U.S. President Barack Obama vowed on Tuesday that the United States would emerge stronger from its economic crisis.

In his first address to a joint session of Congress, Obama pledged that the weight of the current crisis "will not determine the destiny of this nation."

"Tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," he said in excerpts from his address scheduled at 9 p.m. eastern time (0200 GMT Wednesday).

The speech comes a week after Obama signed a stimulus bill of 787 billion U.S. dollars and two days before Congress receives a summary of his 2010 budget.

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) speaks next to Vice President Joseph Biden at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in the East Room of the White House in Washington February 20, 2009
The address will touch lightly on foreign policy so the president can focus largely on the economy and related issues, including health care, education and energy, according to Obama's aides.

It will be "thematic" and won't get into much detail on Obama's plans to deal with the credit crunch and housing crisis, they said.

During the speech, Obama will lay out his comprehensive approach to confronting the nation's economic and fiscal crisis.

"The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities, in our fields and our factories, in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth," said the president.

"What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face and take responsibility for our future once more," he noted.

Source:Xinhua