FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to meet with you today. The Chambers of Commerce have always been at the pinnacle of the most respected voices of the business community, not only nationally but in the cities and towns of the United States. American Chambers, which I have seen in countries on almost every continent, project the worldwide influence of American business.

Under the leadership President Tom Donohue, the U.S. Chamber is again showing its leadership and foresight by moving ahead with the establishment of a humanitarian fund of a Center for Corporate Citizenship and a special institution to create a fund for a variety of humanitarian purposes: to assist in natural disaster relief and to relieve the suffering of survivors of one of the greatest human disasters of our time, the Holocaust, and the travails of slave and forced laborers. I especially applaud Chamber Senior Vice President Craig Johnstone for his visionary leadership in working with key American companies to launch this initiative.

American business has traditionally been generous with its charitable donations; but with the upheavals of the 1960s, many of our largest corporations became even more proactive in seeking out worthy projects in need of support, and encouraging their employees and executives to involve themselves in service to their communities. In recent years, this movement has grown exponentially. It has been estimated that total U.S. corporate giving last year alone totaled $19 billion, roughly half in cash and half in products, services and employee time. The response of corporate America to President Bush's Thousand Points of Light, and to President Clinton's initiative to bridge the digital divide, shows this effort transcends partisanship. At its best, it can synergistically combine business initiatives with government programs and nonprofit activities, in a broad attack on the social and educational problems that still affect our society, even in a time of optimism and prosperity. The Clinton Administration has highlighted the issue of corporate citizenship and the State Department has given corporate recognition for corporate excellence.

Today the process of globalization, in which U.S. companies have taken the lead, is raising additional challenges for the business community. The issues raised at the time of the demonstrations in Seattle and more recently in Washington, and the fervor behind them, show that many people-and especially young people and workers-have the view that impersonal forces and unfamiliar international institutions are, in the name of corporate profit, endangering their jobs and their environment. We may disagree-and I fervently disagree-but the issue must be addressed. As President Clinton has said, we need to "put a human face" on globalization. We need to show that it is not only the inevitable result of technology, but globalization has resulted in substantial improvement in the daily lives of real people, hundreds of millions of people, around the world. Indeed, the process of global economic integration has vastly improved living standards for peoples of countries that have embraced it. Our companies have enhanced this process by bringing American values of respect for workers and the environment to the countries in which they do business. Trade has been responsible for one-third of our own economic growth since 1993.

American businesses can and must play a major role in this by emphasizing the programs of good corporate citizenship in which you are engaged in your areas of foreign operations. You work constantly to expand your markets overseas. If economic growth continues in Asia and Latin America, as we believe it will, and if we are successful in implementing our recent trade agreement with China by passage of PNTR and my passage of the African Trade and Caribbean Basin legislation, as we are cautiously optimistic will happen, there will be even more opportunities in this regard in the future. In addition to the day-to-day work of community service and social betterment, you can be on the alert for opportunities to participate in broad humanitarian programs whose goals will catch the conscience of the world. All of this will show that American business is interested not only in profits but also in people.

The Chamber has already been doing this informally. It has lent its facilities to relief organizations, helping them raise funds to assist victims of the recent earthquakes in Turkey. It led a coalition that financed disaster relief to the Caribbean nations that were devastated by Hurricane Mitch and Hurricane Georges. Now you are engaged in setting up a new charitable organization to provide humanitarian relief to victims of disasters in various parts of the world.

During the Second World War, the Nazi regime forced some twelve million people to work in their factories and fields so that German worker were into their 40's would be freed to serve in the military. Most of them came from the nations of Central and Eastern Europe, which the Nazis overran and occupied. Some were slave laborers living in concentration camps, who were to be worked until they died. The others were forced laborers, in industry and agriculture, who were viewed as an asset of the Nazi state, but who worked for little or no pay under harsh, prison-like conditions.

Over a million of these workers 12 million workers are still alive today. Of the former slave laborers, about half are Jewish. Of the forced laborers, who constitute the great majority of survivors, over 95 percent are non-Jewish-- residents, or former residents, of countries such as Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Most of these people are now over 80 years of age. Many live in very modest circumstances, supported by their pensions and their families. We believe there are over 100,000 slave & forced laborers living in the U.S. today. They are dying at the rate of about one percent a month.

The business community of Germany, recognizing a responsibility to those survivors whom German companies employed, has agreed, together with the German government, to create a Foundation, which will make payments to them for the wrongs they, as well as other victims, suffered. German companies have committed to contribute 5 billion deutschmarks, or 2.5 billion dollars for this purpose. Chancellor Schroeder's government has agreed, with the support of the Bundestag, to match this sum. Details are still being worked out in negotiations. The U.S. Government, which I have represented, and the German Government, represented by Count Otto Lambsdorff, chair the talks. We hope the Foundation can become operational by the end of the year. The average slave laborer will receive 15,000 DM or $7500; the average forced laborer 5,000 DM or $2500. These are dignified payments but hardly match the suffering they endured.

Using funds provided with the unanimous support of both Republicans and Democrats in the Congress, the Clinton-Gore Administration has already made a pledge to victims of Nazi persecution. The pledge will come from monies dedicated to the Nazi Persecutee Relief Fund, which some have called the "Nazi Gold" fund. Nine countries which had legal claims to six tons of gold still remaining 50 years after the War, which had been stolen from them and, as we belatedly discovered, from victims of the Holocaust, decided in 1998 to forgo ownership of the gold, and contribute their pro rata share to the Persecutee Fund. The U.S. had no claim on any of the gold. Indeed, our armed forces, at the end of the War, had actually collected over 300 tons of gold hidden by the Nazis and returned it to the countries from which it had been stolen. Nevertheless, to show moral leadership. Congress and the Administration the kind your proposed effort will also demonstrate-our government made a $25 million contribution to the Fund, of which we have pledged $10 million to surviving slave and forced laborers.

Among those benefiting from conscript labor were scores of companies that had been owned, in whole or in part, by American firms before they were nationalized by the Nazi regime, even though the American firms may have had no part in the decision to use conscript labor, or in the hideous working conditions. Many of the subsidiaries were returned to their American parents after the war.

Given this history, a number of U.S. companies have suggested a way be found to create a fund, under the auspices of the Chamber, to voluntarily supplement the payments to be made by the German Foundation. This would be a very important moral gesture. It will ease the situation of some who are most in need. Since only those slave laborers and those forced laborers living in the five nations of Central and Eastern Europe that participated in our talks are receiving specific national allocations of funds from the German Foundation, with 800 million DM set aside for those living elsewhere, such a fund would be especially meaningful to those survivors living in the rest of the world, including tens of thousands who are U.S. citizens.

This generous gesture would be in the finest tradition of good corporate citizenship. It would show compassion to a highly visible group of very elderly people, whose lives have been hard. It will help to heal the wounds of the past, avoid confrontation and tension, and to settle or prevent lawsuits and other potential pressures on American firms. It will cement the healthy ties that have grown between American and German business, between our two peoples, and between our nation and one of its most important NATO allies in Europe. So I applaud what the Chamber is considering, and I hope that not only those parent companies but also other American companies now operating in Europe will see their way clear to participate, whether their subsidiaries had World War II activities or not.

A Center for Corporate Citizenship can stimulate and organize important missions: voluntary initiatives such as the humanitarian foundation you are considering; policy initiatives that encourage and reward corporate citizenship activities; and research to find market applications for solving social problems. I am happy that all of these ideas are on the table for discussion at this meeting and in the weeks to come.

Corporate citizenship is not just philanthropy or corporate good deeds. It should be viewed as a part of the long-term strategic vision of a company. In today's society, there are more demands on business, more scrutiny, and more expectations, as well as more opportunities. Dealing with the issues of corporate citizenship is becoming a fundamental and strategic element of business.

So I want to encourage all of you to look closely at the opportunities you have to support projects such as assisting elderly survivors of forced and slave labor, and the many other ways that we-governments, industry and community groups -can work together to ensure that the future builds upon the past.

I applaud your initiative and thank you for the chance to speak to you today. I hope you will have a successful Conference.