SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: Well, Mr. President, President Noboa, it is an honor to meet with you here, here at the Pentagon. I hope you've been well since we last spoke in February, and our countries are cooperating even more, which we deeply welcome. It was some incredible soccer, as we say, in Philadelphia yesterday – 90 minutes of scoreless play.
Tough one, but as you said, I think you've got more in the tank. Good things ahead in the World Cup and we're honored to be hosting here and securing it, so good luck going forward, for sure.
PRESIDENT DANIEL NOBOA: Thank you.
SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: And it's our privilege to welcome you to the Pentagon, because of our strong security and defense cooperation and, frankly, because of your strong leadership. I mean, none of that happens without strong leaders willing to step up and do the right thing, and you have been exemplary in that, and we appreciate that. And thank you for being a founding member of President Trump's Shield of the Americas and our America's Counter Cartel Coalition, 'A Triple C'. Which, that conference and that formulation was only the beginning.
I think what the world has seen is that this department is not about putting things on paper; it's about operationalizing capabilities, so that we're getting after the threats that we face and that you face, and that's eradicating narco terrorist trafficking and destroying those networks in Ecuador and throughout Central and South America.
You have been a model partner with us to counter these networks that threaten your homeland, that threaten our homeland and the security of our shared hemisphere. So, Mr. President, thank you for that steadfast commitment. From President Trump as well, who is well aware of how much the country of Ecuador has stepped up in this realm and that – nothing means more to President Trump than countries who are willing to carry their own weight, and we feel the same way.
And so, we appreciate your leadership and look forward to a lot of progress ahead. So President Noboa, success, as we say here, is our only option. We're fully committed to it. We've got our team behind you, and we're proud to welcome you to the Pentagon. Thank you for being here.
PRESIDENT DANIEL NOBOA: Thank you. Thank you for hosting us. We're very excited to have this meeting with your team. We've been talking for a few days on the points that we should discuss today. And I said, we are two nations that are aligned in the pursuit of peace and progress for our people. That's exactly what I wrote in the – in the visitor's book.
And we're not only worried about carrying our own weight, but also influencing the region, helping others, because there's never a point where all nations in America are aligned. Sometimes one is having an issue, another one is having political problems, another one's having a different kind of conflict.
But to be able to work together and to support other nations, like we've done in the last few weeks with Bolivia, like we've done with Peru.
SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: That's right.
PRESIDENT DANIEL NOBOA: The way that we're helping Colombia as well, that's what's going to make the difference. Because on the other side, evil always works together and they always find a way of working together in our nations.
If we don't do the same when we have our own set of problems, then we're doomed to failure. Today, we would like to tell you a little bit of what we're doing in Ecuador, what we're doing different than other nations and the challenges, because there's going to be challenges in the next few years. The extremists are pushing back. They're adapting, and it's time to move fast, so that they cannot adapt to what we're doing.
Another important aspect is – how can we finance; how can we support those operations? And there's ways of doing it together. Since day one I haven't been a big fan of aid, but I'm a big fan of trade, of investment, and things that we can do together to have profitable operations that those operations will support and will finance security operations in the region.
That's the way of creating a positive environment and cycle, instead of a negative one. In the past, I think, in some cases, there was aid needed, especially natural disasters, but it became – made some nations lazy. There's no creativity in how to solve the problems because they just made a couple of calls and problems were solved.
Now, you know, we've been used to fighting an unconventional war and solving our own problems in a much more creative way. So now, if we have, in addition to that, your support, the investment of the United States and joint operations, I'm sure we can solve the security issue very quickly and also protect our hemisphere.
SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: Excellent. Well, we're eager to advancing that conversation today. So thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.