03 November 2009

Clinton Reaffirms U.S. Commitment to Muslim Communities

Secretary Clinton addresses the 6th Forum for the Future in Marrakesh, Morocco, on November 3.

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — In a speech to the sixth Forum for the Future, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to broad engagement with Muslim communities around the world and the equally strong U.S. commitment to comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

“Our work is based on empowering individuals rather than promoting ideologies; listening and embracing others’ ideas rather than simply imposing our own; and pursuing partnerships that are sustainable and broad-based,” Clinton said November 3. “We believe that despite our differences, there is so much more that unites us.”

After her speech to the Forum for the Future meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, Clinton was scheduled to travel to Cairo for consultations with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and senior government officials before returning to the United States. She met October 31 with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a renewed effort by the United States to restart the stalled peace talks, and the trip to Egypt is seen as a continuation of those consultations.

The Forum for the Future, founded in 2004, is a joint initiative between the countries of the broader Middle East and North Africa and the Group of Eight major industrialized economies. It provides an opportunity for the governments, civil society and the private sector to discuss political and economic reforms aimed at promoting greater freedom, democracy and economic growth in the Middle East region.

Clinton, in a speech that was billed as an expansion of President Obama’s June 4 speech in Cairo, outlined three initiatives the United States is launching to expand engagement with Muslim communities around the world. The first of the three initiatives is partnering with Muslim communities to advance entrepreneurship, job creation and economic development.

“We are committed to building ladders of opportunity to help develop the enormous talents that reside in the people of this region,” Clinton said. Early next year, the United States will host an entrepreneurship conference in Washington to convene people focused on creating small businesses, expanding their businesses, and translating the talent they have into income generation to assist their families and communities, she said.

Second, Clinton said, the United States will partner with Muslim communities in laying the foundation for knowledge-based economies that will spur innovation through science and technology. As part of that initiative, the State Department has established a science envoys program that will send envoys to North Africa, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia to fulfill the president’s mandate to foster scientific and technological collaboration, she said.

She added that the State Department will expand positions for environmental, science, technology, and health officers in its embassies. “To finance these solutions, the United States Overseas Private Investment Corporation, known as OPIC, is launching a technology and innovation fund,” Clinton said.

Education, Clinton said, is the third area for engagement. “We have also begun a program to support partnership between U.S. community colleges and institutions in Muslim communities to share knowledge and to train students for good jobs,” Clinton said. And the United States is expanding scholarship opportunities, including for underserved secondary school students.

To assist civil society groups, the United States is launching Civil Society 2.0, an initiative to empower grass-roots civil society organizations around the world by helping them use digital technology, Clinton said.

The United States is launching expanded efforts to empower women and girls to participate fully in all aspects of their societies. “No country can achieve true progress or fulfill its own potential when half of its people are left behind,” she said.

“We strongly support the call made at last year’s Forum for the Future for the creation of a regional gender institute to help advance women’s empowerment across the board politically, economically, educationally, legally, socially and culturally,” she added.

Clinton said the United States will provide initial funding for the launch of the BMENA Regional Gender Institute, and also $2 million to fund innovative women’s empowerment programs in the Middle East and North Africa.

MIDDLE EAST PEACE

The United States is committed to a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Clinton told Middle Eastern and North African leaders November 3.

“We are determined and persistent in the pursuit of that goal,” she said. “I know this a matter that is of grave and pervasive concern among the countries represented here, but even far beyond this region.”

While saying that making the peace is attainable, Clinton acknowledged that the United States cannot do it alone.

“I believe that with your support, we can find a way through the difficult and tangled history that too often prevents us from making progress on this most important issue,” Clinton said. “As leaders of countries that have a direct stake and care deeply about all of the final status issues that must be resolved, I would just ask you to think about how we can each demonstrate the commitment that is necessary for us to go forward.”

Related texts of interest:

http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2009/November/20091103083709bpuh0.9118311.html

http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2009/November/20091103073828bpuh0.103573.html

http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2009/November/20091103072112bpuh0.9975397.html

http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2009/November/20091103065615bpuh0.054928.html