For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 22, 2002
President Outlines U.S. Plan to Help World's Poor
Remarks by the President at United Nations Financing for Development Conference
Cintermex Convention Center
Monterrey, Mexico
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. We meet at a
moment of new hope and age-old struggle, the battle against world
poverty. I'm honored to be with so many distinguished
leaders who are committed to this cause. I'm here today to
reaffirm the commitment of the United States to bring hope and
opportunity to the world's poorest people, and to call for a new
compact for development defined by greater accountability for rich and
poor nations, alike.
I want to thank Vicente Fox, el Presidente de Mexico, and the
people of Monterrey for such grand hospitality. I want to
thank Kofi Annan for his steadfast leadership. And I want to
thank the distinguished leaders who are here for your hospitality, as
well.
Many here today have devoted their lives to the fight against
global poverty, and you know the stakes. We fight against
poverty because hope is an answer to terror. We fight
against poverty because opportunity is a fundamental right to human
dignity. We fight against poverty because faith requires it
and conscience demands it. And we fight against poverty with
a growing conviction that major progress is within our reach.
Yet, this progress will require change. For decades, the
success of development aid was measured only in the resources spent,
not the results achieved. Yet, pouring money into a failed
status quo does little to help the poor, and can actually delay the
progress of reform. We must accept a higher, more difficult,
more promising call. Developed nations have a duty not only
to share our wealth, but also to encourage sources that produce
wealth: economic freedom, political liberty, the rule of law
and human rights.
The lesson of our time is clear: When nations close
their markets and opportunity is horded by a privileged few, no amount
-- no amount -- of development aid is ever enough. When
nations respect their people, open markets, invest in better health and
education, every dollar of aid, every dollar of trade revenue and
domestic capital is used more effectively.
We must tie greater aid to political and legal and economic
reforms. And by insisting on reform, we do the work of
compassion. The United States will lead by
example. I have proposed a 50-percent increase in our core
development assistance over the next three budget
years. Eventually, this will mean a $5-billion annual
increase over current levels.
These new funds will go into a new Millennium Challenge Account,
devoted to projects in nations that govern justly, invest in their
people and encourage economic freedom. We will promote
development from the bottom up, helping citizens find the tools and
training and technologies to seize the opportunities of the global
economy.
I've asked Secretary of State Powell, Secretary of Treasury O'Neill
to reach out to the world community to develop clear and concrete
objective criterion for the Millennium Challenge
Account. We'll apply these criterion fairly and rigorously.
And to jump-start this initiative, I'll work with the United States
Congress to make resources available over the 12 months for qualifying
countries. Many developing nations are already working hard
on the road -- and they're on the road of reform and bringing benefits
to their people. The new Compact for Development will reward these
nations and encourage others to follow their example.
The goal of our development aid will be for nations to grow and
prosper beyond the need for any aid. When nations adopt
reforms, each dollar of aid attracts two dollars of private
investments. When aid is linked to good policy, four times
as many people are lifted out of poverty compared to old aid
practices.
All of us here must focus on real benefits to the poor, instead of
debating arbitrary levels of inputs from the rich. We should
invest in better health and build on our efforts to fight AIDS, which
threatens to undermine whole societies. We should give more
of our aid in the form of grants, rather than loans that can never be
repaid.
The work of development is much broader than development
aid. The vast majority of financing for development comes
not from aid, but from trade and domestic capital and foreign
investment. Developing countries receive approximately $50
billion every year in aid. That is compared to foreign
investment of almost $200 billion in annual earnings from exports of
$2.4 trillion. So, to be serious about fighting poverty, we
must be serious about expanding trade.
Trade helped nations as diverse as South Korea and Chile and China
to replace despair with opportunity for millions of their
citizens. Trade brings new technology, new ideas and new
habits, and trade brings expectations of freedom. And
greater access to the markets of wealthy countries has a direct and
immediate impact on the economies of developing nations.
As one example, in a single year, the African Growth and
Opportunity Act has increased African exports to the United States by
more than 1,000 percent, generated nearly $1 billion in investment, and
created thousands of jobs.
Yet we have much more to do. Developing nations need
greater access to markets of wealthy nations. And we must
bring down the high trade barriers between developing nations,
themselves. The global trade negotiations launched in Doha
confront these challenges.
The success of these negotiations will bring greater prosperity to
rich and middle-income and poor nations alike. By one
estimate, a new global trade pact could lift 300 million lives out of
poverty. When trade advances, there's no question but the
fact that poverty retreats.
The task of development is urgent and difficult, yet the way is
clear. As we plan and act, we must remember the true source of
economic progress is the creativity of human
beings. Nations' most vital natural resources are found in
the minds and skills and enterprise of their citizens. The
greatness of a society is achieved by unleashing the greatness of its
people. The poor of the world need resources to meet their
needs, and like all people, they deserve institutions that encourage
their dreams.
All people deserve governments instituted by their own consent;
legal systems that spread opportunity, instead of protecting the narrow
interests of a few; and the economic systems that respect their
ambition and reward efforts of the people. Liberty and law
and opportunity are the conditions for development, and they are the
common hopes of mankind.
The spirit of enterprise is not limited by geography or religion or
history. Men and women were made for freedom, and prosperity
comes as freedom triumphs. And that is why the United States
of America is leading the fight for freedom from terror.
We thank our friends and neighbors throughout the world for helping
in this great cause. History has called us to a titanic
struggle, whose stakes could not be higher because we're fighting for
freedom, itself. We're pursuing great and worthy goals to make the
world safer, and as we do, to make it better. We will
challenge the poverty and hopelessness and lack of education and failed
governments that too often allow conditions that terrorists can seize
and try to turn to their advantage.
Our new approach for development places responsibility on
developing nations and on all nations. We must build the
institutions of freedom, not subsidize the failures of the
past. We must do more than just feel good about what we are
doing, we must do good. By taking the side of liberty and
good government, we will liberate millions from poverty's prison.
We'll help defeat despair and resentment. We'll draw whole
nations into an expanding circle of opportunity and
enterprise. We'll gain true partners in development and add
a hopeful new chapter to the history of our times.