15 February 2008
National Security Advisor Hadley Previews Bush's Trip to Africa
Podcast on U.S. policy toward Africa
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This is an issue update from America.gov
President Bush: Our foreign policy is based on a clear premise: We trust that people, when given the chance, will choose a future of freedom and peace.
Narrator: President Bush addressed the U.S. Congress and the American people in January. Now, less than a month later, President Bush’s state visit to Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia will demonstrate America’s commitment to the people of Africa. National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley previewed the upcoming visit at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Today, we’ll feature Hadley’s comments as we highlight the remarkable progress achieved through the American-African partnership.
Bush: Today, more than half the world's food aid comes from the United States. And tonight, I ask Congress to support an innovative proposal to provide food assistance by purchasing crops directly from farmers in the developing world, so we can build up local agriculture and help break the cycle of famine.
[Applause.]
Narrator: Innovative programs addressing food aid will form only one part of an important agenda as President Bush visits five African nations. In Africa, citizens can clearly see the Bush administration’s approach to economic development in action. Hadley explains that helping others forms part of the American spirit.
National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley: When Americans see people in need, they want to help because we believe as a nation that every individual deserves the opportunity to reach his or her potential.
Narrator: Even though Americans have a history of helping others in need, the Bush administration realizes that there are far-reaching security and economic stakes in Africa’s development. Hadley explains…
Hadley: We also recognize that helping people in the developing world is very much in our national interest. People who are free, educated, healthy, empowered and able to use their freedom to enhance their economic well-being, are less likely to support terror or attacks on others.
Narrator: Since taking office, President Bush has more than doubled U.S. development assistance from about $10 billion in 2000 to about $23 billion in 2006. This is the largest increase in development assistance since the Marshall Plan. President Bush has worked with the G8 partners -- particularly at the Gleneagles Summit -- to help free poor countries of up to $60 billion of debt which has trapped millions of people in poverty.
Hadley: The best way to enhance development is to invest in people: their health, their education. So this is what we are doing while encouraging governments in the developing world to make the choices that enable their people to achieve a better life. We are measuring success by the number of lives that change, not the number of dollars that change hands.
Narrator: The Bush administration’s approach to development assistance is based on decades of experience around the world. The United States uses its assistance to encourage innovation and reform, not to subsidize governments that have failed to invest in their people. American aid helps nations open their economies to free markets and free trade so they can be self sufficient, building relationships based on partnership.
This podcast is produced by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs. Links to other Internet sites or opinions expressed should not be considered an endorsement of other content and views.
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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
