[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
[July 9, 2007]
[Pages 918-925]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks to the White House Conference on the Americas in Arlington,
Virginia
July 9, 2007
The President. Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks for coming
today. In my recent trip down to Central and South America, I told the
folks that we were going to host a conference here in Washington, a
conference to promote best practices, which really says, how best can
the United States help people in our neighborhood.
Laura and I had a magnificent trip to Central
and South America. It reminded me of the importance of having a peaceful
and prosperous neighborhood. It's in our interests, in the interests of
the United States that our neighborhood be healthy and educated. And so
this conference is an attempt to bring together key people of my
administration and faith-based groups and private sector groups from the
United States, as well as our neighborhood, to discuss how we can work
together to promote social justice, to help people realize a better life
through good education and good health care.
I do thank members of my administration who have joined us. I
understand after this event there's going to be a series of breakout
groups, led by members of my Cabinet; Hank Paulson is here, the Secretary of the Treasury. As a matter of
fact, he's heading down to, I think, Brazil tomorrow. Secretary Carlos
Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce, will
be leading a group. Mike Leavitt will
lead a breakout session--he's the Secretary of Health and Human
Services; and then Margaret Spellings,
who
[[Page 919]]
is the Secretary of Education. I think you're going to find these folks
to be concerned, compassionate Americans who care about the lives of our
citizens in our neighborhood. And I appreciate them serving.
And then you get a speech from my wife, which
is, like, really smart to have her speak. [Laughter] You're stuck with
the B team right now, and then the A team will be coming for--
[laughter].
I want to thank all the folks who have joined us. Thanks for coming.
As you can see, we've got an interesting way of making a variety of
points. What I hope to accomplish at this breakout session is to, first,
explain to our fellow citizens how important it is that the United
States be active in the neighborhood in which we live.
Secondly--and by the way, thanks, ambassadors, for coming. I
appreciate you all being here. It's very kind of you to take time out of
your busy schedules to be here. We're honored you're here. Secondly,
it's important for us--for me to explain to our fellow citizens some of
the work we're doing in the neighborhood. I think our citizens will be
pleased to know, for example, that we're working very hard to get trade
agreements through our Congress, because the best way to help defeat
poverty is to encourage commerce and trade.
And we've got trade agreements we've reached with Peru and Panama
and Colombia. It's really important for the United States Congress to
pass these trade agreements. If you're interested in prosperity in our
neighborhood, if you want to help improve the lives of others, then the
United States Congress must honor the agreements we've negotiated with
these important countries and pass this legislation.
I'd like to see the Peruvian deal done by the beginning of August.
They've got time to get the bill done. Members of Congress have got
ample days on the calendar to pass this important piece of legislation
so we can send the clear signal to our neighborhood that we want you to
be prosperous, that we want to help you realize your potential through
trade with the United States of America. Trade agreements are good for
both sides; it's good for U.S. workers, and it's good for Peruvian,
Colombian, or Panamanian workers. And it's in our interest to promote
trade.
Secondly, we're doing a lot to promote health. And one symbol of our
commitment is the Navy medical ship called the Comfort that has--is
traveling the region but, more importantly, is providing basic and
sophisticated health care to people in need. I mean, the United States,
we're strong, no question about it, but our greatest strength is our
hearts. Tenemos corazones grandes aqui en este pais. We care deeply
about the plight of other people, and when we see their suffering, we
want to help. And the Comfort is a way for us to send a clear message
that we care about the people that live in the neighborhood that we
occupy together.
You know, Laura and I had an amazing
experience in Guatemala. That's Maria's
country. We went to the highlands. We first saw a small-business
guy, who was formerly a subsistence farmer, who
put together a cooperative of fellow farmers that now have got access to
the U.S. markets, and they're making a living. The most important thing
was, he said, ``I'm saving money so my child can get a higher
education.''
But we also went to an outpost where the U.S. military was providing
basic health care for people. Now, we've expanded on that health care
initiative by setting up a nurse's training center in Panama. That's
what Leavitt will be discussing,
Secretary Leavitt. The reason I bring this up is that we understand how
important it is for people to have good health. We understand that a
healthy society is one that will--is one in which people will be more
likely to realize their full, God-given potential. And we want to help,
and we want to be involved. And part of our discussions today will be
how best to--how best can the United States and faith-based groups and
[[Page 920]]
private groups and NGOs work collaboratively to achieve important
objectives.
A third objective is education. As I mentioned, Margaret
Spellings will be here. She's the
Secretary of Education. But the United States is deeply involved in
people-to-people projects, all aimed at improving literacy. We believe
strongly in helping teachers teach, and therefore, teacher schools make
a lot of sense. But the purpose of the groups today--of this meeting
today is to help us better focus our resources and do a better job of
helping people in our neighborhood realize their potential.
I happen to be a person who does believe in an Almighty, and I
believe the Almighty implants in each soul great human potential. And
it's in our interest to help people realize their full potential. And
two ways to do so--and two practical ways to do so is for the United
States to be involved in health issues as well as education issues, and
we are. And we're spending a fair amount of taxpayers' monies to achieve
those objectives. And so one of my objectives is to explain to the
American people, it's in your interest to help people in our
neighborhood become better educated, and it's in your interest that we
help people get good health care, because a healthy and educated and
prosperous neighborhood is in the long-term interests of the United
States.
It is also in our interest to help a neighbor in need. It renews our
soul. It lifts our collective spirit. I believe to whom much is given,
much is required. We've been given a lot as a nation, and therefore, I
believe we're required to help people realize their potential.
So that's why I've come. I've also come to hear some of the folks on
our panel. You're probably glad I'm about to quit talking so you can
hear some of the folks on the panel too. We're going to start with
Shannon. He's worked for me at the
NSC in the White House, now is at the State Department. He is the main
guy when it comes to South and Latin America--I don't know if that's a
diplomatic term, ``main guy,'' or not. [Laughter]
Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Tom
Shannon. It works for me, sir.
The President. That's right. Welcome.
[At this point, Assistant Secretary Shannon made brief remarks.]
The President. Yes, thank you, Thomas.
Before I call on Maria, I do want to say
something about our expectations, and that is, we expect governments to
be of and by and for the people. We don't--and we expect governments to
be honest and transparent and open. We reject the notion that it's okay
for there to be corruption in government. We really believe that open,
transparent societies are those that lead to hopeful tomorrows.
And so part of our foreign policy--for example, through the
Millennium Challenge Account--is to set expectations, expectations that
most people want: the expectation of a government that invests in the
health and education of her people; the expectation that there will be
no corruption, that there will be transparency, that people will be able
to express themselves in an open forum without fear of reprisal.
And so no question, we want to be involved on the people-to-people
programs, but we also have the objective of enhancing good government as
well, which we believe strongly will lead to more hopeful futures.
Anyway, Maria is here. Where are you from,
Maria?
Maria Pacheco. I'm from Guatemala.
The President. Que bueno. Bienvenidos.
Ms. Pacheco. Muchas gracias.
The President. And so what do you do for a living?
[Ms. Pacheco, founder and general manager, Kiej de los Bosques, S.A.,
made brief remarks.]
[[Page 921]]
The President. Por favor. You speak in English, and I'll speak in
Spanish. [Laughter]
Ms. Pacheco. Bueno. Esta bien.
The President. Except I'll ruin the language, and you won't.
[Laughter]
[Ms. Pacheco made further remarks.]
The President. Let me ask you a question. So you started this group
initially to--what's the name of it?
Ms. Pacheco. Kiej de los Bosques.
The President. Si. [Laughter]
Ms. Pacheco. It's a Mayan word. [Laughter]
The President. You started it when, in 2001?
Ms. Pacheco. In 2004.
The President. In 2004, good. How many members?
Ms. Pacheco. We have--well, there's 22
people in the company, but we're working now with more than a thousand
women in Guatemala from different regions.
The President. Yes. So lesson one, by the way, there is such thing
as social entrepreneurs. It is somebody who says, ``I'm going to help
somebody else,'' and takes time, talent, energy, and as a result, you're
affecting a thousand lives--a thousand primary interfaces, which
affects, no telling, how many lives.
One of the messages, I hope, that comes out of this meeting is that
you can make a difference. It doesn't take much. And as a matter of
fact, societies change one heart at a time, and therefore, if you're one
of those persons changing hearts, you're part of societal change for the
better.
And so I hope that we can inspire our fellow citizens to become
involved with the NGOs or the faith-based groups or the community-based
groups, all helping our neighborhood, and hopefully, inspire people,
like in Guatemala, to step up and do the same thing that Maria has done.
So are you pretty upbeat? Optimistic? Pessimistic? Tell me how
you're looking these days.
[Ms. Pacheco made further remarks.]
The President. I appreciate it. Look, it's very important for my
fellow citizens to understand that when we open up markets in a fair
way--in other words, we treat our producers the same as producers in
other countries--it benefits us. It particularly helps lift people out
of poverty. And that's what we want. We want people prosperous in your
neighborhood. If you're living in a neighborhood, you want there to be
prosperity in your neighborhood. So I appreciate you bringing up the
importance of markets and providing--giving people just a basic
opportunities in life, and it will make it--it's a transforming
strategy. And so thanks for coming.
Maria, it says here you're an organic
farmer.
Ms. Pacheco. Yes, I was an organic farmer
for 12 years.
The President. Yes. What were you farming?
Ms. Pacheco. I was farming vegetables.
The President. Vegetables, yes. I'm not big on vegetables, but
thanks. [Laughter]
Ms. Pacheco. Broccoli especially.
[Laughter]
The President. Don't tell my mother that.
But thank you very much for coming.
Ms. Pacheco. Thank you, Mr. President.
The President. Yes, I appreciate your time.
Matthew, what do you do?
Matthew N. Clausen. I work for
Partners of the Americas.
The President. And what is that?
Mr. Clausen. Partners of the Americas
is an organization, we've been around for over 40 years now, and we
connect people with other people in our hemisphere.
The President. Really. What does that mean, connect people with
other people?
Mr. Clausen. It means we have
volunteer groups in almost every State of the U.S. that are partnered
with similar groups in almost every country in the region.
The President. That's great.
[[Page 922]]
[Mr. Clausen, vice president for partnership development, Partners of
the Americas, made brief remarks.]
The President. So are you looking for volunteers?
Mr. Clausen. We are always looking
for volunteers.
The President. And how would one who might be interested in
volunteering find information about ways to help? Do you have a web
site, for example?
Mr. Clausen. We do. We have
partners.net, is a great place to start.
The President. Partners.net. What would one find there?
[Mr. Clausen made further remarks.]
The President. So what happens if somebody wanted to become a
teacher for the summer or wanted to take a trip, and part of the
experience of the trip was to make an impact on somebody's life? How--
can they find that kind of program on your web site?
[Mr. Clausen made further remarks.]
The President. And so is there a common web site? Do we have a web
site, for example, as a result of the meeting? I might ask my friend
Karen Hughes to think about this. She
probably has already thought about it, knowing her--and that is to think
maybe about a listing of different ways our fellow citizens can get
involved in helping different programs, either financially or through
time and effort. Maybe we ought to think about that. I know you already
have.
Good, thanks. Anything else you want to say, Matthew, while you've got the floor here?
Mr. Clausen. Well, I can't pass up
that opportunity.
The President. Here's your chance, man. [Laughter]
[Mr. Clausen made further remarks.]
The President. Thank you. A healthy society is one in which people
are responsible for their behaviors. A healthy capitalist society is one
in which corporate America, in this case, is responsible for--becomes a
responsible citizen. And we have got such a soul here in Vivian
Alegria. She is from Mexico.
Vivian Alegria. Yes.
The President. Welcome. You work for?
Ms. Alegria. For the Coca-Cola
Foundation in Mexico.
The President. Coca-Cola Foundation. And what does the Coca-Cola
Foundation do?
[Ms. Alegria, director, Coca-Cola Foundation, Mexico, made brief
remarks.]
The President. So you're building schools?
[Ms. Alegria made further remarks.]
The President. Yes. I think one of the things that our citizens have
got to understand here, there's a lot of corporate America that are very
much involved in the communities, of which they're active. And that's
important. And I would encourage our companies that do business in the
neighborhood to understand that it's one thing to sell a product; it's
another thing to help people be able to buy the product and become
involved in the communities in which they're doing business. And I'm
confident a lot of our companies are. I know Microsoft, for example, is
very much involved with education programs. Laura
and I are working on a very important initiative to help eradicate
malaria in parts of the world, and corporate America is helping there
too. So for those of you who represent corporate America, thanks for
coming, and thanks for being involved.
And if you're not, get involved. It will not only help your
business, it will help your country, because I want to keep saying this
over and over again: An objective of our country and this Government is
for there to be a healthy, educated, and prosperous neighborhood. It's
in our interests. America does better when people in the
[[Page 923]]
neighborhood in which we live are feeling better, can read better, and
are making more money. Prosperity is--and health and education are just
essential to a peaceful community around us.
Anyway, so thanks for coming, Vivian. It's good to see you.
Gilberto. You are from Brazil. Great
country.
Gilberto Dimenstein. Great country.
Great, great country.
The President. I'm proud to report that relations with Brazil are
improving a lot. I've got a very close relationship with President
Lula; we've worked hard to make it
that way. And one of the interesting initiatives we're working on is a
alternative fuel initiative that--where the United States and Brazil can
work and share technologies, not only between our two countries but in
the neighborhood, so that we can all become less dependent on oil.
And anyway, so relations are good. And so what do you do for a
living, Gilberto?
Mr. Dimenstein. So, I'm a
journalist.
The President. A journalist? That's good. [Laughter]
Mr. Dimenstein. Very good?
The President. Yes.
Mr. Dimenstein. Or not very good?
The President. No, it's great, believe me. [Laughter] Isn't it? Yes.
[Laughter]
[Mr. Dimenstein, founder and academic director, Associacao Cidade Escola
Aprendiz, made brief remarks, concluding as follows.]
Mr. Dimenstein. And then the almost
last 20 years, I've been writing about violence against kids and the
lessons in Brazil----
The President. Thank you. Thank you.
[Mr. Dimenstein made further remarks.]
The President. Fantastic. And the--when you say countrywide, first,
you've got a big country. This will be promoted by the Federal
Government in cooperation with the private--with your group----
[Mr. Dimenstein made further remarks, concluding as follows.]
Mr. Dimenstein. And we've learned
that when we put people together, it's very easy to make the education
improve. One instance, we create one model, the neighborhood that I live
because I believe if you want to change the world, first try to change
your neighborhood.
The President. That's right.
[Mr. Dimenstein made further remarks.]
The President. So part of the purpose of this gathering is to
analyze best practices. And by that I mean, what works.
Gilberto has just described a program
that works, and, hopefully, somebody will be inspired by this idea and
try it out in another part of our neighborhood.
And so I appreciate you coming. Thanks for bring something that----
Mr. Dimenstein. Thank you very much
for the invitation.
The President. You're not only a social entrepreneur, you're an
educational entrepreneur. And we appreciate your vision and your hard
work to make your country a better place.
An individual can make a significant difference in the life--in
somebody else's life. And when you can motivate and encourage millions
of individuals to make a difference in somebody's life, then the impact
becomes pretty profound. And here's an example of one fellow who is
working hard to improve his country. Thanks for coming.
Dr. Marie. How are you, doc?
Marie Marcelle Deschamps. I'm doing
fine, thank you. It's an honor to be here.
The President. What kind of doctor are you?
[Dr. Deschamps, technical director, Haitian Study Group on Kaposi's
Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections, made brief remarks.]
The President. So she's from Haiti,
obviously. She's a doc. She's deeply concerned about HIV/AIDS and
malaria.
You know, our Government and the people--the generosity of the
Americans, American people can be--as manifested by
[[Page 924]]
just money, spending money. Up to now we have talked about how American
citizens spend time and effort to help improve lives. We also spend
money. And this is an area where I feel very strongly that America
should be involved and make a difference, and that is fighting the
pandemic of HIV/AIDS and dealing with malaria.
And so to this end, I'm asking Congress for $30 billion expenditure
over the next 5 years. She mentioned
PEPFAR. That's, like, initials for the AIDS initiative, and we're making
a big difference.
The reason I bring this up again is that--I'm not bragging, I'm just
telling the American taxpayer that through your hard work and your tax
dollars, we're helping programs like Maria's
that are saving lives. We can measure the lives being saved. We can
measure the amount of antiretroviral drugs ending up in people's
systems. We can measure how many different groups there are involved.
This is an area, for example, where the faith-based community has made a
significant difference, not only in our own hemisphere but in other
affected countries as well.
Maria mentioned that it's amazing what
happens when they start networking; when one group attracts another
group, that attracts another group, and all of a sudden, there's a
grassroots organization in place to deal with this terrible pandemic.
And so I want to thank you for going back to your country, for
lending your skills to help solve a significant problem that can be--
that at least we can arrest the race. At least we can help--and we save
children through the mother-to-child transmission--programs that prevent
that transmission of AIDS.
So good going.
Dr. Deschamps. Thank you. Thank
you.
The President. Yes. You upbeat? You feeling all right about things?
[Dr. Deschamps made further remarks.]
The President. That's one thing that Secretary Paulson's going to discuss in the break-out session that
he is going to be leading, and that is, our view of the importance of
microloans--microcredit as a way to help people, again, help themselves
and realize their potential. So thanks for coming.
Dr. Deschamps. Thank you.
The President. Glad you're here.
Dr. Deschamps. Thank you.
The President. Our last panelist is John Howe, formerly of the great State of Texas. Once a Texan,
always a Texan, John. [Laughter] He is the president and CEO of Project
HOPE. Why don't you explain what that is and tell us what you're doing.
[John P. Howe III, made brief remarks, concluding as follows.]
Dr. Howe. We're legally chartered here
in Washington as the People-to-People Foundation, doing business as
Project HOPE.
The President. Good.
[Dr. Howe made further remarks.]
The President. Thanks, John. You know,
it's interesting, our country has got certain images that--some are
true, some aren't true. And it's very important, as part of our
diplomacy--diplomatic effort on behalf of the American citizens, to
remind people about some of the great generous acts that our citizens
are doing. And they do it out of the goodness of their hearts. There's
nothing better than being a volunteer. It's probably one of the great
acts of kindness that somebody can do, is to volunteer to save
somebody's life or just to add a little love in somebody's heart.
And we've got millions of our citizens who do that on a daily basis
here at home. And it's in our interest that citizens who so want to can
do that outside, in our neighborhood. And part of the purpose of having
this gathering today is to remind our citizens of that which we're doing
and to call upon our citizens, if they've got
[[Page 925]]
time, to help somebody in need. As you said, the doctor from Wyoming
benefited just as much as the woman in Guatemala did. And that's the
beauty of giving.
And so I thank you all for joining today. Our panelists did a
magnificent job, like I knew they would. I thank you all very much for
your interest in coming. To my fellow citizens, I appreciate you taking
time. I appreciate you being involved. Thank you for caring about the
plight of our fellow human beings in the neighborhood in which we live.
For those of you from other countries, welcome to America. You'll find
this to be a loving country, full of decent, caring, fine people. And it
is an honor to be the President of such a country.
Que Dios les bendiga. May God bless you. Thank you.
Note: The President spoke at 10:30 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency Crystal
City at Reagan National Airport. In his remarks, he referred to Mariano
Canu, cofounder, Labradores Mayas; and President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva of Brazil. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a
Spanish language transcript of these remarks.