SECRETARY BLINKEN: Good evening, everyone. I know that I am the only thing standing between
you and the opportunity to visit the extraordinary exhibits that we got a little taste of thanks to
Michael and the team here. I really want to commend it to you. And in particular,
there are extraordinary works that tie our entire hemisphere together and show the vibrancy
of an extraordinary culture. So I really commend it to you. I hope you’ll take the time to do that.
Doug, thank you. Thank you for your kind words, but thank you also for your leadership
of one of the most important challenges that we’re facing here at the summit this week and beyond:
ending the COVID-19 pandemic and also supporting the communities hit hardest by the pandemic.
And Madam Speaker, Nancy, thank you for joining us tonight, but mostly thank you for what you
do every single day in leading this country. (Applause.) I think most of you know this: The
Speaker has played a pivotal role in strengthening the United States’ relationships with our partners
across this hemisphere – empowering civil society, advancing women’s rights, and so much more.
Many of you know this as well because you’ve worked with her and hosted congressional
delegations that she’s led to your countries. The Speaker has also long championed the enormous
contributions that generations of immigrants from our hemisphere have made to the United States,
including, of course, right here in California. Mostly, Madam Speaker, it’s one of the privileges
of my career to be able to serve at the same time that you are. Thank you. (Applause.)
To my fellow foreign ministers, representatives, observers who are here: Thank you, thank you,
thank you for participating in this 9th Summit of the Americas and for the months of hard work that
have gone into advancing our shared goals, more of which we’ll hear about tomorrow.
And Michael, again, thank you for hosting us here at LACMA.
We had a chance, as I said, to tour a part of the museum, including the Mixpantli exhibit
which marks the 500th anniversary of the fall of the Aztec capital in modern-day Mexico City.
I want to point out one project and really commend it to you. It’s called We Are Here. It was created
by artists and scholars from CIELO, an Indigenous women-led organization. The piece that you’ll see
is an interactive map that depicts the 20 Indigenous languages spoken today – today – in
Los Angeles. It highlights Indigenous communities from Mexico and Central America who are adding
to the richness of everyday life here – small business owners, teachers, students, so much more.
And in this way, the map makes visible communities that have too often been rendered invisible
across our shared hemisphere. And that’s a fundamental step toward demanding rights that they
and all communities are entitled to. As Mariah So, the main cartographer
for this project, said recently, “[Maps] create a reality just as much as they represent it.”
This is one project that reminds us of the remarkable diversity that we can see here in this
room tonight and that we experience every single day across our hemisphere – the immense strength
that lies in that diversity if we draw upon it. It reminds us that we can build societies
where more people have access to opportunity, instead of reserving those opportunities for
the just well-off. (Applause.) Drawing on that diversity,
drawing on that diversity, building a future where all people in the Americas
are empowered to reach their full potential – that’s kind of what this summit is all about.
A few quick examples, and then I will leave you to the exhibits
and to talking to so many friends you have here. The America Health Corps initiative, which the
United States developed in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization and others,
will provide training to 500,000 – 500,000 – health professionals, increasing access
to health care for people across the Americas. It will do this by expanding existing training
programs administered through the United States Government, as well as by increasing
the capacity of PAHO’s training platform. The U.S.-Caribbean Partnership to Address
the Climate Crisis, or PACC 2030, will support communities across the Caribbean as they adapt
their infrastructure to withstanding the growing effects of the climate crisis. The Vice President
will lead these efforts and draw on the capabilities of governments, of businesses,
of NGOs, and others to help our partners implement their national adaption plans.
And by the way, I saw Secretary Kerry in the house, who – John. (Applause.)
The extraordinary leadership that John is providing in actually
helping our country and helping the world meet this crisis, the truly
existential challenge of our time. Thank you for everything that you’re doing. (Applause.)
And I would mention too very quickly the Digital Agenda for Transformation in the Americas.
This is the first-ever shared framework that we have in our hemisphere for our region's digital
future, for example, by helping to expand internet access. We know we need to do that.
We need to bridge the digital divide that exists within our countries and among our countries,
particularly in historically marginalized communities. We’re going to be using digital
technology to promote quality education and to connect small businesses to the marketplace.
We’re working on a number of other initiatives to deepen our ties even further. We’ll talk about
those more in the – over the next 24 hours. You heard the President speak to so many – so
much of this today. I don’t want to belabor it tonight, but let me just say this in closing.
We look forward to working with our existing partners on each and every one of these
initiatives, to expanding the group of partners that we have so that more can effectively address
the challenges and opportunities before us. But here’s the thing. Here’s the challenge
for all of us, especially my colleagues who are with us tonight. The more that we can ensure that
we not only set out these commitments – but we actually deliver on them, we implement them,
we do what we say – the more we’re going to meet the demands of our people, the more we’re going
to be able to show that democracies can actually deliver results. That is the challenge for our
time. I am so glad and grateful that we’re all united in advancing that challenge together.
Thank you all for being here and have a wonderful evening. (Applause.)