Category: APO-OPA

WASHINGTON, August 6, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

“Game Plan: Shaping the Future of a Fast-Growing Continent”

Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Washington, DC

August 5, 2014

Good afternoon, everybody. I’ve had a chance to be able to say a few words to a number of you at a few different events in the course of yesterday and even today, but I appreciate this chance to be part of the business forum.

I want to thank, first of all, the Vice President, who’s been a friend of mine for 35 or 40 years now, 29 of them in the Senate. And I thank him for his contribution of conscience and of commitment to Africa that he has made for as long as he has been in public life. In the Senate, we worked hand-in-hand on Darfur, South Sudan, PEPFAR, and as the Vice President said, he has traveled far and wide, but especially as Vice President to Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, to help build transparent and accountable institutions and to help lift millions of people out of poverty.

I also want to especially thank Michael Bloomberg for – and everybody has, but it’s appropriate – the Bloomberg Philanthropies for sponsoring this event. Michael’s contribution to Africa comes not just in the form of this summit, but through his latest commitment of $10 million that he made just this February to African countries to build media capacity with a business focus and to promote reliability in reporting, educational opportunities, and the transparencies that the Vice President just talked about that markets need in order to give capital confidence and in order to grow.

And finally, I also want to thank Penny Pritzker, my partner, a fellow member of the President’s Cabinet, but a terrific partner in our endeavors to make certain that people understand that in this globalized world, in the transformative societies we’re living in today, that economics – excuse me – is not divorced from foreign policy; it is foreign policy. And foreign policy is economic policy. They absolutely go hand-in-hand, and we are working very, very closely to marry the efforts of the Commerce Department and the State Department in order to assist companies and to work for American business, but also to work for the countries that we represent in terms of their interests and their vision and their aspirations.

Penny, as you all know, spent 30 years building a business empire, literally. She understands that the investments in Africa are a two-way street, and when we help nations stand on their own two feet, we create opportunity elsewhere in the world, and that everybody benefits as a result of that.

Now, my singular responsibility and privilege is to represent the United States of America in our diplomacy. And I get to wear the hat of the top diplomat of the State Department, and it’s a privilege. But I want to say something to you today that is not just from the business perspective, but which comes from the wearing of that hat, which is a reflection of the people that I see in the countries I visit, the leaders I meet and talk with, the aspirations that I hear all of them express, and the firsthand opportunity I get to sink my teeth into other people’s culture, other people’s history and see the world as they see it, and see even America as they see it.

Everyone here understands that we are living in a very different world from two years ago, from five years ago, ten years ago, and certainly from the world that emerged with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. Forces have been released everywhere that have changed everything because of their own ideology in many cases, or in some cases just outlook on the world, but also because other things have changed. A world – I sat with a number of young diplomats in the State Department not so long ago, and one of them recently minted from college and the Foreign Service School and this new world of technology made a very profound observation to me, which has had an impact on my thinking about power and how it works. He said that a world where power used to be defined exclusively in hierarchies is now a world where power is defined in networks.

And in much of Africa and across the networked world, it is evident. We heard the statistics earlier of the number of people who have cell phones in Africa today. Everybody shares everything with everybody all the time, and the fact is that that changes politics. It changes the cross currents of decision making. It changes how political leaders can or can’t build consensus in order to try to make decisions and bring their people along with them as they make those decisions. It also, obviously, profoundly changes business, something that Bloomberg has understood way ahead of the curve, which is why they’ve been so successful. It changes hopes and dreams and aspirations. And every political leader and every business needs to be tuned into that reality. No matter how hard some powerful leader of a country might desire, no one can put this genie back in the bottle and change what is happening.

So because of that, we face a very common challenge, all of us together. In Africa, there are some 700 million people under the age of 30, a staggering youth bulge unknown at any time on the face of this planet. And the fact is that all of them, or most of them – not all of them, but most of them – with their increasing awareness of this world we live in are desperate for opportunity, yes, but also for dignity and for respect.

On the other side, we all know too well there are extremists, too many radical religious extremists who distort theology, religion, and even ideology. And they are prepared to seduce these young people in a very calculated and disciplined way to lure them into what is nothing less than a dead end. And we’ve seen the instability that this creates, all of us, and what’s important is that none of them – none of those extremists, they don’t offer an education that helps a young person gain a skill. They don’t help anybody to be able to compete. They have not one idea about a health system. They don’t build infrastructure. They don’t tell you how to build a nation. And they don’t talk about how they will provide jobs or offer a vision for the future. They are stuck in the past. Their challenge is modernity, and because of it, it’s our challenge too.

So there’s something else about those extremists, and it reflects a little bit on what the Vice President just said to you. It’s not just the lack of jobs and opportunity that give them their opening and their recruitment tools. They’re just as content to see corruption and oligarchy and kleptocracy and resource exploitation fill the vacuum. Because it may look like economic growth on paper, but that’s another way that they can seize on the frustration and exploit the sense of lack of opportunity and violation that is the anger of so many people – to wit, a young fruit vendor in Tunisia who ignited so much of what followed. There’s another target that they can turn to. They are the swing voters, in a sense, in the struggle against extremism.

So my friends, that is our challenge. It’s not just to come here and do business. That’s important, obviously. It is the key, the economic key to the future, and we have to do business to grow the jobs, provide the skills, provide the tax base to be able to do the things we want to do. But we have to come together, all of us, with a unified vision and a purpose so that we can present this growing number of young people in Africa and across the world with a viable alternative: quality education with skills for the modern world and with jobs that allow them to build a life and have a family and have confidence in their countries.

All of us together have the greatest ability of any people on the planet to be able to provide this opportunity. And it’s not just economics that creates the sustainable growth and shared prosperity; it’s also this larger vision of what life is about and why there is a greater purpose than just living to work. You have to work to live and there has to be a living there that’s worth it. So we know beyond any doubt that the places – and this is a polite summary of an experience here in America where we do not profess to have all the answers, nor would we suggest to you that ours is the only track – but one thing that we have learned is that in the places where people are free not just to develop an idea, but to debate different ideas, to have not just a job but the promise of entrepreneurship and innovation to be able to transform the best ideas into reality and into a business and into a future – those are the societies that absolutely are the most successful and the most stable on our planet.

And this success is not a mystery. It’s not something that’s hard to achieve if you make the right choices. It’s possible for all of Africa, and that is how one can choose to have an Africa that is not defined any longer, as it has not been for these last 10 and 15 years as it goes through this transformation defined by conflict – less and less. But it becomes an Africa that is defined by rights and by capacity, by dignity, respect, and opportunity. And opportunity is something that Boko Haram and al-Shabaab and many other groups will never, ever provide.

So when the United States is home to some of the most innovative and well-known and respected companies in the world, and when Africa is already home to some of the fastest-growing economies in the world and new leadership that is anxious to grab the future, we have to do more together. We have to partner – which is a theme of this conference – to invest in the next generation, to create good jobs for young Africans, to build a stronger middle class, to provide families with clean power and clean water, to build societies where an open exchange of ideas and information are the defining hallmark.

Business is not just business for the sake of business, and I think all of you know that, at least not for most of the thoughtful businesspeople here and in our country. It is for providing the foundation for people to be able to live their lives with that opportunity, dignity, and respect. I don’t have to remind anybody here that Nelson Mandela, one of the greatest leaders the world has seen in all time, did not spend 27 years in jail so that he could get out and run a business, with no disrespect to anybody here. He did it so that people of his country would have an opportunity to live up to an ideal. He did it for rights – human rights – that are the foundation of any civilized society. And those rights across the continent are best lived out, best given meaning in strong countries with strong economies where prosperity is shared by a strong middle class.

So I close by just saying there is absolutely no question in my mind, from the excitement that we felt yesterday at the first meeting to the energy that we felt in all of your presence here and in the meetings and discussions thus far – all of this is not just possible; it is the future. But we have to make the right choices about skills and education and opportunities, and that will define the U.S.-Africa partnership. And if we work together, if everybody gets this right, this – this meeting and this moment and the days ahead of us can literally become a pivotal defining moment for our future history and for the world.

Thank you all very, very, much. (Applause.)

WASHINGTON, August 6, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Mandarin Oriental Hotel

Washington, DC

August 5, 2014

Thank you for being with us. All of us in this room understand that the challenges we face today increasingly present a sort of blurred line between economic policy and foreign policy. I’ve said frequently foreign policy is economic policy, and economic policy is foreign policy. And our shared prosperity globally depends on how well we work together to be able to promote trade, attract investment, facilitate commercial activity, and especially innovation.

So it’s not just a privilege for me to be able to be here with the OPIC President Elizabeth Littlefield and USTDA Director Lee Zak, it’s a responsibility. And I am enormously grateful for their partnership, and you’ll understand why as we describe what we’re going to be doing.

We all know that climate change is a crisis that waits for no one and it respects no border. It’s not a challenge of the future; it’s here now. We are witnessing it in country after country in various ways whether it’s water supplies, drought, food agriculture, food security, fisheries, you name it. There isn’t a part of the world where they aren’t having some consequence as a result of what is happening. And it’s also happening at a pace that is particularly alarming to people. We also know that focusing only on sort of that reality without providing some alternatives is not adequate. And we’re not going to do that, particularly when there are remarkable opportunities that are staring us in the face.

The fact is that good energy solutions are climate solutions. The solution to climate change is energy policy – the choices that we make with respect to our energy polices of the future. And nowhere is that more true than in Africa. Africa can be a clean energy beacon for the world, and energy prosperity can actually replace energy poverty. This morning I met with the chair of the African Union, and she was talking to me as I did – in fact, with several presidents of countries, all of whom talked to me about their desire to leapfrog the mistakes, to go quickly into clean and alternative and renewable energy rather than the exploitation of fossil fuel and carbon and all of the problems that come with it.

The United States wants to support countries across Africa that make that transition to the clean energy future more rapidly. And that’s why we launched the U.S.-Africa Clean Energy Finance Initiative. And that’s why I am proud to announce today that we are planning to commit an additional $10 million to this effort.

More than 600 million Africans, nearly twice the population of the United States of America, live without access to electricity today. And our challenge is clear: We need to change those numbers and replace them with a partnership that benefits all sides by making sure that African companies, African cities, African towns, African families have access to clean and renewable energy. Through President Obama’s Power Africa initiative and the agreements that OPIC and TDA are signing today, we are doing exactly that.

And I’m very proud that U.S.-ACEF is elevating our efforts in very tangible ways. Our partners are using U.S.-ACEF funding to develop the first utility-scale wind power project in Senegal. They’re developing Rwanda’s first large-scale, grid-connected solar PV project. And they’re developing plans for hydro-plants in Rwanda that will supply power to Shyira Hospital and villages in the north, bringing electricity to thousands of households for the very first time.

Now I want to emphasize the work that we are doing here is not hypothetical, it’s not future, it’s not a theory; it’s real and it’s now. And it’s real lives that we are improving as a consequence.

I’ll never forget just a few months ago I walked into the Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababa. And as I walked into the front gate, on the back I saw this big sign on the wall saying “Ethiopia and the United States of America investing in a healthy future together.” That sign tells it all, my friends. Together we’re not just investing in a healthier future today; we’re investing in a cleaner, more sustainable future for all Africans. And that is the challenge that we face, and it’s one that we believe will be made easier as people everywhere begin to realize that the 21st century, the challenge of developing clean and renewable sources of energy in this century isn’t a break on economic growth. It’s not something that holds you back. It is, in fact, the definition of possibilities. It is the engine of economic growth. And we intend to prove that with this initiative and with these projects and with so much more of what will happen with respect to the energy choices of Africa.

Thank you. (Applause.)

JUBA, South Sudan, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) condemns in the strongest possible terms the killing by the so-called! Mabanese Defence Forces of at least five South Sudanese employees of …

GENEVA, Switzerland, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — WHO Virtual Press Conference

WHAT: On 6-7 August, the World Health Organization (WHO)will convene an IHR Emergency Committee meeting in order to ascertain whether the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa constitutes a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” (PHEIC) and, if it does, to recommend appropriate temporary measures to reduce international spread. Following the meeting, WHO will brief journalists on the committee’s decisions.

The term Public Health Emergency of International Concern is defined in the International Health Regulations as “an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response”. The Emergency Committee is made up of international experts who will provide technical advice to the WHO Director-General. Other participants include representataives of the affected countries.

WHEN: Virtual Press Briefing Friday 8 August, at 09:00 CEST.

WHERE: Geneva-based journalists may participate in the Library Room at WHO Headquarters.

Journalists outside Geneva may dial in, and Dial-in numbers are listed below.

WHO: Dr Keiji Fukuda, Assistant Director-General, WHO.

For more information:

Gregory Hartl, Telephone: +41 22 791 44 58; Mobile: +41 79 203 6715; e-mail: hartlg@who.int

Tarik Jasarevic, Telephone: +41 22 791 50 99 ; Mobile : +41 79 367 6214 ; e-mail : jasarevict@who.int

Fadéla Chaib, Telephone: +41 22 791 32 28; Mobile: +41 79 475 5556; e-mail: chaibf@who.int

Television broadcasters interested in receiving video material are kindly asked to contact Christopher Black, Telephone: +41 22 791 1460, Mobile: +41 79 472 6054; e-mai:_blackc@who.int

Information to journalists:

Journalists who wish to attend the press conference in person at WHO but who are not already accredited with the United Nations in Geneva should get to WHO an hour early in order to get their media badge.

How to access the WHO Virtual Press Conference – 8 August 2014

Journalists are requested to call in at least 10 minutes before the press conference begins in order to be correctly registered. From the list below, please use the number closest to you. If you have problems with a number, try the toll number from a neighbouring country or call Switzerland: +41 22 580 9022, or France: +33 1 72 00 15 10, or United States: +1 877 887 4163

On connecting, type PIN code: 561195# on your telephone keypad and then record your name and media outlet and then press again the # key.

To ask a question during the question and answer session, registered participants should type 01 on their telephone keypad, this will place you in the queue to ask questions.

International access numbers

COUNTRY TOLL-FREE TOLL

Argentina +541159843866

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Shortly after the conclusion of the Virtual Press conference an audio file will be available on the following links: http://terrance.whoint/mediacentre/presser/

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/multimedia/ebola_briefing/en/

More information about Ebola can be found at: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/en/

Please follow us on @WHO for live tweets during the press conference.

All WHO information can be found at: www.who.int

GENEVA, Switzerland, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Thousands of people displaced by violence in Bambari, in the east-central part of the Central African Republic, continue to live in conditions of great hardship. To help relieve …

JOHANNESBURG, South-Africa, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Standard Bank (http://www.standardbank.com), Africa’s largest lender by assets, and General Electric today reaffirmed their commitment to Africa at a power financing roundtable held in Washington DC. The partnership sees both parties aiming to bridge the power financing gap in Africa and forms part of the US Africa Leaders’ Summit, the largest gathering of African heads of state and government as well as key stakeholders to visit Washington on any one occasion.

Download the infographic: http://www.apo-mail.org/140805.pdf

Photo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=1275 (Mr Sim Tshabalala, Chief Executive of Standard Bank Group)

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/standardbank.png

The strategic partnership has already seen both companies commit to a $350 million financing agreement aimed at improving access to power infrastructure in Africa. Africa needs to add an extra 300 gigawatts (GW) of power generating capacity over the next 15 years in order to meet demand which is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 3% over the next two decades. According to the International Energy Agency, sub-Saharan Africa requires more than $300bn in investment to achieve universal electricity access by 2030.

Mr Sim Tshabalala, Chief Executive Standard Bank Group, says solutions to meet Africa’s growing energy demands will only be possible once developers, governments and funders reach a common understanding of the risks, pricing and regulatory imperatives needed to facilitate the required investment.

“There are significant opportunities and a viable investment case for governments across Africa to provide the lion’s share of long tenor debt funding given the solid returns on investments in power generation and distribution.”

Mr Tshabalala says “Standard Bank works with investors to offer them a sustainable and structured model to finance power and infrastructure projects appropriately. On-going strategic partnerships with stakeholders like GE, allows us the opportunity to provide access to energy across the continent. In tandem, we are also playing an active role in supporting the policy reform process that should facilitate additional private sector investment in power.”

Africa’s inadequate power infrastructure is a serious constraint to sustained growth and creates significant transaction costs for firms operating on the continent, which is home to 15% of the world’s population yet produces just 3% of the its energy output.

Decades of inadequate investment in infrastructure along with a lack of policy clarity and poor planning by regional governments means that many sub-Saharan African countries continue to battle inadequate power supply. Power outages cost more than 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) in Malawi, Uganda and South Africa; and between 1 and 5% of GDP in Senegal, Kenya and Tanzania.

While the continent has seen heavy investment in the natural resource sector, global investors are quickly realising the potential benefits of investments in other sectors such as power and infrastructure. Financial institutions such as Standard Bank are pioneering innovative funding solutions to help close the energy gap on the continent.

“Standard Bank’s view is that there are many financing options on the table, if the economic opportunity is considered seriously,” said Mr Tshabalala. “For example, new generation planning requires a complete financial model. Critical to success is the need for greater certainty in terms of creating environments conducive to investment which then makes it easier to attract the required investment into the sector, especially within emerging markets.”

He cautions however, that in terms of pricing, there are still many hurdles to overcome. One example is where power tariffs are set below the replacement cost of production, which then acts as a disincentive to investment in new plants.

“The bottom line is that African governments need to take these harsh economic realities into consideration and advance sector reforms,” said Mr Tshabalala. “Only then will they boost their access to capital markets and better position themselves to fund the large-scale power developments that are crucial to their economic futures.”

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Standard Bank.

Media contact

Kate Johns

Group Communications | Africa Media Relations

Tel: +27 11 721 8406 | Mobile: +27 82 805 0210

kate.johns@standardbank.co.za | www.standardbank.co.za www.standardbank.com

About Standard Bank Group

Standard Bank (http://www.standardbank.com), trading as Stanbic Group, is the largest African bank by assets and earnings. Our strategy is to build the leading African-focused financial services organisation using all our competitive advantages to the full. We will focus on delivering superior sustainable shareholder value by serving the needs of our customers through first-class, on-the-ground operations in chosen countries in Africa. We will also connect other selected emerging markets to Africa and to each other, applying our sector expertise, particularly in natural resources, globally. We operate in 20 countries on the African continent, including South Africa.

Standard Bank has a 151-year history in South Africa and started building a franchise outside southern Africa in the early 1990s. In recent years, Standard Bank has concluded key acquisitions on the African continent in Kenya and Nigeria. Africa is at our core and we will continue to build first-class on-the-ground banks.

The group’s nearly 49 000 employees in all regions deliver a complete range of services across personal and business banking, corporate and investment banking and wealth management. Standard Bank’s Corporate & Investment Banking division offers its clients banking, trading, investment, risk management and advisory services to connect selected emerging markets to Africa and to each other. It has strong offerings in mining and metals; oil, gas and renewables; power and infrastructure; agribusiness; telecommunications and media; and financial institutions.

Normalised headline earnings for 2013 were R17.2 billion (about USD 1.8 billion) and total assets were R1 694 billion (about USD 162 billion). Standard Bank’s market capitalisation at 31 December 2013 was R209.4 billion (about USD20 billion).

The group’s largest shareholder is Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank, with a 20,1% shareholding. In addition, Standard Bank Group and ICBC share a strategic partnership that facilitates trade and deal flow between Africa, China and select emerging markets.

For further information go to http://www.standardbank.com

Or if related to CIB deals:

For further information go to http://www.standardbank.com/cib

GENEVA, Switzerland, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ –Local authorities in Kabo, Central African Republic (CAR) conducted a land distribution ceremony on 2nd August to grant 193 household plots to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and their families who fled the PK12 neighborhood in Bangui earlier this year.

Community leaders drew numbers to randomly assign the 25 x 25 meter plots to PK12 households in need of land on which to build new homes.

Kabo Mayor Abdel Atif named the area “The Peace Village” and formally welcomed the PK12 community to make Kabo their new home.

“This land distribution cements the inclusion of the PK12 community in Kabo. I am very moved to oversee this important ceremony. We now begin to build the new houses in solidarity,” said Mayor Atif.

Most of the IDPs have been temporarily living in long communal tents designed for 80 persons each: eight in Kabo and 18 in Moyen-Sido constructed by the NGO Solidarité in cooperation with IOM. Others have been living with host families.

Kabo is a mixed community of some 16,000 Christians and Muslims who live together, standing in stark contrast to other areas of CAR, where conflict between armed groups has separated communities along religious lines.

The PK12 community is a Muslim and ethnic minority population that had come under attack in the capital, Bangui. The entire community relocated from PK12 to Kabo and Moyen Sido in northern CAR (and to Bambari). IOM provided transport for the original movements, in collaboration with other humanitarian partners.

In June, in time for rainy season planting, 124 farming plots of 50 square meters were distributed to all PK12 households in Kabo expressing an interest in farming. IOM hired local workers to clear and demarcate the plots.

Another land donation ceremony will take place in Moyen Sido on 19th August to donate 338 farming plots and 460 household plots to PK12 community members. In Moyen-Sido, IOM worked with the NGO Solidarités and local authorities to have the Moyen-Sido plots demarcated and land cleared.

Since the April relocation of the PK12 community the number of displaced people in each of the two “Peace Village” sites have increased, from 272 to 728 in Kabo and from 987 to 1,624 in Moyen-Sido.

Many of the recent new arrivals (mostly of Peuhl ethnicity) in Kabo and Moyen Sido have come from the villages of Bokambaye, Malla and Bouca. The majority are women and children. Further displacement of IDPs towards Kabo has been seen due to violence in Bambari and Batangafo.

Later this year additional land plots will be distributed to IDPs living in the Peace Village sites in both Kabo and Moyen Sido who did not come from the PK12 community, but arrived at a later date from other locations.

The household plot distribution in Kabo and Moyen Sido will lead into a second phase of the relocation effort – an “IDP self‐construction housing project”.

Approximately 300 IDP and host-community youths will be trained by 30 master masons and carpenters to help the IDPs build new houses.

IOM will provide building materials and supplies. The project will improve living conditions for the IDPs, and is designed to build social cohesion, facilitate socio-economic reintegration for IDPs and host communities, and provide temporary employment for young people.

IOM helps IDPs in Kabo and Moyen Sido through the coordination of humanitarian assistance, protection, shelter provision and distribution of non-food relief items.

The project is being carried out by IOM in collaboration with the Central African Transitional Government, and with the support of the European Union Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) and the Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF).

Displaced persons in Kabo and Moyen Sido receive emergency assistance through the combined efforts of IOM, InterSOS, UNICEF, Solidarity International, MSF-Spain, ICRC and WFP.

According to the UN, there are currently approximately 527,000 IDPs in CAR. This includes 102,000 people in Bangui at 40 displacement sites.

WASHINGTON, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

August 4, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon. Very happy to welcome my friend, the foreign minister of Tunisia, Foreign Minister Hamdi. He and I have had long discussions already, and we agreed earlier in my visit to Tunisia and in our previous conversations to launch a U.S.-Tunisia security dialogue in advance of our interests with respect to a secure and stable and prosperous Tunisia and stability in the region.

The foreign minister has just talked to me about the dangers of what is happening in Libya, and he is particularly concerned about extremism that is creating a failed state there and the challenges that it presents in terms of security on their border. So we have a lot to talk about here.

Tunisia really remains a beacon of hope, and we are very grateful to Tunisia, particularly in the last days, as we decided for safety and security reasons only to temporarily move personnel from Tripoli in Libya to Tunisia, and the Tunisian Government was extremely helpful to us in that and we’re very grateful to them. But perhaps more importantly in the long run, Tunisia is the beacon of hope because it is going through a transition to democracy, and it is holding the line. It has been successful against tough challenges, but it needs help.

There is the threat always of foreign fighters coming back from Syria to create trouble internally in the country, and the United States is deeply committed to supporting Tunisia as it works through to build its own foundations for success in the future, and we intend to work with them.

So Mr. Foreign Minister, I’m happy to welcome you here. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER HAMDI: Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary of State. We are grateful to this opportunity to meet with you here to talk a little bit about the situation in Tunisia and in neighboring Libya. We are determined to deepen our relationship with the United States. Our relation with the U.S. has always been extremely good, and we want it to be, at this particular juncture of our history, a strategic one – a strategic one. We all believe in peace. We all believe in no extremism. Extremism and terror has no place in Tunisia, and we are determined to fight it. And we are reaching out to our friends and partners to assist us in times of need, and these are the times of need for Tunisia – to assist us particularly to secure our borders against – to safeguard our borders against those people who do not wish Tunisia to be a stable country, for those people who want to see instability in Tunisia and the rest of the country.

As you said, Mr. Secretary of State, Tunisia is the only – or one of the beacons of hope in that region, and if Tunisia fails, I think the whole region will not be secure. And it is in the interest of everyone that Tunisia succeeds its transition. We are at the last phase of our democratic transition, and we want to succeed. We are determined to succeed, and it’s in the interest for everyone to see Tunisia succeed, to see Tunisia a success story for the region, because if Tunisia does not succeed, the aspirations of hundreds of millions of people will go down the drain for democracy and freedom. Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, Mongi. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER HAMDI: Thanks.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thanks, my friend. Thank you very much. Thank you. Let’s go meet with our gang. All right. Thank you.

WASHINGTON, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

National Academy of Sciences

Washington, DC

August 4, 2014

Thank you very, very much. My apologies that we are beginning just a couple of minutes late, and we’re delighted to welcome everybody here. Let me just say at the outset I had the chance to speak here earlier today on civil society, but I want to reemphasize the degree to which President Obama and the whole Administration are genuinely very excited about these several days. This summit has been long in the making. It is an historic gathering. And we want it to be as substantive, as productive – in the end, as agenda-driving as possible. And in the end, of course, that will depend on all of you and the participation of the next days.

But I want to begin by thanking all of their excellencies who are here – presidents and prime ministers, foreign ministers, others representing more than 50 countries – mostly I would say to you heads of state, but for a few who are unable to make it for a number of reasons. We are distinctly pleased to be able to welcome you here to one of the signature events, really, of these next three days. And it’s on a topic that means a great deal to many of us on a personal level in the Administration. I know John Podesta, who will be taking part momentarily, Raj Shah, and others who are deeply, viscerally connected to this issue and all that it entails.

But it also affects every person on earth in very real ways. Climate change, food security, and resilience are interrelated challenges that we all need to be thinking about as we plan for the future, and I’m delighted that so many of you are here to think about this and to sort of take idea from laboratory to shelf, and in some cases augment what is already on the shelf.

So let me start by thanking all of the remarkable leaders who have agreed to serve on the panels coming up. Each of them are true leaders in their sectors or their countries, and you will judge that for yourselves. But particularly, we are grateful to several heads of state and the African Union chairperson herself, leaders from the private sector, in addition from the nonprofit world – all of the partners that we really need if we’re going to be able to achieve what we want to achieve and to get this right.

I want to especially thank the two moderators of the panel – the Administrator of USAID Raj Shah, who I’ve already mentioned, and John Podesta, likewise. Finally, thank you to the Second Lady of the United States, Jill Biden, who will join us here a little later to share some of her thoughts.

When you talk about food security, it doesn’t take very long to have the name, Norman Borlaug, come up. Norman would have been 100 years old this year, and he dedicated his entire life and career to feeding the world’s hungry. He won a Nobel Prize for his work. And he pursued that path for one reason. As he put it, “You can’t build a peaceful world on empty stomachs and human misery,” pretty simple.

It’s been five years since Norman passed away, and you don’t have to be a Nobel Laureate to understand that the statistics around hunger today are nowhere near what he hoped for. Every day, 8,000 children die because they don’t have enough to eat. They don’t have a healthy, nutritious diet – 8,000 children every single day. Around the world, one in eight people suffers from chronic hunger. And in Sub-Sahara Africa, that number, regrettably, is one in four.

So looking to the future, it’s only going to become more difficult to bring these numbers down, if you look at the realities of what is happening. For one thing, over the next several decades, the population of Earth is expected to grow and it’s expected to grow quickly. The 7 billion people that we’re focused on feeding today is going to become more than 9 billion people by 2050 – 35 years. And more than half of this population growth, I would add, is expected to occur in Africa.

But on top of that, the growing impacts of climate change are going to put extraordinary stress on our ability to be able to produce the amount of food that we need to be able to feed those increasing numbers, and, I might add, to feed from increasing numbers from increasingly – from agricultural locations that are increasingly under greater stress and duress.

Now, one thing to understand here this afternoon: We’re not talking about some distant future. We’re not talking about some pie-in-the-sky unproven set of theories as they were in the earliest days of population growth or other challenges that we face. The impacts of climate change are already being felt everywhere in the world, from the Arctic to the Antarctic and everywhere in between and around. And they’re only going to get worse unless we are successful next year in President Obama’s and many other leaders’ goal to go to Paris and get a global agreement with respect to the reduction of greenhouse gases.

All you have to do is look at the extreme conditions that farmers are dealing with around the world: hotter temperatures, longer droughts – just look at California, for our instance, and other parts of the world – unpredictable rainfall patterns. I just came from Delhi where they’re having torrential rains in some parts way above the levels they’ve ever had, and as – India as a whole, 25 percent below their average. Intense wildfires, and you can run the list; I’m not going to run it today. But there’s a legitimate question that has to be asked, which is: How do livestocks thrive or even survive under those conditions? What happens if the great rivers of the Himalayas that literally are the life source for so many billions of people on both sides begin to be diverted and dry up because the glaciers are disappearing and the snow levels change?

All you have to do is look at our ocean. The same carbon pollution that drives climate change is literally changing the ocean’s chemistry. And we just had two days of a major conference in the State Department on the subject of the oceans. That is making it more and more difficult for species like clams and mussels to exist in its waters. Crustacea, all crustacea, are affected by increased acidity.

Between ocean acidification, over-pollution – excessive pollution and overfishing, the three great challenges of the ocean, our fish stocks are in serious trouble in almost every fishery of the world. And what will that mean for the 3 billion people who today exist on seafood as their major source of protein? In some African countries, the importance of fish to nutrition and to their economies is particularly high. In Sierra Leone, 70 percent of the animal protein people absorb comes from fish. In Ghana, it’s 51 percent. In Gambia, 49 percent. So what will people do if those fish stocks change because the ecosystem itself begins to collapse?

But the intersection between climate change and food is not just about quantity. We’re now seeing that carbon pollution is also making some of the food that we do grow less nutritious than it used to be. For example, rising carbon dioxide levels translate into lower levels of zinc and iron in wheat and other cereal grains. This means that people not only struggle to have enough food to eat; they may also suffer from a so-called hidden hunger; they’re eating, but they’re still deficient in certain micronutrients that keep them healthy.

President Obama has made clear how committed he is to cutting carbon pollution and reducing emissions, and this Administration has taken unprecedented, unilateral administrative steps in order to try to keep faith with those promises. But we also have to make sure that we are asking ourselves: On top of our efforts to deal with the causes of climate change, how do we help ensure that farmers, fishermen, and the billions who depend on the food that they produce are able to endure the climate impacts that are already being felt, let alone yet to come?

The answer is clear: By focusing our efforts on the intersection of climate and food security, by adopting creative solutions that increase food production and build resilience to climate change, all the while cutting greenhouse gases. That’s how you do it.

And now, another part of this story is that certain agricultural processes can actually release carbon pollution and help contribute to the problem in the first place. It’s a twisted circle, always complicated. But we also know there are ways to change that. For example, rather than convert natural areas to new farmland, a process that typically releases significant amounts of carbon pollution, we can instead concentrate our efforts on making existing farmlands more productive.

Now this is an area where African leaders have actually been ahead and significantly ahead of the game for some time. More than a decade ago, the AU launched the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program, which requires all member-states that sign on to create and implement national, effective food security investment plans. These national plans are by nature created to cater to each country’s specific needs, abilities, and limitations, and they’re actually the basis for the work that we do with African nations through various joint initiatives that we’re currently engaged in.

This year, the AU went even further, not only by naming 2014 the year of agriculture and food security, but also by launching the Malabo Declaration. This declaration requires all signatories to pursue investments that protect people and ecosystems. And each of these countries have signed on to an agreement to ensure that over the next decade or so, at least 30 percent of all African farm, pastoral, and fisher households should be resistant to climate and weather-related shocks.

Now, these are challenges that have frankly been on the top of President Obama’s agenda since he first came into office. I know that they were there the day that I sat down with him to discuss becoming Secretary of State. And he told me that food security was one of those looming issues that he really wanted to make a difference on and address. And he’s proven as much by spearheading a number of initiatives in order to do just that.

Feed the Future, his signature initiative, is supporting farmers in 19 different countries, including 12 in Africa, by investing in various ways to make the food that they farm more plentiful, more accessible, and more nutritious.

Another important initiative that President Obama launched is the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. At the 2012 G8 Summit at Camp David, several African heads of state, corporate leaders, and G8 members pledged to help raise 50 million people out of poverty in Africa by 2022 by increasing private investment in agriculture. After two years, the New Alliance now includes 10 African countries, 180 African and international companies, and it has leveraged 8 billion in planned private investment in agriculture. Commitment to this partnership is strong, and we are looking forward to announcing more updates throughout this week.

These initiatives are actually really making a difference, my friends. But in light of the enormity of this challenge, they are not going to be enough by themselves. We need more governments, more businesses, more research institutions, more civil society, more people all over the world focused on improving agricultural productivity, on investing in innovation and technology like seeds that withstand drought and floods, and on ensuring the world’s agricultural sector is operating as sustainably as possible.

That is the idea behind the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture. Now I know that governments and other partners around the world are still in the process of deciding exactly what this alliance is all about; what’s it going to look like? But I encourage all to get on board, particularly countries and organizations represented here at the African Leaders Summit. This is a priority for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who will hope to formally launch this initiative at the Climate Summit in New York this September. And today, I’m happy to announce that the United States intends to formally sign on.

I know that several other – (applause) – I know that several other African countries here are prepared to make similar announcements, and we are working together to produce a declaration announcing our mutual intent to join this effort. Let me add that we are planning to leave this document open until the end of this leaders summit, and we invite as many other leaders as possible to join us in committing to the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture.

So obviously, we have to continue to foster efforts like this. This is a gigantic initiative. And all of us who have had the privilege of traveling somewhere in the world, almost anywhere, have seen too many pockets of poverty, including right here in the United States – too many people still struggling, too many kids going to bed at night hungry, and perhaps in some cases never waking up to see the next day. We also have to continue to innovate, and we have to, above all, cooperate. That’s how we’re all going to help end hunger and malnutrition and cut carbon pollution and improve the resilience of our farms, our forests, our fisheries. And if we do that, we will live up to our responsibilities for the future that help empower another generation that follow to do the same.

Now, I think that all of us know what Norman Borlaug believed is absolutely true: Whether you’re talking about countries in Africa or right here in North America, when people don’t have to worry about where their next meal will come from, they have a greater ability to fulfill their dreams and become constructive, contributing citizens of the world.

Like so many of the global issues that we deal with, what we have here is a question of political will. We have solutions, but none of these solutions will implement themselves. The will of governments, of companies, of civil society, of research institutes and international organizations – all of these are the key. We know the challenges. We know what it’s going to take to address them. It’s a matter of all sectors coming together, applying their energies and efforts to make sure that we make the right decisions, the right commitments, so that millions of families living in poverty – really, an anachronism – it’s so contrary to everything that’s possible when we look at the affluence in so many parts of the world. We can change this. We can set goals and we can pledge money, but unless people’s lives have improved, unless we buy into the realities of what’s staring us in the face in terms of better agriculture and better food production, the better distribution we will fail.

So that is exactly what this portion of the African Leaders summit is all about, and let’s get started. We have a terrific panel. It’s my pleasure to turn it over to my friend and my colleague and a great advocate for this, a passionate advocate for this, the Administrator of USAID Raj Shah. Thank you. (Applause.)

WASHINGTON, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Townhall

John Kerry

Secretary of State

National Academy of Sciences

Washington, DC

August 4, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good morning, everybody. Thank you, Linda, very, very much for opening this exciting beginning of a very exciting three days, and we’re really delighted to welcome everybody here. Thank you all for joining us this morning to have a candid back-and-forth about a critical topic, and we are particularly grateful to all of our panelists. I want to thank Shaka Ssali for helping to – not helping, but for moderating this event, but really for helping to bring to it an elegance and a confidence with respect to the topics that we’re talking about, and I’m particularly grateful to our presidents, President Mahama of Ghana and President Kikwete of Tanzania for being here with us.

And I’m delighted that Vice President Biden will be joining us at the end of the town hall, and I think that’s one of the reasons why it took you a little longer to get in here than it does normally. I want to thank those who are tuning in online who have fed in some of the questions and some of the comments through YouTube, and I want to thank all of the government reformers who are here today for what you do. We salute your courage; we thank you for your visionary leadership in forging partnerships with civil society.

And as I said at the beginning, this is really one of the opening events in these three days which we are genuinely very excited about. What is happening and what can happen in Africa are both extraordinarily exciting concepts. This is a moment of amazing opportunity for Africa, and I think that’s what brings all of you here. That’s why we’ve brought together leaders from 50 countries across Africa for this historic summit. It’s also why we’re determined to deepen our partnerships and to deliver on remarkable opportunities for peace, for security, for economic growth, and perhaps most importantly of all in the context of what brings us here today, the empowerment of people through their government, through their civil society.

I want to be clear about something: To get this moment right for the long term, which is what matters; to really drive change and create lasting opportunity, we need to invest in relationships not just with those who are in charge – in charge today – but with those who are pushing for change, some of whom in the right opportunity of democracy and of process might be in charge in the future. Trust is the heart of governance, and that trust begins and ends with a strong and vibrant, inclusive, and independent civil society. That has been proven in country after country through all of history.

For me, I began as an activist. I began as somebody who protested a war that I was – that I served in. I also learned at that time that this is a pretty personal process when you engage in the effort of civil society. It’s also something I saw firsthand when I participated in the first-ever Earth Day in Massachusetts back in 1970: A movement of people who reacted to their felt needs, who reacted to the fact that they were living next to toxic waste sites that made them sick or possibly even gave them a cancer that they would die from, people who didn’t want to drink water that was polluted, people who knew there were a better set of choices.

And so that movement of people – not government, people first – led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act. All of it came out of the reality of civil society making itself felt. The fact is it changed the face of our environment forever, we hope, and I know from all of that as you do the difference that activism can make.

Empowered civil society is the foundation of every successful democracy here in the United States, in Africa, and around the world, because in the end, our most enduring relationships, most consequential relationships are not with one particular government at one moment in time. It’s not with those who are in power for the short run. The legacy is really shaped by the people of a country and the people of a continent, the people of Africa who stand on principle for the long haul and who are increasingly connected to the world around them and who, therefore, aspire to greater and greater set of opportunities.

I’m looking out at a bunch of mobile devices that right now are transmitting what I’m saying. That’s a different world from anything we ever lived in. And increasing numbers of people all around the world are connected all the time to everywhere, and they know the choices that everybody else has in some other place. This has a profound impact on politics, a profound impact on choices. And the fact is that no politician, nowhere in the world – no president, no prime minister, no government – can take that genie that has been released to the human spirit and somehow put it back in a bottle. That’s why everywhere I travel as Secretary of State, especially when I visit countries that are in the middle of a transition, I meet with civil society groups. And I look to those discussions to help inform our foreign policy, to meet shared challenges and uphold the shared values that define all nations. I will just underscore the word “shared.”

Strong civil society and respect for democracy, the rule of law, and human rights – these are not just American values. They’re universal values. They’re universal aspirations. And anyone who reads history and knows history understands that. Why? Because diversity is always a better predictor of success than uniformity; because strong institutions are always more effective, more durable, and more predictable than strong men or women at one particular moment of time; and because good statecraft recognizes that the pendulum of history is moving towards greater liberty and freedom for individuals.

Those are, in fact, the very aspirations that drove Nelson Mandela to reject recrimination in favor of reconciliation and insist on relinquishing his office so that there would be a peaceful transfer of power. Those are the aspirations that are reflected in opinion poll after opinion poll all across Africa, where large majorities of Africans support free, accessible, and fair elections, and limiting their presidents to two terms in office. Those are the aspirations that drove Wangari Maathai to launch the Green Belt Movement in Kenya and transform the way that Africans relate to the environment. And those are the aspirations that drove Frank Mugisha and others to risk their lives for LGBT rights and equality and non-discrimination in Uganda.

The United States supports the establishment of institutions that translate the will of the people into actions that promote transparency and accountability from leaders, and that, ultimately, safeguard freedom and justice for all. And we support governments in their partnerships with civil society in order to realize these aspirations, from Ghana to Botswana to Tanzania. That’s why I joined with President Obama and leaders from 25 countries on the margins of the UN General Assembly last year to launch Stand With Civil Society. We’re engaged in a global campaign to support, defend, and sustain the work of civil society, and we’re coming together with countries in the Open Government Partnership and Community of Democracies to support engagement with civil society on countless shared priorities and active fronts across the globe.

Why does America care whether countries around the world, including African states, enforce the rule of law, reform their economies, and embrace pluralism? Very simple. We care because we believe that when people can trust their government and rely on its accountability and transparency on justice, that society flourishes and is more prosperous and more stable than others. We believe that opportunity and prosperity are powerful antidotes to the violent urges of extremism and division. And we know that the gravest threats to the security of nations almost invariably come from countries where people and their governments are at odds, where they are divided. That is why we will continue to encourage civic engagement and reach out. And we will continue to support press freedom, including for journalists charged with terrorism or imprisoned on arbitrary grounds. We will continue to stand up for the constitutionally-mandated term limits, as I have in countries around the world, including Africa. And we will urge leaders not to alter national constitutions for personal or political gain. We will continue to stand up and speak out for civil society organizations around the world and in Africa that face attacks, that push for less onerous regulations on their work, and that struggle with restrictions on what they can do, what they can say, where they can work, how they can obtain funding. And we will continue to stand up and speak for the rights of all persons with disabilities, and we will continue to stand up and speak out for LGBT activists who are working for the day when tolerance and understanding really do conquer hate. And we will do so because we know that countries are stronger and more stable when people are listened to and given shared power.

None of this is easy, and I’ll be the first to admit that the world is more complicated and more dangerous today than at any other time in recent memory. But that is exactly when we need to believe in the possibilities of alternative avenues of solving these problems. I believe in those possibilities; President Obama believes in those possibilities. I know our panel does. And when we look back, I am confident that we will say that the people of Africa took advantage of this extraordinary moment of opportunity. That is our call to action; that is our charge. And that is why we are here today, so let’s dive into that discussion now. Thank you. (Applause.)

I gather I have the privilege of taking a couple of questions. Is that right?

MODERATOR: Yes sir. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary, for your words of wisdom. I have to say, frankly, that I am profoundly honored and exceedingly humbled to have the opportunity to host you on this panel today.

You have two questions from the African continent. One is from Justin Burundi – Justin, actually, from the Republic of Burundi: “As part of the assistance the U.S. provides to Africa, how might the U.S. work with African countries to produce constitutions that promote the freedoms of association, assembly, and speech like the one the United States currently has?

SECRETARY KERRY: (Laughter.) I think that’s what I was just talking about, but look, in the end, most African countries – interestingly, most African countries have very strong constitutions. And those strong constitutions, if you read them and analyze them, actually do provide very clear separation of power, rule of law, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech. Even the principles of nondiscrimination are contained within most of the constitutions in Africa.

So Africa has done pretty well in drafting the constitution and putting together the basic concepts. Where there has been a challenge, obviously, is in making sure that it is followed, and that requires the building of capacity. Doesn’t happen overnight, didn’t happen here overnight. We had a first constitution, as everybody I hope recalls, before we had the second, more durable constitution, and even that constitution has been amended many times.

Slavery was written into our Constitution before it was written out of our Constitution. And we all know what a battle we had in this country in order to do that, and we are still battling to make sure that our Constitution is, in fact, upheld and applied in the law in terms of voting rights and the way districts are divided. This is not unique to one continent or one place. It’s part of politics, part of human nature, and that is the greatest struggle of all. We’re still working to perfect, everybody is. We have to work together. The key is to have leadership that is committed to fundamentally building that capacity, and that capacity has to be built in a healthcare system. It has to be built in an education system. It has to be built in the judicial system. It has to be built in the economic rules of the road so that there’s fairness and an opportunity to grow with investment and create opportunity by creating jobs.

It’s hard work. Democracy is hard work. But most people who have practiced it say as difficult as it is and as imperfect as it is, it is the best thing against any other shape of government on earth because it respects people’s rights to organize, speak out, be who they are, and have an impact on the outcome. Most important thing I can think of in terms of answering that question is be among the activists who are here today, be among the civil society proponents in your country, work with civil society. That’s how you create the kind of accountability that makes a constitution meaningful, and that’s the most important thing of all.

MODERATOR: The second question is from Bagase from the Republic of Botswana, and he says: “Tackling poverty is one of the greatest challenges faced by African states. What policies or legal framework would you advise African leaders to adopt to reduce economic inequalities among the African populations? Can you speak to the role vibrant civil society plays in ensuring economic growth that benefits all Africans?”

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, that’s a big, big topic, and I’ll try to give it a really – (laughter) – I’ll try to give it as tight an answer as I can, then I’ll abandon the panel to really solve it. (Laughter.) I’m confident the presidents will have very strong views about what they’re already doing in order to do that.

Poverty is everybody’s great challenge. When I was in one African country recently and having dinner with the foreign minister, I was talking about one particular sectarian component of the society, and he was describing to me how poverty was the challenge because these young minds were being captured by extremist views which first offered them money just to bring them to the table, but then once they captured the mind, didn’t have to offer them money anymore and were beginning to put them out there as activists and recruiters and even people to take on certain extremist kinds of missions.

Bottom line is if we leave the minds of young people to those who will fill the vacuum of power with malicious intent, we’re all in trouble. Radical religious extremism is being offered as an alternative without every saying how it will offer up a healthcare plan or an education system in which everybody can thrive without ever talking about building infrastructure or creating a government in which people will be able to participate. They just say, “Live our way or else you may lose your life.” That’s it. That’s not an alternative.

And that’s a challenge, let me tell you, as we struggle with the Middle East right now and we see ISIL doing what it’s doing and unilaterally declaring a caliphate and engaging in its own practices. We understand this more than ever before, and we see it in Boko Haram, we see it in other entities through Africa. We see this tension on the ground. So we all have a stake in this. This is not an African problem. This is everybody’s problem and everybody’s challenge. There are millions upon millions of young kids in Africa who need to be educated in the next 10 years, and it is critical for all of us to recognize how that is related to stability and the end of conflict and the provision of opportunity.

So poverty is the challenge for all of us. You have people like Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation and you have President Obama who has made it a singular effort to try to reduce the level of poverty and be engaged in Power Africa and other initiatives. I was part of an effort in the Senate back in the 1990s and President Clinton signed it into law at the end that created AGOA. And AGOA is raising the level of job level, of commerce and trade, but not fast enough.

That’s one of the reasons why President Obama asked people to come to Washington to have this conversation in the next few days, because we need to decide, all together, how we are going to attack poverty. And it is done not by one single program. There’s no silver bullet. There’s no single shot on this one. It’s a holistic approach, and it begins at the earliest stages of a child’s life and it goes all the way through the building of family and the building of opportunity and the offering of jobs and education and technology and transformative kinds of opportunities that come in this modern world we’re living in.

What’s exciting is that 10 or 11 of the fastest-growing countries in the world are in Africa today. And the reality is this is not something over the horizon. This is here now if people will make the right choices, which is why we say it’s so important to shed light and transparency on these things.

One of the final things I’ll say is corruption stands in the way of achieving some of these goals. If people want to accrue wealth for the few and not share it with the people of a country who are part of that wealth, then we’re going to have a problem, all of us, and no one faster than the people in that place where that corruption has superseded the kind of transparency and accountability we’re talking about.

So I hope you will dig into that question here in the course of this morning and in the course of the next three days, because Africa has the resources. Africa – and the resources are not just – they’re not defined by oil and gold and what’s in the ground. The resource is the people, the knowhow, the capacity, the desire. And if that is harnessed properly, there is no limit to the rapidity with which growth can take over in Africa, and a different set of possibilities and opportunities will be known.

Not so many years ago, many more countries in Africa were at war with each other and there was much less opportunity. This is happening. I don’t look at this as the same kind of challenge it was 15 or 20 years ago. It is moving unbelievably fast, and I think we have a huge opportunity here in the next few days to define those choices and to begin to work together in order to guarantee that life changes even more rapidly for all those people who are holding those mobile devices around the world and looking at the choices the rest of the world is making.

Thank you all. Appreciate it. (Applause.)