role in educational exchanges. we need to take the lead to four new platforms for educational corp. and the exchange of young people and work towards new steps and bigger steps. our governors can be very important players in this process. ladies and gentlemen, education helps us better understand each other. we hope that more american students and teachers will come to china to experience the chinese culture and civilization. as i conclude my remarks, i wish to sincerely wish this forum will success. i also wish to say to you, are very famous cultural heritage, a geographical garden, a well- known place. there is a welcoming tree that welcomes all the guests coming to the mountain. it has defined tough times and the weather, and it tells the whole world that china's people are real friends, ready to embrace the world and ready to work with all friends from afar, and we welcome you. [applause] >> governor, thank you for introducing us to your province. thank you for your commitment to the education of our children in both countries. that is our future. president who didn't tell him to visit the state of washington -- president hu jintao came to visit the state of washington, and as a result, we have emphasized knowledge of china. thank you each for your presentations. we are out of time, but i do not want to take away from the opportunity, so madame li and i have agreed to limit the questions to two. . you're sorry sorry. we will rotate from one side to the other. if we could keep the questions short. orry.am sar we could keep the questions short, meaning no more than two or three minutes, because we would like the opportunity to take questions. i will ask if a u.s. governor has any questions you would like to pose, our host from the great state of utah, governor herbert. >> thank you. i think it has been enjoyable new mexico formative for all of us to hear the comments from the presentations. i question is simply this -- we talk about we want to have better relationships with each other, to foster economic opportunities, and i just want to ask the question -- what is the obstacle that you see or the challenges which are going to get in the way of us accomplishing that? and mr. secretary -- >> mr. secretary. >> governor, you have raised a very good question. between, the exchange's us are based on a very broad basis. many examples where given by the previous speakers, and we value these exchanges and cooperation, but we have encountered problems or challenges. i would have to say that even in a family, there is some displeasures or frictions, but as long as we properly handle them, we will properly resolved. as i said, if we have better communication and a better understanding, we will be able to address these differences. in terms of trade, the topic i was talking about -- in trade, we may face something, particularly difficult. for example, the barriers. trade barriers. or can we remove some of the barriers so that trade is done more easily? what did the americans need? what can we produce for the americans? we can look at all these demand and supply and address these demand and supply. you can tell us what you need, and we can tell you what we want. i think these exchanges are very helpful for our corporation at the national level, and that is why i believe it is important that we need to make our policy is open and transparent and advanced power corp. in a wide range of areas. >> thank you. can i ask if one of our colleagues from china has a question they would like to ask of the governors of the united states? >> i have a question on education. actually, the institutions of higher learning have too your tasks. one is to cultivate talent, and the other is to do research and development. after the students graduate from universities, they will come into the industrial sector, and the government has done a lot in assisting them, but how can we better translate the research results into real productivity? i do not know whether or not the united states has a similar problem. and what is your experience? we are very interested to learn from you. >> it is a constant challenge for all of us. we have a number of methods in which we are trying to join up education, jobs, research, and business. two of those -- one is our community college system, which is designed to have worker training directly contacting the jobs that are there, so the people that employ people come to those schools, say what they need as far as workers. we customize that training right to them so that the workers are literally working that job before they are joining the business. on the research side, what we're trying to do is begin to get a series of innovation centers where research and then turning that into a business model touch each other. all of us in some way or another have incubation centers on our universities, which tied directly the thought processes and ideas to more capital for business ventures, but to say that we have this problem completely solved would be to overstate where we are. it is something that all of us spend a great deal of time trying to do much better. >> governor, i have to join with my colleague and say this is a mutual issue for us. in my state, we have one of the largest numbers of start up companies in the united states. that is a nice reputation to have. you do not want to know how many fail. but we foster it because we believe only if you continue to push for startups in cooperation with your research institutions, will you have the opportunity to create the company's of tomorrow. we struggle with it. not only how to make the startups flourish and grow and be successful. so, thank you. last question from the american governor from the great state of hawaii. >> thank you. just a quick comment as a follow-up to governor herbert's question. two words -- visa waivers. i mean it. i am very grateful to our guests for their courtesy and the polite and reflective way in which they answered that question, but it is up to us. visa waivers. we have these waivers, everything opens up. trade, conversation, education, environmental exchange, investment -- it all comes. it is up to us to make this reaction to the courtesy and openness of our chinese friends, and if we do that, i think you will see everything else opens up. these waivers. >> thank you, governor. [applause] >> do we have a second question from a u.s. governor? i will ask a question. i have done trade missions to china. i most recently did one last fall, largest in the history of my state. i have some measure of what i consider to be success whether we have been able to sign an agreement like the 20 you signed yesterday. agreements not just with business, but with higher education institutions, but from your perspective, what would you like to see in a trade mission from an american governor to your province or to your country? >> just now, the governor raised the very practical question. we do want greater cooperation with the united states. we hope that more american delegations will come to china, in particular to the western part of china, to the western provinces. we also hope that you will bring more investment to our provinces. >> last question from our chinese colleague. you have a question, as i understand it? >> we all know that the united states is one of the first countries to formulate a pv policy. then at launch a one-million grew initiative. china is immensely interested in developing the sector, so i really want to know what measures you have taken to push forward the development of this sector. >> please, governor o'malley. >> first, we need to have a renewable portfolio standard. second, it entertains within a certain requirements [inaudible] and increasingly larger portions of energy from renewable sources. within that, we have a requirement for solar. and that is probably the most important thing that we have done is to create that predictability, if you will, and that car about within the middle portfolio standard that is now starting to inspire larger portable tape installation. as far as the broader question of advanced manufacturing and how we inspire that here in our country, that is an issue that we are all wrestling with right now. on the demand side, we believe that the renewable portfolio standard as a solid way we have been able to see that industry take off a bit in our state. >> if i may add to what governor o'malley just said, in the case of pr, we have extremely attractive tax incentives, and we are part of the united states market. so whatever you produce in pr can be sold within the u.s.. that is something we are doing, and it is again extremely attractive tax incentives for the production of affordable tick and other technologies. in terms of the actual installation of this technology, in our case, to jump-start it, we created the green energy fund. actually, the green energy fund, what it does is that we assist private sector investors that wish to develop wind and solar energy alternatives. we assist them, and they have to compete for the amount of money that is in that fund. every year, there is a competition. we just closed the last one. next year, there will be a new one. >> well, thank you. again, thank you to all of our participants, all of those who have come to join us today. it has been a wonderfully good exchange. it is a historic event. yesterday with the 20 agreements signed was a historical event. this has been productive, and i want to thank all of our participants. i also would like to thank some special folks who made this first ever historic forum possible, which includes our host governor from the state of utah. thank you, governor herbert. [applause] joe louis from the state department. thank you for all you have done. [applause] the chinese embassy. thank you very much. ozzie madame li, mr. secretary, governors from china, our fellow governors from the united states, thank you all for all your participation, and, of course, a big thank-you to the staff, without mean, this would not have been possible, as usual. thank you very much for all you did. [applause] let me just say, we have a lot of work to do. let's make hay with the sunshine. those involved in the press conference, could you please go immediately to grand ballroom be because we are late. [laughter] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> wrapping up this session of the national governors' association from salt lake city. we just heard from washington state governor, the chair for this summer's conference. we will have more events throughout the weekend. tomorrow afternoon o'clock 30, the session on remembering 9/11, protecting borders and communities. on sunday at 1:30, the closing session. you will also be able to find all the segments on line in their entirety at c-span.org -- online in their entirety at c- span.org. it >> this weekend, live from salt lake city, the nation's governors look at the net the -- lessons of 9/11, and the featured speaker talks competitiveness and the economy. look for live coverage saturday at 5:30 eastern and sunday at 1:30 eastern, the national governors' association this weekend, online, on c-span radio and on c-span. >> i am interested in what i call disappearing america. america that may not be here 25 years from now. >> for 30 years, carol heiss smith has troubled the united states, document in the country through her camera lens. every photograph donated and available at the library of congress. all over story sunday night. as a prelude to monday's debut of c-span's original documentary, "the library of congress began that every weekend, american history tv on c-span 3 highlights the 150th anniversary of the civil war. this week, historians on the events that led to the april 1861 attack on fort sumter. live in two weeks marks the first major battle of the civil war, the battle of bull run, with 48 hours of civil war programming. the civil war -- every weekend on american history tv on c- span3. >> space shuttle atlantis is on its final mission to the international space station. returning to earth july 21. president obama called the astronauts today and the crew also spoke to reporters from aboard the international space station. the atlantis crew is leading an american flag on the station that was flown on the first shuttle mission in 1981. >> let the record show that john has a smile on its -- his face. >> and let this, are you ready for the event? >> we are ready for the event. >> atlantis, please stand by for the white house. >> please hold for the president. >> hello. hello? this is the international space station. >> this is president obama. who am i talking to? >> hello, mr. president. you are talking to the increment 28 crew and the crew of the space shuttle atlantis. >> that is funny, see, because i was just dialing out for pizza. i did not expect to end up in space. >> yes, sir, it is an honor and privilege that you took some time out of your busy day to meet with us. >> listen, it is wonderful to talk to you, and i appreciate you guys taking out the time from your mission. i always want to just let everyone know how personally prior i am of you and the amazing feats you guys are accomplishing in space. i was here in the oval office watching you guys take off last friday. we are all watching as the 10 of you work together as a team to conduct space walks and manage experiments and do all the things that necessary to keep the space station humming. your example, i think, means so much not just to your fellow americans, but also to your fellow citizens on earth. the space program has always invited our sense of adventure and exploration and courage as you guys work in a really harsh environment, and i know that there have been thousands who have poured their hearts and souls into america's space shuttle program over the last three decades that are following this journey with special interest. to them and all the men and women of nasa, i want to say thank you. you have helped our country lead the space age, and you continue to inspire us. captain ferguson, i realize you are a veteran of previous flights, but it must be pretty special to be the commander on the last flight of the historic shuttle program. >> absolutely, mr. president. just let me say on behalf of all the international partners aboard the international space station, we are all honored and privileged to represent our home countries in this multi-national effort. to answer your question, sir, yes, it is an extreme pleasure to be just a part of this fine crew who will represent our country on the final space shuttle mission scheduled for an undocking in just a few days and a landing at the kennedy space center in it little less than a week. >> i understand you guys are also doing some pretty important mission work up there. i understand there's something about the innovative robotic refueling mission demonstration. >> yes, mr. president, we have a piece of equipment on board that is a technology demonstration unit for the special purpose dextrous manipulator to work to show and prove the technology to robotic with and remotely service satellites, and we are hoping that with the work we will be able to do with the test here of the space station will lead us to further advance our robot capabilities. >> that is terrific, and it is a good reminder of how nasa technology and research oftentimes has huge spillover effects into the commercial sector and makes it all that much more important in terms of people's day-to-day lives. i also understand that atlantis brought a unique american flag up to the station, one that was blown on the very first shuttle mission. and one that will reside [inaudible] until the american commercial space company launches astronauts into the space station. >> yes, mr. president. we brought a flag that was flown on sds 1, and as a part of a special presentation, we will present that to the space station crew, and it will hopefully maintain a position of honor until the next vehicle launched from u.s. soil brings u.s. astronauts up to dock with the space station. >> and i understand it will be sort of like a capture the flag moment here for commercial space flight. so good luck to whoever grabs that flag. >> that is an excellent point, sir. we sure hope to see some of our commercial partners climbing on board release soon. i know there's a lot of competition out there. a lot of people are currently working with the goal to be the first to send a commercial astronaut into orbit, and we look forward to seeing them here soon. >> i also understand today marks an anniversary of sorts for us and our russian colleagues. 36 years ago, we launched a u.s. apollo spacecraft and a soviet union capsule toward a rendezvous in space. is pretty exciting to know that american astronauts and russian cosmonauts are shaking hands 36 years later, but working every day to represent humankind coming together in space. >> yes, mr. president. our crew is very international right now. here are representative of three agencies, and we are working together. we are more than just representatives of each country. we are one big family. now, the guys who got here almost a week ago share with us our brilliant international space station. >> it is a wonderful testimony to the human spirit. you need to be like a family because i'm assuming you have to share pretty cramped quarters and a bathroom. my wife and my daughters are always crowding me out. so, hopefully, you guys have a more organized arrangement then we do. that absolutely, mr. president. we actually have three bathrooms on board, and we have a gym. we have several bedrooms. it is probably one of the more spacious homes that there is outside of planet earth. the well, look, while this mission marks the final flight of the space shuttle program, it also ushers in an exciting new era to push the frontiers of space exploration and human space flight people subject back -- human space flight. you will continue to operate the iss for coming years and seek to advance technology and development. our task nasa with an addition to developing new systems and kinds of space technologies that will be necessary to conduct exploration beyond earth and ultimately sending humans to mars, which is, obviously, no small feat, but i know we will be up to the task. i just want to say how proud i am of all of you. congratulations to nasa, to all our international partners and all the personnel past and present who have spent countless hours and i told efforts making the space shuttle and international space station a unique part of our history. so accept my gratitude on this tremendous accomplishment, and god speed as you guys return home next week. >> thank you very much, mr. president. once again, on behalf of all the international partners on board, we are privileged that you took time to speak with us today, and we are honored to represent everybody on the planet earth. thank you, sir. >> you bet. take care now. >> thank you, mr. president. atlantis iss, we are now resuming operational audio communications. >> good morning. this is eric burger with "houston chronicle." congratulations on such a great mission. there has been a lot of talk about last during this flight, and i want to talk about first. specifically, do any of the crew members plan to stick around with nasa, or is that something too far in the future? >> well, i think if you ask any of us, we would love a shot at flying another vehicle, so, definitely. and we have opportunities prior to that. we have multiple flights to the international space station. we are going to screw this beautiful complex for the next 10 years-plus. so there are plenty of opportunities to fly. i do not see any reason to not stay and see what happens. it is a real bright future.