WASHINGTON, July 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday that his government should act now to build a new foundation for lasting growth.

    "As our economy adapts to the challenges of a new century, new ways of producing and saving and distributing energy offer a unique opportunity to create millions of jobs for the American people," Obama said after talks with some CEOs of U.S. energy companies.

    He said he was confident that "we're not only going to recover from this recession in the short term, but we're going to prosper in the long term."

    "To do that, we have to act now to build a new foundation for lasting growth," said the president. "And energy is one of the pillars of this new foundation, essential both to our recovery and our long-term prosperity."

    "I'm pleased to say that we've achieved more in the last few months to create a new clean energy economy than we had achieved in many decades before," said Obama, adding that the recovery plan will double U.S. supply of renewable energy and "is already creating new clean energy jobs."

    Meanwhile, Obama warned that it would take the United States many months to recover from the deep recession, which began in December 2007.

    "It took years for us to get into this mess, and it will take us more than a few months to turn it around," he said.

    He also called Thursday a day of "sobering news" after the government reported the jobless rate rose to 9.5 percent in June, the highest in more than 26 years.

    But Obama also stressed that the recession is easing. "While there are continuing signs that the recession is slowing, obviously this is little comfort to all those Americans who have lost their jobs," he said.