[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 20 (Monday, May 17, 2004)]
[Pages 847-849]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Ceremony Honoring the Millennium Challenge Account Nations

May 10, 2004

    Thank you all for coming. Please be seated. Welcome. Thanks for 
coming to the White House.
    Two years ago, I announced a new and hopeful approach in America's 
aid to developing nations. Under this approach, America has pledged to 
increase development assistance by 50 percent over 3 years. To make sure 
that governments make the right choices for their people, we link new 
aid to clear standards of economic, political, and social reform. We 
invited governments in developing nations to meet those standards so 
that they may truly serve their people.
    America formed the Millennium Challenge Corporation to oversee this 
new program. Last week, the first group of Millennium Challenge Account 
nations was selected. I congratulate representatives with us today from 
Armenia, Benin, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Georgia, Ghana, Honduras, Lesotho, 
Madagascar, Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Senegal, Sri Lanka, 
and Vanuatu. You have chosen the path of reform, and your people and 
your nations are better off as a result of the decisions your 
governments have made.
    I want to thank the Secretary of State for leading this effort. He 
is the chairman of the board of the new Corporation. I appreciate other 
board members who are with us: Secretary John Snow, the Secretary of the 
Treasury; Ambassador Bob Zoellick, the United States Trade 
Representative; Andrew Natsios, the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for 
International Development; and Paul Applegarth, who is the CEO of the 
Millennium Challenge Corporation.

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    Mr. Chairman, thank you for taking on this important assignment.
    I want to welcome the ambassadors and representatives from the 16 
Millennium Challenge Account nations. We are glad you're here. 
Congratulations.
    I want to thank the Members of Congress who are here. Two members 
have come today, one from the Senate and one from the House, who have 
been very instrumental in making sure the Millennium Challenge Account 
passed through both bodies. First, Senator Dick Lugar, who is the 
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Mr. Chairman, 
Senator Lugar is a clear visionary when it comes to U.S. aid. I 
appreciate you being here, Senator. Thank you for coming--as well as 
Congressman Tom Lantos, the ranking member. I see you brought Annette 
with you. Thank you for doing so. We're proud you both are here. 
Congressman Lantos, do me a favor. When you see Jim Kolbe, who is not 
with us today, thank him for working so hard to make sure that the House 
appropriations process honored our request for the Millennium Challenge 
Account. But at any rate, I'm glad you're here. You guys are great 
leaders for--to help America spread our vision of freedom and peace and 
decency for every human being.
    In many nations, poverty remains chronic and desperate. Half the 
world's people still live on less than $2 a day. This divide between 
wealth and poverty, between opportunity and misery, is far more than a 
challenge to our compassion. Persistent poverty and oppression can 
spread despair across an entire nation, and they can turn nations of 
great potential into the recruiting grounds of terrorists. The powerful 
combination of trade and open markets and good government is history's 
proven method to defeat poverty on a large scale, to vastly improve 
health and education, to build a modern infrastructure while 
safeguarding the environment, and to spread the habits of liberty and 
enterprise.
    The Millennium Challenge Account encourages all nations to embrace 
political and economic reform. The United States has pledged to increase 
its core development assistance by half, adding $5 billion annually by 
2006. To be eligible for this new money, nations must root out 
corruption, respect human rights, and adhere to the rule of law. They 
must invest in their people by improving their health care systems and 
their schools. They must unleash the energy and creativity necessary for 
economic growth by opening up their markets, removing barriers to 
entrepreneurship, and reducing excessive bureaucracy and regulation.
    The 16 nations represented here today have done all this and more. 
Each has worked hard to be here today, and their efforts are already 
yielding results. For example, Madagascar is aggressively fighting 
corruption. The Ministry of Justice has suspended a dozen magistrates on 
suspicion of corrupt activity. The Government is also implementing an 
ambitious program of judicial reform. Senegal, Africa's longest standing 
democracy, has also enacted new anticorruption laws, and is implementing 
new measures to fight money-laundering. Honduras has made the 
improvement of education and health services a top priority. Its 
immunization rate of 96 percent is among the highest of all eligible 
countries.
    The new Government of Georgia has doubled its investment in health 
care and raised teacher salaries by two-thirds. Mozambique has curbed 
Government spending and lowered tariffs. These and other reforms have 
resulted in double-digit growth rates over the last decade. Since 
launching its program of economic reform in 2002, Sri Lanka has reduced 
its budget deficit by a third and cut inflation by half. Other nations 
represented here can point with pride to similar examples of progress.
    Yet funding is not guaranteed for any selected country. To be 
awarded a grant, nations must develop proposals explaining how they will 
further address the needs of their people and increase economic growth, 
proposals that set clear goals and measurable benchmarks.
    The countries selected today represent a small fraction of those 
struggling to emerge from poverty and establish reform. I urge all 
nations of the world to follow the progressive standards of governing 
justly, investing in people, and encouraging economic freedom.
    Reform can bring more aid from America, and it will also bring more 
investment and more trade, lessening the need for aid over

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time. Reform will be repaid many times over in the relief of poverty and 
rising national wealth and stability for their countries.
    The 16 chosen in this round are showing the way, are showing what is 
possible, are serving as a bright light in the developing world. You 
have taken the first courageous steps toward greater independence and 
greater wealth and greater hopes for the people you serve.
    I want to thank you all for being here. I congratulate you on your 
work. And may God bless your countries and the people in the countries. 
Thank you for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 9:35 a.m. in the East Room at the White 
House.