Vice Presidential Pool Reports of March 25, 2024

VP supplemental pool report #1

Good afternoon. Pool is waiting for the vice president and President Bernardo Arévalo of Guatemala to enter the vice president's Ceremonial Office in the EEOB ahead of their bilateral meeting.

Remarks will be live streamed here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/hoE49MMUTiQ?si=kD576jF06plxTx1O

Two podiums are set up at the front of the room. Four flags (two American flags and two Guatemalan flags) are set up behind the podiums. A large table in the middle of the room has water and coffee mugs as well as name tags and microphones at each seat. Pool counted 16 name tags.

Below is a fact sheet sent out by the White House earlier today:

APP Note: The Fact Sheet is available here:
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/370981

VP supplemental pool report #2

The vice president and President Arévalo of Guatemala entered the Vice President's Ceremonial Office in the EEOB at 2:37pm and took to the two podiums set up at the front of the room.

The VP spoke first for about 7 minutes wrapping her remarks at 2:44pm. The Guatemalan president started speaking right after and concluded at 2:47pm.

The VP and the president of Guatemala then promptly exited to a balcony off the office and pool was ushered out of the room.

The pair's remarks were streamed here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/hoE49MMUTiQ?si=kD576jF06plxTx1O but below are a few quotes from the VP. Please check against transcript/stream.

"Your election has brought a sense of optimism to the people of America and around the world," the VP told the Guatemalan president.

"And despite the challenges that have been posed to Guatemala's democratic process, the United States was proud to stand with you, Mr. President, following a free and fair election and throughout your transition," she said.

The VP noted that for the "past three years," she has led the Biden administration's efforts "to address the root causes of migration from Northern Central America and to create what we have named the root causes strategy," which she said "rests on five pillars."

"This work is improving lives and livelihoods in the region and addressing the factors that drive people to migrate to the United States, the VP said. "Mr. President, I believe your presidency offers an important opportunity for us to strengthen U.S.-Guatemalan relations and to make further progress on each of the five pillars."

"Thus far, the root causes strategy has helped as many as 63,000 farmers increase their production and income, has reached nearly 3 million youth through primary and secondary education," she said. "We have trained more than 18,000 police officers and nearly 27,000 people to strengthen judicial systems and we have supported thousands of labor and human rights activists throughout the region."

"To that end, we have established Central America Forward, an innovative public-private partnership that over the past three years has been fueled by CEOs and philanthropic leaders around the world," the VP said. "I am pleased to announce that as of today, this partnership has generated more than $5.2 billion in private sector commitments."

That's all, have a good Monday.