Details of Proposed Middle East Initiatives

In his commencement address at the University of South Carolina on May 9, President Bush reaffirmed the commitment of the United States to promote and support reform in the Middle East through the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative. Details on the goals and programs mentioned in the President’s speech are elaborated below.
 
Promoting Economic Growth
The President announced that a U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Area would be established within a decade. Building on our free trade agreements (FTAs) with Israel and Jordan, the United States will take a series of graduated steps:

• Help reforming countries become members of the World Trade Organization;
• Negotiate Bilateral Investment Treaties and Trade and Investment Framework Agreements with governments determined to improve their trade and investment regimes;
• Complete our negotiations on a free trade agreement with Morocco by the end of this year;
• Launch, in consultation with Congress, new bilateral free trade agreements with governments committed to high standards and comprehensive trade liberalization; and
• Provide assistance to build trade capacity and expansion so countries can benefit from integration into the global trading system. This year we have provided funding for trade-related technical assistance seminars in the Gulf and trade and investment framework assistance to Bahrain. Next week, Crown Prince Salman of Bahrain will visit the U.S. to advance U.S.–Bahrain trade relations.

The U.S. will establish the Middle East Finance Corporation, a facility to help small- and medium-sized businesses gain access to capital and generate jobs.

As part of the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative, the U.S. will provide technical assistance to reform commercial codes, improve the climate for trade and investment, and strengthen property rights. This program will be carried out in cooperation with U.S. and Middle Eastern law schools and jurists, and business-to-business contacts. This will build on the work done in North Africa by the Department of Commerce’s Commercial Law Development Program.

We will continue to promote transparency and accountability in public finances, help countries fight corruption, and support financial sector reforms based on international best practices. Together with our partners in the G-8, we are promoting good corporate governance to facilitate this priority of transparency and accountability. This year we funded a regional corporate governance program, which will be implemented by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE).

As part of the U.S. commitment to stabilization and development in the Middle East and to expanded trading relations with the region, at the end of June, Secretary Powell and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick will participate in an Extraordinary Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Amman, Jordan.

Promoting Education and Knowledge
Over 50% of adult females in the Arab world cannot read. We plan to grow our successful partnerships with Morocco and Yemen to expand their girls' and women's literacy programs to other interested countries.

We will partner with countries to help empower parents and local communities to give them a greater voice in how their children are educated. To this end, Secretary of Education Paige hosted the Egyptian Minister of Education and three governors in Washington last week to discuss expanding a successful program in Alexandria, Egypt, to other Egyptian cities and other interested countries in the region.

In families with limited resources, too often girls’ education is one of the first sacrifices to be made. We will continue to partner with countries to provide incentives to families that send their girls to school, building on successful local programs in Morocco and Egypt.

Promoting Freedom and Justice
We have agreed with the Crown Prince Salman of Bahrain to establish a regional forum on judicial reform. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will head a team of American jurists to Bahrain to help launch this effort this fall.

The first regional campaign school to provide training in leadership and organizational skills for women seeking elective office across the region will be held in Doha, Qatar this fall. Subsequent campaign schools are planned for the Levant and the Maghreb.

Internews, an international non-profit organization that supports open media worldwide, will begin media training and media law projects that include participants initially from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia.

Political party training and election assistance/monitoring was successfully provided to Yemen, Morocco, and Bahrain. The National Democratic Institute (NDI), International Republican Institute (IRI), and the International Foundation for Electoral Support (IFES) in partnership with organizations in the region are providing election assistance in Jordan for the June 17 elections. Further funding has been made available for election assistance for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Qatar.