THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Please be seated. Laura, thanks for that short
introduction. (Laughter.) I'm proud to be introduced by my wife. I love her
dearly. She's a great First Lady. (Applause.)
And I appreciate the chance to address the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign. This
is a fine organization and it's an important organization. It's rallying
businesses and nongovernmental organizations and faith-based and community and
civic organizations across our country to advance a noble cause, ensuring that
the United States leads the world in spreading hope and opportunity. It's a big
deal, and I appreciate your participation.
It's a big deal because your efforts are needed. Millions suffer from hunger and
poverty and disease in this world of ours. Many nations lack the capacity to
meet the overwhelming needs of their people. Alleviating this suffering requires
bold action from America. It requires America's leadership and requires the
action of developed nations, as well.
That's the message I'm going to take with me to Europe next week, when Laura and
I go to the G8. At that meeting I will discuss our common responsibility to help
struggling nations grow strong and improve the lives of their citizens. And
today I'm going to describe some of the initiatives that I will be discussing
with world leaders next week to help developing nations build a better future
for their people.
Before I do so, I want to thank George Ingram, the President of the U.S. Global
Leadership Campaign. I thank the members of my Cabinet who share the same
passion I do for helping those less fortunate around the world -- that would
include Carlos Gutierrez, Department of Commerce; Secretary Mike Leavitt,
Department of Health and Human Services; Secretary Sam Bodman at the Department
of Energy; Administrator Steve Johnson of the EPA. Thank you all for coming.
Proud to be serving with you.
I am glad that the Acting Director of the U.S. Foreign Assistance and Acting
Administrator of USAID is here, Henrietta Fore. Thanks for coming. I appreciate
John Danilovich, who is the head of the Millennium Challenge Corporation; Rob
Mosbacher, the head of OPIC. I appreciate other members of my administration who
joined us today.
I thank the members of the Diplomatic Corps who are here today. I thank the
members of the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign.
We are a compassionate nation. When Americans see suffering and know that our
country can help stop it, they expect our government to respond. I believe in
the timeless truth, and so do a lot of other Americans, to whom much is given,
much is required. We're blessed to live in this country. We're blessed to live
in the world's most prosperous nation. And I believe we have a special
responsibility to help those who are not as blessed. It is the call to share our
prosperity with others, and to reach out to brothers and sisters in need.
We help the least fortunate across the world because our conscience demands it.
We also recognize that helping struggling nations succeed is in our interest.
When America helps lift societies out of poverty we create new markets for goods
and services, and new jobs for American workers. Prosperity abroad can be
translated to jobs here at home. It's in our interest that we help improve the
economies of nations around the world.
When America helps reduce chaos and suffering, we make this country safer,
because prosperous nations are less likely to feed resentment and breed violence
and export terror. Helping poor nations find the path to success benefits this
economy and our security, and it makes us a better country. It helps lift our
soul and renews our spirit.
So America is pursuing a clear strategy to bring progress and prosperity to
struggling nations all across the world. We're working to increase access to
trade and relieve the burden of debt. We're increasing our assistance to the
world's poorest countries and using this aid to encourage reform, and strengthen
education, and fight the scourge of disease. We'll work with developing nations
to find ways to address their energy needs and the challenge of global climate
change.
Bringing progress and prosperity to struggling nations requires opening new
opportunities for trade. Trade is the best way to help poor countries develop
their economies and improve the lives of their people. When I took office,
America had free trade agreements with three countries. Today we have free trade
agreements in force with 14 countries, most of which are in the developing
world. Three weeks ago, my administration and Congress agreed on a new trade
policy that will be applied to free trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, Panama
and South Korea. And I look forward to working with Congress to get all these
trade bills passed. These bills are good for our economy.
But it's important for members of Congress and the people of this country to
understand free trade is the best way to lift people out of poverty. And so the
United States also seeks to open markets to the Doha round of trade
negotiations. Doha represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help
millions in the developing world rise from poverty and despair. If you're
interested in helping the poor people, you ought to be for trade and opening up
markets for their goods and services. And the Doha round gives us an opportunity
to do just that.
We put forward bold proposals to help conclude a successful Doha round. And at
the G8 summit next week, I'm going to urge other nations to do the same. A
successful Doha round will benefit all our countries and it's going to transform
the world.
I know that trade can transform lives, I've seen it firsthand. Laura and I were
recently in Guatemala. We went to a small village and saw what can happen when
markets are open for local entrepreneurs. In this case, we met some farmers who
for years had struggled to survive, worked hard just to put food on the table
for their families by growing corn and beans. That's all they were able to do.
It's a hard way to make a living, growing corn and beans. When we negotiated the
trade agreement called the CAFTA DR, which opened up new markets for Guatemalan
farmers, the entrepreneurial spirit came forth. There are entrepreneurs all over
the world, if just given a chance, they can succeed.
Today, the farmers in that village are growing high-value crops, because they
have new markets in which to sell their product. The business we met -- the
entrepreneur we met now employs a thousand people. Trade will improve lives a
lot faster than government aid can. It's in our interest that we open up
markets, for our products, and for the products of others. People just want to
be given a chance. And the United States will take the lead in making sure those
markets are open for people to be able to realize a better life.
Building progress and prosperity to struggling nations requires lifting the
burden of debt from the poorest countries. That makes sense. It doesn't take a
Ph.D. in economics to figure out, if you're paying a lot of money on interest,
you're not having enough money to support your own people. In the past, many
poor nations borrowed money, and they couldn't repay the debt. And their
interest payments were huge. And, therefore, they didn't have the opportunity to
invest in education and health care. So the administration, my administration
worked with G8 nations to ease the debt burden. We're not the first
administration to figure this out. My predecessor did the same thing, because
it's the right policy for the United States of America.
Two years ago at Gleneagles, the G8 nations agreed to support a multilateral
debt relief agreement that freed poor countries of up to $60 billion in debt.
This year, we built on that progress, when the Inter-American Development Bank
approved another debt relief initiative for some of the poorest nations in our
neighborhood, in our own hemisphere. This initiative will cancel $3.4 billion
owed by five countries: Bolivia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua. And
that represents more than 12 percent of their combined GDP, an average of nearly
$110 for every man, woman, and child in these countries. And this money is now
free to help these nations invest in improving their lives of citizens. It makes
sense to forgive debt. If you're interested in helping the poor, it makes sense
for the developed world to forgive the debt. And that's what the United States
will continue to do.
Bringing progress and prosperity to struggling nations requires increased
American assistance to countries most in need. Since I took office, we have more
than doubled U.S. development spending across the world -- from about $10
billion in 2000, to $23 billion in 2006. It's the largest increase in
development assistance since the Marshall Plan.
The first four years of my administration, we doubled our assistance to Africa.
At the G8 summit in 2005, I promised our assistance to Africa would double once
again by 2010. I made a promise to the people. People expect us to deliver on
that promise, and I expect the Congress to help. We must not shortchange these
efforts. Congress needs to approve my full funding request for development
assistance this year. We need to get the job done. (Applause.)
We're focusing increased American assistance for developing nations on three key
goals -- in other words, we have some goals, we're not just going to spend
money. We have a reason to spend the money and we expect there to be results
when we spend that money -- so do the taxpayers of this country. It's one thing
to be compassionate, it's another thing to be accountable for the money.
First, we're going to use our aid to help developing countries build democratic
and accountable institutions and strengthen their civil societies. To succeed in
the global economy, nations need fair and transparent legal systems; need free
markets that unleash the creativity of their citizens; need banking systems that
serve people at all income levels; and a business climate that welcomes foreign
investment and supports local entrepreneurs.
The United States is helping developing nations build these and other free
institutions through what we call the Millennium Challenge Account. Under this
program, America makes a compact with developing nations. We give aid, and in
return they agree to implement democratic reforms, to fight corruption, to
invest in their people -- particularly in health and education -- and to promote
economic freedom. Seems like a fair deal, doesn't it -- taxpayers' money from
the United States in return for the habits and procedures necessary for a solid
society to develop. We don't want to give aid to a country where the leaders
steal the money. We expect there to be accountability for U.S. money and that's
the principle behind the Millennium Challenge Account. Eleven nations have
compacts in place worth nearly $3 billion. And now 14 additional nations are
eligible to negotiate compacts with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, headed
by Ambassador Danilovich.
Let me give you an example of how this program can make a difference. In
Madagascar the leaders of this island nation set a goal in their compact to
improve agricultural production. In other words, we work with a nation, they
have set the goal; we support their goal. They want their farmers to be able to
compete in the global marketplace. We agreed to help by investing in
agricultural business centers that work with local farmers. In one village, this
initiative helped a group of farmers who were surviving by collecting firewood
and producing charcoal. That's how these folks were trying to get ahead. They'd
find firewood and make charcoal out of it, and hope they could find a market.
It's a tough way to make a living in a modern world.
The business center that the compact established helped the farmers work
together to identify a new product, a natural oil used in skin care products. I
probably could use some of that myself. (Laughter.) The center helped these
farmers develop -- helped them to develop a business plan. They acquired
financing to set up a distilling plant. They built relationships with buyers in
their nation's capital.
Before America and Madagascar signed our compact, a typical farmer in this
village could earn about $5 a week selling charcoal. After two months of
bringing the new product to the market, the livelihood of these farmers
increased. One farmer was able to raise his income enough to save about $500,
money he plans to use for a child's education.
We're going to help encourage African entrepreneurs in other ways, as well.
Today, I'm announcing a new project called Africa Financial Sector Initiative.
Through this initiative, we'll provide technical assistance to help African
nations strengthen their financial markets. The U.S. Overseas Private Investment
Corps, OPIC, headed by Rob Mosbacher, will work with the financial community to
create several new private equity funds that will mobilize up to a billion
dollars of additional private investment in Africa.
If you're interested in job creation, there's got to be capital available. It's
in our interest that we help provide capital to African entrepreneurs. We want
them to find access to capital, and we want them to have access to markets
because we want to improve their lives. And when people's lives in countries on
the continent of Africa improve, it helps the United States of America. It's
what our taxpayers have got to understand. It's in our interest. (Applause.)
All of this will go for naught if people don't have a good education. So the
second way we're using our aid is to improve education so that the young in the
developing world have the tools they need to realize their God-given potential.
Many parents across the world either have no access to education for their
children, or simply cannot afford it. It's a fact of life, something the world
needs to deal with, particularly those of us who have got some money.
In many nations, girls have even less educational opportunity. It robs them of a
chance to satisfy their ambitions or to make use of their talents and skills,
and it's really sad, when you think about it. It really is. The question is,
does the United States care? Should we do something about it? And the answer is,
absolutely. If boys and girls in Africa and other developing nations don't learn
how to read, write, and add and subtract, this world is just going to move on
without them. And all the aid efforts we'll be trying will go to naught, in my
judgment.
And so in 2002, I launched the African Education Initiative to help address the
great need. Through this initiative, we have provided about $300 million to
expand educational opportunities throughout the continent, and we're going to
provide another $300 million by 2010. We will have doubled our commitment.
(Applause.)
One young woman who has benefited from this program is a woman named Evelyn
Nkadori, from the Masai people of the grasslands of Kenya. In her rural
community, girls are rarely offered an education -- just never given a chance.
They're expected to care for younger children until they're married themselves
at an early age. That was the custom. She had a different vision for her future,
and our initiative helped her realize it. Our program helped her complete high
school, and now she's attending Chicago State University on a scholarship. She's
one of the first -- she is one of the first women from her village ever to
receive a college education. She hopes to attend medical school, and then go
home and help others.
Evelyn, I appreciate you being here today. I'm honored by your presence. Thank
you for your courage. We can't make you want to succeed, but we can help you
succeed. Thanks for coming. (Applause.)
And we need to do more, for not only children on the continent of Africa, but
poor children throughout the world. And so I'm calling on Congress to fund $525
million over the next five years to make our educational initiatives even more
robust. And the goal is to provide basic education for 4 million additional
children on the continent of Africa and across the globe.
We've got another interesting idea, and that is to establish new Communities of
Opportunity centers in poor nations to provide skills and language training for
100,000 at-risk youth; giving these young people in these countries the skills
they need to succeed, we're going to give them keys to a brighter future.
The third way we're using our aid is to fight the scourge of disease in Africa
and other parts of the developing world. Epidemics like HIV/AIDS and malaria
destroy lives and they decimate families. They also impose a crippling economic
burden on societies where so many are struggling to lift their families out of
poverty. We've taken action to fight these diseases. We've done so because it's
in our nation's interest to do so.
In 2003, my administration launched a new initiative to combat HIV/AIDS -- the
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. We pledged $15 billion
over five years for AIDS prevention and treatment and care programs in many of
the poorest nations on Earth. This level of support was unprecedented. I'm proud
to report, on behalf of our citizens, that it remains the largest commitment by
any nation ever to combat a single disease. (Applause.)
And the program is working. Three years ago, about 50,000 people on the
continent of Africa were receiving antiretroviral drugs for help. Today, over
1.1 million people are receiving lifesaving drugs. And this is a good start.
It's a necessary start, and it's a promising start; but we need to do more. So
yesterday in the Rose Garden, Kunene and Baron and the good Doc -- and I don't
know where the Bishop is -- (laughter) -- anyway, they were standing with me up
there when I called on Congress to greatly expand our efforts in the fight
against HIV/AIDS, by doubling our initial commitment, by dedicating an
additional $30 billion to this struggle over the next five years in the year
2009. (Applause.)
And here's the goal: support treatment for nearly 2.5 million people, to prevent
more than 12 million new infections, and to provide compassionate care for 12
million people, including 5 million more orphans and vulnerable children. We set
the goal for the past initiative, and we met it. And we're going to set the goal
for this one, and we're going to meet it. But Congress needs to get that money
as quickly as possible so it makes it easier to meet the goal. I proposed this
unprecedented investment for a reason -- it's in the world's interest and our
nation's interest to save lives. And that's exactly what this program is doing.
We saved a life of a fellow named Robert Ongole. He's with us today. John Robert
Ongole -- not yet, not yet, John Robert. (Laughter.) I'm going to make it a
little more dramatic than that. (Laughter.) You probably didn't know who I was
talking about when is skipped the "John." (Laughter.)
John Robert has a family of two children; he has HIV/AIDS. This disease ravaged
his body. His weight dropped to 99 pounds. He developed tuberculosis and other
health problems. He and his family felt certain that he would die. Then John
Robert began receiving antiretroviral treatment through PEPFAR in Uganda. The
treatment restored his strength. He returned to the classroom and he continued
being a dad.
John Robert is earning his bachelor's degree in education. He's volunteering to
help other people. The American people need to hear what he had to say: "When
you talk of PEPFAR, that's my life, because it worked. Because without it, I
couldn't have lived. Now I want to save the lives of other people." Thanks for
coming, John Robert. (Applause.)
Does it matter to America if John Robert lives? You bet it does. That's why this
initiative is an important initiative. That's why it's important Congress
continue to spend taxpayers' money to save lives like John Robert's, and
Kunene's, and Baron's.
As we increase our commitment to fight HIV/AIDS, we're also continuing an
unprecedented commitment to fight against malaria. Malaria takes the lives of
about 1 million people a year in the developing world, and the vast majority are
under five years old. In some countries, this disease takes even more lives than
HIV/AIDS. Every 30 seconds, a mother in Africa loses her child to malaria. It's
a tragic disease because it's preventable and treatable. We can do something
about it.
In 2005, I announced the President's Malaria Initiative. Through this
initiative, we're spending $1.2 billion over five years to fight the disease in
15 targeted African countries. This initiative provides insecticide-treated bed
nets, indoor spraying, and life-saving anti-malaria medications. This strategy
works. It really isn't all that complicated. It takes money and organization and
effort.
In Angola, this initiative helped increase the number of children protected by
nets from less than 5 percent to nearly 70 percent. You buy the nets, you
educate the people, you get the nets to them, and when they start using them,
lives are saved. This initiative has expanded malaria protection for more than 6
million Africans in its first year, and by the end of the second year, in 2007,
we expect to reach a total of 30 million people. (Applause.)
At the G8 summit, I'm going to urge our partners to join us in this
unprecedented effort to fight these dreaded diseases. America is proud to take
the lead. We expect others to join us, as well. If you want to help improve
lives on the continent of Africa, and around the world, join with the United
States and provide substantial help to fight HIV/AIDS and malaria.
Bringing progress and prosperity to struggling nations requires growing amounts
of energy. It's hard to grow your economy if you don't have energy. Yet,
producing that energy can create environmental challenges for the world. We need
to harness the power of technology to help nations meet their growing energy
needs while protecting the environment and addressing the challenge of global
climate change.
In recent years, science has deepened our understanding of climate change and
opened new possibilities for confronting it. The United States takes this issue
seriously. The new initiative I am outlining today will contribute to the
important dialogue that will take place in Germany next week. The United States
will work with other nations to establish a new framework on greenhouse gas
emissions for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
So my proposal is this: By the end of next year, America and other nations will
set a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases. To help develop this
goal, the United States will convene a series of meetings of nations that
produce most greenhouse gas emissions, including nations with rapidly growing
economies like India and China.
In addition to this long-term global goal, each country would establish midterm
national targets, and programs that reflect their own mix of energy sources and
future energy needs. Over the course of the next 18 months, our nations would
bring together industry leaders from different sectors of our economies, such as
power generation and alternative fuels and transportation. These leaders will
form working groups that will cooperate on ways to share clean energy technology
and best practices.
It's important to ensure that we get results, and so we will create a strong and
transparent system for measuring each country's performance. This new framework
would help our nations fulfill our responsibilities under the U.N. Framework
Convention on Climate Change. The United States will work with all nations that
are part of this convention to adapt to the impacts of climate change, gain
access to clean and more energy-efficient technologies, and promote sustainable
forestry and agriculture.
The way to meet this challenge of energy and global climate change is through
technology, and the United States is in the lead. The world is on the verge of
great breakthroughs that will help us become better stewards of the environment.
Over the past six years, my administration has spent, along with the Congress,
more than $12 billion in research on clean energy technology. We're the world's
leader when it comes to figuring out new ways to power our economy and be good
stewards of the environment.
We're investing in new technologies to produce electricity in cleaner ways,
including solar and wind energy, clean coal technologies. If we can get a
breakthrough in clean coal technologies, it's going to help the developing world
immeasurably, and at the same time, help protect our environment.
We're spending a lot of money on clean, safe nuclear power. If you're truly
interested in cleaning up the environment, or interested in renewable sources of
energy, the best way to do so is through safe nuclear power. We're investing in
new technologies that transform the way we fuel our cars and trucks. We're
expanding the use of hybrid and clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel.
We're spending a lot of your money in figuring out ways to produce ethanol from
products other than corn. One of these days, we'll be making fuel to power our
automobiles from wood chips, to switchgrasses, to agricultural wastes. I think
it makes sense to have our farmers growing energy, so that we don't have to
import it from parts of the world where they may not like us too much. And it's
good for our environment, as well.
We're pressing on with battery research for plug-in hybrid vehicles that can be
powered by electricity from a wall socket, instead of gasoline. We're continuing
to research and to advance hydrogen-powered vehicles that emit pure water
instead of exhaust fumes; we're taking steps to make sure these technologies
reach the market, setting new mandatory fuel standards that require 35 billion
gallons of renewable and alternative fuels by the year 2017. It's a mandatory
fuel standard. We want to reduce our gasoline consumption by 20 percent over the
next 10 years, which will not only help our national security, it will make us
better stewards of the environment. The United States is taking the lead, and
that's the message I'm going to take to the G8.
Last week, the Department of Energy announced that in 2006, our carbon emissions
decreased by 1.3 percent while our economy grew by 3.3 percent. This experience
shows that a strong and growing economy can deliver both a better life for its
people and a cleaner environment at the same time.
At the G8 summit, I'm going to encourage world leaders to increase their own
investments in research and development. I'm looking forward to working with
them. I'm looking forward to discussing ways to encourage more investment in
developing nations by making low-cost financing options for clean energy a
priority of the international development banks.
We're also going to work to conclude talks with other nations on eliminating
tariffs and other barriers to clean energy technologies and services by the end
of year. If you are truly committed to helping the environment, nations need to
get rid of their tariffs, need to get rid of those barriers that prevent new
technologies from coming into their countries. We'll help the world's poorest
nations reduce emissions by giving them government-developed technologies at low
cost, or in some case, no cost at all.
We have an historic opportunity in the world to extend prosperity to regions
that have only known poverty and despair. The United States is in the lead, and
we're going to stay in the lead.
The initiatives I've discussed today are making a difference in the lives of
millions; our fellow citizens have got to understand that. We're talking about
improving lives in a real, tangible way that ought to make our country proud.
That's why we've asked these folks to come. It's one thing for the President to
be talking about stories; it's another thing for the people to see firsthand
what our help has done.
I'm so proud of the United States of America. This initiative shows the good
character and the decency of the American people. We are a decent people. We
feel responsible for helping those who are less fortunate. And I am proud to be
the President of such a good nation. Thanks for coming, and God bless.
(Applause.)