For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 9, 2004
Day One G8 Accomplishments
Fact Sheet: Accomplishments at the G-8 Summit: Day One
"...[T]he United States has adopted a new policy, a forward
strategy of freedom in the Middle East. This strategy requires the
same persistence and energy and idealism we have shown before. And it
will yield the same results. As in Europe, as in Asia, as in every
region of the world, the advance of freedom leads to peace."
President George W. Bush November 6, 2003 Washington, D.C.
Presidential Action
President Bush met with the G-8 Leaders at Sea Island, Georgia,
to advance freedom by strengthening international cooperation to make
the world both safer and better. Today, President Bush led the G-8
in: - Pledging united support for the Iraqi people and
the new Iraqi Interim Government, including support for elections,
reconstruction, and debt reduction;
- Launching a historic
Partnership with the Broader Middle East to support democratic,
social, and economic reforms;
- Taking new action against
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including expanding
the Proliferation Security Initiative, strengthening the International
Atomic Energy Agency, and refraining from new transfers of uranium
enrichment and reprocessing technology;
- Strengthening
Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, with a focus on the security
of international travel;
- Adopting an Action Plan focused on
Applying the Power of Entrepreneurship to the Eradication of
Poverty by facilitating global remittances, microfinance, and
access to financing for housing and clean water; and
- Encouraging increased action to promote global economic growth
and directing trade ministers to put the WTO's Doha global
trade negotiations back on track for a successful conclusion.
Outreach: The G-8 Leaders met today with Leaders of
Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Turkey, Yemen, and the new
President of Iraq to discuss how to support efforts in the broader
Middle East to pursue democracy, freedom, and prosperity.
Iraq: The G-8 Leaders welcomed the unanimous
approval of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1546, and noted the
importance of the Multinational Force for Iraq succeeding in it
mission. The G-8 Leaders pledged to: - Stand together
united in their support for the Iraqi people and the new Iraqi
Interim Government;
- Provide support for elections for
the Transitional National Assembly no later than January 2005;
- Meet before the next donors conference to identify how each of the
G-8 countries can contribute to reconstruction; and
- Work together to achieve debt reduction for Iraq in
2004.
Broader Middle East Initiative: The G-8 Leaders
committed to a historic "Partnership for Progress and a Common
Future with the Region of the Broader Middle East and North Africa"
to support political, social, and economic reform in the region. This
Partnership builds on President Bush's "forward strategy of
freedom," which he announced last November. Specifically, the G-8
committed to: - Establish a Forum for the Future, which
will root the new Partnership in a regular dialogue on reform, bringing
together in one forum G-8 and regional foreign, economic, and other
ministers, with business and civil society leaders participating in
parallel dialogues. The first meeting of the Forum for the Future
will be held in the fall of 2004.
- Adopt a Plan of Support for
Reform that:
- Offers assistance through new initiatives
on democratization, literacy, entrepreneurship training,
microfinance, and small business financing; and
- "Intensifies and expands" existing programs to promote
democracy, education, and social reform, and to create jobs and
generate economic growth.
New Action Against Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD):
President Bush outlined on February 11, 2004 an ambitious global
nonproliferation agenda, stating: "There is consensus among
nations that proliferation cannot be tolerated. Yet this consensus
means little unless it is translated into action." The G-8 agreed
today to advance this agenda by committing to: - Expand the
Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), which now includes all
G-8 countries, to disrupt and dismantle proliferation networks;
- Refrain for one year from initiating new transfers of uranium
enrichment and reprocessing technology to additional states,
aiming to implement permanent controls before the 2005 G-8 Summit to
keep these materials out of the hands of outlaw states seeking nuclear
weapons;
- Promote universal adherence to the International
Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Additional Protocol on safeguards and
make the Additional Protocol a condition of supply of nuclear
technology;
- Strengthen the IAEA, including through
creation of a special committee that will focus intensively on
safeguards and verification; and
- Expand the Global
Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass
Destruction, by welcoming new donors and using the Global
Partnership to coordinate nonproliferation projects in Libya,
Iraq, and other countries.
The G-8 Leaders urged all states to implement recently passed U.N.
Security Council Resolution 1540, which calls on countries to
criminalize proliferation.
The G-8 Leaders also welcomed Libya's strategic decision to
dismantle its weapons of mass destruction programs, and called for the
complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of North
Korea's nuclear programs. The G-8 were united that Iran must
comply fully with its Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and IAEA
obligations.
Strengthening Global Counterterrorism Cooperation:
President Bush and the G-8 Leaders launched the Secure and
Facilitated International Travel Initiative (SAFTI) to enhance
international counterterrorism cooperation by strengthening security of
international travel. The SAFTI action plan commits the G-8 to 28
action items, including: - Establishing a 24-hour
aviation point-of-contact network for addressing imminent
threats;
- Sharing information on suspect travelers, including
by facilitating real-time sharing of information on lost and stolen
passports;
- Expanding research and collaboration on
biometric technology for next-generation passenger control;
and
- Accelerate efforts to destroy excess and/or obsolete
shoulder-launched missiles (so called Man Portable Air-Defense
Systems, or MANPADS) and restrict transfers of MANPADS production
technology.
Private Sector-Led Growth: President Bush secured
G-8 support for an innovative Action Plan on Applying the Power
of Entrepreneurship to the Eradication of Poverty. President
Bush has emphasized promoting economic freedom and entrepreneurship as
the drivers of job creation and poverty reduction. The recent U.N.
report, "Unleashing Entrepreneurship: Making Business Work for the
Poor," underscores the importance of private sector-led
development in poverty alleviation. Today, the G-8 committed to assist
developing countries in: - Facilitating and lowering the cost
of the $100 billion in annual remittance flows;
- Expanding access to microfinance for entrepreneurs;
- Improving business and investment climates; and
- Expanding access to housing and clean water by developing
mortgage markets and municipal bond
markets.
Global Economy and Trade: President Bush highlighted
U.S. leadership in boosting the global economy, which is expected to
grow faster in 2004-2005 than in any two-year period since the late
1970's. G-8 Leaders agreed it was important to take advantage of the
strong global economic environment to implement further reforms to
accelerate growth in their countries.
President Bush and the other G-8 Leaders agreed that we face a
moment of strategic economic opportunity: by combining the
upturn in global growth with a worldwide reduction in trade barriers,
we can deepen, broaden, and extend the current economic expansion.
Thus, the G-8 Leaders committed to work toward an ambitious outcome in
the core market areas of agriculture, goods, and services in the WTO
Doha Development Agenda negotiations, and directed their trade
ministers, and called on all WTO members, to finalize framework
agreements by July to put the negotiations back on track to a
successful conclusion.
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