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.