It’s an exciting time to be a young Brazilian. When I look at the changes that have happened in your lifetimes, there probably is no country on earth where more has happened, that have created more opportunities for more people. And you come from across this great, beautiful country of Brazil. You are each unique, you each have your own dreams, and the fact that you competed for this opportunity and then won a spot to come, I think, is a great tribute to you. But it’s also a responsibility because we know that you have a great future ahead of you.
And we hope that you’ll stay in touch with the people you’ve met here, with each other, a new network of young Brazilians, and that we’ll be hearing about you and from you as the years go by. So again, welcome to the State Department, and I’m going to sit right there, we’re going to have a picture taken. You all look great. (Laughter.) So it’s going to be a keeper, as we like to say.
But finally, in addition to the great opportunities that you had, we hope that more American young people will be coming to Brazil. We want this to be a very busy two-way street. And in fact, more people are coming from Brazil to the United States that I’ve had to add many more people to do the visas, because there’s so much interest. And there’s a lot of interest in people under 18. So I want to encourage more young Americans to go to Brazil, so I hope you’ll share your ideas about how we can do more of that. Both of our presidents – President Obama and President Rousseff – have worked to create more educational exchanges, more youth exchanges, but I’m looking to you as the experts to tell us what more we can do that you think will work to create this super highway between our two countries.
So again, welcome and thank you. (Applause.)
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