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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
For Immediate Release
January 25, 2007
Paris, France
Remarks
2007/T2-3
Remarks by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Lebanese
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora; Craig Barrett, Chairman, Intel Corporation;
John Chambers, President and CEO, Cisco Corporation; Jay Collins,
CEO Public Sector Group, Citigroup; Yousif Ghafari, Chairman,
Ghafari Companies.
PRIME MINISTER SINIORA: -- for the people you can see on the
stand here regarding the public-private partnership and the role
that can be played by certain private companies in the development
of Lebanon. This comes as a response to an initiative that we
made, and kindly President Bush has responded and requested these
leaders in their fields and companies to see how they can really
help Lebanon. And I would like to see this opportunity to thank
President Bush for what he has done in this regard as well as
in the success of the conference for the support of Lebanon that
will be held today.
And today we are going to really discuss a few things in here
about what can be done in terms of development in Lebanon in the
remote areas, in the creation of jobs and training and exposing
people. We have discussed several aspects about the help that
can be provided by these companies to the young Lebanese who are
not able to find jobs, who are not able to be aware of what's
happening in the world.
So we suggested a few things in terms of really having centers
in certain public schools as well as in community centers that
can really establish certain libraries that are, let's say, connected
internet with the world so that this can really provide learning,
knowledge to many of our young generation and to the Lebanese
at large to be connected. And this can happen in learning as well
as in job creation.
Secretary Rice.
SECRETARY RICE: Thank you. Well, thank you very
much, Prime Minister, and thank you for your leadership of Lebanon
in difficult times. But I am -- I think we're all very impressed
with your commitment to all of the Lebanese people, and this panel
is really also a commitment to all of Lebanon's people to try
and help them find a brighter future. As an educator myself, I
like very much the idea that you have of these communities and
being able to give young people new tools to be able to prepare
themselves and to bring job creation to remote areas.
This is a public-private partnership. The United States Government
is later going to announce its own contribution to Lebanon's development,
but we recognize that the private sector can really be the multiplier
in all of this because investment in people, investment in job
creation, investment in development -- there's really nothing
like the private sector for that. And so I want to thank very
much first John Chambers, who has led this effort, and to invite
him to say a word; but also Yousif Ghafari, who is by origin Lebanese
and has still many ties to Lebanon; also Craig Barrett from Intel
and Jay Collins from Citigroup for being the leaders in this private
sector initiative. So, John.
MR. CHAMBERS: Thank you, Madame Secretary. When
President Bush asked us to go to Lebanon, he didn't say this is
the answer. He said, "Go and listen." He said there's
a leader there who's very, very good, elected democratically.
Listen to the business leaders, listen to students, listen to
the businesses in terms of what is possible, see what the NGOs
can do, et cetera, and come back with an approach.
And when we first went it was a daunting task, and all of a sudden
you realized what could really happen through public-private partnerships.
All of a sudden, instead of making a difference in a community,
we have the potential to together do what none of us can do by
ourselves: to help every citizen of Lebanon.
And the more we looked at it, we realized based upon the Prime
Minister's priorities and what we were hearing from all groups
in Lebanon, is that we can make a huge difference in immediate
relief to the NGOs, which we have done. We could also do what
business does best. We could outline a hundred projects for job
creation, prioritize those down to 10 or 20, and each of us or
together say what we could do in each of those categories. Workforce
preparedness, whether it's the high-tech academies or approaches,
really training a workforce for the future.
But it was the community centers that the Prime Minister personally
suggested that suddenly the light bulb went off, where we could
make a difference not just to connect community centers for the
citizens to be gaining access to the libraries that are being
built in Beirut, but to the world and to the region. And all of
a sudden a government that really gets it could provide healthcare,
education, training, registration and it could be expanded to
the schools. And all of a sudden, instead of saying let's rebuild,
you suddenly begin to realize a vision, I think a vision of Lebanon
for the future that others would follow.
It is tremendously enticing to us as business leaders to look
at what this model could be and how quickly it could be replicated.
We are not naïve in terms of the challenges in front of us,
but we do think public-private partnerships are the way of the
future where business can play a key role in doing things that
we do remarkably well. But it has to be all of us working together
and focused on the good of the citizenship for all the Lebanese
people throughout.
So it's an honor to play this role and we will not let you down.
PRIME MINISTER SINIORA: Thank you very much,
John. Thank you.
SECRETARY RICE: Thank you very much, and we
look forward to working with you very much. Maybe Yousif could
do ---
(cross-talk)
MR. GHAFARI: This is very close to home. I was
born in the south of Lebanon and my little village was very much
affected with what happened --
PRIME MINISTER SINIORA: (Inaudible).
MR. GHAFARI: (Inaudible). The Prime Minister
and I come from the south of Lebanon. The Prime Minister is from
a large city. I'm from a little village. And like I said, this
is very close to home. I'm very much looking forward to working
with John Chambers and the rest, and we look forward to very quick
(inaudible) that will be used as an example for the rest of the
country. Thank you.
QUESTION
SECRETARY RICE: Anne Gearan.
QUESTION: A question actually first to the Secretary.
Is the $770 million in U.S. aid that you will announce today contingent
on Prime Minister Siniora remaining in power and the establishment
of a Hariri tribunal?
I guess I might ask a similar question to the business executives.
Would you be willing to continue your investment if the Siniora
government falls?
PRIME MINISTER SINIORA: No condition.
QUESTION: And for the Prime Minister, do you
think that Hezbollah has the power to bring down your government
at will, as Nasrallah said yesterday?
SECRETARY RICE: Anne, clearly this is a package
that is for Lebanon and that is extremely important to understand.
Lebanon is a democracy. That said, Lebanon is also undertaking
some important economic reforms that are critical to making any
of this work, and it's not at all unusual that donors expect that
those reforms are going to continue, in fact, as the donor community
responds to the needs. And so from our point of view, the reforms
that this government has taken and is undertaking are making it
-- those reforms are making it possible to contemplate contributions
of the size that the United States is going to make today and
inviting an environment in which business can operate. But this
is for Lebanon and for the Lebanese people, and I'm sure the Prime
Minister would have it no other way.
PRIME MINISTER SINIORA: Let me make it very
clear in this respect. I've said it several times. I'm saying
it again. It's that this conference and the results are for all
the Lebanese, not for any group against other groups and not for
one specific government. This is going to extend over a number
of years and the benefits is going to accrue to all Lebanese elements,
ultimately to all the Lebanese. So no one can really conclude
that this is for the benefit of one group or one person at all,
completely. This is for all Lebanon and all the Lebanese.
The second thing is that my government is there as the legitimate
and the constitutional government. It will continue as long as
it has the support of the constitutional authorities which is
the parliament and has the majority of the Lebanese. So as long
as we enjoy this -- for this confidence we are saying we are elected,
democratically elected government, and will continue to behave
as such.
SECRETARY RICE: Thank you very much.
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