said, we will have specific steps forward in many of those areas that we'll discuss with our partners in the Caribbean on trade, on energy, on citizen security -- but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves here today in terms of what exactly it is that we'll be bringing to Trinidad and Tobago. 

And, more broadly, I would say that our focus on a hemisphere that is middle class, secure and democratic is a fundamentally inclusive concept that looks to every country across the region and, frankly, partners outside the region who are prepared to contribute to that vision because we want to see things move forward in this hemisphere in a positive sum way, where everybody agrees on the objectives and works towards them and nobody undermines them. 

Q    There are two topics right now in the Brazil-United States relationship -- two topics right now the Brazilian government that is -- one, is the purchase of military airplanes in which an American company, Boeing, is interested.  And this is a $5,000 -- million-dollar deal.  And another one is visa waiver problems for tourists, for Brazilian tourists able to go to the United States without a visa.  So I was wondering if that is going to be one of the topics in Vice President Biden's visit to Brazil.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  So I would say, first of all, the commercial relationship, the trade relationship with Brazil is going to be an important element not only of Vice President Biden's trip, but in our interaction with Brazil throughout.  It has certainly been a big topic that has been raised by the Brazilian government in the last several years. 

With respect to the FX-2 fighter competition, the United States government is fully committed to the technology transfer package that contained in the Boeing F-18 offer.  I should say at the outset, we think it's the best product at the best price.  We've been continuously engaging with the Brazilian government and supporting this effort, which we think is going to be not only important in itself with respect to Brazil's security objectives, but also as a way to foster good cooperation between Boeing, one of the leading aerospace companies, and Brazilian counterparts to create thousands of jobs in both countries.  So in that respect, I think we're looking forward to discussing that.

With respect to the visa waiver issue, the United States and Brazil have a structured dialogue to talk about progress towards that objective.  We also have interim measures such as global entry and other efforts intended to speed, to facilitate travel between the United States and Brazil.  But I'd say the most important single confirmation of our commitment to speeding and facilitating travel is the work that we've done to reduce these waiting times for visas, which has been a spectacular reduction and can now be done within just a few days as opposed to several weeks, as was the case in the past.  And, as a result, travel in both directions have increased, but especially travel from Brazil to the United States has increased dramatically. 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  And just to underscore that, since the beginning of last year, the start of 2012, we have more than doubled our consular staff in Brazil.  And even though demand is going up for visas to the United States, our wait times have dropped from 14 weeks to two days.  So it shows the level of commitment that the United States has to ease the process by which Brazilians are able to travel to the United States for a range of purposes.

And on the issue of visa waiver and Global Entry and other things, as my colleague said, we will continue to discuss this intensively with the Brazilian government, because our fundamental objective is taking all the considerations into account to facilitate as much travel -- lawful travel, commerce, tourism and the like between Brazil and the United States.  And we think what we've done so far has been pretty impressive; we want to build on it. 

Q    Thanks for the opportunity for to talk to you.  You have said that the commercial relationship will be -- the commercial aspects.  I'd like to talk about the political aspects a little bit, especially concerning the support from the -- U.S. support for permanent seat in the Security Council, which is something that Brazil aspires, and the U.S. has never given it to Brazil.  Now, at least, Dilma will come as a state guest in a state visit.  And the political support to Brazil seems to be increasing, but I wonder if this particular aspect of the Security Council will be in the agenda?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  So I'm sure that there's going to be a broad range of multilateral architecture issues that are going to be on the agenda and that are going to be about the work that we're doing at the multilateral level -- not just at the U.N., but at the Organization of American States, at the G20, and at the U.N. Human Rights Council.  So there's going to be a broad discussion about international architecture. 

Certainly, as we've said, we appreciate Brazil's aspiration to become a permanent member of the Security Council, and we think -- we've said this before -- that the long-term viability of the U.N. Security Council depends on the Council reflecting the world of the 21st century.  We’ve been very clear in that respect.  We're very committed to a serious and deliberate U.N. Security Council reform, working with other member states to improve the ability of the Security Council to carry out its mandate and meet the challenges that we're facing together in this century.

Q    Thank you.

Q    Hello?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yes, go ahead.

Q    Yes.  On immigration please.  My question is will Vice President Joe Biden promote the American health care industry, especially cancer research in Latin America by sharing the great accomplishments of (inaudible) St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital?  Well, mainly my primary question is, will Vice President Joe Biden promote America's health care industry with Latin America?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?  It just didn’t come through very clearly.

Q    Will Vice President Joe Biden promote America's health care industry, especially cancer research to Latin America?  And especially how we're doing great accomplishments here in the United States regarding St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital (inaudible)?  Will the Vice President promote our health care industry?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Certainly.  I should say that health care is one of the issues that is an important -- a particularly important issue in the Americas with the expansion of the middle class.

What's very clear is that this is one of the most important phenomena in the Americas and one of the reasons why the United States is very involved.  Because as the middle classes emerge, they're going to be more interested in having access to functional and effective public services, including health care,  I would say in general terms, this is an area where we’re certainly very open to continuing our collaboration.

In both Colombia but especially in Brazil, we’ve had very active collaboration between the Department of Health and Human Services and their counterparts, and this is something that’s going to continue.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  And just to add to what my colleague said, I think science, technology, and innovation are incredibly central features of U.S. engagement across the hemisphere.  It’s something President Rousseff is particularly interested in driving in Brazil, and so deepening the U.S.-Brazil partnership in this space. 

But beyond Brazil, in many other countries in the region as well, we view this as an area where the United States has a lot to offer and it will certainly be the sort of thing that the Vice President raises in the various stops of his visit.

MS. TROTTER:  All right, we’re going to take one more question.

Q    My question has to do with the war on drugs, drug strategy, the new strategy that has been billed on this part of the trip, Colombia, a very important ally in this fight in Brazil, one of the main players in the region.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  So your question is about the new drug strategy?

Q    Yes, and how it’s going to play into the visit.  You have Colombia, a major producer; you have Brazil, a transitional country and a very important market; and you have the Caribbean -- Trinidad and Tobago. 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I think we should start this by saying, number one, we have a very good counternarcotics and law enforcement relationship throughout the Americas.  We expect that to continue.  We’ve had that indicated to us both in the meetings that the President had in Mexico and Central America and the meetings since then and what we expect to see during the Vice President’s trip as well.

I think what is very clear is that there are no simple solutions.  All sides are recognizing that this is a matter of shared responsibility and shared action.  And what we’re seeing is an evolution where countries are both transit countries, some production countries, as well as consumer countries.  So there’s no one country that fits into a particular category on its own.

We’ve had a very ample level of cooperation obviously in Colombia, which has seen impressive turnarounds in security postures due largely to the work of successive Colombian administrations to put citizen security at the front of their agenda and to dedicate their resources and policies to bring that about.

In the case of Brazil, we have a very strong counternarcotics cooperation -- level of cooperation, as well.  In both cases, we have been very focused on demand reduction.  In the case of the United States, as you mentioned there was a new strategy that was rolled out by the Office of National Drug Policy, and that strategy, which I recommend people look at, emphasizes demand reduction, to which the United States has dedicated $30 billion over the last three years, and alternative resolutions for people who should not be incarcerated for nonviolent crimes.

In other words, these are all issues that we’ve seen indicated a lot of interest from our partners in the Americas and an area where we expect to continue to collaborate closely.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  And so just to add to that, citizen security is going to be an important feature of the agenda, though it will not be the dominant feature of the agenda.

Economic growth, energy cooperation, partnership on regional and global issues -- it’s going to be broad-ranging agenda.

But within that context in both Colombia and in the Caribbean, we have very deep security partnerships.  The Caribbean Basin Security Initiative will be a significant topic of conversation in Trinidad and Tobago.  Our ongoing cooperation with the Colombians on the work they're doing will be a topic.  And then the work we’re doing together with Brazil that my colleague referenced will obviously come up in the meetings with the President and the Vice President.

So we feel like the steps that we’ve taken on a multi-pronged approach to citizen security and to dealing with the issue of drug trafficking and drug consumption both at home and throughout the region that we are pursuing the right course, and we’re going to look to continue and deepen the cooperation that we have with each of the countries we’re visiting.

MS. TROTTER:  All right, thanks, everyone, very much for joining the call.  That's it.

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