[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
[July 9, 2008]
[Pages 1005-1007]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks to the White House Press Pool in Toyako
July 9, 2008
G-8 Summit and Major Economies Leaders Meeting
Thank you all very much. We've just finished our meetings here in
Japan. I would call them very productive.
Our goal was to make progress in five key areas: confronting climate
change, reinforcing our commitment to a successful Doha agreement,
fighting disease in Africa, ensuring that the G-8 nations are
accountable for their commitments, and addressing the challenges of high
food and energy prices. I'm pleased to report that we've had significant
success in all of them.
On climate change, I want to thank the Prime Minister for hosting today's meeting of leaders from the world's
major economies. In order to address climate change, all major economies
must be at the table. And that's what took place today. The
G-8 expressed our desire to have a significant reduction in greenhouse
gases by 2050. We made it clear and the other nations agreed that they
must also participate in an ambitious goal, with interim goals and
interim plans, to enable the world to successfully address climate
change. And we made progress, significant progress, toward a
comprehensive approach.
One way to meet objectives is to invest in technology, both at the
national and international levels, both through the private and public
sectors. And the United States, Japan, and United Kingdom launched
what's called a clean technology fund, and we hope Congress funds that
effort. It's a way to help developing nations afford the technologies so
that they can become good stewards of the environment.
We're also taking steps to promote clean technologies by cooperating
on research and development. You know, I firmly believe that we can
become less dependent on oil through new technology, and obviously,
we're going to have to spend some money on research and development to
be able to achieve that objective.
On other matters, the G-8 leaders emphasized the critical importance
of concluding a Doha round. We want the world to trade freely. We want
to make sure markets are open for agricultural goods and
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manufacturing goods and services. We also recognize that the best way to
help alleviate poverty is through trade. And so we had good discussions
over the past couple of days about successfully completing the Doha
round by the end of this year.
We also made some progress on alleviating sickness in Africa. The G-
8 committed $60 billion over 5 years to fight HIV/AIDS and other
diseases. I'm also pleased to report the G-8 leaders pledged to provide
100 million long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets by 2010 to help
deal with malaria. As you know, the United States has been in the
forefront of trying to help nations eradicate malaria, and the G-8
nations stepped forward to support our efforts. And I appreciate that
very much.
We also committed to--with partner nations in Africa to train new
health care workers--can't solve health care problems unless there's
health care workers on the ground. And the United States is involved
with that. And finally, we are working to expand our efforts to treat
key neglected tropical diseases, with the goal of reaching 75 percent of
victims in the most affected countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin
America within 5 years. In other words, we had a comprehensive agenda on
helping those who are being affected by disease live healthy lives.
I've always believed, to whom much is given, much is required. The
nations sitting around the table have got much, and I think we're
required to help those who don't. Pledges are important. Those have
been--you know, oftentimes in the political process people talk big, but
they never follow up. And so one of the key ingredients of these recent
meetings was all of us need to be reminded that when we say we're going
to do something, we got to do it. And so accountability is an important
part of fulfilling our obligations.
We agreed to release detailed reports on our progress in meeting the
commitments, breaking down our efforts, country by country, disease by
disease. This, of course, will help ensure the G-8 initiatives are
measurable and transparent so that we're held accountable for the
promises we make.
And finally, we agreed on steps to deal with hunger and high energy
prices. We agreed to meet short-term food needs by providing emergency
food shipments and increasing access to fertilizer and seeds and
encouraging other nations to eliminate their export restrictions. We
also agreed on steps to relieve hunger in the longer term, including
working to double production of key food staples in several African
countries, accelerating access to new agricultural technology such as
new seed varieties developed through biotechnology. We're also seeking
to increase the amount of food aid supplied by local producers. In other
words, instead of the United States just simply giving food, we ought to
be buying food from local producers so that they can develop their own
agricultural industries, so to help deal with food--world hunger.
We also agreed that on high energy prices--look, we got to deal with
both on the supply and demand. On the supply side, oil and production
refining capacity need to be increased. And the United States needs to
do its part. The Democratic leaders in Congress will not allow us to
explore for oil and gas in parts of Alaska, offshore America, and now is
the time for them to change their mind. We also--I'm firmly--believe
that we can do this kind of exploration in environmentally friendly
ways.
On the demand side, we agreed to take new steps to increase energy
efficiency, and we agreed that fuel subsidies that artificially inflate
demand should be eliminated or reduced.
In other words, this was a--you know, a lot of meetings on important
subjects, and we accomplished a lot. By protecting our environment and
resisting protectionism and fighting disease and promoting development
and improving the daily life for millions around the world, we serve
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both our interests as Americans, and we serve the interests of the
world.
We've enjoyed our stay here in Japan. I want to thank the Prime
Minister once again for his grand hospitality.
And I appreciate you all covering this summit. Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 4:22 p.m. at the Windsor Hotel Toya Resort
and Spa. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of
Japan.