Moments ago President Bush appeared at the Rose Garden to speak about his upcoming trip to the G8 Summit in Japan. President Bush spoke of the G8 leaders’ 2005 promises to double development aid by 2010, and said one of his major agenda items at the summit will be to rally our partners to “make commitments and meet commitments.”
You can watch video of his remarks below. I also transcribed a portion of his speech. I hope to post the full transcript up here soon.
“Now we need to show the world that the G8 can be accountable for its promises and deliver results…
Accountability is really important when it comes to our work on the continent of Africa. 2005 G8 leaders promised to double development assistance to Africa by 2010. America’s on track to meet our commitments, and in Japan I’ll urge other nations to fulfill their commitments as well.
We must also fulfill our committments in the battle against HIV/AIDS and malaria. I’ve asked Congress to reauthorize and expand the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, doubling our funding for this vital effort. It’s very important that Congress reauthorize this plan, but in the meantime we’re fulfilling our promises that we made, not only to the G8 but more importantly to the people on the continent of Africa.
It’s important that over the next 5 years, we support antiretroviral treatment for approximately 2.5 million people. That we prevent 12 million new AIDS infections and that we care for 12 million people also effected by HIV/AIDS including 5 million orphans and vulnerable children.
Last year the G8 agreed to meet those commitments. They agreed to match. They also agreed to help us reduce malaria in effected-countries by half. I hope that these countries understand the great promise and hope that comes when [clip cuts off here.] So one of my really important agenda items is gonna rally our partners to make commitments and meet commitments.”
President Bush talked went on to talk about healthcare workers, neglected tropical diseases, the food crisis, agriculture and trade.
-Virginia Simmons
UPDATE: Full transcript is now after the jump. (more…)
“These are seven significant diseases which together afflict close to a billion people,” Dan Price, deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, told reporters aboard Air Force One as Bush flew to the summit in Slovenia.
“These diseases are treatable and beatable by medicines that are available today,” Price said, adding that it would cost around $1 billion. The United States has already committed $350 million over the next five years, he said.
This afternoon, just hours after ONE staff dropped off a petition at the White House with nearly 120,000 signers, President Bush stood before press and TV cameras to call for $770 million in emergency food aid.
You can now see a transcript of his 3:30 PM public speech here.
Some excerpts:
In recent weeks, many have expressed concern about the significant increase in global food prices. And I share this concern. In some of the world’s poorest nations, rising prices can mean the difference between getting a daily meal and going without food…
I think more needs to be done, and so today I am calling on Congress to provide an additional $770 million to support food aid and development programs. Together, this amounts to nearly $1 billion in new funds to bolster global food security…
As America increases its food assistance, it’s really important that we transform the way that food aid is delivered. In my State of the Union address this year, I called on Congress to support a proposal to purchase up to nearly 25 percent of food assistance directly from farmers in the developing world. And the reason you do that is, in order to break the cycle of famine that we’re having to deal with too often in a modern era, it’s important to help build up local agriculture…
We believe in a timeless truth: To whom much is given, much is expected. And so therefore at home we are working to ensure that the neediest among us can cope with the rising food prices. And with the new international funding I’m announcing today, we’re sending a clear message to the world: that America will lead the fight against hunger for years to come.
Yesterday afternoon, President Bush ordered $200 million in emergency food aid to help alleviate food shortages around the developing world. The money will come from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust, a reserve account for emergency food aid needs.
“White House spokeswoman Dana Perino had said Bush, who was briefed about the food crisis during a cabinet meeting earlier on Monday, was “very concerned” and asked senior aides to look into ways the United States could help ease shortages.
Washington provided more than $2.1 billion in international food aid in fiscal 2007.
Perino had said the administration was sticking to its proposal to buy more of the food used in assistance programs from suppliers closer to needy countries, which would cut transportation costs. U.S. agricultural interests have resisted the idea….
At the United Nations on Monday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said rapidly worsening food shortages around the world had “reached emergency proportions.”
“We need not only short-term emergency measures to meet urgent critical needs and avert starvation in many regions across the world but also a significant increase in long-term productivity in food grain production,” Ban said.
Britain and France will today announce a joint initiative to help send 16 million African children to school in the next two years, in partnership with international football authorities.
At the East African Health and Scientific Conference in Kenya on Wednesday, experts testified that constraints in the health sector are exacerbating health problems in rural communities. Some blamed conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund in the early 1990s.
An editorial by Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland, appeared in today’s Washington Times. The piece praises President Bush’s work in Africa, noting that this story hasn’t made headlines in the United States but is making headlines around the world.
After you check out the candidates’ responses, take a few minutes and write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Writing a letter to the editor is your chance to talk about the poverty-fighting successes highlighted on the recent presidential trip to Africa – successes ONE members have helped make possible – and our campaign urging the next president to visit Africa in his or her first term.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
