Remarks By Secretary Mattis with Argentine Minister of Defense Aguad, Buenos Aires, Argentina

MINISTER OF DEFENSE OSCAR AGUAD:  (UNTRANSLATED)

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE JAMES N. MATTIS:  Well, Minister Aguad, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for hosting me.  Thank you for the very kind words and warm welcome, Mr. Minister.

It's a pleasure to meet you today on my first visit to what is -- can only be described as a beautiful country, a country we consider a partner and a friend highly respected in the United States.

Our conversation today continues the relationship begun more than 200 years ago.  After we had our own bad argument with a European king that resulted in a revolution, we sympathized with our New World neighbors seeking to chart their own destiny.

In the early 1800s, U.S. merchants supplied Argentine patriots with supplies in your struggle for independence.  Argentine ships were repaired in New Orleans, Philadelphia and other U.S. ports.  And Argentine nation builders were guests of President James Madison and Secretary of State James Monroe in Washington.

So today, as Western Hemisphere nations, Argentina and the United States are bound by ties of geography, of history and of our shared love of freedom, democracy, the rule of law, to guarantee personal liberty of our citizens.

This historic influence was evidenced this last month when, just days apart, our nations celebrated birthdays of our respective independence, reminders that our forefathers fought for the freedom that we enjoy today.

The United States does not forget how Argentina strengthened this bond over the years since your independence, supporting us against Russians bringing missiles into our hemisphere during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Argentina sending two warships to the naval blockade of Iraq during the Gulf War, helping to free the Kuwaiti people from Saddam Hussein's merciless occupation.

You are leading by example and providing needed military support for respect for the international rule of law.

No relations between countries are frozen in time, so today we, too, look to build on our shared foundation of defense cooperation.

We are working together across a wide range of issues, from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations to non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

We are also engaging in transparent, bilateral working groups and military-to-military engagements, like the state partnership program with our Georgia National Guard.  This gives us the heartening image of our men and women from a state with the Blue Ridge Mountains, which aren't very high, to your soldiers who -- from Argentina, with the Andes Mountains that are quite high.  But these soldiers come together from our two countries to strengthen the military relations, person to person, soldier to soldier.

They remind us that trusted military relations -- transparent military relations between democracies in our hemisphere are a positive factor in terms of stability and safety of our people.

The United States appreciates Argentina's growing role on the global stage, illustrated by your hosting the G-20 summit this summer here in Buenos Aires.  And as Vice President Pence said when he visited last year, "Argentina's global leadership is good for our hemisphere."

Since arriving in Buenos Aires last evening, I have enjoyed the same warm, gracious hospitality that our vice president enjoyed in this city, hospitality that the Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges called "as eternal as water and air."

Mr. Minister, I have come here to listen and to learn, and I look forward to finding new ways to deepen our mutually beneficial defense relationship.  Together, we can help forge a brighter future for the next generation of Argentines and North Americans, a future enhanced by transparent, respectful military teamwork between the soldiers, sailors and airmen of our two democracies.  When trouble looms, whether a natural disaster or a naval vessel in distress, you will find us standing beside you.

Thank you.