[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 29 (Monday, July 21, 2003)]
[Pages 910-913]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Leon H. Sullivan Summit in Abuja

July 12, 2003

    Thank you all. Thank you very much. Thanks a lot. Please be seated--
please. J.C., thank you for that warm introduction. I thought you might 
have lost your touch--[laughter]--as a retired Member of Congress, but 
you didn't. I'm proud to be introduced by my friend. And I want to thank 
you all very much for such a warm welcome.
    This the last day of our journey through Africa. And each of us is 
drawn to this summit by the vision of the late Leon Sullivan. And I'm so 
honored to be in the presence of Mrs. Grace Sullivan. It's great to see 
you again, Mrs. Sullivan.

[[Page 911]]

    We believe that relationship between America and Africa will benefit 
both our people. Work of the summit to promote commerce and 
understanding across the Atlantic is important work, and I'm determined 
that the American Government will do its part. We will help nations on 
this continent to achieve greater health and education and trade with 
the world. Working together, we can help make this a decade of rising 
prosperity and expanding peace across Africa.
    We've got a great visit here, thanks to the hospitality of the 
President, my friend. Mr. President, thank you for your friendship. 
Thank you for your leadership. I appreciate the President's leadership 
on crucial issues. I particularly appreciate the fact that he's willing 
to confront the HIV/AIDS epidemic head on, with an honest approach.
    Madam First Lady, thank you very much for your hospitality, as well. 
Laura and I have enjoyed getting to be with you. I thank the Vice 
President and all the members of the Government who are here.
    I'm particularly pleased to be traveling with such good company in 
Colin Powell and Condi Rice and Andy Card and other members of my 
administration. I want to thank Congressman William Jefferson from the 
State of Louisiana for being here. And I understand that Rodney Slater 
is here as well. Rodney, thank you for coming. Rodney, good to see you.
    I appreciate so much the Sullivan Summit leadership: Hope Sullivan 
and Carl Masters and, of course, one the great public servants in 
America--America's history, Andy Young. Thank you all.
    Dave O'Reilly understands the definition of corporate 
responsibility, and I appreciate the leadership of Dave and Chevron. 
Their job is not only to make a return for their shareholders; their job 
is to show compassion as well. And I appreciate your leadership, Dave.
    I'm especially thankful to all the citizens of Nigeria for such a 
warm welcome, such gracious hospitality. Nigeria is a nation of great 
diversity and great promise. My country deeply appreciates the 
friendship of Nigeria.
    This has been a wonderful week for Laura and me. We have seen the 
rich culture and resources of Africa as well as the continuing 
challenges of Africa. We have met really fine people. I have confidence 
in Africa's future because I believe in the goodness and the compassion 
and the enterprise of the men and women on this continent. With greater 
opportunity, the peoples of Africa will build their own future of hope. 
And the United States will help this vast continent of possibilities to 
reach its full potential.
    I began my trip in Senegal, where I met with President Wade and 
seven other leaders of West Africa. These leaders are committed to the 
spread of democratic institution and democratic values throughout 
Africa. Yet those institutions and values are threatened in some parts 
of Africa by terrorism and chaos and civil war. To extend liberty on 
this continent, we must build security and peace on this continent.
    Several African governments face particular dangers from terrorists, 
and the United States is working closely with those nations to fight 
terror, and we will do more. I proposed a new $100-million initiative to 
help those governments in east Africa protect their people and to fight 
terrorist networks. The United States is also supporting the efforts of 
good friends all across this continent, friends such as Mauritania. We 
will not allow terrorists to threaten African peoples or to use Africa 
as a base to threaten the world.
    America is also committed to helping end Africa's regional wars, 
including those in Sudan and Congo, the Ivory Coast, and Liberia. In 
Liberia, the United States strongly supports the cease-fire that was 
signed last month. President Taylor needs to leave Liberia so that his 
country can be spared further grief and bloodshed.
    In Dakar this week, I met with President Kufuor of Ghana. He also 
leads ECOWAS. I assured him the United States will work closely and in 
concert with the United Nations and ECOWAS to maintain the cease-fire 
and to allow a peaceful transfer of power.
    This week, I've also seen the dedicated efforts of Africans who are 
fighting hunger and famine, illiteracy, and a deadly preventable 
disease. At the TASO clinic in Entebbe and here at the National 
Hospital, I saw the heroic efforts of African doctors and nurses and 
volunteers who are devoted to saving and extending lives. I also heard 
from men and

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women who are living with AIDS and continue to lead productive and 
hopeful lives. The progress we are already seeing in parts of Africa is 
proof that AIDS can be defeated in Africa.
    The people of Africa are fighting HIV/AIDS with courage. And I'm 
here to say, you will not be alone in your fight. In May, I signed a 
bill that authorizes $15 billion for the global fight on AIDS. This 
week, a committee of the House of Representatives took an important step 
to fund the first year of the authorization bill, and the Senate is 
beginning to take up debate. The House of Representatives and the United 
States Senate must fully fund this initiative for the good of the people 
on this continent of Africa.
    On this journey, I've also seen the economic potential of Africa. 
Botswana is a model of economic reform and has one of the highest 
sustained economic growth rates in the world. Yet, far too many Africans 
still live in poverty. And providing effective and promoting--providing 
effective aid, promoting free markets and the rule of law, and 
encouraging greater trade, we will help millions of Africans find more 
opportunity and a chance for better life.
    To be effective, development aid requires progrowth policies and 
strong reforms in the nations that receive the aid. The Millennium 
Challenge Account I have proposed would direct resources to countries 
with governments that rule justly, root out corruption, encourage 
entrepreneurship, and invest in the health and education of their 
people.
    Countries making these changes will gain more help from America. 
They will gain more foreign investment, more trade, and more jobs. And I 
call upon the United States Congress to finalize the MCA legislation and 
to fully fund the first year of this initiative.
    One specific obstacle to development in many countries is the lack 
of access to capital. Many Africans find it impossible to get a loan for 
a business or a home, and this makes it far difficult for people to 
build equity or to borrow money to start a business. The United States 
has some of the most effective mortgage markets in the world. We 
understand the flow of capital, and we want to share this knowledge with 
the nations of Africa.
    So I've asked Secretary of the Treasury John Snow to work with 
experts in America and Africa and with financial institutions like 
Fannie Mae and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation to help 
strengthen and broaden capital markets on this continent. With the 
ability to borrow money to buy homes and start businesses, more Africans 
will have the tools to achieve their dreams.
    My travels this week underscore the critical importance of trade to 
the economic future of Africa. Open trade has proven its ability to 
increase the standards of living and to create new jobs and to encourage 
the habits of freedom and enterprise.
    In Botswana, I visited one of our new Hubs for Global 
Competitiveness that is helping African businesses sell their products 
into the United States and on global markets. I have seen--and I know 
you have seen--how the African Growth and Opportunity Act, AGOA, is 
bringing jobs and investment and opportunity to sub-Sahara Africa. And 
to help give businesses the confidence to make long-term investments in 
Africa, Congress must extend AGOA beyond 2008.
    Our Nation will work to complete a free trade agreement with the 
nations of the Southern African Customs Union to create new 
opportunities for farmers and workers and entrepreneurs all across 
Africa. To achieve our goals of a more peaceful, hopeful, and prosperous 
Africa, we need a partnership of our governments. We also need 
partnerships among our people, our businessmen and doctors and bankers 
and teachers and clergy. These are the kinds of bridges that Leon 
Sullivan dedicated his life to building. And you're continuing that good 
work, and I thank you for that.
    Eight years ago at the Sullivan Summit, delegates launched the 
MedHelp Foundation, which is training and equipping physicians in 
Senegal. This foundation has also assembled a team of American medical 
professionals in Senegal that has conducted more than 150 operations, 
including 88 open-heart surgeries.
    Another group established by Reverend Sullivan is the International 
Foundation For Education and Self-Help. Over the past 10 years, the 
foundation has helped build more than 182 rural schools in Africa, 
placed 820

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American teachers in African schools. Today I'm pleased to announce that 
the United States Agency for International Development will give a new 
$5-million grant to the foundation, resources that will help send 90 
American teachers to Africa to train more than 14,000 African educators. 
In these and many other ways, you are doing more than fulfilling the 
dreams of one man; you're helping to unlock the potential of an entire 
continent.
    At Goree Island earlier this week, I spoke of how the struggles of 
African Americans against the injustices of slavery and segregation 
helped to redeem the promise of America's founding. Today, you are 
carrying the same passion for liberty and justice from America to 
Africa. Americans believe that people in every culture and in every land 
have the right to live in freedom and deserve the chance to improve 
their lives. And we know that the people of Africa, when given their 
rights and given their chance, will achieve great things on this 
continent of possibilities.
    May God bless Africa, and may God continue to bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 1:35 p.m. at Congress Hall. In his remarks, 
he referred to former Representative J.C. Watts; Rev. Leon H. Sullivan's 
wife, Grace Sullivan, and daughter, Hope L. Sullivan, summit president; 
Andrew J. Young, summit chairman; Carl Masters, summit vice chairman; 
President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and his wife, Stella; Vice 
President Atiku Abubakar of Nigeria; Rodney Slater, board member, Leon 
H. Sullivan Foundation; David J. O'Reilly, chairman of the board and 
chief executive officer, ChevronTexaco Corp., summit corporate sponsor; 
President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal; President Charles Taylor of 
Liberia; and President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana.