Briefing on the Special Summit of the Americas to be held on Jan. 12, 13 in Monterrey, Mexico

MR. PRINCE: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Washington Foreign Press Center. Welcome also to journalists overseas watching us on the American Embassy Television Network.

We are pleased to offer a briefing today on the Special Summit of the Americas, which will take place in Monterrey, Mexico, next January 12th and 13th.

Our briefer is Ambassador John Maisto, U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States and United States Coordinator for the Special Summit of the Americas. Ambassador Maisto will have an opening statement, and will then take your questions.

Please let me remind you to wait for the microphone, to state your name and organization, and please limit your questions to the subject of the special summit.

Ambassador Maisto.

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: Thank you very much. As we prepare for the Special Summit of the Americas, January 12th and 13th in Mexico, I would like to begin my remarks by recalling what it is that the Administration of President Bush has as the core of its policy in our western hemisphere.

And I believe that as good a way as any to do it is to quote from the President's National Security Advisor, Dr. Condoleezza Rice who, in October, made the following statement at an occasion similar to this, and I quote: "The President's vision for the Americas is a fully democratic hemisphere working together to achieve market-based development, representative democracy, and security that improves the lives of its citizens. The President is committed to advancing trade liberalization globally, regionally and with individual nations in order to promote economic development and democratic governance among all of the hemisphere."

The Summit of the Americas, this special Summit of the Americas, is being hosted by Mexico, and it is a special summit because it takes place mid-way between the Quebec Summit of April 2001, and the projected, normally-scheduled summit in Argentina for the year 2005.

So immediately the question is, why a special summit, and why now? And the answer to that is that not long after the Quebec Summit, it was apparent that changes were taking place in our world and in our hemisphere that would demand the attention of the leaders of the hemisphere earlier than 2005.

Canada very wisely made the proposal for an interim summit, a special summit, in order to review where we were going in the hemisphere in terms of our Quebec action plan, which is being implemented -- being carried out by each country in the hemisphere -- and also to incorporate the many new hemispheric leaders who were not at Quebec; and by January 12th and 13th that number will be 14 out of the 34 leaders in the hemisphere.

Additionally, there have been political and economic challenges in the region since the Quebec Summit, as well as a new global dynamic created by the events -- the tragic events -- of September 11th, 2001, which led to this decision.

Remember, the Americas, as far as President Bush is concerned is "the neighborhood." The special summit will build upon the Quebec Summit and, additionally, it will build upon the Monterrey consensus of March 2002, the International Conference on Financing Development, hosted by Mexico; and those two very important events form the foundation for this special summit.

At Quebec, leaders developed, adopted a democracy clause. That was the basis for the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which was approved unanimously by the hemisphere's foreign ministers on September the 11th, 2001. The Inter-American Democratic Charter, which is truly a revolutionary document, which begins with the following sentence: "The peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy, and their governments have an obligation to promote and to defend it." That is the political basis, the democracy basis, of the western hemisphere; and it is unique in the world.

Then, in Monterrey, the task of financing development was undertaken by world leaders, and there, world leaders agreed that each country has primary responsibility for its own development through sound policies; through good governance and through the rule of law; and that the implementation of this responsibility is necessary for the most effective use of all resources provided by the international community to support national development efforts. So it was a two-fold commitment to move ahead in the area of financing development.
Now, the United States has specific goals for the interim summit based on Quebec and democracy, and based on Monterrey: The Conference on Finance and Development, and the consensus of Monterrey, and those areas are three-fold. They focus on what has proven to be in the course of the dialogue and the negotiation that has been undertaken on the Monterrey extraordinary summit.

The three agenda items are: Economic growth and poverty reduction -- the title is: "Economic Growth With Equity and Poverty Reduction;" social development, or investing in people; and thirdly, democratic governance. And under each of those themes we have -- we are working on specific commitments that leaders will undertake. And it is truly an extraordinary dialogue that is going on as we work our way to putting into final, the declaration of -- that the leaders will be agreeing to in Monterrey.

This special summit will focus on our efforts on those three areas and, of course, there is -- there are synergies among the economic, political and social areas. Each is a vital part of a virtuous circle that leads to a successful and prosperous and more competitive nation, one by one, and let me be more specific.

Under the economic growth rubric, there are four emphases: One is to create jobs by fostering small- and medium-size enterprises; a second is to increase the levels of financing opportunity for small- and medium-size enterprises, and by the way, this includes micro-enterprises; thirdly, securing property rights for all; and fourthly, lowering the cost of remittances.

Let's take these one by one. Approximately 80 percent of all economic activity in Latin America and the Caribbean are micro-, small-, and medium-size enterprises, and they employ some 57 percent of the workforce. However, according to the World Bank, starting a business in Latin America and the Caribbean takes longer than in any other region in the world.

Similarly, the area has the lowest rate of total investment of any emerging growth region -- market region and the private sector in the region receives less than half of the domestic credit of other emerging-market regions. And interpreters cite this lack of access to credit as the single largest obstacle to starting and expanding businesses. Consequently, the focus has been to improve the record on starting up small- and medium-size enterprises in the hemisphere, reducing the amount of time it takes, and reducing the cost it takes in terms of licenses and other bureaucratic rigamarole that has to be gone through in order to start up a business.

Secondly, there is an issue of obtaining credit -- lines of credit -- for small- and medium-size enterprises. And that's where the international financial institutions come in. And there are programs and there is good will to put a huge, new emphasis on lines of credit for small- and medium-size enterprises.

Then there is the issue of property rights. The objective is to reform and to strengthen laws and regulations on the transfer of property, property registries, and the use of property as collateral, and related rights and responsibilities of creditors and borrowers. Unfortunately, the property rights system in many countries of the hemisphere hinders rather than enables economic opportunity. And what is being sought is turning property into collateral, which, in turn, permits individuals to use that collateral to improve standards for their families, to be a basis for starting small-, medium-size businesses, and this requires change and commitment to change.

Then, there is the area of remittances. As the Inter-American Development Bank has reported recently, some $32 billion per year flows into the region in the form of remittances. The cost of sending remittances is very high, and it doesn't have to be, so leaders will concentrate on looking for ways -- practical ways, involving public and private cooperation -- to lower the cost of sending remittances and increasing the amount of money that those remittances represent. We find it not acceptable that the average cost of sending remittances in the hemisphere is 12.5 percent, which means for every $100 that someone wants to send to family, to a bank, whatever -- it costs $12.50 to do it. And that's the average. In some countries it's considerably more.

The social development part is putting an emphasis on -- which we prefer to call "investing in people," -- is putting an emphasis on education and in health. On the education side, following on the very good work done in Mexico City in August by a regional meeting of education ministers, the objective is concrete steps to make clear how education systems are performing, holding governments accountable, and giving impetus to making needed reforms, including increasing the role of parents at the grassroots level.

Accountability in education: Making sure that normal people at the local level have enough information to know if their education systems are performing. We all know that education is the key to competitiveness and increased standards of living, and it is unfortunate that even the best school systems in the region fall in the bottom quartile of worldwide achievement tests. This can change.

Education ministers in Mexico City are committed to that change, and leaders at Monterrey will have the opportunity to talk about practical ways to improve that situation, including commitments.

One the health side, the issue is combating HIV/AIDS. There are approximate 2.9 million people in the hemisphere who are infected with HIV/AIDS. That represents about seven percent of the HIV burden in the world. HIV/AIDS is, indeed, a national security concern in the Caribbean, which has the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world. And the commitment that is being pursued is to make available antiretroviral medication to all who need it. And that focus is for the most severely affected with AIDS; and the Pan American Health Organization puts a figure out that is upwards of 600,000 of people who desperately need this medication.

The third area is democratic governance -- fighting corruption. The World Bank has identified corruption as the single greatest obstacle to economic and social development in the world. We know that corruption can reduce a country's growth rate by anywhere from a half to one percent, or perhaps even higher, per year.

It has been consistently shown that corruption is a major barrier to foreign direct investment, the key ingredient in financing economic development in the region. And corruption, of course, remains a major issue in the region.

Eighty percent of Latin Americans in the year 2002 per "Latinobarómetro" -- a very reputable polling organization -- 80 percent cite corruption as a significant problem. And, also by "Latinobarómetro," only 25 percent of respondents in 2002 expressed confidence in government or the judiciary, which is a downward trend. It's not an upward trend.

One of the most effective ways to fight corruption is to advance the cause of transparency. And so the leaders will be looking for measurable, effective ways to advance the objective of transparency -- measurable, practical ways to do that.

And let me say something about commitments. The U.S. objective -- the U.S. agenda -- is to agree to take specific actions with specific timeframes on these key issues which I've outlined, which are aimed at strengthening and implementing national implementation of key Summit of the Americas mandates because, remember, I said that what we are doing at this summit flows from Quebec and it also flows from Monterrey.

At Quebec, the agenda was to strengthen representative democracy, to promote good governance, and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. Leaders committed to create greater prosperity and expand economic opportunities while fostering social justice and the realization of human potential. That is a lofty, well-accepted statement of the goals. At the special summit, the United States' objective will be to look at specific ways in specific areas to meet specific commitments with specific timeframes.

I'll stop there and take your questions.

It's the 12th and the 13th of January. President Bush will be attending. There will be sessions on each of those agenda items, and there will be an opportunity in which the leaders will have the opportunity to exchange views and dialogue. And there will be a private lunch, and which will include a retreat mid-day the second day, followed by a press conference. So it will be a 24-hour period which is intense in terms of the opportunities of the leaders to have interaction.

MR. PRINCE: Okay. Javier, go ahead.

Please be seated and please remember to state your name and organization.

QUESTION: Oh, sorry. Good morning, Ambassador. Javier Garza from El Heraldo in Mexico City.

There is some concern that the topic that would dominate the summit would be that of regional security, a topic that would be promoted by the United States. Will the United States insist on talking about that issue? And on the other hand, would the United States be willing to discuss immigration if it was brought up by other countries?

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: The subject of regional -- the subject of security will indeed be a part of the agenda: Security in its multi-faceted way as agreed to in the recent meeting that took place in Mexico City on hemispheric security for the United States and for other countries of the hemisphere.

The security situation in the world has changed after September the 11th, 2001. International terrorism has become a huge issue. It is being dealt with in this country. Other countries are dealing with it as well.

I might add that the areas of cooperation between and among the countries of the hemisphere post-September 11th, 2001, has been quite good. The United States has a 30-point action plan with Canada, a 21-point action plan with Mexico. And, as a result of the hemisphere's own efforts to forge an inter-American convention to fight terrorism that was agreed to in June 2002 -- less than one year after the events of September the 11th -- we have the basis for good cooperation to fight terrorism. But yes, there is interest. There is interest in other delegations to fight terrorism.

I certainly heard during the last negotiating meeting that we had last week, that Argentina has a tremendous interest in the terrorism area, having suffered terrorism itself. Colombia suffers terrorism, and terrorist attacks have occurred throughout the hemisphere. So yes, terrorism is a very important issue and will be taken up.

And with regard to your question about migration, there will be the opportunity to have dialogue on the subject. The areas that I have outlined are the ones that have received the emphasis in our summit implementation review group meetings up until this time.

MR. PRINCE: Sonia, go ahead.

QUESTION: Sonia Schott, Globovisión, Venezuela. Ambassador Maisto, you mentioned a fully democratic hemisphere to reach economic growth and reduce poverty. Did you consider that Venezuela, it's in the right way to reach the political stability to be ready for the economic and social commitments of the Monterrey Summit? Thank you.

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: Venezuela is in the process of following an OAS resolution that calls for dealing with its current crisis on the basis of four principles: A solution that is democratic, peaceful, constitutional and electoral. That process goes on.

It is also, of course, in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution, and the United States supports -- strongly supports -- the completion of that process, the role of the Organization of American States, and particularly the Secretary General and his OAS group that is on the ground in Venezuela at the present time; and it is up to Venezuelans to resolve this political crisis and move ahead to better take advantage of the many opportunities that Venezuela has to benefit from the forward movement that is coming in this hemisphere.

MR. PRINCE: In the back.

QUESTION: Mr. Ambassador, Nestor Ikeda, reporter for the Associated Press covering Latin American affairs. And as you know, these kinds of summits are also taken for leaders to strengthening the relation, the personal relations. And do you have any idea how many meetings are going to be held by President Bush with -- bilaterally speaking -- with the western hemisphere leaders?

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: First of all, we must keep in mind that the leaders will -- one of the objectives of a summit is to put leaders together so that they can have maximum opportunity for interchange among each other. Additionally, there are bilateral meetings that take place. I do not have details for you at this time on those -- the bilateral meetings -- and I would refer you to the White House to get that question answered.

MR. PRINCE: Yes, right here, please.

QUESTION: Tatiana Bautzer with Brazilian newspaper, Valor Econômico. I'd like to know if the United States is interested in discussing FTAA negotiations and the problems of these negotiations during the summit.

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: Every summit that has taken place, beginning with Miami in 1994, has espoused the principle, the objective, of achieving a free trade area of the Americas. The two big achievements of the Quebec summit that people remember, in addition to the action plan that is being worked are: One, the democratic charter -- the democratic clause, which became the democratic charter; and two, the commitment to conclude a free trade area of the Americas by January 2005.

This particular summit is not a trade summit. At the same time, the United States and many other countries in the hemisphere consider it important to reiterate what our trade ministers just agreed to in Miami at their November ministerial with regard to completing negotiation for an FTAA by 2005, as agreed to previously, both in Quebec and most recently in Miami.

And secondly, dealing with issues with regard to the Doha round. Trade is going on a separate track, and is going very well. This summit is focusing on the three areas, which I outlined to you, which are: growth, investing in people, and democratic governance.

MR. PRINCE: Yes, right here. María Elena.

QUESTION: María Elena Matheus, El Universal, Venezuela. Ambassador, to achieve the goals of the summit, how important do you think it will be to try to bring stability to the Americas -- to the region? And would you confirm that the major problem, political problem, right now in the region is Venezuela?

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: The key to stability in the Americas is functioning democracy, economic systems that work, that create jobs for real people, that provide opportunity for real people based on institutions that have credibility. What institutions? Judiciary, political processes, electoral processes, rule of law -- all of them in there, together, make for successful, modern democratic societies.

Included in this, of course, is security: security from terrorism, security from lawlessness, security from corruption -- all of this, in turn, being affected by the level of transparency that exists in democratic societies. In our view, that's how you get to stability. And there are problems in many parts of the hemisphere, and the view of the United States is that the way to work through problems, the type of which exists in Venezuela, the type of which exists in Haiti, the type of which exists in some Andean countries -- the way to do that is through carrying out basic democratic principles; first, that flow from elected -- freely elected democratic governments, but democratic governments that have to govern democratically and effectively in accordance with their constitutions and the functioning of their institutions; and a guarantee of basic human rights, basic freedoms, rule of law, civil rights, et cetera.

Each country has to deal with these issues and some are going through crises. And countries that are going through crises can count on international support, as we have seen in the case of Venezuela, from the Organization of American States. And I can assure you that the policy of the United States is to strongly support efforts to assist countries as they go through these difficult times.

MR. PRINCE: Let's go to the back, here, and then after that to Pepe.

QUESTION: Frank Koller from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. You indicated an agenda that from the U.S. perspective is very much focused on specifics, but a number of the 14 new leaders that have come to their positions over the past couple of years that you're wanting to bring into the fold got to be elected leaders in their countries by expressing that they wanted to lead their countries in, perhaps, new directions and not so much under -- whether you call it the Washington consensus, but perhaps share a different philosophy than what Washington does.

To what extent will those concerns, do you think, stand in the way of the U.S. achieving as many specifics as you'd like?

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: The areas that I outlined to you, in addition to being very much of interest to the United States, are areas that are shared by all the countries of the hemisphere, as manifested in the sessions that we have had so far -- and we have had them since the summer -- leading up to the summit.

These agenda thrusts were approved at the time of the last OAS General Assembly meeting in Santiago, Chile in June of this year. The three themes of growth -- growth with equity, social development, and governance -- fighting corruption, those are themes that are embraced.

There are questions of emphases, how to get from here to there, but they are very much accepted principles.

QUESTION: Could I ask a follow-up question just on a specific thing just to talk about that -- education, for example? The agenda that you've outlined here is very much the President's, or this Administration's agenda in education in the United States: the issues of measuring education, accountability, giving parents choices -- I think you used all of those three phrases in one frame or another. This Administration has seen this in the United States as very much pushing for issues such as private schools, vouchers, charter schools. That's an area, though, while the general goal of pushing education forward is one, but that's a tremendously different approach that many Latin American countries would share.

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: I would refer you to the meeting of education ministers in Mexico in August of this year, and to the declaration that came out of that ministerial meeting. And I think you will find that the need to measure progress in education is one that's accepted. And the notion of accountability in education is accepted as well. As a matter of fact, even the phrase -- and I attended the ministerial, so I remember it very clearly -- the notion "no child left behind" in the hemisphere was received, was talked about as a theme that is really important.

QUESTION: José Carreño with El Universal, Mexico City. Ambassador, a couple of things that are not officially on the table but are very much on the table -- in Washington there has been some resentment because most of the countries of the region did not support the United States in the war on Iraq. So will that, will that be dealt somehow, or is that a solved problem already? And number two, even if trade, this is not a trade conference, political decisions here might have an impact on the FTAA talks. Will this be an opportunity to overcome the rift on Iraq and second, to give a new push for the FTAA?

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: The commitment to FTAA is broad in the hemisphere. It came out of Quebec and it came out of the last Miami trade ministerial. And the results of that trade ministerial speak for itself. The presidents and the leaders are going to have the opportunity for relatively unstructured dialogue at Monterrey. And no one should predict, no one should rule out or rule in any specific subjects that are going to be discussed.

The general outline is, as indicated, is as agreed to as for the agenda items. Once again, they are: growth and poverty reduction; social development -- which we like to call in English, "investing in people" -- and democratic governability with an emphasis on fighting corruption and achieving transparency. Those are the big themes. But the leaders will discuss what they want to discuss.

QUESTION: So that rift will not be an issue?

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: The leaders will discuss what they want to discuss.

MR. PRINCE: Right here, please, in the second row.

QUESTION: Pablo Barcelet with Reuters News Agency. I cover Latin America. I have a question. When you mentioned the IFIs will be more involved in assistance to small- and medium-enterprises, what exactly do you mean by that? Would the IDB [Inter-American Development Bank] be lending more money to the private sector? I mean, their mandate is to lend more to governments, so what -- how will that happen?

And second, I was just wondering if you could give me a notion of the reaction that you're getting from the region to some of these specific proposals? I mean, for instance, you didn't mention infrastructure, and I know President Lula thinks that infrastructure is very important. And I think Venezuela has also mentioned it. So will he be putting, making money available for infrastructure or some of the other issues that Latin America -- and what kind of -- again, what kind of reactions are you getting from the Latin Americans to this very specific agenda on development?

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: With regard to your question about the IDB, I refer you to the IDB. I think the IDB is doing some creative work in the area of small- and medium-size enterprises already. I don't want to speak for the IDB.

With regard to infrastructure, and again, let me emphasize the point, these three agenda items were proposed by the summit host, Mexico, at the time of the Santiago OAS General Assembly in early June of this year.

These are areas that are agreed to by all the countries in the hemisphere. We welcome the emphasis. We think this emphasis is appropriate and we think that the subtopics are well thought out and hugely important in terms of carrying through on a) the Quebec action plan, and b) the Monterrey consensus.

With regard to infrastructure, again I refer you to Monterrey and the commitments that were made in Monterrey that I reviewed at the beginning of my remarks. And remember, the Monterrey consensus really created a new partnership between developed and developing countries, in which it was agreed that each country has primary responsibility for its own development through sound policies, good governance and the rule of law. And the implementation of this responsibility is necessary for the effective use of all resources provided by the international community to support national development efforts.

With regard to what the United States is all about in this area, I refer you to one, the Millennium Challenge Account, which the President announced just before the Monterrey Summit, which is being, now, taken up by the Congress of the United States to double U.S. economic assistance across the board in countries that fulfill certain criteria that have to do with a) fighting corruption -- democratic governance, b) having the right policies -- policies that are effective, and thirdly, investing their own resources in key areas to deal with modern economic structures and growth such as education and health.

Secondly, as far as infrastructure is concerned, the United States has contributed mightily to health infrastructure through the new $15 billion global AIDS -- the exact title is, "AIDS, Malaria and Related Diseases."

If you're talking about traditional infrastructure: roads, dams, et cetera -- we have international financial institutions that deal in them. The World Bank does it, the Inter-American Development Bank does it, and by the way, to see an example of how public and private partnerships can work in the infrastructure area, I refer you to what the United States and Mexico have been doing in something called "Partnership for Prosperity." And "Partnership" is focused on central and southern Mexico. And it brings the public and the private sectors together, with the public sector committing itself to infrastructure and the private sector committing itself to investment that will go where infrastructure goes.

In other words, you're not going to get investment in areas where they don't have sufficient roads, sufficient power, where there are problems with security, and the United States and Mexico are really doing exciting work in that area. So there is a lot going -- I would submit there is a lot going on with regard to infrastructure. It's there.

MR. PRINCE: Right here and then to the middle.

QUESTION: Ricardo Galarza, TV Azteca, Mexico. The general perception in Latin America is that President Bush is going to Monterrey just to show some interest to our interest to our region. His government has paid little attention in spite of the fact that he said during his campaign that it will be his priority in foreign policy. What would you respond to those skeptics?

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: I would respond that it would be a good idea to look at the record with regard to the Bush Administration. Let's take it piece by piece.

On the democracy side, this President began at the Quebec Summit, where he met all the leaders of the hemisphere after first having dealt extensively with President Fox. And at Quebec, there were two commitments that the United States very, very strongly supported. One was a democracy clause, which became the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which is the backbone of the U.S. political commitment in this hemisphere; and secondly, a commitment for a free trade of the Americas by January 2005.

Now let's take the trade agenda. This President committed to free trade, obtained trade promotion authority from the Congress of the United States to permit the Administration to negotiate, completed a bilateral trade agreement with Chile that had been languishing for ten years, launched a trade negotiation with Central America, which was -- has just been completed and is in the process of being -- the final steps are still being worked out, a commitment to the Andean countries. In the Andean countries and the U.S. Trade Representative are launching trade talks.

The President delivered on the Andean Trade Preferences Act, ATPA, which delivered trade benefits to the Andean countries well beyond what they thought they were going to get. And then, on the financial side, this Administration strongly supported international financial agreements with the International Monetary Fund in particular, with -- and let's count the countries: Brazil, during the Cardoso administration; and recently, Argentina, through some very difficult times; Uruguay, including a bridge loan; Colombia. Am I missing any? This is a very engaged Administration on financial matters.

So we've covered the political side, we've covered the economic side, the Millennium Challenge Account that came out of -- preceded Monterrey, the proposal by the President when he went to the World Bank in -- early in the Administration -- that there should be grants to the most -- to the poorest and the most deserving countries. It gets very little attention. The World Bank should be doing grants.

Then there is the security area, which received a lot of emphasis post-9/11. Canada, Mexico, the convention that the United States very actively participated in, but more than that -- that's the antiterrorism convention -- and then, the security -- the new inter-American security agreement that was completed in Mexico in October; and then the bilateral cooperation with individual governments to fight terrorism and international criminal activity: drug trafficking, drug-money laundering. And I haven't mentioned everything that we are doing in the Andes with regard to supporting Colombia and the other Andean countries to deal with the terrorism and stability -- democratic stability problems there.

The notion that this Administration doesn't think about the hemisphere, I would submit, does not square with the facts. Hechos concretos están.

MR. PRINCE: Yes, Paulo right there. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Paulo Cabral from BBC, Brazilian Service. Sir, you have said quite a few times that the countries have agreed on some principles being growth, social development, democracy, end of corruption. These sound to me as quite easy or even obvious principles to agree upon and much more difficult to be -- the ways to get there that have a future, also. And so my question is, what does the United States consider necessary to get there? Is it the FTAA or threat preparation?

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: Good question. You're absolutely right. These are easy principles to espouse, but getting from here to there is difficult. What's required, for example, with regard to growth -- there are a variety of components.

For this summit, the organizers identified a focus on small- and medium-size enterprises, a focus on credit lines to small- and medium-size enterprises, doing something -- really advancing as rapidly as possible on the whole issue of property registration, and better channeling the flow of remittances.

Remittances, $32 billion a year, that's much, much more than all the development aid, bilateral, multilateral, that the region gets. It can be better channeled. It can be better used. It can go into individual bank accounts. People can connect to the financial system.

So the question is, how do you get from to there? And the answer is political will. Agreeing to certain goals over a certain period of time. That's the U.S. view.

Similarly, on the social development side, with regard to accountability in education and really doing something as rapidly as possible about HIV/AIDS, I heard the Ambassador of Belize say last week say that 20 percent of the labor force of the Caribbean countries is affected by HIV/AIDS. Translate that into economic terms. And if the disease is not arrested, where is it going?

It is a national security issue. Other diseases are important: tropical diseases, malaria, dengue, et cetera. But I'd venture to say that there is no other disease that can be classified in the hemisphere as one that is a national security issue in so many particularly small countries.

And on the question of corruption, on the question of transparency, it's a matter of political will. None of these areas really, I mean, there are resources out there. For example, in education, every country spends a lot of money in education. It can be better spent. And countries are spending a lot of money on health. And HIV/AIDS is an area, which has been getting a lot of international assistance, as well.

It's a question of focusing. It's a question of committing. It's a question of political will.

MR. PRINCE: I think we have time for one more. We have about four minutes remaining.

Okay, Nestor, go ahead.

QUESTION: Mr. Ikeda from Associated Press again. Just a quick question. Have all the Pan-American leaders confirmed their attendance to this summit?

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: I'm sorry, I didn't hear the question. Have all the --

QUESTION: If all the inter-American leaders are going to attend this summit?

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: Well, let me answer it this way. I haven't heard that any leader is not going to attend. Rather, our best information is that they're all attending -- all the democratically-elected leaders, because this is a summit of democracies, just in case you were wondering about one particular person in the hemisphere who's been around for 40-odd years.

MR. PRINCE: Okay, let's take Laura in the back.

Go ahead. She promises it will be short.

QUESTION: Yeah. I'm Laura Bonilla from France Presse, AFP. I want to know which Latin American countries you intend to include in the Millennium Challenge Account, if you could --

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: I can't tell you that because that decision hasn't been made yet. The Millennium Challenge Account is now in the hands of the United States Congress. And until that process is completed, there won't be any announcements as to which countries are recipients.

QUESTION: Could you tell us which ones you are considering or --

AMBASSADOR MAISTO: What I would suggest that you do is to keep in mind, the enterprising journalists that you all are, keep in mind the criteria for the Millennium Challenge Account: the poorest countries that have done the best in terms of the three criteria. And the criteria are: doing concrete things with respect to governability, strengthening governability and fighting corruption, number one; number two, engaging in the right policies, the smart policies, the modern policies to make economies grow; and thirdly, the countries that invest in -- really invest in their own people in health and education. Those are the criteria for the Millennium Challenge Account.

MR. PRINCE: Thank you, Ambassador Maisto. Thank you very much.