October 17, 2006
HP-140
Prepared Remarks of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
At the U.S. Treasury Department’s Iftaar Dinner
"Alsalamualaikum. Dear friends, we are honored to have you here today for this Iftaar dinner at the Treasury Department.
"Ramadan is a special time of year for Muslims, and we are pleased that you have chosen to share this event with the Treasury Department. It is an opportunity for us to thank and honor you - and all Muslims throughout America - for the great contributions you make to America and worldwide.
"I have had the good fortune to travel to the Middle East in recent years, where I enjoyed meeting and working with friends and colleagues in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait. I also have had the opportunity to travel to Indonesia and Egypt - countries with rich diversity, people, culture, and music. I have enjoyed all of these experiences, and look forward to traveling to these and other countries in the Muslim world in my role here at Treasury. I am pleased that we are able to embrace many here this evening from many of those places, as well as our guests that have come from all over America.
"America is diverse, and we treasure that diversity. It is clear just from the cross-section here today that Muslims play a broad and diverse role in our society and an important role in the U.S. and global economies. I see prominent businessmen and women, diplomats, scholars, and educators. I see leaders of influential Muslim charities, and student leaders at some of our most prestigious universities. You all represent the best that is America, and you are integral to our nation's economic vitality, prosperity, and growth.
"We also recognize that this importance does not stop at the water's edge. By some measures, the rapid growth in recent years has made the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, collectively, the 16th largest economy in the world, increasing its weight in the global economy and its stake in global financial stability. We embrace this development and are working to expand our partnership with the region accordingly. Today some of you joined Under Secretary "Adams for a roundtable discussion of the challenges and opportunities presented by this tremendous economic growth. That discussion was just the latest in our broad effort to expand financial and economic relationships across the Muslim world in a variety of ways.
"In 2004 we launched the G8-Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative, which created for the first time a venue for finance ministers from the G8 and nearly 30 Muslim countries to meet regularly to discuss concrete solutions to the region's greatest economic concerns: fostering growth and creating employment for fast-growing populations.
"More recently, we also have launched a series of direct bilateral efforts with my colleagues in the GCC countries in keeping with the region's emergence as a major financial and economic center. I enjoyed meeting with my GCC colleagues last month in Singapore and hope to travel to the Gulf region soon to meet with them again.
"We have been very active in providing economic reconstruction assistance wherever it is needed. Treasury officials have worked with the finance officials in both Iraq and Afghanistan to design economic "compacts" that provide solid blueprints for economic reconstruction with support from the international community. In fact, Deputy Secretary Kimmitt is currently in Europe conducting consultations with European allies on the Iraq Compact. We also are working with the government of Lebanon to help it manage its own economic reconstruction process.
"Our efforts also extend to humanitarian assistance. Treasury helped lead the economic aspects of U.S. and international relief efforts following the Indian Ocean Tsunami in December 2004, the Pakistan earthquake in October 2005, and the Indonesian earthquake in May of this year.
"We have worked closely with Muslim charities in the United States to help protect the sanctity of charitable giving, especially in areas where terrorists have undermined or exploited such charity. We have done so by engaging in extensive outreach to the sector to discuss the very real and ongoing threat of terrorist financing in the charitable sector, and by providing tools to proactively combat this threat and protect this very important work, notably the Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines, Voluntary Best Practices for U.S-Based Charities. These Guidelines represent a collaborative effort between Treasury and the charitable community to identify practical ways to assist charities in protecting the integrity of their operations and we continue to work with the Muslim community on ways to enhance the transparency and accountability of Muslim charities.
"Through these and other initiatives, we aspire to enhance the financial and economic relationship between the United States and Muslim communities here and around the world. We appreciate that, as members of the global economic community, we all stand to benefit from greater coordination, cooperation, and mutual respect - understanding the world we live in, and contributing to that world in the best way we can.
"In this spirit, we look forward to continuing our work together, and I am proud of the progress we are achieving. I especially thank you for your participation, concern, understanding, and leadership in moving this dialogue forward.
"We thank you again for coming to the Treasury Department this evening. Ramadan Kareem."