Secretary of State Marco Rubio Remarks at the American Chamber of Commerce Peru Event

SECRETARY RUBIO: (Via interpreter) Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. It is a pleasure to be here with you today in Peru. It is the second time that I am here. I came many years ago as a senator as the first time to - that I am here. We were waiting for Bernie to come. He's doing a great job. I know of him for many years, and I am not surprised about the work that he has been doing. And I think that he is a perfect person when talking about the relation between Peru and the U.S. because it is a moment of extraordinary opportunities.

First, I wanted to share what I have been saying since I came here. For me - I think not for me but for everyone, the main role of any government is security and stability. It is the most important, right? Without security, you cannot accomplish anything. And unfortunately, not only in Peru but in the region is confronting a very extraordinary threat. Usually, these threats will be - were taking place within national groups. What has changed in the world, what has changed in the region, is that these groups are now transnational, operating from Colombia against Peru, operating in Peru against Bolivia, operating in Bolivia against Ecuador. So a huge threat.

And the only way of dealing with this or confronting these groups, if we don't confront them and defeat them, they will eat the country. This is very Cuban. I don't know how you translate it, but yeah. They will - they will just impact the society. And who will suffer the most? The working class, of course. They are being blackmailed, extortion - they are paying the price. But not only because of the sovereignty of a country; if your territory is controlled by criminal groups, by terrorist groups, how can you be protecting?

And I'm happy that you have an administration with President Fujimori that is committed to confront these delinquents, these criminals, and we will provide the support that she needs. This is not just simply to help Peru and help her. It is also to help ourselves, because these terrorist groups are a threat to Peru but are also a threat to the United States and to the North American people.

Without security, you don't have prosperity. Obviously, there are a lot of things that we need to do for prosperity. There are companies that don't like to invest in a country where you don't feel safe. But also, you need to have security, legally due process - the due process. This is how you attract foreign investment. This is what we want to see. It's logic that the United States and Peru have relations and very strong bonds and very close in terms of trade, and for us that is a priority as well. It is possible to work on security and at the same time work on trade, of course, and these are related.

And it is a priority for this administration, a priority for President Trump. He is a businessman; he is not a political man. He started, yeah, in politics 10 years ago, but clearly he's not political. He is a businessman, and this is what he understands and he appreciates. And we want to see more trade activity between Peru and the U.S., and there are great opportunities in order to do so.

I'd like to tell you that what we give you are two things. Number one, unfortunately, well, political instability in Peru. As a Secretary, I think we have had to deal with three different administrations in a year and a half. And it's impressive because usually you have two presidents in 10 years. But now we have stability, and I think that is important. But also, there has been some negligence from the government, from both political parties in the U.S., that have said, no, yeah, the hemisphere, South America, everything is important; the Americas are important for us. They all said this, but few do something about it. And we are doing something about this. For us, it is a priority. (Applause.)

Why? Why is it a priority? Well, first, because of geography. It is logic that we are going to have trade exchanges. I'd rather have those exchanges with countries that are close to our country. Obviously we're going to have relations, but it is obvious that we will have these type of exchanges where we have so close - where we're so close geographically.

Number two is logic because the reality is one of the things that is impacting manufacturing - access to critical minerals, access to all of these elements. It's easy to have a source of these minerals that it is on the same hemisphere instead of bringing this from Africa. This doesn't mean that we're not interested in Africa or Asia, but the logic thing to do is to have access to these minerals, to production, and the production capability of countries that are close to our nation. Logistically speaking, it's easier.

Number two, this is not a region that has a war. You're fighting a war against criminals, but we - you don't have global conflicts like other countries in the world.

Three, because our system and cultures are very similar. We have already connections at a banking level, at a transaction level, at a social level. And logically, because it supports the countries around the region to develop economically, and this is part of the interest of the United States.

So if we have economic issues, if we have political issues, if we have social issues, unfortunately, and insecurity, this has a direct impact on the United States, and we have seen this, right? If you study the situation in Mexico that nowadays, tragically, there is territory in Mexico controlled by cartel; they are the government. But it also has an impact on the border with the U.S. and threatens the U.S. directly. So for us, if there are problems of the hemisphere, this becomes our problem as well.

So for all of these reasons, it's logic. And I know that you have representatives of many companies that for many years you have investing in the urban economy and have an American representation. We don't only want you to continue doing this, but we want you to do more. We are coordinating very closely through the ambassador, through the embassy, with the government, and then the administration to make sure that any barrier that exists in the Peruvian system - that this has to be clear, so it makes your job easier. And then, of course, it's part of our jobs to do more to be able to have more opportunities for the American companies in terms of the opportunity of trade and investment.

We need to also play that role to support, inform through our economic bureaus to U.S. companies that are seeking to invest around the world and most likely they are not aware of Peru because we were not focused on this side of the hemisphere. This is why it's important to be here today to thank you for all the things that you have been doing for many years. You're here because you have been working for many years. We want you to be able to more, and we want you to have new markets, new partners, and new tools available. And please be aware that you are a priority for us, for the Department of State and from our embassy to develop all these things. I think it'll help Peru. Without a doubt, it'll help the United States, it'll help you, and it'll help the entire hemisphere.

So for me, it's been a very productive visit. I just come from the presidential palace where we had a meeting with the president and then we had a press conference. It went very well, and I hope to come back at least once before they kick out Bernie Navarro from here. I'm joking. But yeah, well, God willing, we will be able to come and we will have more things to discuss.

But during the last - well, the last 40 days for the new administration, we - they requested many things and we have agreed to cooperate in many topics and we have complied and we are in a good start. We need to continue. We need to follow up on this. We need to provide continuity.

We have Bernie Navarro here, focused 100 percent. He's working every day. But he also has a direct connection with me and the White House that in a world that is experiencing so many things with Iran, with Ukraine, with Russia, with all the things that are taking place, it is important to know that you have in the U.S. system people in high positions that are focusing on this side of the hemisphere, but specifically on the relation with Peru that for many - well, more than 10 years was, like, kind of put aside. I don't want to say abandoned. This will change.

And I'd like to thank you for being patient with us, and keep being steady, firm, because we're starting a new era. And I think it'll be the best era in the relation between both our countries. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

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