President Barack Obama
Arrival Ceremony Remarks
South Lawn
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
[WHITE HOUSE TRANSCRIPT]
 
9:44 A.M. EDT
 
PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Good morning.
 
AUDIENCE:  Good morning.
 
PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Buenos dias.
 
AUDIENCE:  Buenos dias.
 
PRESIDENT OBAMA:  On behalf of Michelle, myself, and the American people, it is my great honor to welcome our neighbor, friend and partner -- President Calderón, along with First Lady Margarita Zavala, and members of the Mexican delegation.  Welcome to the United States.  Bienvenidos.  (Applause.)
 
President Calderón was the first foreign leader that I met after my election.  And this visit is an opportunity to return the extraordinary warmth and hospitality that the President, the First Lady and the people of Mexico have shown to me during my visits to Mexico, as well as to Michelle during her first solo international trip as First Lady.
 
Mr. President, it is fitting that your visit comes during this year of celebration -- the bicentennial of Mexican independence and the centennial of the Mexican revolution.  And you and the Mexican people draw strength from your proud past to forge your future.  We recall the words of the great Octavio Paz who said:  “between tradition and modernity, there is a bridge.”  With this visit, we can also strengthen the many bridges that bind our two nations.
 
The United States and Mexico are not simply neighbors, bound by geography and history.  We are, by choice, friends and partners.  We are bound by our business partners, workers and tourists who fuel our prosperity; by our students and educators who broaden our horizons; and by our men and women in uniform, who serve and sacrifice to keep us safe.
 
In the United States, we’re also proud of another bond -- the ties of family:  Mexican American families have been here for centuries, as well as those who continue to -- our proud tradition as a nation of immigrants, all of whom strengthen our American family and who join us today.
 
Mr. President, working together, we have built upon these bridges.  We forged a new era of cooperation and partnership between our countries, based on mutual interest, mutual respect and mutual responsibility.  And with your visit, we can advance our partnership even further.
 
Together, we can help create jobs and prosperity for our people.  We can ensure that our common border is secure, modern and efficient, including immigration that is orderly and safe.  We can stand firm, and deepen our cooperation, against the drug cartels that threaten our people.  And given Mexico’s global leadership, we can stand together for the opportunity and security of all people, in our hemisphere and beyond.
 
Finally, Mr. President, your visit speaks to a truth of our time -- in North America and the world.  In the 21st century, we are defined not by our borders, but by our bonds.  So I say to you and to the Mexican people, let us stand together.  Let us face the future together.  Let’s us work together.  Trabajemos juntos.
 
President Calderón, Senora Zavala, welcome to the United States.  (Applause.)
 
END



President Felipe Calderón of Mexico
Arrival Ceremony Remarks
South Lawn
[TEXT/TRANSLATION FROM EMBASSY OF MEXICO]

Excelentísimo señor Barack Obama, Presidente de los Estados Unidos.
 
Señora Michelle Obama, Primera Dama.
 
Señoras y señores:
 
Muy buenos días a todos.
 
Agradezco la invitación del Presidente Barack Obama para realizar esta Visita de Estado.
 
México y Estados Unidos somos naciones amigas y socias. Naciones que trabajan unidas, que comercian y se complementan económicamente. Naciones que dialogan, que están unidas por la geografía y por la historia.
 
Como usted lo señaló en México, Presidente Obama, lo que nos hace buenos vecinos es una verdad muy sencilla: que nuestros pueblos comparten mucho más que los desafíos e intereses comunes.
 
Efectivamente, compartimos también valores y principios como la libertad, la justicia, la legalidad y la democracia.
 
Hoy, mexicanos y estadounidenses compartimos también un momento decisivo para nuestros respectivos países. Enfrentamos retos comunes de grandes magnitudes: el crimen organizado, la crisis económica, el cambio climático, la migración.
 
Estos desafíos monumentales nos plantean una disyuntiva: o volvemos a la recriminación mutua, que ha sido tan inútil y que en otros tiempos tanto nos ha dañado, o enfrentamos y superamos juntos estos retos, y a partir de ello empezamos un nuevo capítulo de prosperidad común.
 
Esta es la opción: mirar al futuro y comenzar una nueva era en la asociación estratégica entre Estados Unidos y México, sustentada en la corresponsabilidad.
 
Yo estoy seguro de que trabajando corresponsablemente nuestros Gobiernos pueden abrir nuevas vías para una América del Norte más segura, más sustentable, más competitiva y más próspera.
 
Podemos hacerlo, si sabemos enfrentar y derrotar juntos al crimen organizado transnacional, que es nuestro enemigo común y la mayor amenaza para nuestros pueblos.
 
Podemos hacerlo, si apoyamos juntos un nuevo modelo de desarrollo económico en armonía con el medio ambiente.
 
Podemos hacerlo, si sabemos aprovechar la complementariedad de nuestras economías, si sabemos aprovechar el comercio y la integración para crear más y mejores empleos para americanos y para mexicanos; si sabemos trabajar conjuntamente para alentar la integración exitosa de las comunidades México-americanas y latinas en este país.
 
Lo lograremos si sabemos sumar nuestras fortalezas para convertir a América del Norte en la región más competitiva y más próspera del mundo.
 
Podemos hacerlo, si seguimos construyendo una frontera más segura y la convertimos en una frontera que una y no que divida a nuestros pueblos, en una tierra de oportunidades y progres.
 
Podemos hacerlo, si construimos una solución integral, justa y de largo plazo al desafío de la migración.
 
Sé que compartimos el interés por promover condiciones de vida digna, legal y ordenada para todos aquellos trabajadores migrantes, muchos de los cuales, a pesar de su enorme contribución a la economía y a la sociedad de Estados Unidos, a su progreso, aún viven en las sombras y en ocasiones, como en Arizona, confrontan, incluso, patrones de discriminación.
 
Divididos no podremos superar estos desafíos. Una América del Norte venturosa y benéfica para estadounidenses y mexicanos sólo es posible si trabajamos codo con codo y si enfrentamos con decisión y valentía todos estos retos.
 
Señor Presidente:
 
Vengo hoy a sellar el pacto de amistad que hace un año ofreció usted a México y a los mexicanos. Mexicanos y estadounidenses tenemos frente a nosotros enormes problemas y desafíos comunes, pero a la vez tenemos un horizonte posible de éxito compartido.
 
(Interpretación del inglés al español)
 
Podemos superar estos retos, podemos construir este futuro de prosperidad que queremos para nuestro pueblo.
 
Sí, sí podemos, si trabajamos juntos.
 
Gracias, señor Presidente, por su amable invitación.
 
* * *

TRANSLATION

His Excellency Mr. Barack Obama, President of the United States of America
Mrs. Michelle Obama;
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
I appreciate the kind invitation of President Barack Obama to carry out this State Visit.  Mexico and the United States…. We are friend and partner nations; nations that work together and trade… And that complement each other economically; nations that dialogue and that are intertwined by geography and history.
 
As you pointed out Mr. President, while in Mexico, “what makes us good neighbors is a simple truth: our peoples share way beyond our common challenges and interests.”  Indeed, we also share common values and principles such as freedom, justice, legality and democracy.
 
Today, Mexicans and Americans share a decisive moment for our respective countries.  We face common challenges of great magnitude: organized crime, economic crisis, climate change, migration.  These monumental challenges place us at a crossroads:  either we return to mutual recrimination, which has been so useless and so damaging in previous times, or we face and overcome these challenges together, and from there, we begin a new chapter of shared prosperity.
 
This is the choice: look toward the future, and begin a new era in the strategic partnership between the United States and Mexico based upon shared responsibility.
 
I am sure that by working with shared responsibility, our governments will be able to open new paths for a more secure, more sustainable, more competitive and more prosperous North America.
 
We can do it if together we face and combat transnational organized crime. This is our common enemy and the greatest threat to our peoples.
We can do it if together we support a new model for economic development, in harmony with the environment.
 
We can do it if we know how to make the most of how our two economies complement each other. If we take advantage of our trade and integration to create more and better jobs in both countries. If we can work together to encourage the successful integration of the Mexican-American and Latino communities in this country. We will do it, if we know how to add up our strengths to make North America the most competitive and prosperous region in the world.
 
We can make it, if we continue building a safer border and if we transform it in a border that does not divide our peoples, in a land of opportunities and progress.  We can make it, if we develop a comprehensive, fair and long term solution to the challenges that migration currently poses.  I know that we share the interest in promoting dignified, legal and orderly living conditions to all migrant workers.  Many of them, despite their significant contribution to the economy and to the society of the United States, still live in the shadows and, occasionally, as in Arizona, they even face discrimination.
 
Divided we cannot overcome these enormous challenges.  A prosperous North America that  benefits both Americans and Mexicans is only feasible if we work shoulder to shoulder, and if we confront these challenges decisively and courageously.
 
Mr. President,
 
I come today to seal the pact of friendship that a year ago you offered to Mexico and to the Mexican people.  Mexicans and Americans, we are faced with major common problems and challenges, but at the same time, we have the possibility of shared success in the horizon.
 
Can we overcome these challenges? Can we build that future of prosperity we want for our people?  Yes we can, if we work together.
 
Thank You Mr. President for your kind invitation.

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