[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book III)]
[November 20, 2004]
[Pages 2987-2992]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at the Closing Session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 
Summit in Santiago
November 20, 2004

    Thank you very much. Sientese. Gracias. Thank you for the warm 
welcome. It is such an honor to be in Chile. Who is ever responsible for 
the weather, thank you very much. Laura and I are 
delighted to be here. Chile is such a fabulous country. It's a great 
place to talk about entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial spirit. 
It's a country which shows the world what is possible when you create 
the right conditions for economic vitality and economic growth. And 
we're so honored to be here.
    I want to thank my friend Ricardo Lagos 
for organizing this summit. I appreciate the business leaders who are 
here. I thank you for your interest in working collaboratively with 
business leaders from around the world. And as a result of vision and 
hard work, we meet today on the eastern rim of an incredibly dynamic 
region.
    In our lifetimes, we've seen the Asia-Pacific region grow in wealth 
and freedom beyond many--beyond that which many thought was possible. If 
you think back about 20 years ago, what people thought about the Asian-
Pacific region, they couldn't imagine such prosperity and such wealth 
and such freedom. And that's what APEC is all about, as far as I'm 
concerned. And that's why it's an honor to be here at this summit with 
my fellow leaders.
    Incredibly enough, APEC economies account for nearly half of all the 
world trade and half of the world's economic output. For somebody who is 
interested in prosperity for my own citizens, it's a good place to hang 
out, with that much trade, commerce. And I believe that this new 
century, with the right policies, can extend the prosperity even 
further. And that's what we're here to discuss.
    I believe we must increase the flow of trade and capital. I know our 
societies must reward enterprise and open societies and open markets. I 
know we've got to reject the blocks and barriers that divide economies 
and people. And I believe, with the right policies, we can continue to 
grow.
    I'm honored to be here today with a man who has served our country 
so well, a great United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell. Right after my speech, he's headed to the Middle 
East. That's a heck of a retirement, Mr. Secretary. [Laughter] I look 
forward to your report when you get back.
    I want to thank the U.S. members of the APEC Business Advisory 
Council. I want to thank you for your hard work. I want to thank you for 
representing our country so well. I appreciate Gary Benanav and Mike Drucker--Mike Ducker 
and Robert Prieto for your hard work in 
organizing this summit and representing the business leaders who are 
here.

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    You know, what's interesting about our country is that for years, we 
were isolated from the world by two great oceans, and for a while we got 
a false sense of security as a result of that. We thought we were 
protected forever from trade policy or terrorist attacks because oceans 
protected us. What's interesting about today's world is that the oceans 
now connect us. It didn't take all that long in the march of history for 
that change to take place. And therefore, America must respect and value 
the friendships that we're able to make as a result of our transatlantic 
and transpacific ties. Right after I'm inaugurated, I'll go to Europe to 
renew our transatlantic ties, to remind the people of Europe how 
important my administration regards our vital Atlantic alliance.
    And of course, our Nation is Pacific country as well. And that's why 
the APEC* conferences are so important. Do you realize, the capital of 
our 50th State is nearly as close to Sydney and Manila as it is to 
Washington, DC? That's a Pacific Rim nation. More than 15 percent of 
Americans claim Hispanic or Asian-Pacific heritage. Our APEC partners 
account for nearly two-thirds of all American exports and imports. 
America's future is inseparable from our friends in the Pacific. And by 
working together and by continuing to foster reasonable progrowth 
economic policies, the fellowship of Pacific nations will continue to be 
strong. That's what I'm here to tell you.
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    *White House correction.
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    There is a different attitude in the world about foreign policies, 
particularly if you happen to be an influential nation. In the past, 
many powerful nations preferred others to remain underdeveloped and 
therefore dependent. It was a cynical doctrine. And that doctrine is 
unsuited for our times. In this century, countries benefit from healthy, 
prosperous, confident partners. Weak and troubled nations export their 
ills--problems like economic instability and illegal immigration and 
crime and terrorism. America and others sitting around the table here at 
APEC understand that healthy and prosperous nations export and import 
goods and services that help to stabilize regions and add security to 
every nation. So we've got three clear goals to help spread prosperity 
and hope and to secure the peace.
    We want to seek wider trade and broader freedom and greater security 
for the benefit of our partners and for the benefit of all. That's what 
I'm going to do over the next 4 years. The first goal is to lower 
barriers to trade and investment and to promote sound fiscal policies 
for all our governments. Free and fair trade combined with prudent 
fiscal discipline are the foundation of the region's remarkable 
prosperity, and I'm committed to staying on the path to progrowth--
proeconomic growth--economic growth by progrowth policies. We're doing 
our part.
    You know, we've overcome a lot in the U.S. economy. We faced a 
recession, coupled with terrorist attacks, which affected our capacity 
to grow. But we stimulated our economy by cutting taxes. And America is 
growing again, and people are working. And the question ahead is, how do 
we make sure we maintain growth?
    We need legal reform in the United States. We got to make sure that 
those who risk capital are rewarded for taking risk and not subject to 
needless and frivolous lawsuits. We need regulatory reform in the United 
States. Our Tax Code is too complex. So I'm going to work with members 
of both political parties to simplify the Tax Code.
    But I also understand there is concern about whether or not our 
Government is dedicated to dealing with our deficits, both short term 
and long term. I look forward to standing up in front of the Congress in 
my State of the Union and telling them why I submitted a budget that 
will help us deal with the short-term deficit of the United States, and 
I will do that. And I'll also work with Members of Congress to

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deal with the unfunded liabilities of our entitlement systems, so that 
we can say clearly to the world, the United States of America is 
committed to deficit reduction, both short term and long term.
    Overall, the economy of this part of the world is expected to grow 
by nearly 5 percent this year. And that's good news, and the United 
States wanted to be a part of that growth. We can add to that progress 
by reducing trade barriers that I believe are an obstacle to economic 
growth everywhere, especially in the developing world. And so this 
Government and our country is strongly committed to the WTO's Doha round 
of negotiations. And my trade minister will be strongly committed to 
ensure the success of the WTO round. And we need your help in making 
sure that nations around the APEC table are focused on the benefits of 
global trade, that we put aside some differences that could prevent Doha 
from going forward.
    We will continue to assist our Asia-Pacific partners in meeting 
their WTO obligations. We are encouraging Russia and Vietnam in their 
efforts to join the WTO. The history between our countries has changed 
dramatically between America and Vietnam and Russia. The tensions are no 
longer existing. Conflict is behind us, and we have a chance to work 
with those countries for the common good, and we will.
    We're going to be aggressive about our bilateral trade agreements 
and our regional trade agreements. We've completed trade agreements with 
nations throughout Asia and the Americas, including Australia, 
Singapore, Chile, the five nations of Central America, and the Dominican 
Republic. We are working on new agreements with Thailand, Panama, the 
Andean nations of South America. We're moving ahead with the enterprise 
for the ASEAN initiative, which is lowering trade barriers and 
strengthening economic ties in Southeast Asia. We're committed to the 
Bogor goals, which call for free trade among developed nations of the 
Asian-Pacific region by 2010 and free trade among all APEC economies by 
2020. We seek free trade in the Americas, uniting the markets of all 34 
free nations in the Western Hemisphere.
    I think you can tell that I believe free trade is necessary for 
economic development, that free trade is essential to prosperity. But it 
is not sufficient, and we understand that. All governments in the region 
must make the difficult choices needed to stabilize economies and to 
keep public finances on foot. We have been impressed by the reform 
programs in Chile and Colombia and Uruguay that have spurred growth and 
investment in those countries and throughout the region.
    My Nation and many others have acted to lift the crushing burden of 
debt that limits the growth of developing economies and holds millions 
of people in poverty, and we will continue to do so. We will continue 
working to relieve the current debt of those highly indebted poor 
countries that pursue sound fiscal policy. We will continue to encourage 
our large trading partners to adopt flexible market-based exchange rates 
for their currencies. Expanding prosperity has lifted millions in our 
region out of poverty, has bound our nations closer together, and has 
benefited all our people. And my administration will continue to promote 
pro-growth, pro-trade economic policies for the good of all.
    Our second goal is to spread the benefits of freedom and democracy 
and good government across parts of the world. We've seen progress 
toward these goals in the recent history of the Asia-Pacific region. 
We've seen some interesting lessons of history as free markets take 
hold: The demand for limited government and self-rule builds. That's why 
it's important to promote free trade and open market policies.
    In the long run, economic freedom and political liberty are 
indivisible, and the advance of freedom is good for all, as free 
societies are peaceful societies. My Government and many others are 
working with

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countries to lay the foundations for democracy by helping them institute 
the rule of law and independent courts and a free press and political 
parties and trade unions. We have joined with other members of the 
Organization of American States to create the Inter-American Democratic 
Charter. This charter recognizes democracy as a fundamental right of all 
peoples in the Americas and pledges our governments to promoting and 
defending the institutions and habits of liberty.
    Because political liberty and economic freedom go hand in hand, 
America and many nations have changed the way we fight poverty, curb 
corruption, and provide aid. In 2002, we created the Monterrey 
Consensus, a bold approach that links new aid from developed nations to 
real reform in developing ones. We created the Millennium Challenge 
Account in America that says we'll increase aid and help to nations 
which are willing to fight corruption, which are willing to educate 
their people, which are willing to spend money on the health of their 
citizens, and nations which are willing to expand economic freedom. We 
owe that to the taxpayers of the United States, to promote the habits 
necessary for free societies to develop. And we believe every nation is 
capable of fighting corruption, is capable of putting good economic 
policies in place, is capable of educating their people and helping 
defeat the scourge of bad health care.
    Developing nations have responded, and we appreciate that, but not 
nearly as much as the people who live in their countries. They've 
responded by fighting corruption, by building schools and hospitals, and 
passing new laws that reward enterprise from their people.
    The United Nations also has an important role, and America has 
proposed a democracy fund to help countries lay the foundations of 
democracy and help set up voter precincts and polling places and support 
the work of election monitors.
    The growth of free and hopeful societies depends on controlling the 
spread of deadly diseases, especially AIDS and tuberculosis and malaria. 
HIV/AIDS cases are growing in the Asian-Pacific region. It's an issue we 
just discussed with the leaders around the table. Last year more than 1 
million new HIV infections occurred in Asia, one out of every five 
infections worldwide. My Nation is working to fight this disease through 
a $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief--15 billion over 5 years, 
which helps--provides help for 100 nations around the world. Earlier 
this year, we expanded the focus of this effort by committing new 
resources to Asia.
    As part of this effort, the United States is supporting the United 
Nations Global Fund, and other nations need to participate in that fund. 
It's not the United States global fund; it is the world global fund. And 
so I'm going to continue to urge nations here at this APEC Summit to 
contribute to that fund, to help defeat this pandemic that has swept 
across the continent of Africa and now threatens nations in Asia. It is 
the greatest--AIDS is the greatest health crisis of our time, and all 
nations must join in a united effort to turn the tide against this 
terrible disease.
    The spread of liberty is our most powerful weapon in the fight 
against hatred and terror. And we've seen some amazing events take place 
in the history of liberty. Perhaps the most amazing of all took place in 
Afghanistan when millions of people showed up to vote for the President 
of that country some 3 years after that country had been ruled by the 
barbarians called the Taliban. And the most amazing moment of all in 
this march of democracy was the fact that the first voter was a 19-year-
old woman. Freedom has taken place in parts 
of the world where people never dreamt freedom is possible, and as a 
result, the world is better for it.
    Our third great goal is to help keep up the fight against the forces 
of terror that threaten the success of our economies and

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the stability of the world. Every nation represented here has a stake in 
this conflict. Terrorism is a threat not just to the West or to the 
wealthy but to all of us. And all of us must do everything we can to 
defeat the murderers.
    We're determined to end the state sponsorship of terror. And my 
Nation is grateful to all that participated in the liberation of 
Afghanistan. We're determined to prevent the proliferation of deadly 
weapons and materials and to enforce the just demands of the world. And 
my Nation is grateful to the soldiers of those nations who've helped to 
deliver the Iraqi people from an outlaw dictator. We're determined to destroy terrorist networks 
wherever they operate, and the United States is grateful to every nation 
that is helping to seize terrorist assets and to track down their 
operatives and to disrupt their plans.
    APEC nations are playing a crucial role in the war on terror, for 
which we are very grateful. We'll continue to work with nations that 
have the will to fight terror but need help in developing the means. 
We're sharing intelligence and increasing our cooperation in customs and 
law enforcement to stop terrorists before they can strike. We're moving 
forward on the initiatives of last year's summit in Bangkok to 
strengthen the security of our ports and transportation networks, to 
defend our aircraft from the threat of portable missiles, and to end the 
flow of terrorist finances.
    America has joined with Singapore to found a new research institute, 
which opened this year, dedicated to stopping the spread of deadly 
diseases and combating the threat of bioterrorism. We're working to 
ensure that the shores of the Pacific remain peaceful. In Santiago, APEC 
leaders committed to signing by 2005 the additional protocol of the IAEA 
safeguards agreements, which requires nations to declare a broad range 
of nuclear activities and facilities and allows the International Atomic 
Energy Agency to inspect those facilities. And I appreciate that 
cooperation and that commitment.
    We also agreed to further strengthen our Nation's export controls 
and to develop a new system to track and stop the travel of suspected 
terrorists using forged or stolen documents. Through the Proliferation 
Security Initiative, many nations are also fighting the trade in deadly 
weapons. And over the past years we've had notable successes, most 
particularly the disruption of the A.Q. Khan network and its willingness and capacity to spread 
deadly technology to nations that would like to inflict harm on the--to 
inflict harm on nations like APEC members.
    Five APEC members are working to convince North Korea to abandon its 
pursuit of nuclear weapons, and I can report to you today, having 
visited with the other nations involved in that collaborative effort, 
that the will is strong, that the effort is united, and the message is 
clear to Mr. Kim Chong-il: Get rid of your 
nuclear weapons programs.
    In all our efforts, we'll maintain and strengthen the alliance among 
our nations that have served the peace so well. By making our countries 
safer, these steps will also create a more secure business environment 
and boost confidence in our economies. You know as well as I know that 
terrorist attacks affect the capacity of people to make a living. We 
discovered that firsthand in the United States of America when we lost 
nearly a million jobs in the 3 months after the September the 11th 
attacks. The people of Bali, Indonesia, know what I'm talking about when 
it comes to terrorist attacks. We have an obligation as nations to work 
together to stop terrorism.
    And you in the private sector have an important role to play. The 
new inspection technologies that you create can shorten delays and 
reduce insurance costs and cut redtape. By working closely with customs 
officials of APEC governments to establish

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better procedures, you can make the delivery of goods and services more 
secure and more efficient.
    These are great goals that I've just talked about: goals to advance 
our common prosperity, goals to spread freedom and dignity, and goals to 
strengthen our common security. And I have come here to Chile to tell my 
colleagues and friends, the United States of America is committed to 
achieving those goals for the next 4 years.
    Thank you for your interest. Thank you for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 4:47 p.m. at the Casa Piedra. In his 
remarks, he referred to President Ricardo Lagos of Chile; Gary Benanav, 
Mike Ducker, and Robert Prieto, United States members, Asia-Pacific 
Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council (ABAC); A.Q. Khan, former 
head of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program; and Chairman Kim Chong-il of 
North Korea.