In view of this list of prominent leaders that you will be hearing from, I am very, very glad to be the leadoff speaker. It takes the pressure off me, and at the same time gives me an opportunity to set the stage for the issues you'll be discussing. Your chairmen David Rockefeller and Bill Rhodes and your president Ted McNamara and your vice president Bill Pryce came by for a talk with me about three weeks ago, and they asked me to challenge you today. They reminded me that in this room today would be some of the sharpest minds and most willing spirits around with respect to issues in the Americas, and they asked that I use this opportunity to challenge you to do even more of the wonderful work that you have done to free and empower the people of our hemisphere in the past.

Each of you is in a position to help our hemisphere realize the great promise of the Summit of Americas recently held in Quebec. It was a marvelous occasion. The summit brought together 34 heads of democratic government and the summit turned out to be all we could ask for, and more. Rather than just a glorified photo opportunity, it ended with a plan of action -- 43 pages long, lots of specifics -- and for the first time we have the OAS in a monitoring role. Now it can check progress, identify bottlenecks, and recommend remedies.

Some of what we did in Quebec was regional. We did some preventive medicine to help Colombia's neighbors defend themselves against the spillover of narco-guerrilla activity. We did this by announcing and giving our support to an Andean regional initiative that I will be defending before the Congress that allows us in future years not just to focus on narco-trafficking in Colombia but to see the problem as a regional problem and to invest in human rights activities, to invest in infrastructure development, to invest in economic opportunities that will encourage people to move away from narco-trafficking, and to see this problem as a regional problem and not just a simple problem of narco-traffickers in Colombia alone.

And we passed a strong initiative on HIV-AIDS and other issues related to the Caribbean island nations, recognizing the important role they play in the Americas. What we have taken to describe here in the United States as a third border initiative. We have a great border with Canada, another one with Mexico. We have another border with the Caribbean and we have to see them on the other side of that border as a major partner and see them in a regional context.

Especially exciting in this initiative is a $10 million down payment for centers of excellence to boost teacher skills and performance, recognizing that one of the great challenges of our time is to make sure that we are educating all of the youngsters of the Americas to take advantage of the opportunities of the new world. And educating the youngsters of the Americas begins with educating teachers so that they are ready to pass on their experience, to pass on their knowledge in the most effective and professional way possible.

But all of these regional initiatives took place within the context of a much larger vision, that of a prosperous democratic and free-trading Hemisphere of the Americas. That kind of hemisphere depends on understanding -- understanding that accelerating trade and strengthening democratic institutions go together. They are one and the same. They are knitted. That open markets and good government are closely linked, and that even as we generate investment and create jobs, we need to work towards accountable democratic institutions and democratic practices.

That is why we left the Summit of the Americas so proud of the democracy clause that was adopted as part of the political declaration in Quebec. We have seen enormous progress towards democracy in our hemisphere, and this new provision in that political declaration means that if governments violate their constitutions, if governments start to turn away from democracy, they will be disqualified from participation in the Summit of the Americas process in the future.

We believe and hope that this will prevent backsliding, backsliding into dictatorship and into elitist rule, and that it will be a tremendous incentive for preserving democracy and respecting the rule of law.

When I think back just 12 years or so when I was National Security Advisor to President Reagan and spent my time worrying about so many countries in the Americas who were being run by generals or who were under dictatorship forms of government, and wondered how we were going to get through all of this, and to see the progress that has been made over the last 12 years, it is just remarkable and so encouraging.

And we have to make sure that we do not allow backsliding to occur. We need to keep this momentum up. The hemisphere's governments are looking to achieve the goal in this democratic system that is spreading throughout the hemisphere, looking to achieve the goal of working toward reducing extreme poverty, poverty which saps the vitality out of a democracy. And we have the goal in the hemisphere of reducing extreme poverty by 50 percent by the year 2015.

But to reach this goal, trade must be the engine that enables governments to really address the underlying problems. This means reaffirming a commitment to conclude the FTAA negotiations by 2005 and put the agreement into effect that very same year. We must not lose momentum on this very, very important goal. We must achieve it.

And to reach this critical goal, we will have to meet the first challenge that I want to issue to you all today. The challenge for you in business, as well as for all of us in government, is to promote this wonderful insight that economic and political freedom are indivisible, that they don't come in separate categories, that there is a powerful synergy and chemistry between them. We need to get the message out, and get it out clearly, about what happens. Good things happen when countries open up their markets and stay committed to democracy.

Every visitor I have in my office, every time I get the chance to speak about this, I do it with passion. You have to create conditions in your nations that will encourage investment, that money is a coward; it will not go where it does not feel safe; it will not go where there is not a legal basis for the government where there is a legal basis for contracts; it will not go where there is the danger of democracy slipping away; it will not go to those places where it cannot earn a profit and return that profit to investors. It is as simple as that.

So democracy and trade and free enterprise all go together. It is as simple as this: free people, free people to pursue their dreams, free people in a democratic system, and all sorts of good things can happen. There has never been a better time to do it. Not long ago when I testified on Capitol Hill on my budget, I mentioned to some of the members of the committee that some days when you're Secretary of State all of the problems of the world, from nuclear proliferation to infectious diseases, seem to make it to your desk. Issues I never dreamed I'd be dealing with make it to my desk, and every day is full of challenges and problems and issues and things that didn't go well, things that did go well.

But then I startled them when I said, for all of that, I still sit in my office, day in and day out, and my heart soars when I see how the world has changed in my lifetime. It's just hard to avoid a permanent state of optimism and glee. The red and the blue sides of that old map that I used to worry about so much are gone. Those two superpowers confronting one another, gone. Instead, we have this marvelous kaleidoscope of a world trying to find its place, each nation trying to figure out its own path to the future.

And it is a future that I believe is fueled by democracy and the free enterprise system. It is a future that I think we here in the Americas are a wonderful model to present to the rest of this world of what can be achieved when people are free, and when we trade with one another, and when we see ourselves in this broad hemispheric sense. This is the hemisphere of promise. This is the hemisphere that can be an example to the rest of the world. Thirty-four nations came together. Only one left out. And there is no doubt in my mind that in due course and due time all 35 will be there, and we look forward to that day.

So here we are, with globalization and technology playing their roles, and especially the power of the Internet playing its role. Internet users in Latin America are expected to grow by 44 percent annually, more than doubling the worldwide growth rate. In Quebec, we were all excited by the possibilities of closing the digital divide to make sure that nobody's child, nobody's school, nobody's society, is left behind from the power of the information and technology revolution, so that the poorest and most disadvantaged members of society get that same access. If there is not power in your home, how do you get onto a computer? Then we put it in the school nearby that might have power. But we can't deny youngsters the opportunity to learn, to have the world come into their world, have their lives changed by this power.

And by so doing we would increase economic integration, bring the poor and marginalized into fuller participation in their own democratic systems. As I say, I hope you and the business community will use your energies and creativity to help make the Internet a force for prosperity and for democracy. But it goes beyond that. We need to get out the word, the message about the new world we live in and the opportunities before us. The noisy protestors against globalization, they can't see it, and they were once again in evidence in Quebec.

But with the end of the Cold War, we are no longer engaged in a zero-sum game or one side's gains are another side's losses. We have a win-win situation now, especially in this hemisphere, where so many of our values and goals are the same. Our security and welfare increase with the increased security and welfare of our neighbors. NAFTA -- NAFTA is a powerful example of how free trade helps people in so many ways. Our Trade Representative's office notes that job creation in the three participating countries shows that NAFTA has been a factor in the improving situation.

In the first five years of NAFTA's existence, there were 2.2 million new jobs in Mexico, employment up by 22 percent; in Canada, 1.3 million new jobs, employment up by 10 percent; in the United States, more than 13 million new jobs, employment up by more than 7 percent. And let's also look how free trade changes societies. Did NAFTA hurt democracy in Mexico? No. Today Mexico has a president elected from the opposition, the first in 70 years. It has freer labor unions, a freer press and a growing number of active, nongovernmental organizations. President Fox is questioning all the old models in Mexico and directly confronting violence and justice, crime and corruption. And he deserves and receives our full support.

The reality is that free trade and globalization promote worker and human rights over the long run, one that helps the environment and improves economic equality through greater wealth for all. Wealth -- creation of wealth; creation of wealth that allows people to look up and realize that there is opportunity; wealth that can eventually touch all.

So I ask you, please get this message to those who work for you, and get the word out to all the companies represented in this room and beyond. But go beyond just what you say to yourselves or what you say to your companies. Participate in the public debate. Take this message out across the country. Use your positions in society to wipe out the myths that exist with respect to free trade and democracy and NAFTA and similar agreements. We need your help; we need your help to get this message out.

Second, I would ask you -- moreover, I challenge you, then, in all your commercial dealings -- to use the best business practices, whether it's labor relations or worker safety or the environment. Show your support for policies that improve health and improve education throughout our societies. Fight corruption. Corruption can destroy the strongest democracy if it is not dealt with. So fight it. Don't participate in it; don't allow it to take root. Show your support for policies that deal with these kinds of social issues, and you will touch the lives of all the people of our region. Do your part to make police and court systems fairer and more efficient. Do more within your own communities to bring the disadvantaged into the economic and political mainstream.

I feel very strongly about this, because before coming back into government, I chaired an organization called America's Promise, and it was the United States of America, but it could just as easily apply to all of the Americas. And America's Promise essentially said that a nation as great as America, with all of our wealth, with all of our success, with the moral model we present to the rest of the world, we have to use that wealth to help those in our society who still don't believe that they have hope, that they have a dream they can achieve in this country, with all our success. And so my organization, America's Promise, tried to reach down, back and across so that those of us blessed by this land shared with those who are waiting for the blessings of increased wealth, for the blessings of democracy. And all of us have to commit ourselves to the concept that it isn't enough just for the top to do well; all have to do well.

As President Bush did last August in a speech that he gave, I ask you to apply the power of markets to the needs of the poor. I guarantee your efforts will multiply throughout the hemisphere. There is leverage in all of this. Your good example is an effective and powerful form of diplomacy, and I need your help with this great diplomatic effort.

Finally, I ask you to help build support for trade promotion authority. I and my colleagues in the Bush Administration are deeply grateful for the work of the business community on behalf of trade legislation, but we ask you now to redouble your efforts. We have a big trade agenda. We want to renew and expand the Andean Trade Preference Act. We want to convince the United States Congress to grant the President broad trade promotion authority. He will need this authority to conclude negotiations of the FTAA and to achieve multilateral regional and bilateral trade agreements for expanding US market opportunities across the globe.

We are in the process of negotiating a free trade agreement with Chile that we hope will have your support. In pushing forward the reform process in Latin America, the council has been a leader. We depend on you, we need your effort, we need you to speak out. We at the State Department want to remain in close touch with you. You are our friends, you are our partners in all of this. And we want to receive your insights, and we want to get your ideas on how we can be doing a better job.

For all of the reasons I have mentioned, this should be a gratifying and exciting time for all of you who have so long been dedicated to the cause of the Americas. There is another reason, too. I don't think the United States has ever had a President more interested and more concerned about what is happening here in the neighborhood, as he likes to call the hemisphere.

In President Bush's recent address to the OAS, he had a sense of urgency in his speech, and he conveyed that sense of urgency to all the assembled heads of state and government, a belief that now is the time to realize our longstanding goal of a hemisphere that is prosperous and a hemisphere that is free.

We all had that sense of urgency in Quebec. One of the presidents at the summit conveyed that sense of urgency when he told the story of a woman in his country that he called Maria Soledad, a peasant woman struggling to feed her children. The concepts of democracy and globalization mean nothing to her. She is just trying to put food on the table every day. She needs a few pesos to buy things. She needs medicine. She wants an education. And above all, she wants a future for her children that perhaps is a little better than the life she has led. All of our efforts have to ultimately be about Maria Soledad, helping her, making a difference in her life and in the life of her children.

And so as you begin this conference and as you reflect on these issues over the next several days, talk about macroeconomic issues, talk about microeconomic issues, talk about globalization, trade preference acts and all of the other esoteric items that will come before you. But do it always having in the back of your mind the memory of Maria Soledad. She and all the others of the Americas who have not yet been touched by the promise of this new century are counting on you, counting on me, counting on us.

Thank you very, very much, and have a great conference.

(Applause.)