FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Thank you for those stirring words. Mr. President, thank you for your leadership on this issue. This issue was gathering force, but it became a gathering storm when you committed the United States to 100 percent write-offs of all of its debt at the annual World Bank-IMF meetings last September.

Gene, thank you for your constant commitment to making sure that this issue was a priority for all of us.

The president acknowledged the members of Congress who are here and who made great contributions to this issue. I also want to recognize Senators Daschle, Stevens, Leahy, McConnell, Mack, Biden, Helms, Hagel, Dodd, Chafee, and Grams, and Representatives Gephardt, Armey, Leach, Waters, Callahan, Pelosi, Obey, and Frank, who have also made terrific contributions to this issue.

I want to say a word about the NGO community. There are, I suspect, those who lobby issues in Washington who are better paid than the members of the NGO community. Let me say, after eight years, that there are none who are better informed about the issues they're lobbying, and more committed to the efforts in which they are engaged. And it has made, over time, on these issues and many others, an enormous difference.

The United States is a leader on this issue, but it is an international issue. That is why our contribution is able to leverage so much debt relief around the world. And so I think it is also appropriate to acknowledge the governments of other countries that are forgiving debt, and to acknowledge the leadership shown by the international institutions -- Jim Wolfensohn at the World Bank, first Michel Camdessus and now Horst Koehler at the International Monetary Fund, who have moved their institutions beyond a traditional financial conception to a recognition of the moral importance of what is at stake here.

As Churchill said in a very different context, I think, as we gather today, we are not at the end and we are not at the beginning of the end, but we are, perhaps, at the end of the beginning with respect to the profoundly important task of mobilizing American concern around the poorest people in the world, in fostering a recognition that what is morally right is also practically sensible as forward defense of our country's interests.

But you know, important and as significant as the signing of this legislation is, ultimately what will make a difference is what actually happens in the countries involved over time.

And when people look back and ask whether we have seized the promise of this moment -- and it is a moment of enormous promise -- I believe they will look at three things.

First, did we work successfully with the countries involved to assure that there was a real change, that the money saved from removing the obligation for principle and interest was directly channeled into effective programs to promote education, to promote health care, to promote popular participation, and to make a difference in people's lives? Did we ensure that the money was used well?

Second, they will ask, did we move as rapidly as we could to make a difference? Yes, with all the necessary safeguards to assure that money was well-used, but also to remember that in a time when there are eight million AIDS orphans in the HIPC countries, there is no time to lose in moving forward on this issue.

And third, they will ask, did we build on the success of this coalition, on the moral energy that has been harnessed, to work as a nation and as a global system to create a global economic environment in which the poorest countries in the world can overcome the tyranny of geography, the tyranny of hopelessness that has held them down? Did we create a world where modern science was harnessed to meet the challenge of ancient disease and health problems? Did we create a world in which the power of information and communication technology was used to bring nations together, rather than to allow them to separate as some moved ahead?

Relieving debt is removing the most important obstacle to many country's economic success. But ultimately, we need to do more than remove obstacles; we need to create opportunities, and that is our challenge for the years ahead.

Few would have thought that a gathering like this could come together this soon to celebrate this much progress. Our test will be whether we can take advantage of this moment.

Mr. President, once again, thank you for your leadership.