Making Sustainable Development Work: Governance, Finance and Public-Private Cooperation
by Secretary Colin L. Powell
Remarks at State Department Conference,
Meridian International Center
Washington, DC
July 12, 2002
(As Delivered)
Well, thank you very much, Paula, for that warm introduction, and let
me also
take this opportunity to thank you as well for the superb leadership
that you
have been giving to this effort, especially as we prepare for next month's
World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
And I'm very pleased to follow my dear friend and fellow Vietnam vet
Chuck
Hagel. We are members of a mutual admiration society, and he does an
absolutely great job up in the Senate on these kinds of issues. He is
as
committed as anyone in our Congress to trying to do everything we can
to help
people in need and to push the whole concept of development for all
the
peoples of the world.
I would like to welcome all the participants who are here today, from
the NGO
community, the business community, international financial institutions,
partner governments and the United States Government as well, and especially
the ambassadors who are here representing their countries. And I hope,
although I don't see her, that my dear friend and colleague from South
Africa,
Foreign Minister Zuma, may be somewhere in the audience. And if she
is not
here at the moment, I'll be seeing her later this afternoon in my office
so we
can continue our discussion on the run-up to the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in South Africa.
We are very pleased to be working closely with South Africa in the
run-up to
the summit. For example, we are providing funding to South Africa for
the
Enviro-Law Conference, and we are co-sponsoring the Summit Institute
for
Sustainable Development. And we look forward to working even more closely
with
Minister Zuma and all of her colleagues in South Africa as we get closer
to
the summit.
I thank Paula for making reference to the fact that this is an important
issue
for me and for President Bush and for all of us in the Bush Administration.
I
come to it from a perspective of having been a soldier for many, many
years,
and in that capacity traveling to many places in the world, fighting
in wars
where people were suffering, seeing suffering in its many forms. And
then
after leaving the military, I spent part of my life working with young
people
who were in need, young people here in the United States, young people
who
need sustainable development just a few blocks from here. And as rich
as we
are, as powerful as we are as a nation, we still have pockets of poverty,
pockets of people who are living in despair and wondering whether or
not their
nation cares about them. We have to deal with that.
But in the course of doing that, it brought home to me that these same
conditions are even more prevalent around the world, and I have seen
it in so
many different ways and so many manifestations. And now for the last
18 months
as Secretary of State, I have once again not only seen this in my travels
around the world, but now I'm in a position to work on it in a more
direct and
aggressive way. And I want to assure you that I and my colleagues in
the
Department of State will work hard with our other colleagues in government
to
do everything we can -- as an administration, as a government, as a
nation,
and as a people -- to help those in need around the world.
There is a growing consensus on sustainable development, and we could
not have
achieved this growing consensus that more has to be done without the
contributions of the United Nations and its distinguished leader, Secretary
General Kofi Annan, and the leadership of Indonesia. Their painstaking
efforts
have helped us move along the path from the Rio Earth Summit of some
years ago
through the Bali Prep Com, and now on to Johannesburg and beyond.
It's so important for all of you to have made the time to come to this
conference, a conference that we titled, "Making Sustainable Development
Work." And I'm sure that is what Paula and John Turner are making
you do
today: work. Work on practical measures to support sustainable development,
and to do everything we can to make sure that Johannesburg is a success.
The
Johannesburg Summit comes barely 20 months after we welcomed in a new
century.
Despite the stories and images of trouble we read in our newspapers
and view
on our television screens, we should also at the same time see this
as a time
of great opportunity, great opportunity to expand peace, to expand prosperity
and expand freedom around the globe.
Part of my day, no matter what else is going on, whether it's a Middle
East
problem or a problem in South Asia or some other crisis that intrudes
on my
morning, part of my day really is set aside every day to think about
these
opportunities, to think about the good things that are going on in the
world,
and to think about what more we could do as a nation, as a government,
working
with our friends to take advantage of these opportunities, the march
of
democracy, the march of the free enterprise system as systems that work.
And
how can we do everything possible to expand peace, prosperity and freedom?
Because only when we achieve those conditions can we really talk about
sustainable growth.
The spread of democracy and market economies, combined with breakthroughs
in
technology, permit us to dream of a day when, for the first time, for
the
first time in history, most of humanity may be free, or can be made
free, of
the ravages of tyranny and poverty.
We live in a century of promise. Our responsibility now is to turn
it into a
century of hopes fulfilled, a century of sustained development that
enriches
all our peoples without impoverishing our planet. When we talk of sustainable
development, we are talking about the means to unlock human potential
through
economic development based on sound economic policy, social development
based
on investment in health and education, and responsible stewardship of
the
environment that has been entrusted to our care by a benevolent God.
Sustainable development is a compelling moral and humanitarian issue.
But
sustainable development is also a security imperative. Poverty, destruction
of
the environment and despair are destroyers of people, of societies,
of
nations, a cause of instability as an unholy trinity that can destabilize
countries and destabilize entire regions.
A decade ago, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
in Rio, some 172 countries adopted a blueprint to achieve sustainable
development worldwide. While there have been ups and downs and progress
has
been uneven, we have seen real improvements since Rio. For example,
over the
past decade, the proportion of people in developing countries struggling
to
make ends meet on less than one dollar a day has dropped from 29 percent
to 24
percent. Not nearly enough, but it's a beginning. It's a start. Infant
mortality has declined by more than 10 percent, and mortality among
children
under five is nearly 20 percent lower.
Countries that have opened their economies have done better than those
who
have remained closed. It's as simple as that. A World Bank study found
that
over the course of the 1990s, the 24 developing countries that increased
their
global trade and investment the most, those that did the most with respect
to
increasing global trade and investment, also increased income per person
much
more than those that did not move in this direction. In those countries,
the
number of people living on less than one dollar a day dropped by 120
million
people between 1993 and 1998.
We have also seen the conclusion and implementation since Rio of important
environmental agreements, such as those to reduce substances harmful
to the
air we breathe and to control the spread of deserts. But while we have
progressed along the road to hope, we have far to go in a world where
one
person in five still suffers in extreme poverty, and where a baby's
chances of
surviving to adulthood still depend on the accident of where he or she
is
born.
Over the past nine months, a series of major conferences and negotiations
have
helped to map the way forward. The Doha Development Round of World Trade
Organization negotiations, the World Food Summit Review Conference in
Rome,
and the G-8 Summit in Canada all forged stronger agreement on the path
to
development. It also proclaimed the Monterrey consensus was an historic
affirmation of the need to mobilize all sources of development financing,
and
the Monterrey consensus also proclaimed the importance of sound policies,
good
governance at all levels, and the rule of law to sustainable development.
As our Peruvian colleague Hernando de Soto has so aptly said, "The
hidden
architecture of sustainable development is the law." The law. The
law. The
rule of law that permits wonderful things to happen. The rule of law
that
permits people to be free and to pursue their God-given destiny, and
to reach
and to search and to try harder for their country, for their family.
The rule
of law that attracts investment. The rule of law that makes investment
safe.
The rule of law that will make sure there is no corruption, that will
make
sure there is justice in a nation that is trying to develop.
The next stop on this long road is the World Summit in Johannesburg.
The
United States will be taking three very important messages to Johannesburg.
First and foremost, we are totally committed to supporting sustainable
development. President Bush left no doubt on this score in his March
14th
speech at the Inter-American Development Bank when he stated on behalf
of the
American people that the advance of development is a central commitment
of
American foreign policy.
We will also carry the message that sustainable development must begin
at
home, with sound policies and good governance. Both official assistance
and
private capital are most effective when they go to governments that
rule
justly, invest in their people, and encourage economic freedom. Official
assistance is important -- there's no doubt about it -- and that is
why
President Bush announced that his administration will seek congressional
approval to increase America's core development assistance by 50 percent
over
the next three years, resulting in $5 billion annual increase over current
levels. And I'm confident we will be able to sell it to our Congress.
I have been deeply moved in my 18 months as Secretary of State by the
support
Congress is giving to this kind of effort. We have some financial and
fiscal
problems that are on the table. That is always the case. But I have
been
getting solid support with real growth in my own foreign affairs budget,
and
now with the Millennium Challenge Account coming along, we will see
a major
increase in the funds that will be available for this kind of activity.
As Chairman Hubbard of the President's Council on Economic Advisors
and Deputy
AID Administrator Schieck explained earlier, these additional funds
will be
used for a special purpose within this Millennium Challenge Account.
The new
account will fund initiatives to help developing nations with sound
policy
environments. That means you put in place in these nations at home the
right
environment so that the money will go to the kind of infrastructure
development that will set the stage for takeoff with respect to attracting
trade and attracting additional funds of both a private and official
nature.
A strong commitment to good governance, a strong commitment to the
health and
education of their people, and economic policies that foster enterprise
and
foster entrepreneurship. But as important as official assistance is
to
improving people's lives, the reality is that it is trade and private
capital
flows that will make the real difference that are more, more, much more
significant.
Trade dwarfs aid. America alone buys $450 billion in goods from the
developing
world every year, some eight times the amount that developing countries
receive in aid from all sources. Attracting that kind of private money
isn't
easy. Private capital is a coward, a chicken. It flees from corruption
and bad
policies. It doesn't want to go where there's a conflict. It doesn't
want to
go where there is corruption. It doesn't want to go where there is
unpredictability. Private capital stays away from ignorance, disease
and
illiteracy, and it especially stays away from those places where it
seems that
no one is doing anything about ignorance, disease and illiteracy.
And now that we're breaking down trade barriers, now that the Cold
War is over
and the Iron Curtain, the Bamboo Curtain are all gone, relics of history,
capital can go many places without restrictions. And it will go to those
places that reflect the right kinds of policies. It will go where it
is
welcomed. It will go where investors can be confident of a return on
the money
they have put at risk, usually other people's money. It goes to countries
where women can work, where children can read, and where entrepreneurs
can
dream.
But good policies alone are not enough. People must be able to seize
the
opportunity. So the third message we will take to Johannesburg is that
governments, civil society and the private sector must work in partnership
to
mobilize development resources. We must work together to unleash human
productivity, to reduce poverty, to promote healthy environments and
foster
this kind of sustainable growth. We've got to help young people get
the skills
they need, the education they need, the motivation they need to take
part in a
changing economy and a changing political environment in these countries
as we
move forward.
Partnerships are key, and we are already deploying the power of partnerships.
For example, the United States and South Africa have initiated the Congo
Basin
Forest Partnership. This innovative partnership with NGOs, industry
and other
governments, will help slow and even reverse deforestation in the Congo
Basin.
The initiative will not only create national parks where none before
existed,
it will also ensure the livelihoods of those living in and around the
forests
and strengthen the ability of governments to enforce their forest conservation
laws.
Our vision for Johannesburg is to build on these three messages: commitment,
good policies, and partnerships. We will build on these three messages
by
inviting developed and developing nations to join us in opening economies
and
societies to growth. For growth, growth, growth is the key to raising
people
out of poverty.
We will also invite developed and developing nations to join us in
providing
freedom, security and hope for present and future generations while
providing
all our people with the opportunity to live healthy and productive lives.
And
recognizing that we have only one home, one home -- Planet Earth --
we will
invite developed and developing nations to join us in serving as good
stewards
of our natural resources and our environment.
To this end, we will initially work for concrete action in seven areas
that we
believe are essential to sustainable development: health, energy, water,
sustainable agriculture and rural development, education, oceans and
coastal
management, and forests. We will work to unite governments, the private
sector
and civil society in partnership to strengthen democratic institutions
of
governance, open markets, and mobilize and use all development resources
more
effectively.
We are already doing a great deal in all of these areas. The United
States has
provided half a billion dollars to the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS,
TB and
malaria. We've launched a $500 million Mother-Child HIV/AIDS Prevention
Initiative for Africa and the Caribbean, doubled funds for the African
Education Initiative for Training and Scholarships, and increased funding
for
agricultural development assistance programs by some 25 percent.
And in our budget request for Fiscal Year 2003, we have asked for $4.5
billion
for climate spending, an increase of $700 million over this past year.
This
request includes funding for basic science, technology research and
development, business and agricultural incentives and international
activities. President Bush has also taken the lead in increasing the
use of
grants instead of loans for the poorest countries, especially in assistance
from multilateral development banks. This approach, which was endorsed
by the
recent G-8 Summit, will complement existing initiatives to help alleviate
the
crushing burden of debt that faces so many highly indebted poor countries.
But in all of these areas, we can and must do more, especially I might
highlight, HIV/AIDS, once again brought home to us by the meeting we
have been
watching on television for the last day or so.
So we have established the Global Development Alliance to combine the
assets
of government, business and civil society to work in partnership on
implementing sustainable development programs. And that's where you
come in.
We need you -- governments, businesses, and the organizations of civil
society
-- to work in support of these pressing human needs, individually in
your
daily actions, and together in effective goal-oriented partnerships.
Sustainable development, as you all know better than I, is a marathon,
not a
sprint. It does not follow from a single event like the Johannesburg
Summit,
important as that meeting may be, but from a sustained global effort
by many
players working together over a long period of time. Sustainable development
requires institutions, policies, people and effective partnerships to
carry
our common effort beyond Johannesburg and well into the future.
I hope you will come away from today's sessions with a deeper appreciation
of
our commitment to building a world where children can grow up free from
hunger, disease, and illiteracy; a world where all men and women can
reach
their human potential, free from racial or gender discrimination; and
a world
where all people can enjoy the richness of a diverse and healthy planet.
I hope you will come away with a greater understanding of our
partnership-based approach to improving the lives of men, women and
children
in developing countries. And most of all, I hope you will come away
with an
even stronger commitment to work together with us to help realize the
promise
of this new century and make it truly a century of hope, a century that
will
allow us to fulfill the dreams of all of God's children.
Thank you so very much.
Released on July 12, 2002
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