For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 20, 2004
President's Remarks at CEO Summit Closing Session
Casa Piedra
Santiago, Chile
4:47 P.M. (Local)
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you very much. Siente se. Gracias. Thank
you for the warm welcome. It is such an honor to be in Chile. Whoever
is responsible for the weather, thank you very much. Laura and I are
delighted to be here. Chile is such a fabulous country. It's a great
place to talk about entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial spirit.
It's a country which shows the world what is possible when you create
the right conditions for economic vitality and economic growth. And
we're so honored to be here.
I want to thank my friend, Ricardo Lagos, for organizing this
summit. I appreciate the business leaders who are here. I thank you
for your interest in working collaboratively with business leaders from
around the world. And as a result of vision and hard work, we meet
today on the eastern rim of an incredibly dynamic region.
In our lifetimes, we've seen the Asia Pacific region grow in wealth
and freedom beyond many -- beyond that which many thought was
possible. If you think back about 20 years ago, what people thought
about the Asian Pacific region, they couldn't imagine such prosperity
and such wealth and such freedom. And that's what APEC is all about,
as far as I'm concerned. And that's why it's an honor to be here at
this summit, with my fellow leaders.
Incredibly enough, APEC economies account for nearly half of all
the world trade, and half of the world's economic output. For somebody
who is interested in prosperity for my own citizens, it's a good place
to hang out, with that much trade commerce. And I believe that this
new century, with the right policies, can extend the prosperity even
further. And that's what we're here to discuss.
I believe we must increase the flow of trade and capital. I know
our societies must reward enterprise and open societies and open
markets. I know we've got to reject the blocks and barriers that
divide economies and people. And I believe, with the right policies,
we can continue to grow.
I'm honored to be here today with a man who has served our country
so well, a great United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell.
(Applause.) Right after my speech, he's headed to the Middle East.
That's a heck of a retirement, Mr. Secretary. (Laughter.) I look
forward to your report when you get back.
I want to thank the U.S. members of the APEC Business Advisory
Council. I want to thank you for your hard work. I want to thank you
for representing our country so well. I appreciate Gary Benanav, and
Mike Drucker, and Robert Prieto for your hard work in organizing this
summit and representing the business leaders who are here.
You know, what's interesting about our country is that for years we
were isolated from the world by two great oceans, and for a while we
got a false sense of security as a result of that. We thought we were
protected forever from trade policy or terrorist attacks because oceans
protected us. What's interesting about today's world is that the
oceans now connect us. It didn't take all that long in the march of
history for that change to take place. And, therefore, America must
respect and value the friendships they were able to make as a result of
our transatlantic and transpacific ties. Right after I'm inaugurated,
I'll go to Europe to renew our transatlantic ties, to remind the people
of Europe how important my administration regards our vital Atlantic
alliance.
And, of course, our nation is Pacific country, as well. And that's
why the OPEC conferences are so important. Do you realize, the capital
of our 50th state is nearly as close to Sydney and Manila as it is to
Washington, D.C.? That's a Pacific Rim nation. More than 15 percent
of Americans claim Hispanic of Asian Pacific heritage. Our APEC
partners account for nearly two-thirds of all American exports and
imports. America's future is inseparable from our friends in the
Pacific. And by working together, and by continuing to foster
reasonable pro-growth economic policies, the fellowship of Pacific
nations will continue to be strong. That's what I'm here to tell you.
There is a different attitude in the world about foreign policies,
particularly if you happen to be an influential nation. In the past,
many powerful nations preferred others to remain underdeveloped, and
therefore, dependent. It was a cynical doctrine. And that doctrine is
unsuited for our times. In this century, countries benefit from
healthy, prosperous, confident partners. Weak and troubled nations
export their ills -- problems like economic instability and illegal
immigration and crime and terrorism. America and others sitting around
the table here at APEC understand that healthy and prosperous nations
export and import goods and services that help to stabilize regions and
add security to every nation. So we've got three clear goals to help
spread prosperity and hope and to secure the peace.
We want to seek wider trade and broader freedom and greater
security for the benefit of our partners and for the benefit of all.
That's what I'm going to do over the next four years. The first goal is
to lower barriers to trade and investment and to promote sound fiscal
policies for all our governments. Free and fair trade combined with
prudent fiscal discipline are the foundation of the region's remarkable
prosperity, and I'm committed to staying on the path to pro-growth,
pro-economic growth -- economic growth by pro-growth policies. We're
doing our part.
You know, we've overcome a lot in the U.S. economy. We faced a
recession, coupled with terrorist attacks, which affected our capacity
to grow. But we stimulated our economy by cutting taxes. And America
is growing again, and people are working. And the question ahead is,
how do we make sure we maintain growth.
We need legal reform in the United States. We got to make sure
that those who risk capital are rewarded for taking risk, and not
subject to needless and frivolous lawsuits. We need regulatory reform
in the United States. Our tax code is too complex. So I'm going to
work with members of both political parties to simplify the tax code.
But I also understand there is concern about whether or not our
government is dedicated to dealing with our deficits, both short-term
and long-term. I look forward to standing up in front of the Congress
in my State of the Union and telling them why I submitted a budget that
will help us deal with the short-term deficit of the United States, and
I will do that. And I'll also work with members of Congress to deal
with the unfunded liabilities of our entitlement systems, so that we
can say clearly to the world, the United States of America is committed
to deficit reduction, both short-term and long-term.
Overall, the economy of this part of the world is expected to grow
by nearly 5 percent this year. And that's good news, and the United
States wanted to be a part of that growth. We can add to that progress
by reducing trade barriers that I believe are an obstacle to economic
growth everywhere, especially in the developing world. And so this
government and our country is strongly committed to the WTO's Doha
Round of negotiations. And my Trade Minister will be strongly
committed to ensure the success of the WTO round. And we need your
help in making sure that nations around the APEC table are focused on
the benefits of global trade, that we put aside some differences that
could prevent Doha from going forward.
We will continue to assist our Asian Pacific partners in meeting
their WTO obligations. We are encouraging Russia and Vietnam in their
efforts to join the WTO. The history between our countries has changed
dramatically between America and Vietnam and Russia. The tensions are
no longer existing, conflict is behind us, and we have a chance to work
with those countries for the common good -- and we will.
We're going to be aggressive about our bilateral trade agreements
and our regional trade agreements. We've completed trade agreements
with nations throughout Asia and the Americas, including Australia,
Singapore, Chile, the five nations of Central America and the Dominican
Republic. We are working on new agreements with Thailand, Panama, the
Andean nations of South America. We're moving ahead with the
enterprise for the ASEAN initiative, which is lowering trade barriers
and strengthening economic ties in Southeast Asia. We're committed to
the Bogor goals, which call for free trade among developed nations of
the Asian Pacific region by 2010, and free trade among all APEC
economies by 2020. We seek free trade in the Americas, uniting markets
of all 34 free nations in the Western Hemisphere.
I think you can tell that I believe free trade is necessary for
economic development, that free trade is essential to prosperity. But
it is not sufficient, and we understand that. All governments in the
region must make the difficult choices needed to stabilize economies
and to keep public finances on foot. We have been impressed by the
reform programs in Chile and Colombia and Uruguay that have spurred
growth and investment in those countries and throughout the region.
My nation and many others have acted to lift the crushing burden of
debt that limits the growth of developing economies and holds millions
of people in poverty, and we will continue to do so. We will continue
working to relieve the current debt of those highly-indebted poor
countries that pursues sound fiscal policy. We will continue to
encourage our large trading partners to adopt flexible market-based
exchange rates for their currencies. Expanding prosperity has lifted
millions in our region out of poverty, has bound our nations closer
together, and has benefitted all our people. And my administration
will continue to promote pro-growth, pro-trade economic policies for
the good of all.
Our second goal is to spread the benefits of freedom and democracy
and good government across parts of the world. We've seen progress
toward these goals in the recent history of the Asian Pacific region.
We've seen some interesting lessons of history as free markets take
hold, the demand for limited government and self-rule builds. That's
why it's important to promote free trade and open market policies.
In the long run, economic freedom and political liberty are
indivisible, and the advance of freedom is good for all, as free
societies are peaceful societies. My government and many others are
working with countries to lay the foundations for democracy by helping
them institute the rule of law and independent courts and a free press
and political parties and trade unions. We have joined with other
members of the Organization of American States to create the
Inter-American Democratic Charter. This charter recognizes democracy
as a fundamental right of all peoples in the Americas, and pledges our
governments to promoting and defending the institutions and habits of
liberty.
Because political liberty and economic freedom go hand-in-hand,
America and many nations have changed the way we fight poverty, curb
corruption and provide aid. In 2002, we created the Monterrey
Consensus, a bold approach that links new aid from developed nations to
real reform in developing ones. We created the Millennium Challenge
Account in America that says, we'll increase aid and help to nations
which are willing to fight corruption, which are willing to educate
their people, which are willing to spend money on the health of their
citizens, and nations which are willing to expand economic freedom. We
owe that to the taxpayers of the United States, to promote the habits
necessary for free societies to develop. And we believe every nation
is capable of fighting corruption, is capable of putting good economic
policies in place, is capable of educating their people and helping
defeat the scourge of bad health care.
Developing nations have responded, and we appreciate that, but not
nearly as much as the people who live in their countries. They've
responded by fighting corruption, by building schools and hospitals,
and passing new laws that reward enterprise from their people.
The United Nations also has an important role, and America has
proposed a democracy fund to help countries lay the foundations of
democracy, and help set up voter precincts and polling places and
support the work of election monitors.
The growth of free and hopeful societies depends on controlling the
spread of deadly diseases, especially AIDS and tuberculosis and
malaria. HIV-AIDS cases are growing in the Asian Pacific region. It's
an issue we just discussed with the leaders around the table. Last
year more than one million new HIV infections occurred in Asia -- one
out of every five infections worldwide. My nation is working to fight
this disease, through a $15-billion emergency plan for AIDS relief --
$15 billion over five years, which helps -- provides help for 100
nations around the world. Earlier this year, we expanded the focus of
this effort by committing new resources to Asia.
As part of this effort, the United States is supporting the United
Nations Global Fund, and other nations need to participate in that
fund. It's not the United States Global Fund; it is the world Global
Fund. And so I'm going to continue to urge nations here at this APEC
Summit to contribute to that fund, to help defeat this pandemic that
has swept across the continent of Africa and now threatens nations in
Asia. It is the greatest -- AIDS is the greatest health crisis of our
time, and all nations must join in a united effort to turn the tide
against this terrible disease.
The spread of liberty is our most powerful weapon in the fight
against hatred and terror. And we've seen some amazing events take
place in the history of liberty. Perhaps the most amazing of all took
place in Afghanistan when millions of people showed up to vote for the
President of that country some three years after that country had been
ruled by the barbarians called the Taliban. And the most amazing
moment of all in this march of democracy was the fact that the first
voter was a 19-year-old woman. Freedom has taken place in parts of the
world where people never dreamt freedom is possible. And as a result,
the world is better for it.
Our third great goal is to help keep up the fight against the
forces of terror that threaten the success of our economies and the
stability of the world. Every nation represented here has a stake in
this conflict. Terrorism is a threat not just to the West, or to the
wealthy, but to all of us. And all of us must do everything we can to
defeat the murderers.
We're determined to end the state sponsorship of terror. And my
nation is grateful to all that participated in the liberation of
Afghanistan. We're determined to prevent the proliferation of deadly
weapons and materials, and to enforce the just demands of the world.
And my nation is grateful to the soldiers of those nations who've
helped to deliver the Iraqi people from an outlaw dictator. We're
determined to destroy terrorist networks wherever they operate, and the
United States is grateful to every nation that is helping to seize
terrorist assets and to track down their operatives and to disrupt
their plans.
APEC nations are playing a crucial role in the war on terror, for
which we are very grateful. We'll continue to work with nations that
have the will to fight terror, but need help in developing the means.
We're sharing intelligence and increasing our cooperation in customs
and law enforcement to stop terrorists before they can strike. We're
moving forward on the initiatives of last year's summit in Bangkok to
strengthen the security of our ports and transportation networks, to
defend our aircraft from the threat of portable missiles, and to end
the flow of terrorist finances.
America has joined with Singapore to found a new research
institute, which opened this year, dedicated to stopping the spread of
deadly diseases and combating the threat of bioterrorism. We're
working to ensure that the shores of the Pacific remain peaceful. In
Santiago, APEC leaders committed to signing by 2005 the additional
protocol of the IAEA safeguards agreements, which requires nations to
declare a broad range of nuclear activities and facilities, and allows
the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect those facilities.
And I appreciate that cooperation and that commitment.
We also agreed to further strengthen our nation's export controls
and to develop a new system to track and stop the travel of suspected
terrorists using forged or stolen documents. Through the Proliferation
Security Initiative, many nations are also fighting the trade in deadly
weapons. And over the past years we've had notable successes -- most
particularly, the disruption of the A.Q. Khan network and its
willingness and capacity to spread deadly technology to nations that
would like to inflict harm on the -- on -- to inflict harm on nations
like APEC members.
Five APEC members are working to convince North Korea to abandon
its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and I can report to you today, having
visited with the other nations involved in that collaborative effort,
that the will is strong, that the effort is united and the message is
clear to Mr. Kim Jong-il: Get rid of your nuclear weapons programs.
In all our efforts, we'll maintain and strengthen the alliance
among our nations that have served the peace so well. By making our
countries safer, these steps will also create a more secure business
environment and boost confidence in our economies. You know as well as
I know that terrorist attacks affect the capacity of people to make a
living. We discovered that firsthand in the United States of America
when we lost nearly a million jobs in the three months after the
September the 11th attacks. The people of Bali, Indonesia know what
I'm talking about when it comes to terrorist attacks. We have an
obligation as nations to work together to stop terrorism.
And you in the private sector have an important role to play. The
new inspection technologies that you create can shorten delays and
reduce insurance costs and cut red tape. By working closely with
Customs officials of APEC governments to establish better procedures,
you can make the delivery of goods and services more secure and more
efficient.
These are great goals that I've just talked about, goals to advance
our common prosperity, goals to spread freedom and dignity, and goals
to strengthen our common security. And I have come here to Chile to
tell my colleagues and friends, the United States of America is
committed to achieving those goals for the next four years.
Thank you for your interest. Thank you for coming. (Applause.)
END 5:08 P.M. (Local)
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