Text: Obama On Cuba

President Obama arrived this evening to the Summit of The Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Below are his comments at the opening of the summit, as released by the White House. He addressed the global economy, climate change and the U.S.'s relationship with Cuba.

Good evening everybody. I'm honored to join you here today. I want to thank Prime Minister Manning and the people of Trinidad and Tobago for their generosity in hosting the Fifth Summit of the Americas. All of us are excited to have this opportunity to visit your wonderful country – and as someone who grew up on an island, I can tell you that I feel right at home.

It is important and appropriate that we hold this Summit in the Caribbean. The energy, dynamism, and diversity of the Caribbean people inspire us all, and are such an important part of what we share in common as a hemisphere.

We come together at a critical moment for the people of the Americas. Our well-being has been set back by an historic economic crisis. Our safety is endangered by a broad range of threats. But this peril can be eclipsed by the promise of new prosperity, personal security, and the protection of liberty and justice for all of the people in our hemisphere.
That is the future that we can build together, but only if we move forward with a new sense of partnership.

All of us must now renew the common stake that we have in one another. I know that promises of partnership have gone unfulfilled in the past, and that trust must be earned over time. While the United States has done much on behalf of peace and prosperity in the hemisphere, we have at times been disengaged or sought to dictate our terms. But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership.

There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations; there is simply engagement based upon mutual respect, common interests, and shared values. So I am here to launch a new chapter of engagement that will be sustained throughout my Administration.

To move forward, we cannot let ourselves be prisoners of past disagreements. Too often, an opportunity to build a fresh partnership of the Americas has been undermined by stale debates. We've all heard these arguments.

They would have us make the false choice between a rigid, state-run economy and unbridled and unregulated capitalism; between blame for right wing paramilitaries or left wing insurgents; between sticking to inflexible policies with regard to Cuba or denying the full human rights that are owed to the Cuban people.

I didn't come here to debate the past – I came here to deal with the future. As neighbors, we have a responsibility to each other and to our citizens. And by working together, we can take important steps forward to advance prosperity, security, and liberty.

That is the 21st century agenda that we can come together to enact. That is the new direction that we can pursue.

Before we move forward with our discussions, I would like to put forward several areas where the United States is committed to strengthening collective action on behalf of our shared goals.

First, we must come together on behalf of our common prosperity. That is what we have already begun to do.

Our unprecedented actions to stimulate growth and restart the flow of credit will help create jobs and prosperity within our borders and within yours. We joined with our G-20 partners to set aside over a trillion dollars for countries going through difficult times. We will work with you to ensure that the Inter-American Development Bank can take the necessary steps to increase its current level of lending and to carefully study the needs for recapitalization in the future.

And we recognize that we have a special responsibility, as one of the world's financial centers, to work with partners around the globe to reform a failed regulatory system – so that we can prevent the kinds of financial abuses that led to this current crisis from ever happening again, and achieve an economic expansion in the United States and across the Americas that is built not on bubbles, but on sustainable growth.

We are also committed to combating inequality and creating prosperity from the bottom up. I have asked Congress for $448 million in immediate assistance for those who have been hit the hardest by this crisis beyond our borders. And today, I'm pleased to announce a new Microfinance Growth Fund for the hemisphere that will help restart the lending that can power businesses and entrepreneurs across the hemisphere. This is by no means charity. Together, we can create a broader foundation for prosperity that builds new markets and powers new growth for all peoples in the hemisphere.

Second, we can strengthen the foundation of our prosperity, our security, and our environment through a new partnership on energy. Our hemisphere is blessed with bountiful resources, and we are all endangered by climate change. Now, we must come together to find new ways to produce and use energy so that we can create jobs and protect our planet.

Today, I am proposing the creation of a new Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas that can forge progress toward a more secure and sustainable future.

It is a partnership that will harness the vision and determination of countries like Mexico and Brazil to promote renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Each country will bring its own unique resources and needs, so we will ensure that each country can maximize its strengths as we promote efficiency, improve our infrastructure, share technology, and support investments in renewable sources of energy. In doing so, we can create the jobs of the future, lower greenhouse-gas emissions, and make the Americas a model for cooperation.

The dangers of climate change are part of a broad range of threats to our citizens, so the third area where we must work together is advancing our common security.

Today, too many people in the Americas live in fear. We must not tolerate violence and insecurity, no matter where it comes from. Children must be safe to play in the street, and families should never face the pain of kidnapping. Policemen must be more powerful than kingpins, and judges must advance the rule of law. Illegal guns must not flow freely into criminal hands, and illegal drugs must not destroy lives and distort our economy.

Yesterday, President Calderon and I renewed our commitment to combat the dangers posed by drug cartels. Today, I am pleased to announce a new initiative to invest $30 million to strengthen cooperation on security in the Caribbean. And I have directed key members of my Cabinet to build and sustain relations with their counterparts in the hemisphere to constantly adjust our tactics, build upon best practices, and develop new modes of cooperation – because the United States is a friend of every nation and person who seeks a future of security and dignity.

We know that our responsibility starts at home. That is why we will take aggressive action to reduce our demand for drugs, and to stop the flow of guns and bulk cash south across our border. And that is why I am making it a priority to ratify the Illicit Trafficking in Firearms Convention.

Finally, we know that true security only comes with liberty and justice. Those are bedrock values of the Inter-American charter. Generations of our people have worked, and fought, and sacrificed for them. And it is our responsibility to advance them in our time.

Together, we have to stand up against any force that separates any of our people from the American story – whether it is crushing poverty or corrosive corruption; social exclusion or persistent racism or discrimination. Here, in this room, we see the diversity of the Americas. Every one of our nations has a right to follow its own path. But we all have a responsibility to see that the people of the Americas have the ability to pursue their own dreams in democratic societies.

Toward that end, the United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba. I know there is a longer journey that must be traveled in overcoming decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day. I have already changed a Cuba policy that has failed to advance liberty or opportunity for the Cuban people. We will now allow Cuban Americans to visit the island whenever they choose and to provide resources to their families – the same way that so many people in my country send money back to their families in your countries to help them pay for their everyday needs.

Over the past two years, I have indicated – and I repeat today – that I am prepared to have my administration engage with the Cuban government on a wide range of issues – from human rights, free speech, and democratic reform to drugs, migration, and economic issues.

Let me be clear: I am not interested in talking for the sake of talking. But I do believe that we can move U.S.-Cuban relations in a new direction.

Every nation has been on its own journey. Here, in Trinidad and Tobago, we must respect those differences while celebrating those things that we share in common. Our nations were colonized by empires and achieved our own liberation. Our people reflect the extraordinary diversity of human beings, and our shared values reflect our common humanity – the universal desire to leave our children a world that is more prosperous and peaceful.

So as we gather here, let us remember that our success must be measured by the ability of our people to live their dreams. That is a goal that cannot be encompassed within any one policy or communiqué. It is, instead, reflected in the hopes of our children, the strength of our democratic institutions, and our faith in the future.

It will take time. But I pledge to you that the United States will be there as a friend and partner, because our future is inextricably bound to the future of the people of the Americas, and we are committed to shaping that future through engagement that is strong, sustained, and successful.