For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 14, 2002
President Proposes $5 Billion Plan to Help Developing Nations
Remarks by the President on Global Development
Inter-American Development Bank
Washington, D.C.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you
all. Asientese. Gracias, Enrique. It's
about time you invited a President
here. (Laughter.) It's about time one
accepted. (Applause.)
Thank you for the energy and leadership you bring to the challenge
of global development. I'm honored to be at the
Inter-American Development Bank, which has done a lot of good in our
hemisphere over the last 40 years. I appreciate your work
and I'm proud of your accomplishments.
Along with many of you, I'll be in Monterrey, Mexico, next week as
leaders from around the world focus on the important work of reducing
global poverty.
I'm here today to announce a major new commitment by the United
States to bring hope and opportunity to the world's poorest
people. Along with significant new resources to fight world
poverty, we will insist on the reforms necessary to make this a fight
we can win. (Applause.)
As you can see, I'm traveling in some pretty good company today:
Bono. (Laughter and applause.) We just had a
great visit in the Oval Office. Here's what I know about
him: first, he's a good musician; secondly, he is
willing to use his position in a responsible way. He is
willing to lead to achieve what his heart tells him, and that is nobody
-- nobody -- should be living in
poverty and hopelessness in the world.
Bono, I appreciate your heart and to tell you what an influence
you've had, Dick Cheney walked in the Oval Office, he said, "Jesse
Helms wants us to listen to Bono's ideas." (Laughter and
applause.)
I appreciate Paul O'Neill, Secretary of Treasury. I
appreciate his work, I appreciate his advice. He's a fine
member of my Cabinet. Cardinal McCarrick, thank you for
coming, sir; I'm honored to have you here. Jim Wolfensohn,
thank you for your leadership of the World Bank. I
appreciate Jose Fourquet. Thank you, Jose, for taking on the
responsibility you've done. It's good to see Andrew Natsios
here of AID. Thank you, Andrew, for
coming. You've done a fine job, by the way, in helping
prevent starvation in Afghanistan. I appreciate your work
and I appreciate your focus.
I want to thank John Negroponte, Embajador, of the United
Nations. I want to thank all the other ambassadors who are
here. I look around, I can see many familiar
faces. Thank you all for coming today.
I appreciate the members of the United States Congress who are
here. I see Frist and DeWine from the United States
Senate. I appreciate both senators for coming. I
appreciate the Congressman from Puerto Rico; thank you for coming,
se?or. I see the Congress lady from Miami,
Florida. I see Spencer Bachus, from Alabama. I
think that's it; I better -- well, anyway, if
anybody else is here -- (laughter)
-- Chris Cannon, I think, from Utah is
here. Hey, Chris, thank you for coming. And thank
you all for taking an interest in this subject; it's an important
subject.
As you all know and we all know, America is engaged in a global
struggle, a mighty struggle against the forces of
terror. Yet, even as we fight to defeat terror, we must also
fight for the values that make life worth living: for
education, and health, and economic opportunity. This is
both the history of our country and it is the calling of our times.
In World War II we fought to make the world safer, then worked to
rebuild it. As we wage war today to keep the world safe from
terror, we must also work to make the world a better place for all its
citizens. (Applause.)
The advances of free markets and trade and democracy and rule of
law have brought prosperity to an ever-widening circle of people in
this world. During our lifetime, per capita income in the poorest
countries has nearly doubled. Illiteracy has been cut by
one-third, giving more children a chance to learn. Infant
mortality has been almost halved, giving more children a chance to
live. Nations from India to Chile have changed old ways and,
therefore, found new wealth. Nations from Turkey to Mali
have combined Islam with progress.
Yet in many nations, in many regions, poverty is broad and
seemingly inescapable, leaving a dark shadow --
a dark shadow -- across a world that is
increasingly illuminated by opportunity. Half the world's
people still live on less than $2 a day. For billions,
especially in Africa and the Islamic world, poverty is spreading, and
per capita income is falling.
In Malawi, thousands of teachers die each year from AIDS, and life
expectancy has fallen to only 38 years. In Sierra Leone,
nearly one-third of all babies born today will not reach the age of
five. And in Sudan, only half the children attend school.
This growing divide between wealth and poverty, between opportunity
and misery, is both a challenge to our compassion and a source of
instability. We must confront it. We must include
every African, every Asian, every Latin American, every Muslim, in an
expanding circle of development.
The advance of development is a central commitment of American
foreign policy. As a nation founded on the dignity and value
of every life, America's heart breaks because of the suffering and
senseless death we see in our world. We work for prosperity
and opportunity because they're right. It's the right thing
to do. We also work for prosperity and opportunity because
they help defeat terror.
Poverty doesn't cause terrorism. Being poor doesn't make
you a murderer. Most of the plotters of September 11th were
raised in comfort. Yet persistent poverty and oppression can lead to
hopelessness and despair. And when governments fail to meet the most
basic needs of their people, these failed states can become havens for
terror.
In Afghanistan, persistent poverty and war and chaos created
conditions that allowed a terrorist regime to seize
power. And in many other states around the world, poverty
prevents governments from controlling their borders, policing their
territory, and enforcing their laws. Development provides
the resources to build hope and prosperity, and security.
Development is not always easy, but the conditions required for
sound development are clear. The foundation of development
is security, because there can be no development in an atmosphere of
chaos and violence. Today, the United States is leading a
broad and vast coalition defending global security by defeating global
terror. Meeting this commitment is expensive, but securing
peace and freedom is never too expensive. (Applause.)
Development also depends upon financing. Contrary to the
popular belief, most funds for development do not come from
international aid -- they come from domestic capital, from
foreign investment, and especially from trade. America buys
and imports over $450 billion in products from the developing world
every year -- $450 billion of purchases every
single year. That is more than eight times the amount
developing countries receive in aid from all sources. Trade
is the engine of development. And by promoting it, we will
help meet the needs of the world's poor.
Successful development also requires citizens who are literate, who
are healthy, and prepared and able to work. Development
assistance can help poor nations meet these education and health care
needs. That's why the United States provides more than $10
billion a year for development assistance for food and for humanitarian
aid. That is also why my administration has committed $500
million to the global fund to fight aids and other infectious
diseases.
And we will work with Congress to increase this commitment, to show
our love and compassion by increasing our commitment as the fund gets
organized, develops a strategy, and shows success. We're
spending billions more on AIDS research and other programs, to fight
the disease around the world.
Yet many of the old models of economic development assistance are
outdated. Money that is not accompanied by legal and
economic reform are oftentimes wasted. In many poor nations,
corruption runs deep. Private property is
unprotected. Markets are closed. Monetary and
fiscal policies are unsustainable. Private contracts are
unenforceable.
When nations refuse to enact sound policies, progress against
poverty is nearly impossible. In these situations, more aid
money can actually be counterproductive, because it subsidizes bad
policies, delays reform, and crowds out private investment.
The needs of the developing world demand a new
approach. In Monterrey, we have a tremendous opportunity to
begin acting on a new vision of development. This new vision
unleashes the potential of those who are poor, instead of locking them
into a cycle of dependence. This new vision looks beyond
arbitrary inputs from the rich, and demands tangible outcomes for the
poor.
America supports the international development goals in the U.N.
Millennium Declaration, and believes that these goals are a shared
responsibility of developed and developing countries. To
make progress, we must encourage nations and leaders to walk the hard
road of political, legal and economic reform, so all their people can
benefit.
Today, I call for a new compact for global development, defined by
new accountability for both rich and poor nations
alike. Greater contributions from developed nations must be
linked to greater responsibility from developing
nations. The United States will lead by
example. We will increase our development assistance by $5
billion over the three -- over the next three budget
cycles. This new money above and beyond existing aid
requests -- is above and beyond existing aid
requests in the current budget I submitted to the Congress.
These funds will go into a new Millennium Challenge
Account. Under this account, among other efforts, we will
expand our fight against AIDS; we will bring computer instruction to
young professionals in developing nations; we will assist African
businesses and their people to sell goods abroad; we will provide
textbooks and training to students in Islamic and African countries; we
will apply the power of science and technology to increase harvests
where hunger is greatest.
These are some of the examples of what we intend to
do. The goal is to provide people in developing nations the
tools they need to seize the opportunities of the global
economy. In return -- in return for
this additional commitment, we expect nations to adopt the reforms and
policies that make development effective and lasting.
The world's help must encourage developing countries to make the
right choices for their own people, and these choices are
plain. Good government is an essential condition of
development. So the Millennium Challenge Account will reward
nations that root out corruption, respect human rights, and adhere to
the rule of law. Healthy and educated citizens are the
agents of development, so we will reward nations that invest in better
health care, better schools and broader immunization.
Sound economic policies unleash the enterprise and creativity
necessary for development. So we will reward nations that
have more open markets and sustainable budget policies, nations where
people can start and operate a small business without running the
gauntlets of bureaucracy and bribery.
I've directed Secretary Powell and Secretary O'Neill to reach out
to the world community, to develop a set of clear and concrete and
objective criteria for measuring progress. And under the
Millennium Challenge Account, we will apply these criteria rigorously
and fairly.
Countries that live by these three broad standards
-- ruling justly, investing in their people, and
encouraging economic freedom -- will receive more aid from
America. And, more importantly, over time, they will really
no longer need it, because nations with sound laws and policies will
attract more foreign investment. They will earn more trade
revenues. And they will find that all these sources of capital will be
invested more effectively and productively to create more jobs for
their people.
The evidence shows that where nations adopt sound policies, a
dollar of foreign aid attracts $2 of private investment. And
when development aid rewards reform and responsibility, it lifts almost
four times as many people out of poverty, compared to the old approach
of writing checks without regard to results.
Marrying good policies to greater aid led Mozambique to a 10
percent growth rate in 2001. This approach help Uganda open
its schools to more children, and increased teacher pay by 2,700
percent. Bangladesh, a nation that was once a symbol of
famine, has transformed its agricultural economy; rice production is
almost up by 70 percent since the mid-'70s.
The new compact I propose would multiply this
progress. I challenge other nations, and the development
banks, to adopt this approach as well. America's support for the World
Bank will increase by almost 20 percent over the next three
years. We expect the World Bank to insist on reform and
results, measured in improvements in people's lives. All the
development banks should adopt a growth agenda, increasing their
support for private sector enterprises and focusing more on education,
as the Inter-American Development Bank has done.
And I challenge the development banks to provide up to half of the
funds devoted to poor nations in the form of grants, rather than
loans. (Applause.) Grants instead of loans that may never
be repaid. Many have rallied to the idea of dropping the
debt. I say let's rally to the idea of stopping the debt.
This new compact for development can produce dramatic gains against
poverty and suffering in the world. I have an ambitious goal
for the developed world, that we ought to double the size of the
world's poorest economies within a
decade. (Applause.) I know some may say that's
too high a hurdle to cross -- I don't believe
so, not with the right reforms and the right policy. This
will require tripling of current growth rates, but that's not
unprecedented. After all, look at the dramatic growth that
occurred in Asia in the 1990s.
With the world's help and the right policies, I know
-- I know -- that the developing world can
reform their own countries. I know it can
happen. And, therefore, better their own
lives. They can live in a world where their children's
dreams are ignited by liberty and learning, not undermined by poverty
and disease. (Applause.) They can live under
governments that deliver basic service and protect basic
rights. The demands of human dignity know no borders and
know no boundaries. They are universal. And so
are the gifts of creativity and enterprise that lead to prosperity.
When governments repress and punish those gifts, no
amount -- no amount of aid is sufficient to
lift people from poverty. When governments honor these
gifts, every nation can know the blessings of prosperity.
People across the world are working to relieve poverty and
suffering, and I'm proud of their efforts. I appreciate
Bono. I appreciate groups like the Sisters of
Charity. Some were motivated by simple decency, some serve a
God who is impatient with injustice. And all have made this
commitment. We cannot leave behind half of humanity as we
seek a better future for
ourselves. (Applause.) We cannot accept permanent
poverty in a world of progress. There are no second-class
citizens in the human race. (Applause.)
I carry this commitment in my soul. And I'll carry it
with me to Monterrey next week. As the civilized world
mobilizes against the forces of terror, we must also embrace the forces
of good. By offering hope where there is none, by relieving
suffering and hunger where there is too much, we will make the world
not only safer, but better.