Remarks as Prepared at the Groundbreaking & Cornerstone Laying King Hussein Institute for Biotechnology and Cancer Naour, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Good morning — sabahoul kheir.

Your Majesties, King Abdullah and Queen Rania. Thank you for the opportunity to join you in celebrating the birth of the King Hussein Institute for Biotechnology and Cancer. Your vision of a Jordanian state-of-the-art cancer and biotechnology institute is almost realized. It will be of tremendous benefit to the citizens of Jordan and to people all across the region.

I bring greetings from President Bush and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mike Leavitt. The Jordanian people are true friends of my countrymen and partners in the war against terrorists. Your Majesties, thank you for your courage, commitment, and leadership in promoting peace and prosperity across the Middle East.

Your Majesties, it is very fitting that this institute is named after your great father, His Majesty, King Hussein, for he was also a force for understanding, justice, and life in the region. As he said, “Man is the most precious resource of all that we have.”

Scientific exchanges help us break down boundaries and bring us closer together. Just as public health crises and diseases know no national boundaries, so too must our solutions transcend any differences.

After all, you don’t have to share a man’s beliefs to save his life. You don’t have to speak a woman’s language to cure her disease. You don’t have to be from a particular country to heal its people. But you do need to acknowledge your moral duty to love your neighbors. It doesn’t matter whether they live on the other side of your village or across the world. 

Whether you’re from Hawaii or the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Massachusetts or the Middle East, all of us can draw on our rich cultures and long histories to come together to find common purpose and common interests and share our common humanity.

Ceremonies like today’s give us the opportunity to share ideas, to build friendships, and ultimately, to improve the health of all our peoples. And when it comes to matters of health, Jordan and the United States have many things in common:

• Robust health care institutions,
• The threat of emerging infectious diseases like the H5N1 strain of avian influenza,
• The desire for healthy and strong families, and
• Rising rates of cancer and diabetes other chronic diseases.

By confronting these issues together, we can draw our two peoples closer together. Good medicine and effective public health can be the basis for strong friendships. 

For example, the Food and Drug Administration within my Department of Health and Human Services was pleased to work with Minister Salah Mawajdeh to help your Ministry of Health develop the Jordan Food and Drug Administration.

We also enjoyed meeting with government officials and representatives from pharmaceutical and food companies this morning. Your Majesties, I commend you and the Minister of Health for your belief in the value of public-private partnerships in improving everyone’s lives. Secretary Leavitt and I have found the more we partner with private groups, the more effectively we are able to improve the health and well-being of our people.

And we would also like to continue to work with you on promoting intellectual property rights, which as you know, have spurred innovation and attracted investment in your domestic pharmaceutical sector.

We believe there are three levels to improving health and well-being.

On the individual level, if you eat a healthy diet, exercise, and avoid risky behaviors, you can reduce your likelihood of developing diseases like heart disease cancer. And so their majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania established the successful King Abdullah II Award for Physical Fitness program. My staff at the United States Department of Health and Human Services enjoyed working with your Ministry of Education and the Royal Health Awareness Society to develop this important initiative. We’re looking forward to exchanging more best practices as the program matures. 

On the professional level, you can dedicate yourself to fighting disease and expanding technologically. Take Dr. Samir Khleif, for example. He has come from our Department to work tirelessly with you to improve cancer care in Jordan. We at the Department of Health and Human Services plan to continue enabling Dr. Khleif to lead the Institute. We are also excited to support your expansion in biotechnology.

And on the national level, you can target resources toward prevention, research, and care programs and establish oases of healing, compassion, and innovation like this institute.

It’s very fitting that we’re only a few miles from the Dead Sea, because the King Hussein Institute for Biotechnology and Cancer will become a wellspring of life and, as you note, “a village for healing and scientific discovery.”

Your Majesties, as you lay the cornerstone of the Institute today, you also lay the cornerstone for a cutting-edge, knowledge-based economy. Your legacy will propel Jordan into the biotech age. It will also serve as a beacon for people from all over who suffer from cancer.

Your Majesties, your vision for the Institute will do so much to bring peoples together and make Jordan and the Middle East a place of greater health and prosperity. Thank you. As-salaam alaykum.