U.S.
Ready To Improve Ties With Latin
America: Biden
Colombians Criticize Strong Inequality
Peruvian Airline
Reasserts Cuban Tourism Peak
Argentina Urges Britain to
Reopen
Talks on Malvinas (Falklands) Sovereignty
U.S. Ready To
Improve Ties With Latin
America: Biden
VINA DEL MAR, Chile -
U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden said on
Saturday the Obama administration is ready
to work with Latin American nations to cope
with the current global financial crisis and
other challenges.
Biden, who is on a tour of Latin America,
said here that his meetings with leaders in
the region marked the first important step
in efforts to turn a new page in U.S.-Latin
America relations.
Biden, who arrived in Chile on Friday for a
one-day Progressive Leaders Summit, met with
the heads of state of Argentina, Brazil,
Uruguay and Chile.
"The time of the United States dictating
unilaterally, the time where we only talk
and don't listen is over," Biden said.
The current global financial crisis is
affecting all countries around the world, so
they must work together to cope with it, he
said.
Noting that both the United States and the
Latin American countries are facing such
grim challenges as drug trafficking, weapons
smuggling and organized crime, he pledged
his country's greater efforts to crack down
on the drug trade at home and curb the
illegal exports of arms.
The U.S. could open dialogue with Latin
American countries on all issues of common
concern at the upcoming Summit of the
Americas in Trinidad and Tobago next month,
which U.S. President Barack Obama will also
attend, Biden said.
Biden also said the U.S. government has no
plan to lift its trade embargo on Cuba.
The Obama administration believes that "the
Cuban people should determine their own fate
and that they should be able to live in
freedom and with some prospect of economic
prosperity," he added.
With regard to the U.S. economic stimulus
plan, Biden called for more patience in
waiting to see the effects of the plan that
Obama signed into law earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Biden called for the leaders to
not over-react when they plan to rebuild
global financial market regulations.
"We should not overreact... a free market
still needs to be able to function," Biden
said during a round-table meeting also
attended by British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva and Spanish Prime Minister Jose
Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
The one-day Progressive Governance Summit
drew leaders from Latin America, Europe and
the United States.
After his stay in Chile, Biden will travel
to Costa Rica on Sunday, where he is to meet
with President Oscar Arias and other Central
American leaders to make preparations for
Obama's attendance at the Summit of the
Americas.
Biden will return to Washington on Monday,
but first stopping in Costa Rica to meet
with president Oscar Arias and the
presidents of Central America. |
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