[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 22 (Monday, June 4, 2007)]
[Pages 706-712]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the United States Global Leadership Campaign

May 31, 2007

    Thank you all. Please be seated. Laura, thanks for that short 
introduction. [Laughter] I'm proud to be introduced by my wife. I love 
her dearly. She's a great First Lady.
    And I appreciate the chance to address the U.S. Global Leadership 
Campaign. This is a fine organization, and it's an important 
organization. It's rallying businesses and non-governmental 
organizations and faith-based and community and civic organizations 
across our country to advance a noble cause, ensuring that the United 
States leads the world in spreading hope and opportunity. It's a big 
deal, and I appreciate your participation.
    It's a big deal because your efforts are needed. Millions suffer 
from hunger and poverty and disease in this world of ours. Many nations 
lack the capacity to meet the overwhelming needs of their people. 
Alleviating this suffer requires bold action from America. It requires 
America's leadership, and it requires the action of developed nations as 
well.
    That's the message I'm going to take with me to Europe next week, 
when Laura and I go to the G-8. At that meeting I will discuss our 
common responsibility to help struggling nations grow strong and improve 
the lives of their citizens. And today I'm going to describe some of the 
initiatives that I will be discussing with world leaders next week to 
help developing nations build a better future for their people.
    Before I do so, I want to thank George Ingram, the president of the 
U.S. Global Leadership Campaign. I thank the members of my Cabinet who 
share the same passion I do for helping those less fortunate around the 
world--that would include Carlos Gutierrez, Department of Commerce; 
Secretary Mike Leavitt, Department of Health and Human Services; 
Secretary Sam Bodman at the Department of Energy; Administrator Steve 
Johnson of the EPA. Thank you all for coming. Proud to be serving with 
you.
    I am glad that the Acting Director of the U.S. Foreign Assistance 
and Acting Administrator of USAID is here, Henrietta Fore. Thanks for 
coming. I appreciate John Danilovich, who is the head of the Millennium 
Challenge Corporation; Rob Mosbacher, the head of OPIC. I appreciate 
other members of my administration who joined us today.
    I thank the members of the diplomatic corps who are here today. I 
thank the members of the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign.
    We are a compassionate nation. When Americans see suffering and know 
that our country can help stop it, they expect our Government to 
respond. I believe in the timeless truth, and so do a lot of other 
Americans, to whom much is given, much is required. We're blessed to 
live in this country. We're blessed to live in the world's most 
prosperous nation. And I believe we have a special responsibility to 
help those who are not as blessed. It is the call to share our 
prosperity with others and to reach out to brothers and sisters in need.
    We help the least fortunate across the world because our conscience 
demands it. We also recognize that helping struggling nations succeed is 
in our interest. When America helps lift societies out of poverty, we 
create new markets for goods and services and new jobs for American 
workers. Prosperity abroad can be translated to jobs here at home. It's 
in our interest that we help improve the economies of nations around the 
world.

[[Page 707]]

    When America helps reduce chaos and suffering, we make this country 
safer, because prosperous nations are less likely to feed resentment and 
breed violence and export terror. Helping poor nations find the path to 
success benefits this economy and our security, and it makes us a better 
country. It helps lift our soul and renews our spirit.
    So America is pursuing a clear strategy to bring progress and 
prosperity to struggling nations all across the world. We're working to 
increase access to trade and relieve the burden of debt. We're 
increasing our assistance to the world's poorest countries and using 
this aid to encourage reform and strengthen education and fight the 
scourge of disease. We'll work with developing nations to find ways to 
address their energy needs and the challenge of global climate change.
    Bringing progress and prosperity to struggling nations requires 
opening new opportunities for trade. Trade is the best way to help poor 
countries develop their economies and improve the lives of their people. 
When I took office, America had free trade agreements with three 
countries. Today, we have free trade agreements in force with 14 
countries, most of which are in the developing world. Three weeks ago, 
my administration and Congress agreed on a new trade policy that will be 
applied to free trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, Panama, and South 
Korea. And I look forward to working with Congress to get all these 
trade bills passed. These bills are good for our economy.
    But it's important for Members of Congress and the people of this 
country to understand, free trade is the best way to lift people out of 
poverty. And so the United States also seeks to open markets to the Doha 
round of trade negotiations. Doha represents a once-in-a-generation 
opportunity to help millions in the developing world rise from poverty 
and despair. If you're interested in helping the poor people, you ought 
to be for trade and opening up markets for their goods and services. And 
the Doha round gives us an opportunity to do just that.
    We put forward bold proposals to help conclude a successful Doha 
round. And at the G-8 summit next week, I'm going to urge other nations 
to do the same. A successful Doha round will benefit all our countries, 
and it's going to transform the world.
    I know that trade can transform lives; I've seen it firsthand. Laura 
and I were recently in Guatemala. We went to a small village and saw 
what can happen when markets are open for local entrepreneurs. In this 
case, we met some farmers who for years had struggled to survive, worked 
hard just to put food on the table for their families by growing corn 
and beans. That's all they were able to do. It's a hard way to make a 
living, growing corns and beans. When we negotiated the trade agreement 
called the CAFTA-DR, which opened up new markets for Guatemalan farmers, 
the entrepreneurial spirit came forth. There are entrepreneurs all over 
the world. If just given a chance, they can succeed.
    Today, the farmers in that village are growing high-value crops 
because they have new markets in which to sell their product. The 
business we met--the entrepreneur we met now employs 1,000 people. Trade 
will improve lives a lot faster than government aid can. It's in our 
interest that we open up markets for our products and for the products 
of others. People just want to be given a chance. And the United States 
will take the lead in making sure those markets are open for people to 
be able to realize a better life.
    Building progress and prosperity to struggling nations requires 
lifting the burden of debt from the poorest countries. That makes sense. 
It doesn't take a Ph.D. in economics to figure out, if you're paying a 
lot of money on interest, you're not having enough money to support your 
own people. In the past, many poor nations borrowed money, and they 
couldn't repay the debt. And their interest payments were huge. And 
therefore, they didn't have the opportunity to invest in education and 
health care. So the administration, my administration worked with G-8 
nations to ease the debt burden. We're not the first administration to 
have figured this out. My predecessor did the same thing because it's 
the right policy for the United States of America.
    Two years ago at Gleneagles, the G-8 nations agreed to support a 
multilateral debt relief agreement that freed poor countries of up to 
$60 billion in debt. This year, we built

[[Page 708]]

on that progress when the Inter-American Development Bank approved 
another debt relief initiative for some of the poorest nations in our 
neighborhood, in our own hemisphere. This initiative will cancel $3.4 
billion owed by five countries: Bolivia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, and 
Nicaragua. And that represents more than 12 percent of their combined 
GDP, an average of nearly $110 for every man, woman, and child in these 
countries. And this money is now free to help these nations invest in 
improving their lives of citizens. It makes sense to forgive debt. If 
you're interested in helping the poor, it makes sense for the developed 
world to forgive the debt. And that's what the United States will 
continue to do.
    Bringing progress and prosperity to struggling nations requires 
increased American assistance to countries most in need. Since I took 
office, we have more than doubled U.S. development spending across the 
world--from about $10 billion in 2000 to $23 billion in 2006. It's the 
largest increase in development assistance since the Marshall plan.
    The first 4 years of my administration, we doubled our assistance to 
Africa. At the 
G-8 summit in 2005, I promised our assistance to Africa would double 
once again by 2010. I made a promise to the people. People expect us to 
deliver on that promise, and I expect the Congress to help. We must not 
shortchange these efforts. Congress needs to approve my full funding 
request for development assistance this year. We need to get the job 
done.
    We're focusing increased American assistance for developing nations 
on three key goals. In other words, we have some goals; we're not just 
going to spend money. We have a reason to spend the money, and we expect 
there to be results when we spend that money, and so do the taxpayers of 
this country. It's one thing to be compassionate; it's another thing to 
be accountable for the money.
    First, we're going to use our aid to help developing countries build 
democratic and accountable institutions and strengthen their civil 
societies. To succeed in the global economy, nations need fair and 
transparent legal systems, need free markets that unleash the creativity 
of their citizens, need banking systems that serve people at all income 
levels, and a business climate that welcomes foreign investment and 
supports local entrepreneurs.
    The United States is helping developing nations build these and 
other free institutions through what we call the Millennium Challenge 
Account. Under this program, America makes a compact with developing 
nations. We give aid, and in return they agree to implement democratic 
reforms, to fight corruption, to invest in their people--particularly in 
health and education--and to promote economic freedom. Seems like a fair 
deal, doesn't it--taxpayers' money from the United States in return for 
the habits and procedures necessary for a solid society to develop. We 
don't want to give aid to a country where the leaders steal the money. 
We expect there to be accountability for U.S. money, and that's the 
principle behind the Millennium Challenge Account. Eleven nations have 
compacts in place worth nearly $3 billion. And now 14 additional nations 
are eligible to negotiate compacts with the Millennium Challenge 
Corporation, headed by Ambassador Danilovich.
    Let me give you an example of how this program can make a 
difference. In Madagascar, the leaders of this island nation set a goal 
in their compact to improve agricultural production. In other words, we 
work with a nation; they have set the goal; we support their goal. They 
want their farmers to be able to compete in the global marketplace. We 
agreed to help by investing in agricultural business centers that work 
with local farmers. In one village, this initiative helped a group of 
farmers who were surviving by collecting firewood and producing 
charcoal. That's how these folks were trying to get ahead. They'd find 
firewood and make charcoal out of it and hope they could find a market. 
It's a tough way to make a living in a modern world.
    The business center that the compact established helped the farmers 
work together to identify a new product, a natural oil used in skin care 
products. I probably could use some of that myself here. [Laughter] The 
center helped these farmers develop--helped them to develop a business 
plan. They acquired financing to set up a distilling plant.

[[Page 709]]

They built relationships with buyers in their nation's capital.
    Before America and Madagascar signed our compact, a typical farmer 
in this village could earn about $5 a week selling charcoal. After 2 
months of bringing the new product to the market, the livelihood of 
these farmers increased. One farmer was able to raise his income enough 
to save about $500, money he plans to use for a child's education.
    We're going to help encourage African entrepreneurs in other ways as 
well. Today I'm announcing a new project called Africa Financial Sector 
Initiative. Through this initiative, we'll provide technical assistance 
to help African nations strengthen their financial markets. The U.S. 
Overseas Private Investment Corps, OPIC, headed by Rob Mosbacher, will 
work with the financial community to create several new private equity 
funds that will mobilize up to a billion dollars of additional private 
investment in Africa.
    If you're interested in job creation, there's got to be capital 
available. It's in our interest that we help provide capital to African 
entrepreneurs. We want them to find access to capital, and we want them 
to have access to markets because we want to improve their lives. And 
when people's lives in countries on the continent of Africa improve, it 
helps the United States of America. It's what our taxpayers have got to 
understand. It's in our interests.
    All this will go for naught if people don't have a good education. 
So the second way we're using our aid is to improve education so that 
the young in the developing world have the tools they need to realize 
their God-given potential. Many parents across the world either have no 
access to education for their children or simply cannot afford it. It's 
a fact of life, something the world needs to deal with, particularly 
those of us who have got some money.
    In many nations, girls have even less educational opportunity. It 
robs them of a chance to satisfy their ambitions or to make use of their 
talents and skills, and it's really sad, when you think about it. It 
really is. The question is, does the United States care? Should we do 
something about it? And the answer is, absolutely. If boys and girls in 
Africa and other developing nations don't learn how to read, write, and 
add and subtract, this world is just going to move on without them. And 
all the aid efforts we'll be trying will go to naught, in my judgment.
    And so in 2002, I launched the African Education Initiative to help 
address the great need. Through this initiative, we have provided about 
$300 million to expand educational opportunities throughout the 
continent, and we're going to provide another $300 million by 2010. We 
will have doubled our commitment.
    One young woman who has benefited from this program is a woman named 
Evelyn Nkadori from the Maasai people of the grasslands of Kenya. In her 
rural community, girls are rarely offered an education, just never given 
a chance. They're expected to care for younger children until they're 
married themselves at an early age. That was the custom. She had a 
different vision for her future, and our initiative helped her realize 
it. Our program helped her complete high school, and now she's attending 
Chicago State University on a scholarship. She is one of the first women 
from her village ever to receive a college education. She hopes to 
attend medical school and then go home and help others.
    Evelyn, I appreciate you being here today. I'm honored in your 
presence. Thank you for your courage. We can't make you want to succeed, 
but we can help you succeed. Thanks for coming.
    And we need to do more, for not only children on the continent of 
Africa but poor children throughout the world. And so I'm calling on 
Congress to fund $525 million over the next 5 years to make our 
educational initiatives even more robust. And the goal is to provide 
basic education for 4 million additional children on the continent of 
Africa and across the globe.
    We've got another interesting idea, and that is to establish new 
Communities of Opportunity centers in poor nations to provide skills and 
language training for 100,000 at-risk youth. Giving these young people 
in these countries the skills they need to succeed, we're going to give 
them keys to a brighter future.
    The third way we're using our aid is to fight the scourge of disease 
in Africa and other parts of the developing world.

[[Page 710]]

Epidemics like HIV/AIDS and malaria destroy lives, and they decimate 
families. They also impose a crippling economic burden on societies 
where so many are struggling to lift their families out of poverty. 
We've taken action to fight these diseases. We've done so because it's 
in our Nation's interest to do so.
    In 2003, my administration launched a new initiative to combat HIV/
AIDS, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. We 
pledged $15 billion over 5 years for AIDS prevention and treatment and 
care programs in many of the poorest nations on Earth. This level of 
support was unprecedented. I'm proud to report, on behalf of our 
citizens, that it remains the largest commitment by any nation ever to 
combat a single disease.
    And the program is working. Three years ago, about 50,000 people on 
the continent of Africa were receiving antiretroviral drugs for help. 
Today, over 1.1 million people are receiving lifesaving drugs. And this 
is a good start. It's a necessary start, and it's a promising start, but 
we need to do more. So yesterday in the Rose Garden, Kunene and Baron 
and the good doc--and I don't know where the Bishop is--[laughter]--
anyway, they were standing with me up there when I called on Congress to 
greatly expand our efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS, by doubling 
our initial commitment, by dedicating an additional $30 billion to this 
struggle over the next 5 years in the year 2009.
    And here's the goal: support treatment for nearly 2.5 million 
people, to prevent more than 12 million new infections, and to provide 
compassionate care for 12 million people, including 5 million more 
orphans and vulnerable children. We set the goal for the past 
initiative, and we met it. And we're going to set the goal for this one, 
and we're going to meet it. But Congress needs to get that money as 
quickly as possible so it makes it easier to meet the goal. I proposed 
this unprecedented investment for a reason; it's in the world's interest 
and our Nation's interest to save lives. And that's exactly what this 
program is doing.
    We saved a life of a fellow named Robert Ongole. He's with us today. 
John Robert Ongole--not yet, not yet, John Robert. [Laughter] I'm going 
to make it a little more dramatic than that. [Laughter] You probably 
didn't know who I was talking about when is skipped the ``John.'' 
[Laughter]
    John Robert has a family of two children; he has HIV/AIDS. This 
disease ravaged his body. His weight dropped to 99 pounds. He developed 
tuberculosis and other health problems. He and his family felt certain 
that he would die. Then John Robert began receiving antiretroviral 
treatment through PEPFAR in Uganda. His treatment restored his strength. 
He returned to the classroom, and he continued being a dad.
    John Robert is earning his bachelor's degree in education. He's 
volunteering to help other people. The American people need to hear what 
he had to say: ``When you talk of PEPFAR, that's my life because it 
worked. Because without it, I couldn't have lived. Now I want to save 
the lives of other people.'' Thanks for coming, John Robert.
    Does it matter to America if John Robert lives? You bet it does. 
That's why this initiative is an important initiative. That's why it's 
important Congress continue to spend taxpayers' money to save lives like 
John Robert's and Kunene's and Baron's.
    As we increase our commitment to fight HIV/AIDS, we're also 
continuing an unprecedented commitment to fight against malaria. Malaria 
takes the lives of about one million people a year in the developing 
world, and the vast majority are under 5 years old. In some countries, 
this disease takes even more lives than HIV/AIDS. Every 30 seconds, a 
mother in Africa loses her child to malaria. It's a tragic disease 
because it's preventable and treatable. We can do something about it.
    In 2005, I announced the President's Malaria Initiative. Through 
this initiative, we're spending $1.2 billion over 5 years to fight the 
disease in 15 targeted African countries. This initiative provides 
insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor spraying, and lifesaving anti-
malaria medications. This strategy works. It really isn't all that 
complicated. It takes money and organization and effort.
    In Angola, this initiative helped increase the number of children 
protected by nets from less than 5 percent to nearly 70 percent. You buy 
the nets; you educate the people; and you get the nets to them. And when 
they

[[Page 711]]

start using them, lives are saved. This initiative has expanded malaria 
protection for more than 6 million Africans in its first year, and by 
the end of the second year, in 2007, we expect to reach a total of 30 
million people.
    At the G-8 summit, I'm going to urge our partners to join us in this 
unprecedented effort to fight these dreaded diseases. America is proud 
to take the lead. We expect others to join us as well. If you want to 
help improve lives on the continent of Africa and around the world, join 
with the United States and provide substantial help to fight HIV/AIDS 
and malaria.
    Bringing progress and prosperity to struggling nations requires 
growing amounts of energy. It's hard to grow your economy if you don't 
have energy. Yet, producing that energy can create environmental 
challenges for the world. We need to harness the power of technology to 
help nations meet their growing energy needs while protecting the 
environment and addressing the challenge of global climate change.
    In recent years, science has deepened our understanding of climate 
change and opened new possibilities for confronting it. The United 
States takes this issue seriously. The new initiative I am outlining 
today will contribute to the important dialog that we--will take place 
in Germany next week. The United States will work with other nations to 
establish a new framework on greenhouse gas emissions for when the Kyoto 
Protocol expires in 2012.
    So my proposal is this: By the end of next year, America and other 
nations will set a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases. 
To help develop this goal, the United States would convene a series of 
meetings of nations that produce the most greenhouse gas emissions, 
including nations with rapidly growing economies like India and China.
    In addition to this long-term global goal, each country would 
establish midterm national targets and programs that reflect their own 
mix of energy sources and future energy needs. Over the course of the 
next 18 months, our nations would bring together industry leaders from 
different sectors of our economies, such as power generation and 
alternative fuels and transportation. These leaders will form working 
groups that will cooperate on ways to share clean energy technology and 
best practices.
    It's important to ensure that we get results, and so we would create 
a strong and transparent system for measuring each country's 
performance. This new framework would help our nations fulfill our 
responsibilities under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. 
The United States will work with all nations that are part of this 
convention to adapt to the impacts of climate change, gain access to 
clean and more energy-efficient technologies, and promote sustainable 
forestry and agriculture.
    The way to meet this challenge of energy and global climate change 
is through technology, and the United States is in the lead. The world 
is on the verge of great breakthroughs that will help us become better 
stewards of the environment. Over the past 6 years, my administration 
has spent, along with the Congress, more than $12 billion in research on 
clean energy technology. We're the world's leader when it comes to 
figuring out new ways to power our economy and be good stewards of the 
environment.
    We're investing in new technologies to produce electricity in 
cleaner ways, including solar and wind energy, clean coal technologies. 
If we can get a breakthrough in clean coal technologies, it's going to 
help the developing world immeasurably and, at the same time, help 
protect our environment.
    We're spending a lot of money on clean, safe nuclear power. If 
you're truly interested in cleaning up the environment or interested in 
renewable sources of energy, the best way to do so is through safe 
nuclear power. We're investing in new technologies that transform the 
way we fuel our cars and trucks. We're expanding the use of hybrid and 
clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel.
    We're spending a lot of your money in figuring out ways to produce 
ethanol from products other than corn. One of these days, we'll be 
making fuel to power our automobiles from wood chips, to switch grasses, 
to agricultural wastes. I think it makes sense to have our farmers 
growing energy, so that we don't have to import it from parts of the 
world

[[Page 712]]

where they may not like us too much. And it's good for our environment 
as well.
    We're pressing on with battery research for plug-in hybrid vehicles 
that can be powered by electricity from a wall socket, instead of 
gasoline. We're continuing to research into advance hydrogen-powered 
vehicles that emit pure water instead of exhaust fumes. We're taking 
steps to make sure these technologies reach the market, setting new 
mandatory fuel standards that require 35 billion gallons of renewable 
and alternative fuels by the year 2017. It's a mandatory fuel standard. 
We want to reduce our gasoline consumption by 20 percent over the next 
10 years, which will not only help our national security, it will make 
us better stewards of the environment. The United States is taking the 
lead, and that's the message I'm going to take to the G-8.
    Last week, the Department of Energy announced that in 2006, our 
carbon emissions decreased by 1.3 percent while our economy grew by 3.3 
percent. This experience shows that a strong and growing economy can 
deliver both a better life for its people and a cleaner environment at 
the same time.
    At the G-8 summit, I'm going to encourage world leaders to increase 
their own investments in research and development. I'm looking forward 
to working with them. I'm looking forward to discussing ways to 
encourage more investment in developing nations by making low-cost 
financing options for clean energy a priority of the international 
development banks.
    We're also going to work to conclude talks with other nations on 
eliminating tariffs and other barriers to clean energy technologies and 
services by the end of year. If you are truly committed to helping the 
environment, nations need to get rid of their tariffs, need to get rid 
of those barriers that prevent new technologies from coming into their 
countries. We'll help the world's poorest nations reduce emissions by 
giving them 
government-developed technologies at low cost or, in some case, no cost 
at all.
    We have an historic opportunity in the world to extend prosperity to 
regions that have only known poverty and despair. The United States is 
in the lead, and we're going to stay in the lead.
    The initiatives I've discussed today are making a difference in the 
lives of millions; our fellow citizens have got to understand that. 
We're talking about improving lives in a real, tangible way that ought 
to make our country proud. That's why we've asked these folks to come. 
It's one thing for the President to be talking about stories; it's 
another thing for the people to see firsthand what our help has done.
    I'm so proud of the United States of America. This initiative shows 
the good character and the decency of the American people. We are a 
decent people. We feel responsible for helping those who are less 
fortunate. And I am proud to be the President of such a good nation.
    Thanks for coming, and God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 10:07 a.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building 
and International Trade Center. In his remarks, he referred to Manyongo 
``Kunene'' Mosima Tantoh, member, Mothers to Mothers-To-Be, and her son, 
Baron; Jean W. Pape, director, Haitian Study Group on Kaposi's Sarcoma 
and Opportunistic Infections; and Bishop Paul, director, Coptic Hope 
Center. The transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary 
also included the remarks of the First Lady, who introduced the 
President.