[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 42 (Monday, October 23, 2000)]
[Pages 2504-2505]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Microenterprise for Self-Reliance and 
International Anti-Corruption Act of 2000

October 17, 2000

    Today I am pleased to sign into law H.R. 1143, the ``Microenterprise 
for Self-Reliance and International Anti-Corruption Act of 2000.'' The 
primary purpose of this legislation is to authorize continued and 
expanded efforts to provide assistance to the world's poorest 
entrepreneurs. The Act is the result of a long process of collaboration 
and negotiation among Members of Congress, my Administration, and the 
nonprofit microenterprise community represented by the Microenterprise 
Coalition. I congratulate all who worked on this bipartisan, public-
private effort.
    I am proud that my Administration has put microenterprise 
development and democratizing access to capital on the national and 
international agenda. When I was Governor of Arkansas, the First Lady 
and I encouraged and supported some of the first microenterprise 
programs in the United States. Thanks to the work of pioneering 
microenterprise development organizations around the world, all of us 
have come to appreciate the potential of microenterprise as means to 
empower poor people, especially women, to help themselves and their 
families.
    Microenterprise programs help self- employed entrepreneurs obtain 
loans for

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small business enterprises to begin the process of growing out of 
poverty. Without microenterprise programs administered by the Agency for 
International Development and many nongovernmental organizations, these 
poor entrepreneurs abroad would not be able to borrow the small amount 
of money needed to get their repair shops, sewing shops, or similar 
businesses, off the ground. This is not a gift to these entrepreneurs, 
it is a loan. And experience has shown that these small loans are repaid 
and, in the process, these small-scale enterprises generate income and 
jobs for poor families.
    This Act also represents a breakthrough in recognizing the value of 
business development services to the very poorest entrepreneurs. To many 
poor entrepreneurs, basic training and technical assistance in running a 
business can be as important as a loan.
    In addition, H.R. 1143 authorizes a range of programs to promote 
good governance and democratization overseas. The United States has long 
encouraged and funded programs that foster an independent media, 
establish audit offices for executive agencies, and promote judicial 
reform. This legislation contains authority to provide assistance in 
furtherance of these programs to countries that would otherwise be 
prohibited from receiving U.S. assistance. While no direct assistance to 
the governments of such countries can be provided under this authority, 
the legislation and its history make clear that assistance to such 
governments through nongovernmental organizations would be permissible.
    The Act also contains the ``Support for Overseas Cooperative 
Development Act,'' which expresses support for the development and 
expansion of U.S. economic assistance programs abroad that fully utilize 
cooperatives and credit unions. My Administration and the Congress value 
and support the direct involvement of U.S. cooperative organizations in 
transferring their knowledge to local cooperatives in countries 
overseas.
    Lastly, I note that H.R. 1143 includes the ``International Academic 
Opportunity Act of 2000,'' which authorizes the Department of State to 
establish a grant program, to be called the ``Benjamin A. Gilman 
International Scholarships.'' These scholarships will enable American 
undergraduate students of limited financial means to study abroad, and 
better prepare them to compete in an increasingly global economy.
                                            William J. Clinton
 The White House,
 October 17, 2000.

Note: H.R. 1143, approved October 17, was assigned Public Law No. 106-
309.