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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Talking Points of J. Brian Atwood
June 29, 1998
Tidewater: Blair House
Washington, D.C.
Thank you Acting-Secretary Talbot for those warm words of welcome. I want to especially thank you for coming to this reception. Your interest in sustainable development is well known, and it seems particularly appropriate that you should be representing the United States tonight at the conclusion of today's conference.
Members of the Diplomatic Corps, heads of international agencies, ministers of development cooperation, distinguished panelists and guests. I hope we will look back at this day as an important stop in our collective journey:
Together we have reviewed the past thirty years of development cooperation and found its impact to be impressive;
Together we have discussed the challenges and strategy for the future, and found that we have a consensus on where we are headed.
Together we realize that with a strong development cooperation effort, the world is decidedly better off today, and can greatly improve the future if we stay the course and make an increasing effort to achieve the development goals we have discussed.These are important common understandings and commitments.
I would like to especially note the presence here this evening of Ambassadors from a new generation of donors. There are nearly twenty countries which used to be aid recipients which are now "emerging donors." They are making a truly significant contribution to the development cooperation effort.
Secretary Albright has often commented on the need to think about the global community as one in which all nations have rights and responsibilities, and in which countries are encouraged as they develop to increasingly contribute to the global good.
These emerging donors are symbols of the success of development. We welcome your countries to this effort. We are pleased that you have chosen to engage in discussions with the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) about aid coordination. And, just as we supported your development success, we encourage you in your new role in the development cooperation effort.
It is a pleasure to welcome this distinguished group to the Blair House where Presidents receive visiting Heads of State. This is an appropriate place to close this conference.
I want to honor each of you present here tonight: each of you represent an important part of this grand enterprise of development cooperation. Without any important element of the development effort -- official or private, NGO or business, civil society or political leader, donor or recipient -- the entire effort would falter and possibly fail.
Just as we are on the threshold of the 21st century, we are also on the cusp of a new era in which the fate of the entire global community is in our vital interest. We must stay the course; we must find more resources; we must intensify the development effort.
It is clear that alone, none of us makes a difference in this enormous undertaking. But together we can, indeed, make a "World of Difference".
So thank you for coming. Thank you for your participation. And thank you for all you will do in the future to contribute to achieving future successes in world development. And now we would like to hear from Hilde Johnson, Norway's Development Minister. Thank you.
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 18, 2001 |
