[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.