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Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Surinamese President Chandrikapersad Santokhi at a Joint Press Availability [ https://www.state.gov/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-and-surinamese-president-chandrikapersad-santokhi-at-a-joint-press-availability/ ] 03/27/2025 08:08 PM EDT
Marco Rubio, Secretary of State
Paramaribo, Suriname
Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport
*MODERATOR:*  Good afternoon, President of the Republic of Suriname, His Excellency Chandrikapersad Santokhi; His Excellency Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United States of America, Mr. Marco Rubio.  Welcome, everybody, dignitaries, ladies and gentlemen of the press.  A warm welcome to this press moment in the context of the visit of the Secretary of State of America.
President Santokhi, I give you the floor.
*PRESIDENT SANTOKHI:*  Thank you, Madam.  Good afternoon to all of you.  May I once again extend my warm welcome to the Secretary of State, His Excellency Marco Rubio, and his delegation.  And I wish to acknowledge the accompanying media from the USA and also the Surinamese and other international media, and I thank you for being here for this opportunity.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have warmly welcomed the Secretary of State of the United States of America Marco Rubio and his delegation to the Republic of Suriname.  And I may add that this is his first visit to the Caribbean, specifically Jamaica, Guyana, Suriname, and within a very short time after taking office.
Secretary of State Rubio, your visit provides a good momentum and opportunity on the way forward for our bilateral relationship.  Suriname has a longstanding and strategic partnership with the United States of America.  During our meeting, we have discussed opportunities for strengthening and expanding our bilateral relation and cooperation and furtherance of our partnership regionally.  In the interest of further expanding the relationship, mainly in the field of trade and investment, we will work together to attract American investors to Suriname.
After all, cooperation with America and American business leads back to the beginning of the 19th century, and we currently have significant investment from the American companies, particularly in the oil and gas industry but also in the gold sector.  And I look forward to the participation of the U.S. delegation in the upcoming edition of the Surinamese Energy, Oil, and Gas Summit and Exhibition, SEOGS, which will be held in Paramaribo in June of this year.
The importance of energy security in the Caribbean region was also addressed and discussed with Suriname, but also with Guyana, which are playing a crucial role.  Both countries will become important partners for the Caribbean and the Western Hemisphere.
My thanks to Minister Rubio for including my country, Suriname, in his first visit to the Caribbean and for the support he has promised Suriname regarding the energy security and further intensifying the relationship, which will be in benefit of both our countries and both our people.  Thank you.
*SECRETARY RUBIO:*  Thank you, Mr. President.  We first of all thank you for the very warm greeting.  And I just began my 10th week as the Secretary of State, so I am happy to be able to make this visit so quickly.  I want to extend my gratitude for the invitation, for the hospitality, and for the chance to interact with you – such a closer partner the country is, and you in particular have been, for the United States, and that’s a partnership we want to build on.
Let me begin by extending my congratulations to your minister of foreign affairs, who will also be secretary general at the Organization of American States.  It’s an important organization that we want to see take on new vibrancy and new energy, and we look forward to working with you.  It’s something that the country should be very proud of.  I think it signals the growing importance, relevance, the growing presence that as a nation you have on the regional stage and beyond.  And so I wanted to extend that congratulations.
I also want to acknowledge the foreign policy of the United States, I think, over the last 20 years needs revision.  It has largely ignored opportunities.  When we have found close partners, we have often in our foreign policy neglected those opportunities, and we spent a lot of time on problems instead and on countries and leaders that give us a hard time.  We’re going to change that.  We want to change that.  President Trump wants to change that.
President Trump wants to make it clear that if you are a friend and ally, a partner of the United States, there are benefits for your country and for your people in doing so, and we want to enter it in terms of partnership.  That’s the way we view it.  And so we wanted to take a particular interest in visiting and reaffirming our ties to both leaders and countries who have been strong partners, and you have been a very strong partner of the United States.
We recognize the difficulties you faced not so long ago when you came into office and had to take on a large debt, an economy that was underperforming.  And these things take a little bit of time, but now you’ve reached and are reaching a point of stability, and now the exciting moment is ahead.  Now is the opportunity to build upon that, build upon the pillars of successful nation-states, which is security and stability, so then you can reach prosperity.
And that’s the path you’re on, and I know it’s a difficult path.  I know it’s a path that requires a little bit of patience, but it’s an important path and the path you’ve put your country on and that we want to help you sustain and be on for the years to come, because you have an opportunity to do something very special here.  You really do.
You have – most countries, when they experience growth in a mineral sector or in the energy sector, they often don’t plan for it.  They plan for generating the revenue, but they don’t plan how that revenue is going to benefit the people.  And you have taken the time, and your government has taken the time and put in the time, to construct a plan so that these things aren’t just going to generate revenue; they’re going to generate prosperity; they’re going to generate opportunity.
That is the role of government.  That is the role of forward thinking.  That is the role of planning for the future.  And you’re doing that, and you’re doing it in a way that, if done correctly and sustained, you stay on this path, you’re going to have a country that’s going to transform in this generation, and it’s going to mean something extraordinary for future generations.  And we just want to be a partner.  We discussed in our private meeting that, unfortunately, we are witnessing in the region how oftentimes insecurity, instability, and poverty becomes contagious; it spreads and it impacts other countries.
But the reverse is true as well:  Stability, security, and prosperity can also become contagious, and you have an opportunity not simply to change the destiny of the people of your country but in other ways and in direct ways really help impact the security, stability, and prosperity of the region.  And we just want to be helpful.  We believe it is in our national interest to have a Caribbean region that is safe and stable and prosperous, and you’re at the vanguard of that in what you are doing.
And so we are just here to encourage you to continue to do that because we are going to do everything we can to ensure that American companies and American firms and investors who are looking for opportunities understand there’s real opportunities here with the work you’ve put in to take on corruption, to take on – to establish strong rule of law and stability, so companies know if we invest in a sector it’s going to generate revenue, jobs, and opportunity for the people of Suriname, but we also know that 5, 10, 15 years from now we’re going to be safe in our investment because we have a country that has a strong democracy, has a stable rule of law, and has welcoming leaders who understand its importance for the people and for the future.
And that’s what we commit to doing, for looking to opportunities to build on all of this.  We’ve spoken about such – some of the mechanics of preventing drug trafficking organizations from ever getting a foothold here, of preventing these transnational crime gangs from ever getting a foothold here.  We want to be your partner in stopping that from ever happening so you never, ever – now or in the future – face the problems that some other countries are facing.
And we’ve also talked about responsible ways, because you don’t just want to – and you have the right vision for this.  You don’t simply just want to access the natural resources of a country.  You want to do it in a way that’s responsible, that protects the natural beauty of the land and preserves it so that future generations can enjoy it as well, and you have a unique and golden opportunity to do it.  We’re excited by your vision for it.  We encourage the people of the country to sustain that vision, and we look forward to being your partner.  We thank you for everything we’ve done together already and what hopefully we’ll be able to continue to do in the years to come, certainly as long as I’m in this role.
So I thank you for this very warm welcome and I’m excited about the opportunity.  And my understanding, Mr. Ambassador, I am only the fourth Secretary of State to visit?
*AMBASSADOR FAUCHER:*  That’s correct.  Yeah.
*SECRETARY RUBIO:*  But how many have visited twice?  (Laughter.)
*PRESIDENT SANTOKHI:*  That’s up to you.
*SECRETARY RUBIO:  *All right, so we have a new – we’ve just set a new goal.  We’ve set a new goal, and hopefully we can come back again and reaffirm that.  It – I am – I look forward to doing that.
*PRESIDENT SANTOKHI:*  Thank you.
*MODERATOR:*  Thank you very much, Your Excellencies.  I give now the floor to Ivan Cairo from “De Ware Tijd”.
*QUESTION:*  Good afternoon.
*SECRETARY RUBIO:*  Good afternoon.
*QUESTION:*  Thank you for this opportunity.
Mr. Rubio, you just brushed on the topic of security.  What can Suriname expect in regards to drug trafficking and combatting drug trafficking?  Because for years there has been discussions that DEA will put up their office again in Suriname.  Is this discussed?
And also in regard to security, there was an agreement between Suriname and the United States, the Shiprider Agreement.  Will that – will that be revitalized – the police cooperation with the police of Las Vegas?  How is that in your policies?  And the cooperation between the National Army of Suriname and the South Dakota military enforcements, how will that be or will that come into play the next coming years?  Maybe the president could also chime in to that.  Thank you.
*SECRETARY RUBIO:*  Thank you.  Well, on the first, I can’t speak for the South Dakota National Guard, but I can tell you it’s very cold in South Dakota, and so I think they’d probably like coming here and being helpful.  How much does it snow here?
*PRESIDENT SANTOKHI:*  Well, we can import it.  (Laughter.)
*SECRETARY RUBIO:*  Well, they’re trying to get away from the snow.  (Laughter.)
But you mentioned the DEA office.  That’s something we’re going to take back as well.  But here’s what we want to do.  Let me explain.  The goal – we’re having this debate in the United States about foreign aid, and this is one of the reasons why I wanted to come to the Caribbean because – and meet with all these countries.
For too long, our foreign aid has been driven by what we think you need.  We tell you, okay, these are the five things we’re going to do for you.  Well, those aren’t the five things you want.  We’re changing that.  We want to make sure that we’re providing the assistance that the countries need, and we want this power back over to our embassies under the State Department so we’re providing the assistance you need.
Let me tell you the second.  The best foreign aid programs are the ones that come to an end because they have achieved their purpose.  The purpose of foreign aid is not for the United States to be here for 25 providing law enforcement.  The purpose of the United States is to help you build the capacity so you will be able to do it sustainably forever.  Our job is to help you become self-sustained in this regard; and not only self-sustaining, but the goal is ultimately to help you be able to do this so well that you’re now teaching other countries how to do it.  You now become the country that helps others do it as well, and we think we can help with technology, with personnel, with best practices.  We’ve talked about some of this already.  We want to continue to build on that, because what we don’t – what you don’t want to see for a country is a place where drug trafficking organizations and gangs say that’s a place where we can run guns, that’s a place where we can move drugs, because they don’t have the resources available to stop us.
Then you become a magnet for that sort of activity, and nothing will set you back on economic growth and prosperity faster than that.  When these vicious gangs get into a country, they start shooting each other and anyone who’s standing in between, and it destabilizes society.  You never want to reach that point, and we want to help you prevent that.  We want – when these drug dealers look at the world, we want them to say I don’t want to go through Suriname because their police departments and their law enforcement is so strong they’ll catch us; let’s go somewhere else, or let’s go into another line of work.  And that’s what we want to see.
So we are open to any programs we can do to build the capacity – which is already extensive; this partnership’s very close.  I mean, we cooperate on all of this already.  We just want to keep building on it so that you can build a capacity where not only do you do it for yourself, but you’re maybe helping other countries in the future do it because you’ve become so good at it.  That’s what we want to focus on; that’s what we want to do.
*PRESIDENT SANTOKHI:*  Yes, thank you, Secretary.  Just to add some more information, yes, the topic of having the DEA office in Suriname again was discussed, and that will be further considered by the U.S. Government.  The topic on the security agreement, as you mentioned, the Shiprider Agreement – we do have a new agreement, which has been approved already by the government, and that agreement has been submitted to the parliament, and we are waiting for the approval.  But after the approval, that agreement will be a very strong mechanism to get more support from the U.S. Government in terms of technical support but also material support in the interdiction program, particularly those criminal organizations who are making use of our territory by illicit dropping of illicit (inaudible) but also illicit landing.  With the new mechanism and with the technical assistance of the U.S. agencies, we’ll bring an end to this threat, which is very dangerous for our nation but also the neighboring countries.
*MODERATOR:*  Thank you very much, Your Excellencies.  And now it’s time for Ed Wong from “The New York Times”.
*QUESTION:*  Hi, thank you, Mr. President, Mr. Secretary, for taking questions from us.  Mr. Secretary, first to you.  You’ve traveled throughout the region.  As you know, China has a growing presence throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.  You carried out an effort to limit a Hong Kong company’s presence in the Panama Canal, and you talked with some reservations about Chinese projects yesterday in Jamaica.  I was wondering, is it the aim of the Trump Administration to try and have the two superpowers reach an accommodation or an understanding where each power limits their military, diplomatic, and economic presence in the backyards of the other powers, meaning spheres of influence for each power?
And then related to China, in 2019 you supported legislation to support – to have the U.S. Government support the protesters in Hong Kong, the pro-democracy protesters.  And mostly the protests were peaceful, but also occasionally they disrupted public life.  And so based on your rationale for deporting campus protesters in the U.S., would you now support the Chinese Communist Party or Hong Kong authorities deporting foreigners who took part in those protests in 2019?
*SECRETARY RUBIO:*  Yeah, the first question is silly, because the people that we’re getting rid of in our country are vandalizing – they’re not protesters; they’re taking over college campuses, they’re harassing fellow students.  We let them in our country to study.  We gave them a visa because they said, I want to go to your university, I want to get a degree.  They didn’t say, I want to go to university and I want to vandalize your library, and I want to chase Jewish students down the street, and I want to wear a mask over my face like if it’s Halloween and terrorize people.  We didn’t give them a visa to do any of that.
So we don’t want those people in our country.  They’re not – they’re not demonstrating for – they’re going beyond demonstration.  They are going and they are creating a ruckus.  They are creating riots, basically, on campus.  And it’s making – it’s unfair for students.  Some of these schools are some of the most expensive schools we have in America.  People pay a lot of money to go to these schools.  They borrow money to go to these schools, and you can’t even go to class because some lunatic who’s covering their face is running through campus, spraypainting things, harassing people.  And they’re in my country as a guest.  We want them out.  Every one of them I find, we’re going to kick them out.
On your second – on your first question, I don’t – we don’t talk about spheres of influence.  The United States in an Indo-Pacific nation.  We have relationships with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines.  We’re going to continue those relationships.  My problem with China is twofold.  The first is we haven’t – in many cases, we don’t have American companies that have shown an interest in investing in a country, so they don’t show up.  You leave them with no option.  My second problem is in a lot of these countries, the Chinese companies go and they do a terrible job.  Not a bad job, a terrible job.  I just came from Guyana, where we had to drive on a road the Chinese built that – you’re on the trip with us.
*QUESTION:*  Yes.
*SECRETARY RUBIO:*  Did you have to go on this road?
*QUESTION:*  Yeah, it was bumpy.
*SECRETARY RUBIO:*  We almost all had concussions, because the plane – the road was so bad – it was terrible – they paid these people to build this road, and then they bring their workers.  They bring their workers; they don’t hire you, they bring their workers in to do all the work.  And then – or they want you to borrow a bunch of money and then they hold it over your head.
So what I want is for countries to have an alternative to that.  What we want is for countries to have an alternative to that.  We – if you’re going to build a road, I want you to, like, have a real road.  They were better off with a dirt road then the road we were just on.  And it’s not the fault of the current administration in Guyana; that was a road that was built before.  But they did a terrible job.  If you did that job in America, someone would sue you for a lot of money, okay?  It was a bad road.  So we want to be able to ensure that we are providing alternatives to what we think is bad work by the Chinese that never finishes on time, is always overbudget, and brings their own workers, don’t even hire the locals.
And one more point I would make in this regard.  There are certain sectors, okay, when it comes to telecommunications and so forth, where I’m just honest with people.  If you’re going to have a telecommunications system that is controlled by Chinese companies, you’re going to have trouble having American investors come in.  Because they don’t want all their stuff stolen.  They don’t want all their stuff yanked out by some back door that the Chinese have installed in their telecommunications system.  Again, we’ve had to face that too in America, because Huawei was deploying in America as well.  Again, we have to have an alternative, though.  There has to be somebody else that comes along and says, we can do it too, and we won’t spy on you when we do it.
So our goal is twofold: create these options; but not just options that don’t – that – to China; options to work that involves bad workmanship, overbudget, with debt attached, and using their own workers instead of yours.  That’s the alternative we want to provide in any endeavor we can.
*QUESTION:*  Mr. President, do you have any comments on cooperation with China in this hemisphere?
*PRESIDENT SANTOKHI:*  Well, I think the position which has been addressed by Secretary of State Rubio is quite clear what the position of United States of America is.  Our position as a country is that we are developing our countries with international cooperation with a lot of countries – more than 170 countries we are cooperating.  All these cooperations are based on pragmatism, based on the needs and the national interest of the countries.
So in relation to China, what we are doing as a country is that we do have several areas of development.  We are looking for investors.  We are inviting investors.  And just what the minister has said, not all the countries are showing up.  There are sometime more countries which are showing up for their interests and their projects.  So we need to keep that aspect also into consideration.
My invitation to the minister was we need the private sector of the United States.  A lot of those projects which are implemented in Suriname by Chinese companies – those projects were granted through international procedures, and through international bidding procedures our local companies, our local content (inaudible), are excluded.  And most of these projects were financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and our view is that soon you will have more opportunities for the Surinamese companies, more and more Surinamese companies will evolve.
And on the other side, we hope that more United States company will offer themselves and come to Suriname.  We’ll offer them all the incentives, and I think Suriname is a very close country to the United States of America.  They don’t have to look for opportunities in the Far East or in Africa.  Here we are.  Here we have the oil and gas, and we are very happy to welcome the opportunity.  We are very happy to welcome Halliburton, we are very happy to welcome Schlumberger, and we see more and more U.S. companies coming to Suriname to invest, and they are very welcome.
*MODERATOR:*  Thank you very much, Your Excellencies.  We have come to an end to this press moment.  We thank you for being here.  Thank you very much, and this is the end.  See you next time.  Bye.
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