Remarks at the Hogar Rosa Duarte Elementary School
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
April 17, 2009
SECRETARY CLINTON: I’m
very happy to be here today with so many distinguished officials and
concerned citizens of the Dominican Republic. I want especially to thank
the Minister of Education for his dedication and those very warm
remarks. I want to thank Monsignor, president of Pontificia Catholic
University, and for your commitment to good teaching and learning for
young people. And I want to thank the staff, the sisters and teachers,
who are here every day with these beautiful children. But mostly, I am
happy to be here with the boys and girls of Rosa Duarte School.
(Applause.)
I appreciate what Minister Paredes said about President
Obama’s commitment to education. It is one that we feel very strongly in
the United States. We have worked hard to improve our schools, but we
still have a lot of work to do. When I come to a school like this where I
see the dedication of the teachers, the commitment to new learning and
teaching strategies, and the children who are able to take advantage of
this opportunity, I know how much we have in common between our two
countries.
We want for every boy and girl a safe, stimulating place
to learn where each child can be given the opportunity to live up to his
or her God-given potential. That is the message that I receive from all
of you about your mission at this school.
I just came from a
classroom where a second-grader named Carly read a story that she had
written. It’s called “The Sad Leaf.” And it’s a story about how children
come together to save trees and nature. I know that it wasn’t easy for
little Carly to stand up in front of all of us and read. But her story
spoke volumes about what education in your country is attempting to
accomplish. It is about improving skills, language and mathematic
skills, but also giving children the right to express themselves, and I
thank you for that.
The United States is proud to be your partner.
We are committed to helping you and other countries work together to
achieve a region in which all of our children are learning, more and
more prosperity and progress is possible, and we know that education is a
key to what we hope to achieve. I heard from the sister, I heard from
the minister, I heard from the teachers, and the teacher trainers how
important our USAID program and assistance has been.
So I am pleased
to announce that the United States will give an additional $12.5
million over the next five years to expand the reading education
program. (Applause.) We hope that this will enable you to expand the
program to another 200 schools across the Dominican Republic, and also
begin to provide more schools the math education and school government
training as well.
We will reach 450 schools with this work, and I
appreciate the very close partnership that USAID and the State
Department and the United States Government has with the Ministry of
Education. We want to help you improve the quality of teaching and
enrich the classroom experience for your students. And we believe based
on what we have seen so far that the program here in the Dominican
Republic will be a model for the entire region. (Applause.)
I also
appreciate what the minister said about President Fernandez. I have been
coming to the Dominican Republic for more than 10 years. I’ve had many
wonderful times with my husband and my family here in your beautiful
country. And I have had numerous discussions with President Fernandez
about the importance of education. And therefore, when we go to the
summit tomorrow – it actually starts later today, the Summit of the
Americas – President Obama will be talking about how the United States
sees education as one of the cornerstones of our partnership with
countries throughout our hemisphere. We believe investment in education
will pay off for individuals, for their families, for their community,
and for their nation.
So thank you for letting me come to see for
myself the work that you are doing here. And let me especially express
appreciation to the teachers. Without a dedicated, well-trained teacher,
we do not get the results we need. The teachers here are so committed.
The teacher trainers, the Ministry of Education; this is what the
formula for success looks like.
So thank you all very much and continue the good work, and the United States will be your partner. Thank you. (Applause.)
Remarks With Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
April 17, 2009
PRESIDENT FERNANDEZ: (In Spanish.) SECRETARY CLINTON:
Thank you very much, Mr. President. And I greatly enjoyed our visit
last night over dinner and then again this morning in our important
meeting. I also wish to thank your foreign minister and other ministers
and officials of your government for their cooperation and partnership
on this visit, but, of course, in so many other ways.
I
am delighted to be back in the Dominican Republic. I have been here
many times. I have been in this building on several previous occasions,
and I am always drawn back by the energy and vitality of the Dominican
people and the beauty of your country. As the president said, I am not
the only one who has made this trip between our two nations. The vibrant
exchange between the Dominican people and our citizens in the United
States is extraordinary. More than 1 million tourists from the United
States visit every year, and more than 1 million people of Dominican
descent live in the United States, and I was very proud to call many of
them my constituents when I served as senator from New York.
We
are linked together by a commitment to shared values and our efforts
toward shared prosperity. This is a cornerstone relationship for the
United States, and I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for the
work you have done to promote democracy and broad-based economic growth
in your country. And I would like to thank you, Mr. Foreign Minister,
for the work you have done in expanding commercial ties between our
countries and commerce throughout the region.
Just as we share these
opportunities, we also face challenges, and we have to work together to
address them. This is especially true in these difficult economic times.
At the heart of our relationship is a commitment to a partnership to
address our challenges and seize our opportunities. And it is critical
that we focus on security. The president and I spent a lot of time
talking about the security challenge. Drug trafficking, drug-related
gangs are threatening the safety of citizens, tearing at the fabric of
our communities, and we bear a shared responsibility to tackle this
serious problem.
The United States is and will be investing millions
of dollars in improved law enforcement, improved information gathering
and sharing, improved judicial systems and public institutions
throughout our hemisphere. The Dominican Republic is doing its part.
President Fernandez is showing leadership. He will be hosting a public
security meeting later this year so countries in our hemisphere can
discuss together how we will fight the drug-fueled crime and lawlessness
we face.
And I did ask President Fernandez to work with us and
assume an even greater leadership position in the region to work with
the Central American and Caribbean countries on all of these challenges
and opportunities. Later today, leaders from across the region will
arrive at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. We will be
discussing concrete ways to improve the lives of people. I saw an
example of that earlier today, Mr. President, at the Rosa Duarte School,
where I saw the results of a strong partnership led by your
administration and your minister of education to improve the language
and mathematics skills of students and the governance of schools. And I
was proud to announce the United States will continue to support these
programs with an additional $12.5 million.
We want also to work with
you to broaden investment, trade, and commerce in our region and
hemisphere, to protect our environment, and to fight climate change, to
look for more secure energy generation and distribution means. And I am
very (inaudible), Mr. President, that the long and important
relationship that we have had between our countries will begin to deepen
and broaden under the Obama Administration and with your leadership.
So
thank you for hosting me and my delegation here today. I look forward
to continuing our friendship and our dialogue, and making concrete,
positive changes in the lives of the people of our two nations and of
our neighbors throughout the region and hemisphere. Thank you, Mr.
President. PRESIDENT FERNANDEZ: (In Spanish.) QUESTION:
Thank you very much. I have a question for both of you, please. This
morning in Venezuela, Raul Castro indicated that Cuba would be very
receptive to a dialogue with the United States, and he said that all the
issues would be on the table – human rights, the release of political
prisoners, freedom of the press. I wonder, Madame Secretary, whether
that constitutes the kind of reciprocity that you were calling for
yesterday in Haiti. And if so, would – this could be the opening for a
series of next steps, and what might those steps be?
And for the
president, you spoke of the role that the U.S. would like the Dominican
Republic to play with Cuba and Haiti and other countries. I just wonder
how (inaudible) what your reaction was to what the Obama Administration
announced earlier in the week with regard to travel restrictions and
remittances. And would you like to see the Obama Administration go
further (inaudible)? SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Mark, let me
begin by (inaudible) how earlier this week President Obama announced the
most significant policy changes toward Cuba by the United States
Government in decades. And we are continuing to look for productive ways
forward because we view the present policy as having failed.
You are
all familiar with the Administration’s general view that engagement is a
useful tool to advance our national interests and our goals of
promoting human rights, democracy, peace, prosperity, and progress.
So
we have seen Raul Castro’s comments. We welcome this overture. We are
taking a very serious look, and we will consider how we intend to
respond. PRESIDENT FERNANDEZ: (In Spanish.) QUESTION: (In Spanish.) PRESIDENT FERNANDEZ: (In Spanish.) QUESTION: (In Spanish.) SECRETARY CLINTON: Hold it up close to your mouth and just – so I can hear you. Talk right into it. Just keep talking into it. Hold it up. PRESIDENT FERNANDEZ: (In Spanish.) QUESTION: (In Spanish.) SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, first let me say that our relationship is excellent. We cooperate
on a range of important matters. Now between any two nations, there
will be issues that have to be worked out. We have discussed a number of
those in our meetings today. I think that some of what I could hear in
your question is not factually based in terms of any conclusions or
assessments that have been made. But there are issues that we have to
resolve* better, and that’s what we’re doing. We’re doing it in a spirit
of partnership and respect.
And as to the point you made about
President Fernandez meeting with leaders throughout the region, we
believe that is a positive undertaking by President Fernandez. The new
Administration does not agree with the policies of a number of leaders
in our region. We think they are not in the best interests of the people
of the countries. But we also believe that we should be having more
dialogue and discussion. President Fernandez has illustrated that. His
leadership has demonstrated it. And we think that is not only to the
benefit of the Dominican Republic, but to the entire region, and it is
right that an opportunity for us working with President Fernandez to
bridge some of these other leaders.
Finally, if I could say a word on
Haiti, the prior question that went to President Fernandez – as you may
know, I was in Haiti yesterday. I had a lengthy meeting with President
Preval and other officials in his government along with representatives
of opposition political parties. I attended the donors conference on
behalf of the United States where we made a significant (inaudible) to
assist Haiti with security, with (inaudible) payments, with (inaudible).
We want to work on sustainable agriculture. This is an area where the
United States and the Dominican Republic will work very closely
together. The Bilateral Commission will begin working on the issues. The
United States stands ready to assist Haiti and to work with the
Dominican Republic to provide a greater opportunity for the people of
Haiti. This is a complex challenge, but we are very committed to working
together and we think we can make a difference. QUESTION: Madame Secretary -- SECRETARY CLINTON: Lachlan, if you hold it real close to your mouth. QUESTION: I’ll do it again. Is that close? SECRETARY CLINTON: That’ll work better. Sometimes you have to really get into these microphones. QUESTION:
Thank you for your advice. So as you come up to the Summit of the
Americas, will the recently warmed state (inaudible) between the United
States and Cuba (inaudible) action (inaudible) of the United States,
will they have a snowballing effect on the region? Will it take the bite
out of your tensions with Venezuela and other leftist governments in
the region, (inaudible) President Fernandez?
And finally, if I may
ask, Senator Mitchell is traveling to the Middle East. What chance does
he have to – Prime Minister Netanyahu to be back (inaudible) two-state
solution (inaudible) Saudi Arabia, and what about the Saudi peace
initiative (inaudible)? SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first, with
respect to the Summit of the Americas, President Obama and I are very
much looking forward to this opportunity. We will be meeting all of the
assembled representatives in large plenary sessions and then in smaller
groups as well, as some limited number of bilateral meetings.
But
our message is the same. The United States wants to engage our
hemisphere. This is our backyard. We are neighbors and friends and
partners on so many fronts. We obviously have disagreements with some of
the leadership in certain countries in Latin America. But we approach
that from a practical, not an ideological perspective. Practically, we
think that vibrant markets and open political systems and dynamic
democracies and free speech and good governance and the rule of law are
in the best interests of the people of all of these countries.
And
so when leaders interfere with that and they substitute personal actions
for rule of law and good governance, that’s troubling to us. Because
what we want is for every child in this hemisphere to have a chance to
live up to his or her God-given potential. When I was looking at those
beautiful children at the Rosa Duarte school today, I could see that the
government of this country is investing in these children. And
therefore, they will have a better future. We want to help every country
realize that dream for their own people. So let’s be united against the
scourge of drug trafficking which robs people of their freedom, of
their future, which undermines civil society. Let’s work together on
social inclusion so that no group of people are excluded from any
country’s civil, social growth. Let’s work together on health and
education and our young people.
So there is so much that we want to
explore with other countries at this summit. The United States will
continue to defend our interests and our values and our security. That
is what is our highest priority. But we think there are many
opportunities for us to be more closely aligned with all countries.
Indeed, our – as the President said in his inaugural address, holding
out our hand if people unclench their fist, and that is what we’re
hoping to see. Let’s put ideology aside. That is so yesterday. Let’s
figure out how we’re going to help people. Let’s figure out how we’re
going to have governments that are respected by their own people. Let’s
work on solving transnational problems like drug trafficking. And let’s
then have a spirit of cooperation and partnership in this hemisphere
that will benefit us all. And that is our hope and our goal for this
first summit that we’ll be attending. QUESTION: (Inaudible.) SECRETARY CLINTON:
Oh, thank goodness. I’m so focused on Latin America and the Western
Hemisphere, it’s hard to shift gears and think about the rest of the
world.
Before I say something, though, in response to your question –
and I hope you’ll forgive me. I’ll give an abbreviated answer. There
will be time later for you and I to talk about the Middle East peace
process. I did want to take a moment to express my concerns about the
reports coming in of an earthquake in Afghanistan, in eastern
Afghanistan. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people in that
country, particularly in the affected region. The United States and the
international community will work to help the areas deal with the impact
of the earthquake, and I understand the first convoys from an American
reconstruction team has arrived in the area, so we’ll get a clearer
analysis of what is needed. But I can pledge that more help will be on
the way for the people and Government of Afghanistan.
And finally,
because I don’t want to impose on our friends here in the Dominican
Republic, Senator Mitchell is in the region. He’s having very productive
and fruitful talks with a number of governments throughout the area.
The United States is committed to a two-state solution.
That has
been our policy for a number of years now. Everyone in the region knows
that is our policy. We have welcomed the Arab peace initiative, which,
for the first time, put the Arab League led by Saudi Arabia on record in
favor of a two-state solution, in which Israel will be granted the
recognition that it deserves from its neighbors in the region. The new
government of Israel has just taken office. We will be following up on
the intensive conversations that Senator Mitchell is having in the days
and weeks ahead. But I will just conclude by underscoring our commitment
to a two-state solution. QUESTION: (In Spanish.) SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, I have been very candid in saying that the United States shares
responsibility for the upsurge in drug trafficking and related
lawlessness and violence because of the big demands within the United
States. And that is why we want to work closely together with the
Government of the Dominican Republic to come up with a plan that will
work. There will be an important meeting in – next month in the region
to discuss how we can better coordinate our efforts, what the United
States can contribute in the forms of assistance, training, equipping,
logistics in respect to preventing the continuing efforts of the drug
traffickers not only to peddle their drugs, but to corrupt officials,
intimidate people, take over areas within countries if they are able to
do so.
All of this will be on the table. We will look at every aspect
of how to get active drugs (inaudible) trafficking surge, and I look
forward to working with the Dominican Republic. They bring great
strengths to the table, and we’re going to have a very open discussion
about what we all need to be doing.
