WASHINGTON – The U.S. should use its technological know-how to help Latin American countries because it would create new U.S. jobs and protect America’s energy interests, senior State Department officials told a House subcommittee Thursday.
“The Western Hemisphere is deeply complex and interconnected,” said Ambassador Carlos Pascual, the State Department’s special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs at the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere hearing.
Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., chairman of the subcommittee, agreed that the U.S. is in “a great position to truly help our region achieve greater prosperity, job creation and energy security.”
Pascual echoed Salmon by saying helping those countries also could help increase U.S. jobs, commercial interests, economic development and energy security “linked to the political perspectives in Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, the Caribbean and beyond.”
Stronger energy ties between the U.S. and its neighbors protects the Western Hemisphere’s interests by creating stability when it comes to the energy market.
“We are operating especially for oil in a market which is global. Instability anywhere has an impact on the United States so what we want to do is work with our partners throughout the hemisphere.” Pascual said.