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Remarks by Ambassador Roger F. Noriega

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs speaks at
Americas Business Forum’s FTAA Ministerial State of Florida Luncheon
Miami, Fla.

November 18, 2003

 

Miami FTAA logo

President Bush believes that the Americas are critically important to our security and our well-being as a nation. The United States shares economic, political, even familial ties with the region, and these ties bind our respective destinies together.

Our trade relationships in the Western Hemisphere support jobs here at home and throughout the region, and they are vital. But our relationships in the Americas are much more than mere economic arrangements.

On September 11, 2001, the member states of the OAS signed the Inter-American Democratic Charter, a historic step that uniquely defines this region by its commitment to democratic principles.

The Democratic Charter opens with a profound pledge – which we made to our people and to one another: “The peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy, and the governments have an obligation to promote and defend it.”

That essential commitment to democracy and human dignity and our determination to work together as a community to defend those values binds us together and moves us to act in concert.

As we pursue the Global War on Terror, we know that we need the support of strong democratic governments to defend our borders and our principles and interests abroad. Many of our partners in the Coalition of the Willing are our neighbors in this Hemisphere, and we are very grateful for their support.

Today troops from the Dominican Republic, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua are standing shoulder to shoulder with our soldiers in Iraq, working together to rebuild a country devastated by 30 years of dictatorship and establish a democratic government that will allow the Iraqi people to control their own destiny for the first time.

Since September 11th, our neighbors have been cooperating with us like never before to fortify our Hemisphere against those who would bring death and destruction to our doorstep.

In short, while we live in a troubled world, we have good partners close to home who are eager to work with us to build a safer world and a more prosperous Hemisphere.

The Path to Progress

The President’s policy for the Western Hemisphere is to help our friends and neighbors consolidate the historic political and economic progress they have made in the last two decades and, together, to build a community of democracies committed to freedom and opportunity for all of our people.

This is not a rhetorical flourish. It is a practical plan for broad-based, sustained growth that can produce a century of stability and prosperity for 800 million people and generations to come. The steps we will take together in the hours and months ahead, will carry us closer to that objective.

Any successful strategy to achieve that goal must recognize that, today, the Hemisphere is troubled. Many of the region’s elected leaders are grappling with persistent political, economic, and social problems.

Millions of our neighbors -- too many of them children – suffer from inadequate shelter and nutrition. Economies in the region are not growing fast enough to generate sufficient jobs for growing populations, let alone to address chronic poverty.

Over the last two decades the people of the Americas have made enormous progress, but these achievements have not erased the legacy of decades of poverty, corruption, and selfish or wrongheaded political leaders.

The levers for removing these remaining obstacles to growth are in our neighbors’ hands. However, there is no doubt that U.S. leadership will be crucial to helping our friends in the region overcome these challenges.

Working with Our Friends

We can do this by working with our partners in the region to help make democratic government serve every citizen better. We must continue to advocate policies that have a proven record of success… such as free market reform, respect for the rule of law, the right to property, and responsible and responsive government.

President Bush has a plan for advancing this agenda through the Summit process, the so-called MCA, and through regional trade agreements.

Recognizing the urgent needs of many of our citizens, President Bush and his fellow leaders of the Americas have agreed to meet in Monterrey, Mexico, in January of next year to advance this agenda.

This Special Summit will focus our efforts in three areas: stimulating economic growth and reducing poverty; investing in our people to improve their quality of life and provide them the tools they require for success in today’s economy; and promoting good governance and fighting corruption.

We believe that governments should commit to specific, concrete measures they can take to empower individuals, through private enterprise and more effective educational policies.

President Bush is committed to helping our partners in the region who demonstrate their commitment to this agenda. His proposed “Millennium Challenge Account”, now being considered favorably by Congress, will be a powerful incentive and tool for governments committed to fighting corruption, extending opportunity to all their people, and governing effectively.

Under this initiative, we will increase our core development assistance by 50%, resulting in a $5 billion annual increase over current levels by fiscal year 2006 and beyond. These monies will be directed to those countries that govern justly and honestly, uphold the rule of law, invest in their people, and promote economic freedom.

At the same time, we know that trade, not aid, represents the best opportunity for the countries in this hemisphere to attract the capital that they need to create jobs and sustain a level of economic growth that is essential to improving the quality of life in the Western Hemisphere.

The Role of FTAA

About half of our neighbors live in poverty -- chronic poverty that has persisted over generations. That cycle of poverty must be broken by generating sustained growth, and the FTAA is a powerful tool to help do that.

Increased growth from trade, coupled with a commitment to democracy and the rule of law, will create new jobs that will help close the income gap in Latin America and the Caribbean. It will generate more revenues for governments to address the problems of unequal access to basic education and health services, to protect the environment, and to improve legal and personal security for all citizens.

Free trade will encourage market-based economic reforms and promote greater openness in government decision-making, practices that are essential to development and democracy.

I notice that the skeptics are stumbling all over themselves trying to sow doubt about the FTAA process, including the likely results of this Miami ministerial meeting. Are these the same people who said President Bush would never get TPA? Or that the Chile FTA was stuck on a shelf? Would these people ever have predicted a CAFTA?

The fact is that, based on announcements today of new bilateral trade initiatives -- including an Andean TPA -- punctuated by the fact that the governments of President Bush and President Lula are co-chairing an FTAA process that is moving forward, this Miami meeting already is a significant step toward Hemispheric free trade.

Through all of these challenges ahead, we need activist partners throughout the Hemisphere and here at home. Governor Jeb Bush is one of those visionary leaders. Since taking office, he has led “Team Florida” missions to 10 countries. More than 800 Florida business leaders went with him, landing deals worth more than $440 million to Florida workers and consumers. His missions to Mexico and Brazil are writing promising new chapters in Florida’s economic history, as well as benefiting two major U.S. trade partners.

So it is a pleasure to be with you all today, and be able to introduce to you a true friend of the Americas, ladies and gentlemen, the Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush.

 

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