Remarks by President Biden and President Dina Boluarte Zegarra of the Republic of Peru in Bilateral Meeting | Lima, Peru

Lima Convention Center
Lima, Peru

3:48 P.M. PET

PRESIDENT BOLUARTE: (As interpreted.) Dear Mr. President of the United States -

(The interpretive audio devices are adjusted.)

PRESIDENT BIDEN: I have to tell you before I begin, when I was a young senator, the president - a senior senator from Texas said, "Joe, someday you're going to run for president. You better learn Spanish." (Laughter.) I only speak English.

All right.

PRESIDENT BOLUARTE: (As interpreted.) Dear Mr. President Biden, first of all, I would like to welcome you to our dear country amidst the APEC 2024 Leaders' Week. We hope that you and your delegation are enjoying your stay here in Lima, Peru, and that you are well treated.

Thank you very much for your visit. Thank you very much for sharing our mutual interests through this APEC forum, where we gather with the most important 21 economies in the world.

You, Mr. President, and your delegation are most welcome to my country.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: Well, Madam President, thank you very much. And my only concern is my colleagues are not going to come home with me. (Laughter.) They're going to want to stay. You have a truly beautiful country.

And you're a very important and valued partner. That's for real.

Our countries work closely together, day in and day out, to manage the regional challenges we both face, to defend democracy, to protect the environment, and to provide good jobs - good-paying jobs for our people.

With your permission, Madam President, I'd like to highlight three areas of growing cooperation.

First, we want to thank you for elevating our fight against drug trafficking, a mutual concern. I'm pleased to announce $65 million over the next five years to assist - in assistance to Peru, including the nine Black Hawk helicopters and training for more than 130 pilots and technicians.

And second, we are partnering on infrastructure. California Caltrain has donated 150 passenger cars and locomotives to the Lima metro rail, part of a much larger collaboration that will save Peru millions of dollars and reduce pollution and deepen ties between and among our businesses.

And third, we're cooperating on space exploration. Now, that fellow right there, the former senator from Florida - very close friend of mine - every time my wife thinks I'm getting out of hand, she says, "I'm going to call him and have him send you to space." (Laughter.) And I'm a little concerned he may want to send me to space because we got to get some folks back home. (Laughter.)

In May, Peru joined the - the Artemis Accords and set the principles of the be- - best practices for how we move on space.

And this week, we've agreed to cooperate on research rockets as well - our countries.

So, Madam President, thank you for your leadership within APEC, and thank you for your partnership and friendship with the United States. And I genuinely look forward to our discussion.

PRESIDENT BOLUARTE: (As interpreted.) Thank you very much.

3:52 P.M. PET

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