[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 20 (Monday, May 26, 2008)]
[Pages 720-725]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the World Economic Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh

May 18, 2008

    Klaus, thank you very much. Thanks for inviting me. Klaus said, 
``It's about time you showed up.'' Proud to be here. Laura and I are so 
honored that, Klaus, you gave us a chance to come. I do want to thank 
President Mubarak and Mrs. Mubarak for their wonderful hospitality. I 
want to thank the

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Members of Congress who are here. I appreciate the heads of state who've 
joined us. I thank the foreign ministers who are here, including my own, 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. And I want to thank the members of 
the diplomatic corps.
    Laura and I are delighted to be in Egypt, and we bring the warm 
wishes of the American people. We're proud of our long friendship with 
your citizens. We respect your remarkable history. And we're humbled to 
walk in the ancient land of pharaohs, where a great civilization took 
root and wrote some of the first chapters in the epic story of humanity.
    America is a much younger nation, but we've made our mark by 
advancing ideals as old as the pyramids. Those ideals of liberty and 
justice have sparked a revolution across much of the world. This hopeful 
movement made its way to places where dictators once reigned and 
peaceful democracies seemed unimaginable, places like Chile and 
Indonesia and Poland and the Philippines and South Korea.
    These nations have different histories and different traditions. Yet 
each made the same democratic transition, and they did it on their own 
terms. In these countries, millions every year are rising from poverty. 
Women are realizing overdue opportunities. And people of faith are 
finding the blessing of worshiping God in peace.
    All these changes took place in the second half of the 20th century. 
I strongly believe that if leaders, like those of you in this room, act 
with vision and resolve, the first half of the 21st century can be the 
time when similar advances reach the Middle East. This region is home to 
energetic people, a powerful spirit of enterprise, and tremendous 
resources. It is capable of a very bright future, a future in which the 
Middle East is a place of innovation and discovery driven by free men 
and women.
    In recent years, we've seen hopeful beginnings toward this vision. 
Turkey, a nation with a majority Muslim population, is a prosperous, 
modern democracy. Afghanistan, under the leadership of President Karzai, 
is overcoming the Taliban and building a free society. Iraq, under the 
leadership of Prime Minister Maliki, is establishing a multiethnic 
democracy. We've seen the stirrings of reform from Morocco and Algeria 
to Jordan and the Gulf States. And isolation from the outside world is 
being overcome by the most democratic of innovations: the cell phone and 
the Internet. America appreciates the challenges facing the Middle East. 
Yet the light of liberty is beginning to shine.
    There's much to do to build on this momentum. From diversifying your 
economies to investing in your people to extending the reach of freedom, 
nations across the region have an opportunity to move forward with bold 
and confident reforms and to lead the Middle East to its rightful place 
as a center of progress and achievement.
    Taking your place as a center of progress and achievement requires 
economic reform. This is a time of strength for many of your nations' 
economies. Since 2004, economic growth in the region has averaged more 
than 5 percent. Trade has expanded significantly. Technology has 
advanced rapidly. Foreign investment has increased dramatically. And 
unemployment rates have decreased in many nations.
    Egypt, for example, has posted strong economic growth, developed 
some of the world's fastest growing telecommunications companies, and 
made major investments that will boost tourism and trade. In order for 
this economic progress to result in permanent prosperity and an Egypt 
that reaches its full potential, however, economic reform must be 
accompanied by political reform. And I continue to hope that Egypt can 
lead the region in political reform.
    This is also a time to prepare for the economic changes ahead. 
Rising price of oil has brought great wealth to some in this region, but 
the supply of oil is limited, and nations like mine are aggressively 
developing alternatives to oil. Over time, as the world becomes less 
dependent on oil, nations in the Middle East will have to build more 
diverse and more dynamic economies.
    Your greatest asset in this quest is the entrepreneurial spirit of 
your people. The best way to take advantage of that spirit is to make 
reforms that unleash individual creativity and innovation. Your 
economies will be more vibrant when citizens who dream of starting their 
own companies can do so quickly, without high regulatory and 
registration costs.

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Your economies will be more dynamic when property rights are protected 
and risk-taking is encouraged, not punished, by law. Your economies will 
be more resilient when you adopt modern agricultural techniques that 
make farmers more productive and the food supply more secure. And your 
economies will have greater long-term prosperity when taxes are low and 
all your citizens know that their innovation and hard work will be 
rewarded.
    One of the most powerful drivers of economic growth is free trade. 
So nations in this region would benefit greatly from breaking down 
barriers to trade with each other. And America will continue working to 
open up trade at every level.
    In recent years, the United States has completed free trade 
agreements with Jordan, Oman, Morocco, and Bahrain. America will 
continue to negotiate bilateral free trade agreements in the region. We 
strongly supported Saudi Arabia's accession to the World Trade 
Organization, and we will continue to support nations making the reforms 
necessary to join the institutions of a global economy. And to break 
down trade barriers and ignite economic growth around the world, we will 
work tirelessly for a successful outcome to the Doha round this year.
    As we seek to open up new markets abroad, America will keep our 
markets open at home. There are voices in my country that urge America 
to adopt measures that would isolate us from the global economy. I 
firmly reject these calls for protectionism. We will continue to welcome 
foreign investment and trade. And the United States of America will stay 
open for business.
    Taking your place as a center of progress and achievement requires 
investing in your people. Some analysts believe the Middle East and 
north Africa will need to create up to 100 million new jobs over the 
next 10 to 15 years just to keep up with population growth. The key to 
realizing this goal is an educated workforce.
    This starts early on, with primary schools that teach basic skills 
such as reading and math rather than indoctrinating children with 
ideologies of hatred. An educated workforce also requires good high 
schools and universities where students are exposed to a variety of 
ideas, learn to think for themselves, and develop the capacity to 
innovate.
    Not long ago, the region marked a hopeful milestone in higher 
education. In our meeting yesterday, President Karzai told me he 
recently handed out diplomas to university graduates, including 300 
degrees in medicine and 100 degrees in engineering and a lot of degrees 
to lawyers. And many of the recipients were women.
    The people of the Middle East can count on the United States to be a 
strong partner in improving your educational systems. We're sponsoring 
training programs for teachers and administrators in nations like Jordan 
and Morocco and Lebanon. We sponsored English language programs where 
students can go for intensive language instruction. We've translated 
more than 80 children's books into Arabic. We've developed new online 
curricula for students from kindergarten through high school.
    It is also in America's interest to continue welcoming aspiring 
young adults from this region for higher education to the United States. 
There were understandable concerns about student visas after 9/11. My 
administration has worked hard to improve the visa process. And I'm 
pleased to report that we are issuing a growing numbers of student visas 
to young people from the Middle East. And that's the way it should be. 
And we'll continue to work to expand educational exchanges, because we 
benefit from the contribution of foreign students who study in America, 
because we're proud to train the world's leaders of tomorrow, and 
because we know there is no better antidote to the propaganda of our 
enemies than firsthand experience with life in the United States of 
America.
    Building powerful economies also requires expanding the role of 
women in society. This is a matter of morality and of basic math. No 
nation that cuts off half its population from opportunities will be as 
productive or prosperous as it could be. Women are a formidable force, 
as I have seen in my own family--[laughter]--and my own administration. 
As the nations of the Middle East open up their laws and their societies 
to women, they are learning the same thing.

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    I applaud Egypt. Egypt is a model for the development of 
professional women. In Afghanistan, girls who were once denied even a 
basic education are now going to school, and a whole generation of 
Afghans will grow up with the intellectual tools to lead their nation 
toward prosperity. In Iraq and in Kuwait, women are joining political 
parties and running campaigns and serving in public office. In some Gulf 
States, women entrepreneurs are making a living and a name for 
themselves in the business world.
    Recently, I learned of a woman in Bahrain who owns her own shipping 
company. She started with a small office and two employees. When she 
first tried to register her business in her own name, she was turned 
down. She attended a business training class and was the only woman to 
participate. And when she applied for a customs license, officials 
expressed surprise because no woman had ever asked for one before.
    And yet with hard work and determination, she turned her small 
company into a $2 million enterprise. And this year, Huda Janahi was 
named one of the 50 most powerful businesswomen in the Arab world. Huda 
is an inspiring example for the whole region. And America's message to 
other women in the Middle East is this: You have a great deal to 
contribute; you should have a strong voice in leading your countries; 
and my Nation looks to the day when you have the rights and privileges 
you deserve.
    Taking your place as a center of progress and achievement requires 
extending the reach of freedom. Expanding freedom is vital to turning 
temporary wealth into lasting prosperity. Free societies stimulate 
competition in the marketplace. Free societies give people access to 
information they need to make informed and responsible decisions. And 
free societies give citizens the rule of law, which exposes corruption 
and builds confidence in the future.
    Freedom is also the basis for a democratic system of government, 
which is the only fair and just ordering of society and the only way to 
guarantee the God-given rights of all people. Democracies do not take 
the same shape. They develop at different speeds and in different ways, 
and they reflect the unique cultures and traditions of their people. 
There are skeptics about democracy in this part of the world. I 
understand that. But as more people in the Middle East gain firsthand 
experience from freedom, many of the arguments against democracy are 
being discredited.
    For example, some say that democracy is a Western value that America 
seeks to impose on unwilling citizens. This is a condescending form of 
moral relativism. The truth is that freedom is a universal right, the 
Almighty's gift to every man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth. 
And as we've seen time and time again, when people are allowed to make a 
choice between freedom and the alternative, they choose freedom.
    In Afghanistan, 8 million people defied the terrorist threats to 
vote for a democratic President. In Iraq, 12 million people waved ink-
stained fingers to celebrate the first democratic election in decades. 
And in a recent survey of the Muslim world, there was overwhelming 
support for one of the central tenets of democracy: freedom of speech--
99 percent in Lebanon, 94 percent here in Egypt, and 92 percent in Iran.
    There are people who claim that democracy is incompatible with 
Islam. But the truth is that democracies, by definition, make a place 
for people of religious belief. America is one of the most--is one of 
the world's leading democracies, and we're also one of the most 
religious nations in the world. More than three-quarters of our citizens 
believe in a higher power. Millions worship every week and pray every 
day, and they do so without fear of reprisal from the state. In our 
democracy, we would never punish a person for owning a Koran. We would 
never issue a death sentence to someone for converting to Islam. 
Democracy does not threaten Islam or any religion. Democracy is the only 
system of government that guarantees their protection.
    Some say any state that holds an election is a democracy. But true 
democracy requires vigorous political parties allowed to engage in free 
and lively debate. True democracy requires the establishment of civic 
institutions that ensure an election's legitimacy and hold leaders 
accountable. And true democracy requires competitive elections in which

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opposition candidates are allowed to campaign without fear or 
intimidation.
    Too often in the Middle East, politics has consisted of one leader 
in power and the opposition in jail. America is deeply concerned about 
the plight of political prisoners in this region as well as democratic 
activists who are intimidated or repressed, newspapers and civil society 
organizations that are shut down, and dissidents whose voices are 
stifled. The time has come for nations across the Middle East to abandon 
these practices and treat their people with dignity and the respect they 
deserve. I call on all nations to release their prisoners of conscience, 
open up their political debate, and trust their people to chart their 
future.
    The vision I have outlined today is shared by many in this region, 
but unfortunately, there are some spoilers who stand in the way. 
Terrorist organizations and their state sponsors know they cannot 
survive in a free society, so they create chaos and take innocent lives 
in an effort to stop democracy from taking root. They are on the wrong 
side in a great ideological struggle, and every nation committed to 
freedom and progress in the Middle East must stand together to defeat 
them.
    We must stand with the Palestinian people, who have suffered for 
decades and earned the right to be a homeland of their own--to have a 
homeland of their own. I strongly support a two-state solution, a 
democratic Palestine based on law and justice that will live with peace 
and security alongside a democrat Israel. I believe that the Palestinian 
people will build a thriving democracy in which entrepreneurs pursue 
their dreams, and families own their homes in lively communities, and 
young people grow up with hope in the future.
    Last year at Annapolis, we made a hopeful beginning toward a peace 
negotiation that will outline what this nation of Palestine will look 
like, a contiguous state where Palestinians live in prosperity and 
dignity. A peace agreement is in the Palestinians' interests; it is in 
Israel's interests; it is in Arab States' interests; and it is in the 
world's interests. And I firmly believe that with leadership and 
courage, we can reach that peace agreement this year.
    This is a demanding task. It requires action on all sides. 
Palestinians must fight terror and continue to build the institutions of 
a free and peaceful society. Israel must make tough sacrifices for peace 
and ease the restrictions on the Palestinians. Arab States, especially 
oil-rich nations, must seize this opportunity to invest aggressively in 
the Palestinian people and to move past their old resentments against 
Israel. And all nations in the region must stand together in confronting 
Hamas, which is attempting to undermine efforts at peace with acts of 
terror and violence.
    We must stand with the people of Lebanon in their struggle to build 
a sovereign and independent democracy. This means opposing Hizballah 
terrorists funded by Iran, who recently revealed their true intentions 
by taking up arms against the Lebanese people. It is now clearer than 
ever that Hizballah militias are the enemy of a free Lebanon. And all 
nations, especially neighbors in the region, have an interest to help 
the Lebanese people prevail.
    We must stand with the people of Iraq and Afghanistan and other 
nations in the region fighting against Al Qaida and other extremists. 
Bin Laden and his followers have made clear that anyone who does not 
share their extremist ideology is fit for murder. That means every 
government in the Middle East is a target of Al Qaida. And America is a 
target too. And together we will confront and we will defeat this threat 
to civilization.
    We must stand with the good and decent people of Iran and Syria, who 
deserve so much better than the life they have today. Every peaceful 
nation in the region has an interest in stopping these nations from 
supporting terrorism. And every peaceful nation in the region has an 
interest in opposing Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions. To allow the 
world's leading sponsor of terror to gain the world's deadliest weapon 
would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations. For the sake of 
peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
    Changes I have discussed today will not come easily. Change never 
does. But the reform movement in the Middle East has a powerful engine: 
demographics. Sixty percent of the population is under 30 years old. 
Many of these young people surf the Web,

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own cell phones, have satellite televisions. They have access to 
unprecedented amounts of information. They see what freedom has brought 
to millions of others and contrast that to what they have at home.
    Today I have a message for these young people. Some tell you--some 
will tell you change is impossible, but history has a way of surprising 
us, and change can happen more quickly than we expect. In the past 
century, one concept has transcended borders, cultures, and languages: 
in Arabic, hurriyya; in English, freedom. Across the world, the call for 
freedom lives in our hearts, endures in our prayers, and joins humanity 
as one.
    I know these are trying times, but the future is in your hands, and 
freedom and peace are within your grasp. Just imagine what this region 
could look like in 60 years. The Palestinian people will have the 
homeland they have long dreamed of and deserved, a democratic state that 
is governed by law, respects human rights, and rejects terror. Israel 
will be celebrating its 120 anniversary as one of the world's great 
democracies, a secure and flourishing homeland for the Jewish people.
    From Cairo, Riyadh, Baghdad to Beirut, people will live in free and 
independent societies, where a desire for peace is reinforced by ties of 
diplomacy and tourism and trade. Iran and Syria will be peaceful 
nations, where today's oppression is a distant memory and people are 
free to speak their minds and develop their talents. Al Qaida, 
Hizballah, and Hamas will be defeated, as Muslims across the region 
recognize the emptiness of the terrorists' vision and the injustice of 
their cause.
    This vision is the same one I outlined in my address to the Israeli 
Knesset. Yet it's not a Jewish vision or a Muslim vision, not an 
American vision or an Arab vision. It is a universal vision based on the 
timeless principles of dignity and tolerance and justice, and it unites 
all who yearn for freedom and peace in this ancient land.
    Realizing this vision will not be easy. It will take time and 
sacrifice and resolve. Yet there is no doubt in my mind that you are up 
to the challenge, and with your ingenuity and your enterprise and your 
courage, this historic vision for the Middle East will be realized.
    May God be with you on this journey, and the United States of 
America will be at your side.
    Thank you for having me.

Note: The President spoke at 3 p.m. at the Maritim Sharm El Sheikh 
International Congress Center. In his remarks, he referred to Klaus 
Schwab, founder and executive chairman, World Economic Forum; President 
Mohamed Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and his wife, Suzanne Thabet; Huda 
Janahi, managing director, Global Cargo & Traveller's Services; and 
Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization.