*EPF405 10/24/2002
Transcript: Powell Suggests APEC Strategy for Bridging Digital Divide
(October 24 remarks to APEC Plenary) (1070)

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell invited officials from Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies October 24 to join the United States in developing "a long-range strategy on e-learning" to "help close the digital divide by increasing the number of high-quality, low cost educational resources available to the peoples of APEC."

Speaking to the APEC Plenary in Los Cabos, Mexico, Powell said the United States "will devote time and resources to help the (APEC) education network develop and implement this strategy."

Powell also spoke of APEC efforts, led by the United States, geared toward promoting "greater investment in our people and to empower them through access to health, education, information and especially access to capital."

"Our people will always be our most valuable assets," Powell stressed.

Following is the State Department transcript of Secretary Powell's October 24 remarks:

(begin transcript)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
(Los Cabos, Mexico)

REMARKS TO THE APEC PLENARY
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
October 24, 2002
Fiesta Americana Hotel
Los Cabos, Mexico

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To drive growth and generate prosperity, we in the APEC region are making substantial investments in our economies and in our people.

We know that strengthening our security, particularly our security from global terrorism, is an important part of that effort. Our leaders will soon issue a package of bold joint actions to make the flow of trade, finance and communication more secure.

My colleague, Secretary Mineta, spoke yesterday about the importance that my government attaches to this initiative. The United States is committed to building counterterrorism capacity in the region, and we are prepared to offer programs and activities that can help address the needs of the various nations of the APEC region.

We will be distributing a document with details of our capacity building programs.

We look forward to working with all of you to ensure our common security -- security that is vital to our continued growth. Beyond security, APEC has been active in another essential area of sound pro-growth policy: investing in people. Investing in education and health assures more equitable sharing of the benefits of growth. Investing in our people also spurs growth itself by creating vigorous and skilled citizens who become agents of development themselves. Their productivity in turn generates more resources to invest back in our societies -- so that the virtuous circle that we have just described is at the very heart of development. The United States is proud to lead a number of efforts in APEC to promote greater investment in our people and to empower them through access to health, education, information and especially access to capital.

Allow me to review briefly some of the APEC economic and technical cooperation programs which we strongly support. In the area of health: We have spearheaded efforts to better coordinate disease monitoring networks. This will help APEC members better detect and respond to outbreaks of infectious disease.

We are helping to improve HIV/AIDS prevention and care standards through a project that we are pleased to co-sponsor with Thailand.

And we welcome the important new cooperative efforts by APEC members in such areas as pandemic influenza planning, better use of on-line databases, and health as it relates to water resources and agriculture.

Finally, we have built on APEC's tradition of working closely with the private sector. For example, we will be working with industry, international organizations and the scientific community to establish what we call the "Life Science Forum". The Forum will promote research and development of new products that will both save lives and drive growth.

On education, we are taking better advantage of the opportunities created by the information technology revolution to reach out to the peoples of APEC and bridge the digital divide among us. We are developing "the Asia Pacific Network for Education" with the APEC cyber education cooperation consortium. This web portal provides a single entry point for policymakers and teachers to learn about best practices in education throughout the APEC region.

U.S. companies are providing computer training to information technology professionals and others from all around the APEC region as part of China's human capacity building promotion program. And the United States has entered into a project with the People's Republic of China to teach English and Chinese using web-based technology.

Indeed, APEC is increasingly active in connecting our worlds and improving our schools. And by better coordinating our activities, we could realize many more concrete results.

I propose that we take our efforts a step further, and ask our officials in APEC to develop a long-range strategy on e-learning. The goal would be to help close the digital divide by increasing the number of high-quality, low cost educational resources available to the peoples of APEC.

The United States will devote time and resources to help the education network develop and implement this strategy.

And we would welcome partners in this effort, such as the APEC education foundation.

Teaching people new skills only empowers them, however, if they have the opportunity to use those skills to better their lives. Improved access to financing leads to greater economic well-being. In turn, greater economic security allows people to invest in healthcare and to invest in education, and ultimately, in themselves.

The United States is proud to have been an integral part this year of APEC's work on micro-enterprise and micro-finance. We want to ensure that micro-entrepreneurs have access to the market-based financing and services they need, and we championed the establishment of a permanent sub-group on micro-enterprise.

APEC members must continue their efforts to improve the soundness and efficiency of our financial markets so that all businesses, large and small, have access to the resources they need to grow.

Also, we recognize the powerful contribution that women make to sustainable economic development, so we must do all we can to cultivate entrepreneurship by women.

And we must work to build a creative environment that encourages new ideas and new businesses.

For example, new technologies, such as agricultural bioengineering, can better people's lives by enhancing food nutrition, improving productivity and protecting the environment.

Fundamentally, our collective capacity to reap the benefits of globalization depends on establishing conditions for good governance, sound economic and trade policies, and wise stewardship of our resources -- especially our human resources.

Our people will always be our most valuable assets. My government remains committed to working with our APEC partners to achieve a prosperous future for the Asia-Pacific region by freeing and empowering all of our peoples.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

(end transcript)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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