PRESIDENT CLINTON: BUILDING A STRONGER GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP
FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
December 14, 2000
PRESIDENT CLINTON TODAY CALLED ON THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO WAGE AN
ACCELERATED CAMPAIGN AGAINST GLOBAL POVERTY THAT LEAVES NEARLY HALF OF THE
HUMAN RACE TO SUBSIST ON LESS THAN $2 A DAY. In a speech at Warwick
University in England, President Clinton urged developed countries to take
advantage of unprecedented prosperity to open their markets wider to
products of poor countries and increase official and private sector
assistance for social investments critical to poverty alleviation. At the
same time, he underscored the importance for developing countries of
pursuing economic growth through open markets, improved governance, and
greater investment in their people. He called on all nations - from the
richest to the poorest - to unlock resources and untapped reservoirs of
national will and to work together more fully, more comprehensively than
before.
TRADE AND TECHNOLOGY ARE INDISPENSABLE ENGINES OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
FOR POOR COUNTRIES; HOWEVER, THEY ARE NOT ALWAYS SUFFICIENT TO REDUCE
POVERTY. Lack of human capacity due to disease, malnutrition, and
illiteracy make the opportunity created by trade and technology more
theoretical than real for many. Sick and malnourished people have less
access to education and perform less well in school, reducing their
economic opportunity. Illiterate people are harder to reach through
HIV/AIDS and other public health campaigns and are less equipped to follow
prescribed medical treatments for diseases and other illnesses. And while
information technology holds enormous promise for improving health care,
education, and economic opportunity in poor, remote areas, it also has the
potential to widen social disparities without efforts to ensure broad
access.
PRESIDENT CLINTON WILL DISCUSS 4 KEY INITIATIVES AIMED AT ACCELERATING
GLOBAL POVERTY REDUCTION. These initiatives are aimed at building a
stronger global partnership encompassing governments, international
organizations, and the private sector. For countries strengthening their
own commitment to economic reform and social investment, these initiatives
are designed to:
1. PROVIDE EXPANDED DEBT RELIEF FOR POOR COUNTRIES
2. INCREASE RESOURCES TO FIGHT INFECTIOUS DISEASES
3. BROADEN ACCESS TO QUALITY BASIC EDUCATION, ELIMINATE ABUSIVE
CHILD LABOR, & PROMOTE SCHOOL NUTRITION
4. HELP CLOSE THE GLOBAL DIGITAL DIVIDE
EXPANDING DEBT RELIEF FOR POOR COUNTRIES
The U.S. has been an international leader on debt relief for developing
nations: In March 1999, President Clinton presented a plan to a
U.S.-Africa Summit in Washington that became the basis for the G-7
agreement in Cologne, Germany (known as the Cologne Debt Initiative) to
triple the amount of debt relief available for poor countries, reducing
their debt by about 70% or $90 billion -- from an estimated $127 billion to
as low as $37 billion in return for firm commitments to channel the
benefits into improving the lives of all their people. Building on that
agreement, last September, the President announced that the U.S. would
unilaterally exceed the terms of the G-7 initiative and entirely cancel the
$5.7 billion in U.S. government debt owed by qualifying countries. The
Cologne Debt Initiative called for only 90% debt reduction for certain
types of bilateral debt. In addition, the U.S. has supported efforts to
expedite the process of qualifying countries for the expanded Heavily
Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) program.
International debt relief will help free up scarce resources for health and
education in developing nations: For the average HIPC country, the share of
scarce government revenue devoted to debt service (primarily interest
payments) could fall by 25% to 50%. For example, Mozambique's debt is
expected to be reduced by some $3.5 billion, which could cut in half the
share of government revenues allocated to external debt service, and free
about $96 million in budgetary resources each year. These savings are
equivalent to twice the health budget in 1998 in a country where children
are more than 3 times as likely to die before the age of five as they are
to go to secondary school. In Uganda, enhanced debt reduction could allow
health and education spending to increase by 50% from 1998 to 2001 and
rural development expenditures to more than double.
Numerous countries are benefiting from debt relief: The countries that are
already benefiting from debt relief are Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso,
Guyana, Honduras, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania,
Cameroon, Uganda, and Zambia. Another seven could qualify soon (Chad, The
Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Nicaragua, and Rwanda) and the
United States is hopeful that several more countries can qualify in the
future. Some of the remaining HIPCs have not made progress toward
qualifying because of their engagement in conflict. Others have been slow
to develop their poverty reduction strategies, which are necessary to
ensure that the savings from debt relief go toward productive investments
to reduce poverty, like basic education and health care. As many as 33
heavily indebted poor countries representing 430 million people could
ultimately be affected: Honduras, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Tanzania, Benin,
Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Guyana, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal,
Uganda, Cameroon, Chad, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau, Laos, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Togo,
Zambia, Central African Republic, Burundi, Congo DR, and Sao Tome.
COMBATING INFECTIOUS DISEASES
The Clinton-Gore Administration has taken aggressive measures to meet
global disease challenges, including the launching of the LIFE Initiative
(Leadership and Investment in Fighting an Epidemic) to combat HIV/AIDS and
the Millennium Vaccine Initiative to accelerate the development of badly
needed vaccines.
? Under President Clinton, the U.S. is on track to triple funding for
international AIDS programs in just two years - to $466 million in FY 2001
-- for prevention, care and
treatment, and health infrastructure. The United States has invested more
than $1.4 billion in international AIDS programs since the start of the
epidemic.
? On January 10, 2000, Vice President Gore chaired the first-ever United
Nations Security Panel session on a health issue -- HIV/AIDS as an
international security threat.
? On May 10, 2000, the President signed an Executive Order to help make
HIV/AIDS-related drugs and medical technologies more affordable and
accessible in beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries.
? The Peace Corps announced that all 2,400 Peace Corps volunteers serving
in 25 countries in Africa will be trained as educators of HIV/AIDS
prevention and care.
? The President's Millennium Vaccine Initiative will accelerate the
development of malaria, TB, and AIDS vaccines. The initiative includes:
-- $50 million in the President's FY2001 budget as a contribution to the
vaccine purchase fund of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and
Immunization (GAVI);
-- Presidential leadership to ensure that the World Bank and other
multilateral development banks dedicate an additional $400 million to $900
million annually of their low-interest rate loans to health care services;
-- Significant increases in basic research on diseases that affect
developing countries; and
-- A proposed $1 billion tax credit for R&D and sales of vaccines for
malaria, TB and AIDS to accelerate their development and production.
? This year, the Clinton-Gore Administration contributed $120 million to
the international campaign to eradicate polio.
The Clinton-Gore Administration also made global AIDS and infectious
diseases a top priority at the G-8 Summit in Okinawa, where billions were
mobilized from G-8 partners. The U.S. contribution to the worldwide
effort totals more than $4 billion (including a proposed $1 billion vaccine
tax credit), encompassing increased international assistance for HIV/AIDS,
malaria, TB, and other infectious diseases; an accelerated effort to
develop and distribute vaccines through the Millennium Vaccine Initiative;
and expanded research on HIV/AIDS and other infectious killers. President
Clinton called for G-8 support for innovative new partnerships with
industry, academia, and international organizations to ensure that new
vaccines are developed and existing ones are delivered where needed. In
connection, World Bank President James Wolfensohn announced that the Bank
will triple concessional lending in FY 2001 for AIDS, malaria, TB, and
immunizations from $200 million to between $600 and $700 million.
HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases greatly exacerbate poverty in many
poor countries. Zambia lost 1,300 teachers to AIDS in 1998, equivalent to
two-thirds of all new teachers trained. In Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South
Africa, half of all 15 year olds are projected to die of AIDS. The
population of each of these countries will actually decline in the coming
years. 44 million kids will be orphaned worldwide in the next decade as a
result of AIDS. Tuberculosis accounts for more than 1.5 million deaths
each year, while malaria kills more than one million, mostly
children in Africa. Diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections are even
more devastating, killing nearly 6 million annually in developing
countries. At least 3 million children die needlessly each year for lack
of existing vaccines.
EXPANDING LITERACY BY BROADENING ACCESS TO BASIC EDUCATION
President Clinton has strongly endorsed the international Education for All
goals adopted in Dakar, Senegal in April 2000 and spearheaded action
domestically and internationally to accelerate their realization. Pursuant
to his leadership, the G-8 in Okinawa strongly endorsed these goals and
called for increased bilateral, multilateral, and private donor support for
country action plans to attain them. At the World Education Forum in
Dakar, over 1,000 leaders from 145 countries resolved to increase the world
community's commitment to basic education in poor countries by:
? Ensuring that no country with a strong national action plan to expand
access to and improve the quality of basic education should be permitted to
fail to implement its plan for lack of resources;
? Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in
difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have
access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good
quality;
? Achieving a 50% per cent improvement in level of adult literacy by 2015,
especially for women;
? Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by
2005; and
? Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education.
With the strong support of the U.S., World Bank President James Wolfensohn
pledged that the Bank will increase education lending by 50% and devote the
increase to basic education in support of the Dakar Framework -- a $1
billion increase or doubling of the Bank's lending for this purpose. This
step could galvanize action on the part of the developing countries and
other public and private donors to develop a deeper partnership in support
of educating the world's youth.
The President has made the U.S. a leader in the global fight to eliminate
the worst forms of child labor. The International Labor Organization has
estimated that 250 million children work worldwide. Under the leadership
of President Clinton, the U.S. has become the largest contributor to the
International Labor Organization's (ILO) International Program for the
Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC):
? In fiscal year 1999, President Clinton, with the encouragement and
support of Senator Tom Harkin (D. Iowa), increased U.S. contributions to
IPEC tenfold to $30 million - making this country the world's largest
contributor. That funding level was maintained for fiscal year 2000.
? Since 1995, the U.S. has funded projects to prevent or remove some
225,000 children in Africa, Asia and Latin America from dangerous or
abusive work in many industries
(including commercial agriculture, mining, fishing, the production of
soccer balls, carpets, garments, fireworks, and footwear), as well as
prostitution and domestic service.
? The President's fiscal year 2001 budget called for increasing U.S.
contributions to IPEC an additional 50% - to $45 million.
The President reiterated his commitment to stamp out abusive child labor in
his last three State of the Union Addresses, and vowed to lead the
international community in concluding an agreement to ban abusive child
labor everywhere. The U.S. was among the first nations to ratify the
International Labor Organization's Convention 182 for the Elimination of
the Worst Forms of Child Labor. In signing the Convention, the President
noted that tens of millions of children "are still forced to work in
conditions that shock the conscience and haunt the soul. If we want to
slam the door shut on abusive child labor," he stated, "we must open the
door wide to education and opportunity."
? President Clinton's FY 2001 budget includes a new $55 million School
Works proposal that would represent a 50% increase in U.S. assistance to
strengthen educational systems in areas of developing countries, targeted
to areas where abusive child labor is prevalent. A lack of educational
alternatives exacerbates this problem. The Administration initiative would
complement direct efforts to reduce abusive child labor such as those by
the International Labor Organization by providing support for improvements
in educational systems.
The President also launched a $300 million school feeding pilot program
working through the UN World Food Program and in partnership with private
voluntary organizations. Building on ideas promoted by Ambassador George
McGovern and former Senator Robert Dole and explored at the World Food
Program (WFP), the USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) would purchase
surplus agricultural commodities and donate them for use in school feeding
and pre-school nutrition programs in poor countries with strong action
plans to expand access to and improve the quality of basic education.
? For the first year of the program, the USG will spend $300 million for
commodities, international transportation, and other costs under the
current CCC authorities, feeding as many as 9 million schoolchildren and
pre-schoolers.
? The program will be initiated working with the WFP and in partnership
with Private Voluntary Organizations (PVOs), the U.S. share of which could
grow over time depending upon participation by other donors and eligibility
by developing countries.
? Selection criteria will be based on need and include a commitment and
contribution of resources by the host government, technical feasibility,
good progress toward a strong national action plan to achieve the Dakar
Education for All goals, and a commitment by the host government to assume
responsibility for operating the program within a reasonable time frame
where feasible.
? Funding will come from USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation under the
surplus removal authority of the CCC Charter Act and Section 416(b) of the
Agricultural Act of 1949, which provides for overseas donations of
commodities in CCC's inventory to carry out assistance programs in
developing countries and friendly countries.
Half of children in developing countries do not attend school and 880
million adults remain illiterate. An estimated 120 million children in
developing countries do not attend any school at all, and an additional 150
million children drop out before completing the four years needed to
develop sustainable literacy and numeracy skills. A 1995 UNICEF/UNESCO
study found that about one-third of students lack classrooms with
blackboards, desks, chairs, and access to safe water.
? Primary education is the single most important factor in accounting for
differences in growth rates between East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa
because it leads to greater achievement of secondary education, according
to the World Bank.
? An education helps people understand health risks, take preventative
steps and demand quality treatment. Girls represent over 60% and perhaps
as many as two-thirds of the children who are not in school.
? In countries where 20 percent of women or less read and write, those
women have an average of six children each. By contrast, in countries
where female literacy has reached 80 percent, this figure drops to fewer
than three children each.
? Each year of maternal education reduces childhood mortality by eight
percent, according to Oxfam. In addition, schools provide an
infrastructure for vaccines and de-worming medicine.
? Education opportunities also are critical to eliminating abusive child
labor. Around the world, tens of millions of young children in their
formative years work under hazardous conditions, including exposure to
toxic and carcinogenic substances in manufacturing, dangerous conditions in
mines and on sea fishing platforms, and backbreaking physical labor. Some
children labor in bondage, are sold into prostitution, or are indentured to
manufacturers, working against debts for wages so low that they will never
be repaid. Broader access to basic education is central to any durable
solution to this systemic problem.
The United Nations World Food Program estimates that 300 million children
in developing countries are chronically hungry. Many of these children are
among the nearly 120 million who do not enroll in school. Others are
enrolled in school but under-perform or drop out due in part to hunger or
malnourishment.
? A 1996 World Bank study concluded that when children suffer from hunger
or poor nutrition and health, their weakened condition increases their
susceptibility to disease, reduces their
learning capacity, forces them to end their school careers prematurely, or
keeps them out of school altogether.
? An estimated 210 million children suffer from iron deficiency anemia, 85
million are at higher risk for acute respiratory disease and other
infections because of vitamin A deficiency, and 60 million live with iodine
deficiency disorders. Each condition adversely affects cognitive
development, physical development, and motivation, yet each is susceptible
to cost effective treatment because the body requires only minute
quantities of the nutrients in question.
? By helping to address these problems, school feeding and pre-school child
nutrition programs have been shown to have a significant positive impact on
rates of student enrollment, attendance and performance.
CREATING DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY
Through the use of Information Technology (IT), developing countries have
an unprecedented opportunity to tap into overseas markets, reduce poverty
and improve basic education and health care. However, of the estimated 332
million people online as of March 2000, fewer than one percent (2.77
million) live in Africa. Less than five percent of the computers that are
connected to the Internet are in developing countries. The developed world
has 49.5 phone lines per 100 people, compared to 1.4 phones in low-income
countries. The President has sought to turn the digital divide into
digital opportunity for development by undertaking initiatives on a number
of fronts:
Digital Opportunity Taskforce: At the Okinawa G-8 Summit in July 2000,
President Clinton and the other G-8 leaders launched the Digital
Opportunity Task Force, or dot force, to create digital opportunity in
developing countries. The mission of the dot force will be to develop a
strategy and set of recommendations for creating digital opportunity. The
dot force will address issues in developing countries such as: creating a
policy and regulatory framework that will promote competition and private
sector investment in the telecommunications industry, and that will allow
the Internet and e-commerce to flourish; expanding the IT workforce;
strengthening the capacity of entrepreneurs to be engines of economic
growth and job creation; and promoting applications of the Internet and
information technologies such as e-learning, e-government, and e-health.
The dot force is unique in that it is composed of representatives from
developed and developing country governments, high-tech industry, civil
society, and inter
national organizations.
Global Call To Action: To mobilize public and private sector support and
demonstrate U.S. commitment to the dot force, the President issued a
"Global Call to Action" in Okinawa. Over 50 leading high-tech companies,
foundations, and non-governmental organizations heard the call and
committed themselves to taking concrete steps toward achieving digital
access and education for all by the year 2010. Among other measures, the
U.S. announced it would expand its Internet for Economic Development
Initiative (described below) to seven new countries and that the Overseas
Private Investment Corporation would establish a $200 million line of
credit for e-commerce and digital divide projects in developing countries.
The U.S. Government's partners also agreed to provide specific assistance
or take specific actions. Among other steps:
? The Markle Foundation, World Economic Forum, IBM, Harvard University, the
UN Development Program, and the UN Foundation announced they would create a
network readiness initiative available to all developing countries;
? Cisco Systems announced it would expand its Cisco Networking Academies to
24 of the least developed nations;
? Intel announced it would expand its "Teach to the Future" technology
training program for teachers in at least 10 more countries; and
? AOL announced it would launch four international PowerUP sites in 2001.
Peace Corps E-Initiatives: Virtually every Peace Corps Volunteer sworn in
today is adept at using computers and accessing the Internet. Increasing
numbers of Volunteers are helping to make globalization "personal" and
"local" by bringing the benefits of the information revolution into the
hands of micro-entrepreneurs, students, health workers, farmers, artisans,
teachers and others with whom they live and work. Volunteers are
integrating information technology into field projects, and helping
partners use e-mail and develop Web sites to participate more fully in
national, sub-regional and global commerce.
Internet for Economic Development Initiative: Under the Internet for
Economic Development (IED) program, which Vice President Gore announced in
June 1999, the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International
Development, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Commerce
Department, and other agencies are working with host governments,
multilateral organizations, and the private sector to implement specific
projects that respond to participating countries' specific needs. Total
fiscal year 1998-2000 funds dedicated to IED totaled approximately $34
million. Examples of specific projects include marketing textiles from a
Mayan women's cooperative over the Internet, providing business management
training in Egypt using distance learning, and providing technical
assistance to telecom regulators from ten sub-Saharan African countries.
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