[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 12 (Monday, March 25, 2002)]
[Pages 483-485]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the United Nations Financing for Development Conference in 
Monterrey, Mexico

March 22, 2002

    Good morning. We meet at a moment of new hope in an age-old 
struggle, the battle against world poverty. I'm honored to be with so 
many distinguished leaders who are committed to this cause. I'm here 
today to reaffirm the commitment of the United States to bring hope and 
opportunity to the world's poorest people and to call for a new compact 
for development defined by greater accountability for rich and poor 
nations alike.
    I want to thank Vicente Fox, el Presidente de Mexico, and the people 
of Monterrey for such grand hospitality. I want to thank Kofi Annan for 
his steadfast leadership. And I want to thank the distinguished leaders 
who are here for your hospitality as well.
    Many here today have devoted their lives to the fight against global 
poverty, and you know the stakes. We fight against poverty because hope 
is an answer to terror. We fight against poverty because opportunity is 
a fundamental right to human dignity. We fight against poverty because 
faith requires it and conscience demands it. And we fight against 
poverty with a growing conviction that major progress is within our 
reach.
    Yet, this progress will require change. For decades, the success of 
development aid was measured only in the resources spent, not the 
results achieved. Yet, pouring money into a failed status quo does 
little to help the poor and can actually delay the progress of reform. 
We must accept a higher, more difficult, more promising call. Developed 
nations have a duty not only to share our wealth but also to encourage 
sources that produce wealth: economic freedom, political liberty, the 
rule of law, and human rights.
    The lesson of our time is clear: When nations close their markets 
and opportunity is horded by a privileged few, no amount--no amount--of 
development aid is ever enough. When nations respect their people, open 
markets, invest in better health and education, every dollar of aid, 
every dollar of trade revenue and domestic capital is used more 
effectively. We must tie greater aid to political and legal and economic 
reforms. And by insisting on reform, we do the work of compassion.
    The United States will lead by example. I have proposed a 50-percent 
increase in our core development assistance over the next 3 budget 
years. Eventually, this will mean a $5 billion annual increase over 
current levels. These new funds will go into a new Millennium Challenge 
Account, devoted to projects in nations that govern justly, invest in 
their people, and encourage economic freedom. We will promote 
development from the bottom up, helping citizens find the tools and 
training and technologies to seize the opportunities of the global 
economy.
    I've asked Secretary of State Powell, Secretary of Treasury O'Neill 
to reach out to the world community to develop clear and

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concrete objective criterion for the Millennium Challenge Account. We'll 
apply these criterion fairly and rigorously.
    And to jump-start this initiative, I'll work with the United States 
Congress to make resources available over the 12 months for qualifying 
countries. Many developing nations are already working hard on the 
road--and they're on the road of reform and bringing benefits to their 
people. The new compact for development will reward these nations and 
encourage others to follow their example.
    The goal of our development aid will be for nations to grow and 
prosper beyond the need for any aid. When nations adopt reforms, each 
dollar of aid attracts $2 of private investments. When aid is linked to 
good policy, 4 times as many people are lifted out of poverty compared 
to old aid practices.
    All of us here must focus on real benefits to the poor, instead of 
debating arbitrary levels of inputs from the rich. We should invest in 
better health and build on our efforts to fight AIDS, which threatens to 
undermine whole societies. We should give more of our aid in the form of 
grants, rather than loans that can never be repaid.
    The work of development is much broader than development aid. The 
vast majority of financing for development comes not from aid but from 
trade and domestic capital and foreign investment. Developing countries 
receive approximately $50 billion every year in aid. That is compared to 
foreign investment of almost $200 billion in annual earnings from 
exports of $2.4 trillion. So to be serious about fighting poverty, we 
must be serious about expanding trade.
    Trade helped nations as diverse as South Korea and Chile and China 
to replace despair with opportunity for millions of their citizens. 
Trade brings new technology, new ideas, and new habits, and trade brings 
expectations of freedom. And greater access to the markets of wealthy 
countries has a direct and immediate impact on the economies of 
developing nations. As one example, in a single year the African Growth 
and Opportunity Act has increased African exports to the United States 
by more than 1,000 percent, generated nearly $1 billion in investment, 
and created thousands of jobs.
    Yet, we have much more to do. Developing nations need greater access 
to markets of wealthy nations. And we must bring down the high trade 
barriers between developing nations, themselves. The global trade 
negotiations launched in Doha confront these challenges. The success of 
these negotiations will bring greater prosperity to rich and middle-
income and poor nations alike. By one estimate, a new global trade pact 
could lift 300 million lives out of poverty. When trade advances, 
there's no question but the fact that poverty retreats.
    The task of development is urgent and difficult. Yet, the way is 
clear. As we plan and act, we must remember the true source of economic 
progress is the creativity of human beings. Nations' most vital natural 
resources are found in the minds and skills and enterprise of their 
citizens. The greatness of a society is achieved by unleashing the 
greatness of its people. The poor of the world need resources to meet 
their needs, and like all people, they deserve institutions that 
encourage their dreams.
    All people deserve governments instituted by their own consent; 
legal systems that spread opportunity, instead of protecting the narrow 
interests of a few; and the economic systems that respect their ambition 
and reward efforts of the people. Liberty and law and opportunity are 
the conditions for development, and they are the common hopes of 
mankind.
    The spirit of enterprise is not limited by geography or religion or 
history. Men and women were made for freedom, and prosperity comes as 
freedom triumphs. And that is why the United States of America is 
leading the fight for freedom from terror.
    We thank our friends and neighbors throughout the world for helping 
in this great cause. History has called us to a titanic struggle, whose 
stakes could not be higher because we're fighting for freedom, itself. 
We're pursuing great and worthy goals to make the world safer and, as we 
do, to make it better. We will challenge the poverty and hopelessness 
and lack of education and failed governments that too often allow 
conditions that terrorists can seize and try to turn to their advantage.

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    Our new approach for development places responsibility on developing 
nations and on all nations. We must build the institutions of freedom, 
not subsidize the failures of the past. We must do more than just feel 
good about what we are doing; we must do good. By taking the side of 
liberty and good government, we will liberate millions from poverty's 
prison. We'll help defeat despair and resentment. We'll draw whole 
nations into an expanding circle of opportunity and enterprise. We'll 
gain true partners in development and add a hopeful new chapter to the 
history of our times.
    May God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 9:35 a.m. at the Cintermex Convention 
Center. In his remarks, he referred to Secretary-General Kofi Annan of 
the United Nations.