Obama: 'Equal partnership' with neighbors

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, April 17 (UPI) -- The United States wants an equal partnership with its hemispheric neighbors and to open a new chapter of engagement, President Barack Obama said Friday.

"We seek an equal partnership," Obama said during the opening ceremony of the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. To push forward with partnership, Obama said "we cannot let ourselves be prisoners of past disagreements."

He spoke of opportunities for prosperity in economics, the environment, security and liberty.

Countries in financial straits because of the global recession can take advantage of $1 trillion in new money the Group of 20 pledged for the International Monetary Fund, Obama said. In addition, the United States will make available $448 million in a new micro-finance growth fund to help businesses and entrepreneurs.

"This is not charity," he said, since building new markets and stimulating economic growth will help all countries.

Obama proposed a new energy-related partnership, looking to Mexico and Brazil for examples, that would create jobs, share technologies and investments, and protect the planet.

Obama said the United States would put up $30 million to help strengthen security in the Caribbean region to fight drug trafficking.

"I recognize that the (drug-trafficking) problem won't simply be solved by law enforcement if we aren't dealing with our responsibility in the United States," Obama said of importing drugs and exporting weapons.

But true security comes with liberty, he said.

"For generations, our people have worked and fought and sacrificed ... to stand up against any force" that interferes with liberty, Obama said. "Every one of our nations has the right to follow its own path."

While noting the United States is moving from a time when it seemed "disengaged" and "dictated terms" in the region, Obama said, "It's not just the United States that has to change. ... I think it's important that U.S. policy should not interfere in other countries, but (other countries) can't blame the United States for every problem that arises in the hemisphere."

The United States, he pledged, "will be there as friend and a partner because our future is inextricably bound" to other countries at the summit.