 Right now it's my pleasure to introduce the Honorable Thomas Mack McClarty, CSIS Senior Advisor, President of McClarty Associates, a global advisory firm, and former counselor and Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton. While in the White House, he helped enact the North American Free Trade Agreement, organized the first summit of the Americas, and became the President's Special Envoy to Latin America. As a dear friend of CSIS and a distinguished Latin America hand in his own right, Mack will present our keynote speaker. Thank you. Steve, thank you very much. Good afternoon to everyone. And Steve, thank you, and Phil McClain, and all of your associates for organizing such an excellent and timely meeting. You've got a large crowd and a distinguished crowd, and it's always my pleasure to work with CSIS. In terms of my introduction today, knowing Secretary Steinberg's always fully engaged, I'll try to be brief, fierce, and decisive in my introduction. I would be remiss if I did not note Ambassador Silva, who is not only a good friend, but is such a distinguished and effective ambassador and other members of the Ambassadoral Corps, and particularly from Columbia that are here today as well. I really will deviate from any prepared remarks. My real feelings about Jim Steinberg can kind of be capsulized perhaps in that phrase that is often used to someone who has served in the White House or in one of the cabinet positions. Thank you for your service. Thank you for serving our country. I don't think he, one, epitomizes that more than Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg. He has served in three administrations in very important and responsible positions. He has handled all of his assignments with great effectiveness, professionalism, and with the highest of integrity. Working in the Carter administration, then working with Senator Kennedy, Senate Brookings, the Brookings Institute, and others during that time, I met Jim of course in the Clinton administration when he was working for then Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, Director of Policy at the State Department. And I often recall, particularly after Jim became Deputy National Security Advisor with President Clinton, a phrase that recurred both with Secretary Christopher during his tenure at State and in the White House. Well, I'd like to hear what Steinberg has to say about that on a particular decision. That's a high compliment and a well-deserved one. I think particularly regarding Columbia as we were chatting before coming here, Ambassador Silva, I think there's perhaps no better example, as many of you know here, where sustained leadership and consistent policy in both countries have served to advance the goals of a stated policy better than planned Columbia and how we are seeing that playing out now in Columbia. So Steve, I think this meeting is particularly reflective of that. But beginning on a bipartisan basis with President Clinton, Speaker Hastert, which of course the Deputy Secretary of National Security Advisor at that time played a major role in architecting that program. Continuing then to the Bush 43 administration and now to President Obama and his team and Secretary Clinton, we see a sustained effort here in our country again on a bipartisan basis, but also I would be very remiss if you did not underscore the sustained leadership in Columbia with President Gaviria, President Pastrana, President Rebe and his courageous policies in now President Santos's friend of 20 years. So we see now Columbia moving forward in such a remarkable and impressive manner with security, stability. We were talking about the economic growth rate and the jobs created in Columbia, a remarkable transformation that I think reflects those efforts. Now we are at a critical time in terms of policy with Columbia, with the Columbia Free Trade Agreement and I am sure that the Deputy Secretary will speak to that in his comments. I would finally say that as an important grace note, there has not just been Deputy Secretary Steinberg who has served our country, but also his wife, Sherry, who has done a truly outstanding job in her responsibilities at the Office of Science and Technology and I think will have a continuing role at the University of Syracuse. Jim Steinberg served with great distinction. I saw it firsthand at the LBJ School as Dean there before returning to public service and he will do an outstanding job in his new career here shortly at the Maxwell School at the University of Syracuse. So with that, Mr. Secretary, the floor is yours. Well, thanks, Mac, for that exceedingly generous introduction. I am touched and it means a lot coming from you because of all that you have done for your country and especially on Latin America and the Ambassador and to so many good friends, current and former colleagues in the audience in and out of government. It's a real pleasure for me to be here. I was telling Lordus on the way over this could be my last speech as Deputy Secretary, I've only got about two weeks to go. And I was particularly eager to do it, frankly, for the reasons that Mac outlined because it has been a special privilege for me to come back into government and continue the work that was begun in my last time in government under the Clinton administration and to see both the enormous progress that was made and the realization of the vision we had back in the late 1990s and to be able to be a small part of carrying that work forward to a new height and it has in every respect been gratifying because as Mac said first, it is a wonderful case study in successful policymaking which makes it useful for me going back to academic lives to have a case study of a success story rather than what went wrong, which is the kind of standard case study. But also because it really does reflect an incredibly broad set of actors in both countries working together over an extended period of time and it really does demonstrate that if you're going to be successful in policy, you have to establish a broad base of support not just among policymakers but among publics and I think that has been a key feature of why this policy has been so successful, the strong commitment of both the American people and the Colombian people as well as the political and government leaders and it has been in the last two and a half years really just a tremendous opportunity to work with the two administrations in Colombia and now with President Santos, Foreign Minister Holguin and the ambassador to take this forward. Over the two and a half years since I've been a deputy secretary, I've had the privilege of making this an important part of my job. I've made two trips to Colombia since becoming deputy secretary and on my last trip I had a chance to launch the high level partnership dialogue and just a few weeks ago host the second meeting of the high level partnership dialogue here in Washington. So when we've seen in very concrete terms in ways that I'll outline in a minute just how much has been done. But I also think it's important to just remember how far we have come. When I came into government and not that long ago, people were some in quarters were talking about Colombia as a near or potentially failed state. And yet today Colombia is the fourth largest recipient of foreign direct investment in Latin America behind Brazil, Chile and Mexico. And along with tremendous economic growth and the achievements on the security front, we have now seen a movement to an even more broad based strategy, the Democratic prosperity agenda that makes sure that not only will Colombia and Colombians be secure and that the country will be prosperous but all of the people in Colombian society will share in these great achievements. It's true you can talk about statistics and statistics are really important. You can just think for example that since 2002 terrorist attacks are down 77%, homicides down 56% and kidnappings down at 92%. But what's even more important and I know many of you in the audience know is the palpable sense of a future and security that so many people have. The work is not ended but the sense of optimism, the sense that Colombia can not only survive but thrive is really critical. And these most recent presidential elections I think are a strong reflection of the great democratic tradition of Colombia and the strength of the democratic commitment of Colombian society. This is a model that serves as an exemplar all through the region and around the world that people can look to as an example of societies that come together to vindicate that democratic objective. And since the election of President Santos you can see what a remarkable step forward that has been taken and the broad base commitment of President Santos on his administration. In just a short period of time the recently enacted land restitution and victims reparation law addressing the foundational causes of conflict within Colombia and assisting hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and other vulnerable populations in a more covered land, which is both an important political achievement but also a strong commitment of resources. He's begun to heal the breach between the executive branch and the legislative branch and strengthening the independent prosecutor's office as well as moving forward on a host of human rights cases. He's working to strengthen relations with civil society, working with Vice President Garcione to build a sense of trust between civil society and the government rather than a sense of conflict and adversarialness. And President Santos and his administration, led by the foreign minister, have made improving relations with their neighbors as a priority, which is paying dividends already, including as we've seen extradition to Colombia of important narco traffickers. And the continued work that the Santos administration is doing at going after the FARC network and its key leaders with the recent successful operations is just a further example of the broad based effort to deal with the full range of challenges. And we in the United States are honored to partner with Colombia across this full set of issues. And to make sure that this is not a one-dimensional relationship, we instituted the high level partnership dialogue to broaden and strengthen the range of our engagements. And if you look at the topics that we have established as our formalized working groups, science and technology, not just because of Shari, energy, environmental protection and climate change, culture and education, social and economic opportunities, and of course the very important set of issues around democracy, human rights and good governance. And at our last meeting, we had more than 60 Colombian government officials, including Vice President Garcón, Foreign Minister Olguín and many other cabinet and sub-cabinet officials who met with more than 120 US government representatives for more than 19 agencies. And this is more than a talk shop as the Vice President and I agreed at the very first meeting of our group, the Human Rights Working Group, we're focused on concrete agenda, concrete results to demonstrate to our people in both countries that this is a partnership that delivers the goods. So for instance, on the human rights side, we agreed to jointly track certain key human rights cases on a monthly basis and to identify obstacles and better direct our assistance to Colombia. And we on the United States side reiterated our support to help build the fiscaya and make sure that we can continue the important work that's taking place there. On energy, a topic close to Max Hart, we reviewed existing partnerships in renewable and fossil fuel energy, as well as exploring additional avenues of collaboration in regional electrical interconnection, shale gas and mining. And Colombia will soon host the first plenary meeting for the action plan on racial and ethnic equality, a plan, a commitment that we jointly signed during my first visit to Colombia. Beyond these efforts, we are supporting Colombia's aspirations to become members of the OECD. And in these HLPD meetings, we also agreed to enhance cultural and educational cooperation in Colombia and encourage economic and social opportunities for Afro descendants and indigenous communities, which are such an important part of the fabric of Colombian society. And together, we're working on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN FCCC, including implementing the Cancun outcome and looking forward to working together at the next meeting in Durban, South Africa. Now, having said that we broaden the partnership to all these issues, we continue to recognize that we can't neglect the issue of drug trafficking on both the supply and the demand side and the impact that it has on our societies. And so, while we have not achieved all of our counter-narcotics goals, our cooperation together has helped Colombia become more stable, denied millions of dollars in illegal drug revenues to the FARC, and reduced the amount of pure cocaine capable of being produced in Colombia by 59% from 700 metric tons in 2001 to 290 metric tons in 2009, which has had a positive impact here in our society. And we must continue, and Secretary Clinton has made clear that we take responsibility for continuing to do our side of the business, which is dealing with the problem of drug demand. Now, I've talked so far primarily about our work together on bilateral issues and helping to strengthen Colombia's security, economic prosperity, and inclusivity. But what has been especially rewarding for me is to see the growing role that Colombia is playing on the regional and international stage. As we like to say in our business, Colombia has gone from being a consumer of security to a provider of security and support for others who face even greater challenges. Today, Colombia sits on the UN Security Council, trains police to help other nations meet their law enforcement challenges, and is playing a leading role now successfully in bringing Honduras back into the inter-American system. And I think that this is, as we've taken examples from our collective and successful work together, Colombia continues to help others deal with these challenges. So for example, the institutional capability in counter-narcotics built in Colombia over the last decade has allowed Colombia to share its security expertise with others. Over the last two years, Colombia has trained more than 9,000 police from 18 Latin American and three West African states. It's trained hundreds of Mexican investigators and dozens of Mexican helicopter pilots. It's offered similar assistance to its Central American neighbors who are deeply affected by transnational crime and drug trafficking. Now of course, as Mac previewed, I wouldn't wanna end my discussion here without touching on the US-Columbia Free Trade Agreement, the US-Columbia Trade Promotion Agreement, which will open new markets and create new jobs and opportunities for both of our peoples. We've been impressed by the level of commitment and more importantly, by the quick action by the Colombian government to address labor-related concerns. In April, the US and Colombian governments agreed to an ambitious and comprehensive action plan that includes major, swift, and concrete steps that the Colombian government has agreed to take to address outstanding labor concerns in addition to the good work it is doing on the human rights front. The action plan contains several milestones, including 20 milestones due by April 22nd, which the Colombian government needed to accomplish for us in the administration to initiate technical discussions with the Congress. On May 4th, we finished our review of those accomplishments and announced that we were ready to move forward to the next stage in the process. Specific improvements that have already occurred under the action plan include expanded eligibility for Columbia's protection program to include not only labor leaders, but also rank and file activists and those seeking to form a union. Over 95 judicial police investigators have been assigned exclusively to pursuing cases of labor violence with early identification of any union affiliation, now mandatory, and ahead of schedule, Columbia enacted legislation to move up the effective date of new penalties for abuse of cooperatives, which can help evade worker protections. And I'm pleased to see that there's been strong support, not only here in the United States, but in Columbia for the action plan. According to Julio Roberto Gomez, Secretary General of the Confederation General de Trabajo, it is, in his words, positive that President Santos has put forth an agreement that includes issues such as freedom of association, human rights, and guarantees for workers as they are related to the FDA. Or as Jose Luciano Sanin, Director of the General of the Escuela Nacional of Cindicales, observed, we are witnessing a moment that we have not had in at least 20 years. After the 1991 Constitution, this would be our most important agenda for the labor movement. All of these steps are a strong indication of Columbia's commitment to working to address the issues that the administration and others have identified. Now, of course, there's still more work to be done under the action plan, including several items that we've agreed to see completed before June 15th. We are confident and optimistic about the steps that Columbia will take and allow us to move our own process forward to pass the FDA this year, as the Secretary has said. This is a really set of remarkable achievements. Just think, in the last two weeks, separate from commitments under the action plan, the Colombian government has engineered a breakthrough protection agreement with the Teachers Union, moved forward on a decree for collective bargaining for the public sector, concluded a tripartite agreement signed by the country's second largest labor federation itself and business, achieved the first convictions in a controversial, so-called so-a-cha, false positives murder case, and seen Colombians elected to the administrative tribunal of the ILO. And in all of these issues, President Obama said it best. I believe, in his words, that in the Americas today, there are no senior partners and there are no junior partners. They're only equal partners. Of course, equal partnerships in turn demand a sense of shared responsibility. In Colombia, I have found and we have a true and willing partner. I am, as I say, truly impressed by what's achieved, but also know that you all understand that this is a never-ending effort and that each step needs to be succeeded by more and more determination to see the achievement of these goals of security and prosperity of inclusivity and to see that the fate of Colombia as it seeks to achieve them is deeply intertwined with our own. This is a special partnership for us in the United States and I've been privileged to be a small part of it over the last two and a half years. So thank you for your attention today and I look forward to your questions. I'm sorry, I do not have a question. My name is Juan Carlos Esquerra, but there is an assessment I have to make. I was brought here to talk about justice and if I was brought here to talk about justice, there is an act of justice that I have to make. And that is, Mr. McClary, to say again, after all these years, I remember that when almost nobody believed you believed, when almost everybody turned around, you gave us your hand. And you were a great supporter of Colombia in the middle of the night during very bad circumstances. And now that we are seeing a bright sky and a beautiful day, we have to remember the night just in order to say in the name of the Republic of Colombia and of every Colombian, thank you very much, Mr. McClary. Steve Landy, Manchester Trade. I don't think there's any question that a combination of Obama administration, education, and Colombia action has really made this agreement ready to pass. The question, of course, is that we have a serious domestic political problem in the United States that has nothing to do with Colombia. Well-known, I've been in trade policy for 17 years and it is very strange that something as basic as trade adjustment assistance, which has been US policy for 34 years, is now being questioned. But the real question, in my mind, is does Colombia understand this? Do they realize that this is not really aimed at them? What happens if because of trade adjustment assistance, if Colombia, or because of disagreement, if Colombia, which I assume they will live up to the obligations? And I'd like to ask Mac to speak a little bit on this question, too, because of his experience over the previous couple of years, excuse me, during the previous Democratic administration in this area about what do we do if the Republicans, and I know I shouldn't say this, but I'm a Democrat, what do we do if the Republicans really keep their feet in and do not compromise on this trade adjustment assistance act? Thank you. Let me just say a quick word and then I'll either invite or allow our people sitting here who are not really part of the presentation to either decide whether they want to answer or not. I think, as you know well from the perspective of the administration, in the long run, we have to, if we're gonna pursue a trade agenda, which is enormously important to our future for jobs and competitiveness, that there has to be a broad base of support in society. And that there's no doubt from our perspective that the Columbia FTA, like Panama and South Korea, are win-wins for both societies, but not for every single person. And trade inevitably has some dislocating features. And the best way to move forward is not to retreat from trade, but to make sure that everybody can benefit from it, that people who are inadvertently, at least in the short term, suffering from trade have an opportunity to have that blow cushion and to be ready to compete in that world. And that's why we want a comprehensive approach that includes active pursuit of FTAs, including new ones that we're negotiating, like the TPP in East Asia, but also to make sure that the American worker and the American people are part of this. And feel a beneficiary. So that's why we think this is all a part of a package, and we strongly hope that the Congress sees that we won't have the support of the American people if we don't have a comprehensive strategy. Okay, Matt? Well, I'll be very brief. I think Secretary Stamberg outlined precisely the balance here that needs to be achieved, should be achieved. It started really with President Obama's comments and remarks and doubling our exports, and that really sets the predicate for moving forward on trade agreements. There's not that big a gap in a dollar sense between the Republican and Democratic position. Clearly, there needs to be a deal in the middle. I believe there will be. It should take about an hour. It's gonna take a little longer than that. But I think at the end of the day, they'll get there. One more? Phil McLean from here in CSIS. Since you're returning to academia, let me ask you a classic college-type question. Compare and contrast. Compare and contrast what happened in Colombia and U.S. policy in Colombia with what pick a country out there in the Middle East and how we did things differently and what's to be recommended and not recommended. Well, I think I'm glad it was a compare and contrast and not a what-if. I've spent two and a half years resisting hypotheticals and I'm now gonna go back to a world where I can actually ask them of my students all the time. I think the biggest success of Planned Colombia and what we've done together were really the things that Mac touched on, which is first, we had a strong bipartisan basis for this in the United States. And on the big challenges, whether it's providing security and moving forward on social inclusion in Colombia or dealing with democratic transformation in the Middle East, these things don't happen overnight. They require a sustained commitment of both policy and resources to make it happen. And there needs to be a sense among all the parties that you're in it for the long term and the commitments in it for a long term. If you don't have that, then people will gain the system because they'll assume it's a flash in the pan or that the kinds of benefits, the costs are often upfront and are front loaded and the benefits are in the long term. So let's take Egypt, for example. One of the biggest challenges and one of the biggest impulses to the revolution in Egypt was the lack of economic opportunity. The fact that the system, although there'd been some economic reforms, was not providing jobs and opportunity, particularly for many of the reasonably well-educated young people who are coming out of universities or training programs. And so addressing that economic need and those social and economic needs is critically important, but it doesn't happen overnight. We can give some short-term economic assistance, but what's really needed is to stimulate long-term economic opportunity. But that doesn't happen overnight. And so the people of Egypt, like the people of Columbia need to know that we have a long-term plan, that there will be some short-term sacrifices to get the Egyptian economy into a place which can produce good jobs for people over the long term and we need to find ways to give them the confidence that if they take the necessary steps that the United States and Europe and others will be with them. That's what we did in plan Columbia. We were able, I think, to be convincing because we had bipartisan support because there was a strong commitment to that, that we could do this, it wasn't a one congressional session or one presidential administration. Those are hard to do, as Mack will tell you, but when it's done, it's America that's finest. And I think that's something that we all need to focus on is how do we build these strong commitments that have the support of both parties, the people as well as government, and in both countries to sustain these kinds of long-term challenges. And the fact that we've done it together in Columbia and I think shows it can be done and that can give people some confidence and encouragement to look for ways to replicate that. Okay, one more. Thanks, and I wish you the very best, Jim. My question goes to the congressional play going on with the FDA. You thought and said you were confident that by the end of the year, we would see something. In my conversations with, for example, folks, and I won't say who, in connection with Korea, we're thinking that they are going to see an FDA approved in Congress by the August 2nd recess. I guess my question is both to you and to Mack whether Columbia is prepared for the possibility of this thing will go beyond August 2nd and how do we explain this under the circumstances and do we really need to have to explain it? Do you think that deal that Mack, you thought was so close to getting, can be gotten by August 2nd? Well, I'd say just my reference at the end of the year, I've learned a couple of things in my government services. First, it never hurts to quote your boss. And second, it's never smart to say something different from your boss. But I think what the secretary meant to imply with that is that, I mean, she's realistic, she's served in the Congress. I don't think she wanted to set some commitments to make it feel like somehow, if we don't get it by June, July, whatever, that that's a failure. I think it was a strong commitment that we ought to find a way to do it this year. Obviously, we'd all like to see the log jam broken and move forward on these things sooner. So I don't mean to imply that it's not possible to get it done sooner. I just wanna, or a bit on the side of caution, because often, even as Mack says, even if we resolve the issues around the TAA, there are always floor scheduling things. I worked in the Senate myself. And so the unpredictability of congressional action is something we just all have to live with. I don't know if you wanna add anything to that. All right, good. Well, thank you all, really appreciate it. Secretary Samberg, thank you for taking time to join us today at this very timely meeting. I would agree with everything you said save one section. And that is when you repeatedly said I was pleased to play a small role in Planned Columbia and other issues. The truth is that Jim Steinberg has been at the center of American farm policy for at least two administrations, if not three. We thank you for your public service and service to our country, and we do wish you well. We'll now speak, turn it over to you.