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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Introductory Remarks by Ambassador Harriet C. Babbitt, USAID Deputy Administrator
to the Partners In Transition Conference
Warsaw, Poland
October 4, 1999
Prime Minister Buzek, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
On behalf of my government, it is a great pleasure to welcome you to the first Partners In Transition conference, sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and hosted by friends in the Polish government.
On display in the building where I work in Washington, there is a huge section of the Berlin Wall. It is fifteen feet high and covered with graffiti painted just before the wall fell, including a bright yellow rising sun.
That bright sun rose almost ten years ago -- on November 9, the world will mark the tenth anniversary of the fall of the Wall. Ten years, and it is still difficult to comprehend the full significance of that turning point in history.
Freedom has come to tens of millions of people.
With that freedom, the nations of this region launched a historic transition to democracy and free markets.
We are pleased and honored to see gathered here so many men and women, from so many countries, who are deeply involved in that transition.
Already, you have made progress toward your goal of democratic societies and free market economies -- and already you have encountered major challenges.
That is to be expected. No one ever said such a transition would be quick or easy. Winston Churchill famously said that democracy was the worst form of government - except for all the others.
We meet today, in the spirit of democracy, to help one another, to listen and to speak, to air our concerns, and always to learn.
None of us has the luxury of reinventing the wheel each time we go for a ride. We at USAID, working in nearly a hundred countries, take practices that work in one country and see if they will work in another.
The countries of this region, facing similar concerns, have often addressed them in different ways. This conference is an opportunity for you to exchange ideas and experiences and see how you can help one another meet common goals.
One great concern is how to balance fiscal demands with social priorities - always, of course, with limited funds. Another is encouraging the growth of small and medium-sized private enterprises, which are the foundations of sustainable economic growth. A third is to bring transparency and accountability to all levels of society.
These are major challenges, and they will require all the wisdom and imagination that is within us.
We must also seek new ways of sharing lessons we have learned.
One way to do this is through partnerships that transfer the successful experiences from one country to another. One such partnership is the Poland-America-Ukraine Cooperation Initiative, a trilateral initiative that for the first time is utilizing technical expertise from Poland, with support from USAID, to address demands from Ukraine in the areas of democratic development and economic reform.
That initiative is an excellent example of cooperation among countries to promote the transition process, but there are others in the region to be discussed, and I hope we will encourage more such partnerships this week.
One reason this conference is special is the range of participants. Some of you work at the highest levels of government and others at the grassroots level. Some represent the business community and others are from trade unions and nongovernmental organizations. But all of you share a determination to see your countries make a successful transition.
We in the United States share your determination.
We support democratic reform in many parts of the world, but nowhere is it more important to us than here. Our countries are linked by history and by culture. In years past, many of your ancestors came to the United States and contributed to our growth. Now we have reached a moment in history when we can contribute to yours.
Is your transition difficult? Of course it is. But it is also a glorious tribute to the human spirit, and we are proud to contribute to its unfolding - and to what we are confident will be its ultimate success.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.
Pushkin died young, and not long before his death he wrote these lines:
Great poetry lives on, and so does the human dream of freedom."Not all of me is dust;
Within my song,
Safe from the worm,
My spirit will survive."Today, as your countries pursue that great dream, the United States is proud to be your friend and partner.
Thank you for being here.
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 12, 2001 |
