[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 30 (Monday, August 4, 2008)]
[Pages 1033-1034]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

July 26, 2008

    Good morning. This week, Congress voted to expand a vital program 
that is saving lives across the developing world, the Emergency Plan for 
AIDS Relief, also known as PEPFAR. I thank Members of Congress from both 
sides of the aisle for working with my administration to pass this 
important bill, and I will be honored to sign it into law next week.
    PEPFAR is the largest international health initiative dedicated to 
fighting a single disease in history, and it is a testament to the 
extraordinary compassion and generosity of the American people. When we 
first launched this program 5\1/2\ years ago, the scourge of HIV/AIDS 
had cast a shadow over the continent of Africa. Only 50,000 people with 
AIDS in sub-Sahara Africa were receiving antiretroviral treatment. 
Today, PEPFAR is supporting treatment for nearly 1.7 million people in 
the region. PEPFAR has allowed nearly 200,000 African babies to be born 
HIV-free, and this program is bringing hope to a continent in desperate 
need.
    The new legislation that I will sign next week will build on this 
progress. We will expand access to lifesaving antiretroviral drugs. We 
will help prevent millions of new HIV infections from occurring. And we 
will also bolster our efforts to help developing nations combat other 
devastating diseases like malaria and tuberculosis.
    Fighting disease is one part of America's larger commitment to help 
struggling nations build more hopeful futures of freedom. Over the past 
7 years, we've learned how advancing the cause of freedom requires 
combating hopelessness. This is because the only way that the enemies of 
freedom can attract new recruits to their dark ideology is to exploit 
distress and despair. So as we help struggling nations achieve freedom 
from disease through programs like PEPFAR, we must also help them 
achieve freedom from corruption, freedom from poverty, freedom from 
hunger, and freedom from tyranny. And that is exactly what we're doing.
    America is using our foreign assistance to promote democracy and 
good government. We have more than doubled the Federal budget for 
democracy and governance and human rights programs. And through the 
Millennium Challenge Account, we have transformed the way we deliver 
aid, so we can support developing nations that make important political 
and economic reforms.
    America is promoting free trade and open investment. Over the long 
term, we know that trade and investment are the best ways to fight 
poverty and build strong and prosperous societies. So we have expanded 
the African Growth and Opportunity Act to increase trade between America 
and Africa. We have put 11 new free trade agreements into effect since 
2001. And we're striving to make this the year that the world completes 
an ambitious Doha round agreement, so we can tear down barriers to trade 
and investment around the world.
    America is leading the fight against global hunger. This year, the 
United States has provided more than $1.8 billion in new funds to 
bolster global food security. We are the world's largest provider of 
food aid, and we have proposed legislation that would transform the way 
we deliver this aid to promote greater self-reliance in developing 
nations.
    America is leading the cause of human rights. Over the past 7 years, 
we've spoken out against human rights abuses by tyrannical regimes like 
those in Iran and Syria, Cuba, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. We've spoken 
candidly about human rights with nations with whom America has good 
relations, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia and China. And to ensure that 
our Nation continues to speak out for those who have no other voice, I 
recently issued a directive instructing all senior

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U.S. officials serving in undemocratic countries to maintain regular 
contact with political dissidents and democracy activists.
    With all these steps, we're helping defeat the forces of violent 
extremism by offering a more hopeful vision of freedom. And as this 
vision takes hold in more nations around the world, America will be 
safer here at home.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 7:50 a.m. on July 25 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on July 26. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
July 25 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office of 
the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this 
address.