    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [March 20, 2000]
    [Pages 495-496]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in Dhaka to Visitors From Joypura
    March 20, 2000

        Thank you very much. First let me say to the Prime Minister how delighted I am to be here in Bangladesh, and how
    much I have enjoyed meeting today with all the people from Joypura. I
    thank you, Asia, for your teaching. I thank Hasan
    Abed and the other people who are involved
    in the BRAC movement. I thank my longtime friend Muhammad Yunus for bringing his people here today who are
    associated with the Grameen Bank. And I'd also like to thank the people
    who came with the Asrayon project that the Prime Minister has founded.
    Thank you all for making me feel welcome today.
        Bangladesh is a country that, by traditional economic measurement,
    is still poor. But as I saw today, in terms of the spirit and the
    ability of the people, it is full of riches. And the challenge we all
    face is how to unlock the ability, the brains, the heart, the spirit of
    the people of Bangladesh, beginning with the wonderful children that I
    have seen, but also including the people that I met with the Asrayon
    project and the people who have participated in the Grameen Bank.
        I want my fellow Americans and people throughout the world to know
    that the people of Bangladesh are a good investment in the future. If
    you look only at the Grameen Bank, it has 2.4 million borrowers in
    39,000 villages. Ninety-four percent of the borrowers are women; 98
    percent of the loans are repaid. And

    [[Page 496]]

    now, with loans for people to buy cell phones, entire villages are being
    brought into the information age. I want people throughout the world to
    know this story.
        I want to thank the Prime Minister and the
    people involved in the Asrayon movement for setting a goal that no
    person in this country should be homeless. That should be every nation's
    goal. And I want to thank the teachers and the supporters of the BRAC
    School for showing us that all our children can learn and they all
    deserve the chance to learn.
        I also want to thank your Government and industry for working with
    the International Labor Organization and the United States to take some
    9,000 children out of garment factories and put them in classrooms.
    There are children here today, including a group from a special ILO-
    supported school that our United States Senator Tom Harkin told me about, that he visited 2 years ago. I thank you
    for doing that, as well.
        I want to continue to support all these projects. I am pleased to
    announce today that the United States will commit several million
    dollars to help another 30,000 Bangladeshi children move from work in
    hazardous industries into schools that will give them safer, better
    futures.
        We will work with the ILO and Grameen to help 3 million women in
    rural areas gain access to micro-health insurance. And we will commit
    several million dollars to help women get new skills, improve working
    conditions, and secure fair representation in trade organizations.
        We will also provide several million dollars to support another
    Grameen program, a solar cell program to use the clean energy of the Sun
    to generate power in villages throughout Bangladesh, cheap power, clean
    power, power that will empower all kinds of people to raise their
    incomes in different ways in the next few years.
        I would like to make just two points in closing. First of all, I
    want to bring greetings from my wife,
    who preceded me to Bangladesh. She and our daughter came here a few years ago. And she told me of all the
    good things that were going on here, and she urged me to have the United
    States do more to support the Grameen Bank, to support your Government,
    to support efforts to unleash the ability of your children and your
    families to build a better future.
        And finally, I would like to thank all of you who shared your
    stories with me today. Many of you have overcome great obstacles in your
    lives. Many of you still face great challenges. But you convinced me
    again that no one--no one--should believe that poverty is destiny, that
    people have to remain poor, that their children cannot learn and do
    better. You have made me believe more strongly than ever that every
    child in this world should be given the chance to dream and to live
    those dreams.
        Because I have been privileged to be President of the United States,
    I have traveled all over the world. I have met with the wealthiest and
    most powerful people in the world. I have been in the most successful
    communities in the world. I have also been in the poorest villages of
    Africa, of Asia, of Latin America. And I believe, more strongly today
    than ever, that intelligence and ability and a human spirit are evenly
    distributed across the rich and the poor, in every continent on Earth,
    and everyone must have a chance. Every little boy and every little girl
    must have a chance. I will do what I can to be a good partner and a good
    friend in that endeavor in Bangladesh.
        Thank you very much.

     Note:  The President spoke at 3:50 p.m. at the U.S. Embassy. In his
    remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh; Asia
    Begum, a teacher from Joypura, who introduced the President; Fazle Hasan
    Abed, executive director, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC);
    and Muhammad Yunus, founder and managing director, Grameen Bank. The
    President met with the people of Joypura at the Embassy after his
    planned visit to the village was canceled because of concerns raised by
    the Secret Service.