FOREIGN MINISTER HILL: (Via interpreter) His Excellency the Secretary of State, my friend, Marco Rubio, and members of his delegation; your excellency the U.S. ambassador accredited in our country, Mr. William Duncan; Madam Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Adriana Mira; to the president of the Hydroelectric Commission of the Lempa River, Daniel Álvarez; Madam Salvadoran Ambassador to the United States, Ms. Milena Mayorga; our friends from the press; ladies and gentlemen, I feel privileged today and filled with enormous gratitude toward the people and the new administration of the United States of America.
Two weeks have gone by and we have this visit from the Secretary of State, who is already a friend of our country. That is only a sign of the ties of friendship and goodwill for the well-being of our peoples. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you for this enormous gesture.
It is an honor to be able to sign this agreement, this memorandum of understanding and cooperation for civil nuclear energy. It is another accomplishment and goal for President Bukele. In addition to offering energy 24 hours a day at competitive pricing without depending on geopolitics or on oil prices, it is a commitment for our prosperity. And to that end, this nuclear energy is a strategic option which will not just help reduce our carbon footprint, it will also ensure reliable and efficient electric energy for our country's development and for the well-being of our people.
El Salvador is making rapid progress in building our key infrastructure, from housing projects to the establishment of large-scale technology companies. In these specific efforts, we need the accompaniment from our greatest and most trustworthy partner, from our friends on whom we can depend that they will give us the best training and knowledge transfer which will be essential. The experience that you have on civil nuclear energy will give us all of the tools we need to train our people, to train our Salvadoran experts, who will lead the technical and regulatory aspects of this transition - this unprecedented transition.
Support from the U.S. Government, as we all know, goes much beyond just energy generation. This memorandum of understanding also opens the doors to develop nuclear applications for essential sectors such as medicine, agriculture, water resource management, and safe waste management. This will also build our capacity for research, innovation, and sustainable development.
Thank you once again, Mr. Secretary. Thank you on behalf of El Salvador, on behalf of each of our inhabitants. I'm grateful deeply for your support and commitment. This is and always will be a place where you are welcome. It is a country that welcomes you with open arms and an open heart, ready to walk hand in hand with you. I am convinced that this is just the beginning and a great start of a stage of close and fruitful cooperation and strengthening between our nations and our peoples. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you very much to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, Alexandra Hill, for those remarks. At this time, we will hear and I invite His Excellency the Secretary of State of the United States of America.
SECRETARY RUBIO: (In Spanish) and then I'll switch to English for our friends as well, and I'll be brief on both.
(In Spanish.)
It's a great honor and a privilege. This is my first signing ceremony. Been Secretary of State now for just - is today Tuesday? Two weeks. (Laughter.) And it's great to do it here in a nation, among people with which we have so much in common that unifies us. There's an extraordinary Salvadoran American community in South Florida and also in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, where I've worked in the Senate, now as Secretary of State, for a number of years. And we are unified and hold in common so many things.
It's also exciting to be here in the presence of all of you to see the transformation of a society and of a nation that not too long ago faced great insecurity. But we have seen the transformation under the leadership of this administration here and President Bukele. A country that was once known for violence and for the inability to live openly and freely with one's family and enjoy life has now become one of the most secure in the hemisphere thanks to his leadership, to the difficult decisions that had to be made.
But now in addition to continuing to maintain and build upon that security comes the extraordinary opportunity of transformation - to prepare this country and its people for the 21st century, for the technologies like nuclear energy that will allow you to power a 21st century economy that will allow this to be the home of every advanced technology and industry of this new era, so that the people - the young people of this country and all people of this country - will be able to live not just in peace but in prosperity, raise their families here, and give their children the chance at a life even better than their own. It's so exciting to be here today as part of this agreement that - of civil nuclear cooperation, in which we can take the first step, side by side with you, the people of El Salvador, to build that better future.
I think I would also take a moment to announce, especially to our friends covering this back home in America, of an extraordinary meeting we had. We spent over two and a half - (in Spanish) - two and a half to three hours with my friend President Bukele and his team, and then we had some time privately. And while more details will be forthcoming, the president in an act of extraordinary friendship to our country, knowing the challenges we face in the U.S., has agreed to the most unprecedented and extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world.
First, obviously, he continues with full cooperation on the returning of Salvadorans who find themselves illegally in the United States and welcome them back home, and that's already existing and that will continue. But second, he has agreed to accept for deportation any illegal alien in the United States who is a criminal from any nationality, be they MS-13 or Tren de Aragua, and house them in his jails. And third, he has offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of U.S. citizenship and legal residents. No country's ever made an offer of friendship such as this.
You can think about it: any unlawful immigrant, illegal immigrant in the United States who's a dangerous criminal - MS-13, Tren de Aragua, whatever it may be - he has offered his jails so we can send them here and he will put them in his jails. And he's also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentences in the United States, even if they're U.S. citizens or legal residents. We are just profoundly grateful. I spoke to President Trump about this earlier today, and it's just one more sign of what an incredible friend we have here in President Bukele and the people of El Salvador.
Thank you and God bless you, and now let's - I look forward to signing this agreement. (Applause.)
(The memorandum was signed.)
