03 July 2008
President Bush Discusses Upcoming G8 Summit
Bush to urge leaders to fulfill commitments
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Bethesda, Maryland)
July 3, 2008
President Bush: "The G8 Can Be Accountable For Its Promises And Deliver Results"
President Bush And Assistant To The President For International Economic Affairs Dan Price Discuss The Upcoming G8 Summit, Saying "G8 Members Need To Follow Through With Actions To Make Good On Those Promises"
President Bush: "I'll be going to the G8 and talking about the great compassion and concern of the American people in addressing problems" "At recent summits, G8 countries have made pledges to help developing nations address challenges, from health care to education, to corruption. … As I said the other day, we need people who not only make promises, but write checks, for the sake of human rights and human dignity, and for the sake of peace." (President George W. Bush, Statement On 2008 G8 Summit, The White House, 7/2/08)
Africa
President Bush: "In 2005, G8 leaders promised to double development assistance to Africa by 2010." "America is on track to meet our commitments. And in Japan, I'll urge other leaders to fulfill their commitments, as well." (President George W. Bush, Statement On 2008 G8 Summit, The White House, 7/2/08)
• Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs Dan Price: "[T]his commitment, in combination with other donors, would result in an increase of aid to Africa of $25 billion in 2010." "At that same summit in Gleneagles, President Bush announced that the United States would double our assistance to sub-Saharan Africa between 2004 and 2010, and we are on track to meet that goal and increase our assistance to $8.67 billion by 2010." (Dan Price, Press Briefing On The President's Trip To Japan And The G8 Summit, The White House, 7/1/08)
Fighting Disease In The Developing World
President Bush: "It's important that over the next five years that [the United States] support antiretroviral treatment for approximately 2.5 million people, that we prevent 12 million new AIDS infections, and that we care for 12 million people also affected by HIV/AIDS – including 5 million orphans and vulnerable children." (President George W. Bush, Statement On 2008 G8 Summit, The White House, 7/2/08)
• Price: "At last year's G8, the United States challenged the G8 to match our efforts under the reauthorization request for PEPFAR." "To date, through PEPFAR, the United States has supported lifesaving treatments for nearly 1.7 million people in sub-Saharan Africa." (Dan Price, Press Briefing On The President's Trip To Japan And The G8 Summit, The White House, 7/1/08)
Price: "[T]hrough the President's Malaria Initiative, the United States is working, itself, to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in the 15 hardest-hit African countries." "[A]t last year's summit, again, the United States challenged the rest of the G8 to match our efforts under PMI, and again the G8 took up that challenge, committing to meet the needs in a total of 30 of the hardest-hit countries in Africa. In 2007, more than 25 million people have benefitted from the President's Malaria Initiative, dealing with prevention and treatment interventions such as the provisions of nets, spraying, and medicines."
Price: "There was also a commitment on polio at past G8s." "[T]he United States has honored its commitments by maintaining its level of contributions. We've provided over $1.4 billion for polio eradication since 1988, almost double what any other country has done. We have urged our G8 partners to honor the pledge to maintain or increase their funding levels. We are committed to finish the job and eradicate polio."
President Bush: "We'll also discuss additional steps to confront some other challenges, such as the need to train health care workers in G8 partner countries in Africa." (President George W. Bush, Statement On 2008 G8 Summit, The White House, 7/2/08)
• Price: "[T]he President and Prime Minister [Gordon Brown] announced an initiative to increase the number of health care workers in four African countries, to work towards the World Health Organization's minimum threshold of 2.3 health workers per 1,000 people." "The U.S. and the U.K. will be working together in partnership with Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia towards this goal. And the United States is investing at least $1.2 billion over five years toward the effort in these five – these four countries." (Dan Price, Press Briefing On The President's Trip To Japan And The G8 Summit, The White House, 7/1/08)
President Bush: "We should set a goal to treat at least 75 percent of the people with neglected tropical diseases in the most affected countries." (President George W. Bush, Statement On 2008 G8 Summit, The White House, 7/2/08)
• Price: "[T]he President announced a U.S. $350 million initiative to fight certain major neglected tropical diseases." "That $350 million figure is a commitment over a five-year period that would provide treatment for more than 300 million people in Africa, Asia and Latin America." (Dan Price, Press Briefing On The President's Trip To Japan And The G8 Summit, The White House, 7/1/08)
Food Security
President Bush: "I've announced that the United States would make available nearly $1 billion in new resources to bolster global food security." "At Toyako I'll also ask leaders of the G8 to make other important strategic moves to alleviate hunger, such as increasing the shipments of food, fertilizers and seeds to countries in need. … We need to help severely affected nations grow more of their own food. … I'm also going to make sure that the world understands the importance of advanced agricultural technologies, including biotechnology, to help nations grow food." (President George W. Bush, Statement On 2008 G8 Summit, The White House, 7/2/08)
• Price: "[O]n May 1, the President announced a new initiative to provide $770 million to support food aid and development programs, bringing to nearly $1 billion total additional USG funds announced to address the food crisis since mid-April." "With these additional funds, the United States is on track to provide a total of nearly $5 billion to fight global hunger in 2008 and 2009." (Dan Price, Press Briefing On The President's Trip To Japan And The G8 Summit, The White House, 7/1/08)
Open Markets For Trade And Investment
President Bush: "We will work to tear down barriers to trade and investment around the world. It's an opportunity for those of us in the G8 and the other nations coming to talk about a successful round of Doha. The United States is firmly committed to Doha. We're working hard to get this done by the end of the year, and it will be a good opportunity in Japan to discuss what we need to do together to open up market access and to reduce agricultural subsidies." (President George W. Bush, Statement On 2008 G8 Summit, The White House, 7/2/08)
• Price: "[W]e think that the G8 leaders are likely to discuss the benefits of international investment to the global economy in terms of stimulating growth, creating jobs, enhancing productivity, and fostering competitiveness." "We believe the G8 leaders should discuss the importance of the G8 countries themselves embracing, and encouraging others to adopt, certain core principles on open investment, such as fair, equitable and non-discriminatory treatment; the need for transparency and predictability; and the importance of ensuring that any governmental review of proposed foreign investments be focused on national security concerns." (Dan Price, Press Briefing On The President's Trip To Japan And The G8 Summit, The White House, 7/1/08)
Energy Security And Climate Change
President Bush: "[W]e can have better energy security and we can be better stewards of the environment without sacrificing economic growth." "It's going to be hard to have the amount of money necessary to invest in new technologies if we don't have the money to spend, and therefore we need to make sure our economies are vibrant. … We're now implementing new mandatory programs that will reduce billions of tons of emissions." (President George W. Bush, Statement On 2008 G8 Summit, The White House, 7/2/08)
• "[W]e've got a strong agenda when it comes to providing money to encourage the advent of new technologies." "We're going to make available more than $40 billion in loan-guarantee authority to support private sector incentives and innovative clean energy technologies. …The 2009 budget requests more than $4 billion to support technologies that have the potential to avoid, reduce and sequester greenhouse gases."
• Price: "Technology change is key to achieving our interlinked objectives on climate change, energy security and economic development." "At the G8 summit, we are hopeful to see support for the launching of a clean technology fund that will facilitate the spread of clean technologies in the developing world. The United States has committed $2 billion to this fund. In addition, we would like to see G8 governments increase their funding for R&D involving clean energy technologies." (Dan Price, Press Briefing On The President's Trip To Japan And The G8 Summit, The White House, 7/1/08)
President Bush: "[W]e'll be meeting with leaders of the major economies to discuss shared strategies and practical actions for addressing greenhouse gas emissions." "All this is aiming … to develop a strategy in which major economies are a part of the strategy. Look, we can't have an effective agreement unless China and India are a part of it. It's as simple as that. I'm going to remind our partners that's the case. And we want the United Nations Framework Convention to be effective. And so we've got to reach common ground on how to proceed." (President George W. Bush, Statement On 2008 G8 Summit, The White House, 7/2/08)
• Price: "[W]ith evidence mounting of rapidly rising emissions from emerging markets, action by the G8 alone will not be effective to address this problem." (Dan Price, Press Briefing On The President's Trip To Japan And The G8 Summit, The White House, 7/1/08)
(end transcript)
