    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 38 (Monday, September 25, 2006)]
    [Pages 1629-1632]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks at the White House Conference on Global Literacy in New York
    City

    September 18, 2006

        Thank you all. Thank you for attending this important conference. I
    look around the room and see some familiar faces--my mother. [Laughter]
    How are you doing? It's good to see you; my mother-in-law. [Laughter]
    Both of these ladies have instilled a great passion for literacy not
    only in Laura and me but for others around our country. Thank you all
    for coming. Laura, thank you for your leadership.
        Laura believes strongly in the power of literacy to change
    societies, and that's really what we're here to talk about. The capacity
    of--the simple act of teaching a child to read or an adult to read has
    the capacity to transform nations and yield the peace we all want.
        So I want to thank you for being here. I particularly want to thank
    the First Ladies who are here and the ministers from different
    Governments around the world. We're really proud you've taken time to
    join us here today.
        As you probably can tell, our Government takes this initiative
    seriously. After all, we've got the Secretary of State, Condoleezza
    Rice, and the Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, both here. It
    should say to people loud and clear that when you combine the resources
    of the Department of Education and the State Department, that we're
    serious about helping global literacy. And then we've added Randy
    Tobias, who's the head of USAID. He's the fellow who's got the
    responsibility of handing out some money--[laughter]--which is what
    we're doing, because we believe strongly in this initiative. So I want
    to thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to send a
    clear message to folks.
        I want to thank Mr. Matsuura of UNESCO. Thank you very much for
    serving. Thanks for leading this vital organization. We

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    want to work with you. And I see you're sitting next to one of my great
    friends--the Ambassador, Karen Hughes, is here as well.
        I want to thank Paul LeClerc of the--of this fantastic library.
    Isn't this a wonderful place to meet? Obviously, it makes sense to meet
    in a library if you're going to talk about literacy. It's really one of
    the most special spots here in New York. And I also want to thank Catie
    Marron for allowing us to use this facility. She's the chairman of the
    board, and Paul, of course, is the president and CEO of the New York
    Public Library.
        I want to thank those who have participated in panels. I had the
    honor of meeting some of the panelists and the panel leaders. I met
    Gerri Elliott, who is a corporate vice president of Microsoft. The
    reason I bring up Gerri Elliott is because, in America we believe that
    there is a combined responsibility to help. We believe government has
    got a vital role, but we also believe corporate America and our citizens
    have got a vital role to play in helping others benefit from learning
    how to read. And so I want to thank Gerri for setting such a good
    example.
        I call upon others in our country to understand the importance of
    this initiative and to step forth. After all, a literacy initiative will
    help spread prosperity and peace. And that's really why we're here at
    the UNGA. I've been looking forward to coming here. As you know, it's an
    annual event. Every year, I get to come. It gives me a chance to meet
    with fellow leaders, and it gives me a chance to clearly explain, the
    goals of this country are to help those who feel hopeless; the goals of
    this country are to spread liberty; the goals of this country is to
    enhance prosperity and peace.
        You can't have prosperity unless people can read. It's just as
    simple as that. You know, one of things that we have committed ourselves
    to in America is to help eradicate persistent poverty. But there is a
    direct link between illiteracy and persistent poverty. Oftentimes when
    we're talking about prosperity and helping this world become a more
    prosperous place, we tend to focus only on trade. And no question, good
    trade agreements and tearing down the barriers that prevent the free
    flow of goods will help enhance prosperity. But you can't be a
    prosperous nation if you don't have people who can read.
        I mean, think about it; it's pretty clear--in order to be an
    informed consumer, you have to read. In order to be able to take
    advantages of jobs that may come to your country as a result of
    expanding economic opportunity, you've got to read. In order to be a
    productive worker, you have to be able to read the manual. And so part
    of this initiative, part of the practical application of this initiative
    is to encourage prosperity by enhancing people's capacity to read. And I
    want to thank you for your focus on that important issue.
        I also strongly believe that those of us who have the benefits of
    living in free society must help others realize the benefits of liberty.
    I believe that. I believe that's part of America's responsibility in the
    world. I realize we can't impose our vision of government, nor should we
    try. But we believe here in America in the universality of freedom. We
    don't believe freedom belongs only to the United States of America; we
    believe that liberty is universal in its applications. We also believe
    strongly that as the world becomes more free, we'll see peace. That's
    what we believe. And we're going to act on those beliefs.
        But one thing that's for certain: It is very hard to have free
    societies if the citizens cannot read. Think about that. It's much
    harder for a society to realize the universal blessings of liberty if
    your citizens can't read the newspaper in order to be able to make
    informed choices and decisions about what may be taking place in a
    country. You can't realize the blessings of liberty if you can't read a
    ballot or if you can't read what others are saying about the future of
    your country.
        I am deeply concerned about the spread of radicalism, and I know you
    are as well. We long for the days when people don't feel comfortable or
    empowered to take innocent life to achieve an objective. One reason
    radicals are able to recruit young men, for example, to become suicide
    bombers is because of hopelessness. One way to defeat hopelessness is
    through literacy, is to giving people the fantastic hope that comes by
    being able to read and realize dreams.
        So this literacy initiative is vital as far as the United States of
    America is concerned,

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    and we want to help. That's what I'm here to say. I want to thank you
    for being here, and let you know that we want to lend our help.
        I know Laura talked about our initiative on the continent of Africa.
    It is a firm, real, dedicated commitment to helping folks become
    literate. We share--we have that same sense of commitment in more places
    than Africa. I mean, for example, in our own neighborhood, we are deeply
    concerned about illiteracy, and we believe it's in our national interest
    to help folks become literate in Central and South America.
        One of the most, I guess, heartwarming literacy initiatives that I
    have witnessed as President was the Women's Teacher Training Institute
    in Kabul. I know there's some people from Afghanistan here, and I want
    to thank you for your courage and your bravery. I don't know if you know
    what the institute has been doing, but think back to the days prior to
    liberation when women really weren't let out of the house; young girls
    couldn't go to school. There was an underground teacher movement because
    of the great passion teachers feel for their students. And so after the
    liberation of the country, we have worked with that institute to teach
    trainers--teach teachers how to teach, in the knowledge that when they
    leave the institute, they'll then go to their village.
        It's kind of this cascading movement of skill so that people can
    fulfill their compassion, fulfill their dreams about a more literate
    Afghanistan. This young democracy will survive. And one of the reasons
    it will survive is because of the committed effort by a lot of folks,
    not just the United States but by people around the world, to help the
    brave educational entrepreneurs that recognize hope and peace come about
    as a result of education.
        We--a lot of times you hear a lot of words--people are pretty good
    talkers in this society of ours. People step up and make promises and,
    kind of, flowery statements. I want it to be said that our Government is
    doing more than just talking, that our Government is willing to act.
    We've doubled the development assistance since I've been the President.
    We have set forth what's called the Millennium Challenge Account. We
    said we were going to help people, particularly those who fight
    corruption, those who believe in markets, but equally important, those
    who invest in the education and health of their citizens.

        We believe strongly that this world must confront the pandemic of
    HIV/AIDS and believe that to whom much is given, much is required in
    order to solve disease and poverty--a lot of it brought about because--a
    lot of that poverty brought about because of illiteracy.

        And so one thing I'd like for you to take away from today is, one,
    we're committed. We believe that the United States of America must not
    isolate ourselves from the problems of the world. We believe we have an
    opportunity to help you solve problems of the world.

        There is nothing more hopeful, there's no greater gift than to teach
    a person to read. When I was the Governor of Texas, I remember an
    African American woman walking up to me, and we were talking about the
    importance of teaching every child to read--not just a few, but every
    child to read. We believe in America that reading shouldn't be the right
    of just a few people; it ought to be--it's universal as well. And the
    woman walked up to me, and she said, ``Mr. Governor,'' she said, ``I
    want you to understand how people in my community feel.'' She said,
    ``Reading is the new civil right.'' I feel the same way about global
    literacy. Reading will yield the peace we want.

        So thanks for coming. God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:10 p.m. at the New York Public Library.
    In his remarks, he referred to Koichiro Matsuura, director-general,
    United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The
    transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included
    the remarks of the First Lady, who introduced the President. The Office
    of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of
    these remarks.

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