WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will focus on the U.S. economic growth that is possible through strong engagements with Latin America as well as the need to fight organized crime in the region when he attends a summit this weekend in Colombia, senior administration officials said Wednesday.
On Friday, Obama will join 34 heads of state in Cartagena, Colombia, for the three-day Summit of the Americas; it will be his fourth trip to Latin America since taking office. In 2009 he attended the summit in Trinidad and Tobago and, since then, “has significantly bolstered the image of the United States in the region,” said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser.
Obama will advocate for increased trade and investment in the region. On the way to Colombia, the president will stop in Tampa, Fla., to give a speech at the Port of Tampa on the importance of strengthening trade with Latin American countries. More than 40 percent of the port’s exports go to Latin America. Florida also represents a pivotal state in the November election.
The summit will address ways to ease travel and trade barriers among the countries, use of information technology, disaster response, citizen security efforts, especially related to the drug wars, and poverty and inequality, Dan Restrepo, senior director for Western hemisphere issues at the National Security Council, said.
Under Obama, the U.S. has invested $30 billion for drug prevention efforts, according to Restrepo. During the summit the president will stress the shared responsibility of the Americas to fight organized crime in the region that is largely powered by the drug trade, Restrepo said.
Obama arrives in Cartagena Friday nigh;, he’ll join other summit leaders for a dinner hosted by the Colombians. Saturday he will meet with President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia and President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, who the U.S. just hosted, to discuss economic cooperation.
For the first time the president will spend two nights in Cartagena, signaling the success of the partnership between the two countries, the advisers said.
On Sunday, Obama will have a multilateral meeting with Caribbean leaders to discuss “our security cooperation, our close people-to-people ties and our efforts to promote economic growth in the Caribbean region,” Rhodes said.
He will also meet again with Santos and highlight the successful relationship the U.S. has had with Colombia in advancing security and economic issues, Rhodes said. Together they will visit San Pedro Claver Church to speak directly to Colombian citizens about strengthening ties between the American and Colombian people.
Obama is expected to return to Washington late Sunday.