The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
August 06, 2014
Remarks by the President at Press Conference After U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit
State Department
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
6:14 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT OBAMA: As I think everyone knows by now, this
first U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit has been the largest gathering we’ve
ever hosted with African heads of state and government -- and that
includes about 50 motorcades. So I want to begin by thanking the people
of Washington, D.C. for helping us host this historic event -- and
especially for their patience with the traffic.
As I’ve said, this summit reflects the reality that even
as Africa continues to face great challenges we’re also seeing the
emergence of a new, more prosperous Africa. Africa’s progress is being
led by Africans, including leaders here today. I want to take this
opportunity again to thank my fellow leaders for being here. Rather
than a lot of prepared speeches, our sessions today were genuine
discussions -- a chance to truly listen and to try to come together
around some pragmatic steps that we can take together. And that’s what
we’ve done this week.
First, we made important progress in expanding our trade.
The $33 billion in new trade and investments that I announced yesterday
will help spur African development and support tens of thousands of
American jobs. With major new commitments to our Power Africa
initiative, we’ve tripled our goal and now aim to bring electricity to
60 million African homes and businesses. And today I reiterated that
we’ll continue to work with Congress to achieve a seamless and long-term
renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
We agreed that Africa’s growth depends, first and
foremost, on continued reforms in Africa, by Africans. The leaders here
pledged to step up efforts to pursue reforms that attract investment,
reduce barriers that stifle trade -- especially between African
countries -- and to promote regional integration. And as I announced
yesterday, the United States will increase our support to help build
Africa’s capacity to trade with itself and with the world.
Ultimately, Africa’s prosperity depends on Africa’s
greatest resource -- its people. And I’ve been very encouraged by the
desire of leaders here to partner with us in supporting young
entrepreneurs, including through our Young African Leaders Initiative. I
think there’s an increasing recognition that if countries are going to
reach their full economic potential, then they have to invest in women
-- their education, their skills, and protect them from gender-based
violence. And that was a topic of conversation this afternoon. And
this week the United States announced a range of initiatives to help
empower women across Africa.
Our New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition continues
to grow, aiming to lift 50 million Africans from poverty. In our fight
against HIV/AIDS, we’ll work with 10 African countries to help them
double the number of their children on lifesaving anti-retroviral
drugs. And even as the United States is deploying some of our medical
first responders to West Africa to help control the Ebola outbreak,
we’re also working to strengthen public health systems, including
joining with the African Union to pursue the creation of an African
Centers for Disease Control.
I also want to note that the American people are renewing
their commitment to Africa. Today, InterAction -- the leading alliance
of American NGOs -- is announcing that over the next three years its
members will invest $4 billion to promote maternal health, children’s
health, and the delivery of vaccines and drugs. So this is not just a
government effort, it is also an effort that's spurred on by the private
sector. Combined with the investments we announced yesterday -- and
the commitments made today at the symposium hosted by our spouses --
that means this summit has helped to mobilize some $37 billion for
Africa’s progress on top of, obviously, the substantial efforts that
have been made in the past.
Second, we addressed good governance, which is a
foundation of economic growth and free societies. Some African nations
are making impressive progress. But we see troubling restrictions on
universal rights. So today was an opportunity to highlight the
importance of rule of law, open and accountable institutions, strong
civil societies, and protection of human rights for all citizens and all
communities. And I made the point during our discussion that nations
that uphold these rights and principles will ultimately be more
prosperous and more economically successful.
In particular, we agreed to step up our collective efforts
against the corruption that costs African economies tens of billions of
dollars every year -- money that ought to be invested in the people of
Africa. Several leaders raised the idea of a new partnership to combat
illicit finance, and there was widespread agreement. So we decided to
convene our experts and develop an action plan to promote the
transparency that is essential to economic growth.
Third, we’re deepening our security cooperation to meet
common threats, from terrorism to human trafficking. We’re launching a
new Security Governance Initiative to help our African countries
continue to build strong, professional security forces to provide for
their own security. And we’re starting with Kenya, Niger, Mali,
Nigeria, Ghana and Tunisia.
During our discussions, our West African partners made it
clear that they want to increase their capacity to respond to crises.
So the United States will launch a new effort to bolster the regions
early warning and response network and increase their ability to share
information about emerging crises.
We also agreed to make significant new investments in
African peacekeeping. The United States will provide additional
equipment to African peacekeepers in Somalia and the Central African
Republic. We will support the African Union’s efforts to strengthen its
peacekeeping institutions. And most importantly, we’re launching a new
African peacekeeping rapid response partnership with the goal of
quickly deploying African peacekeepers in support of U.N. or AU
missions. And we’ll join with six countries that in recent years have
demonstrated a track record as peacekeepers -- Ghana, Senegal, Rwanda,
Tanzania, Ethiopia and Uganda. And we’re going to invite countries
beyond Africa to join us in supporting this effort, because the entire
world has a stake in the success of peacekeeping in Africa.
In closing, I just want to say that this has been an
extraordinary event, an extraordinary summit. Given the success that
we’ve had this week, we agreed that summits like this can be a critical
part of our work together going forward, a forcing mechanism for
decisions and action. So we agreed that the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit
will be a recurring event to hold ourselves accountable for our
commitments and to sustain our momentum. And I’ll strongly encourage my
successor to carry on this work, because Africa must know that they
will always have a strong and reliable partner in the United States of
America.
So with that, I’m going to take a couple of questions.
I’m going to start with Julie Pace of Associated Press. Where’s Julie?
There she is.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. There’s been a lot of
discussion surrounding this summit about the Ebola outbreak in West
Africa. And there’s an untested and unapproved drug in the U.S. that
appears to be helping some of the Americans who are infected. Is your
administration considering at all sending supplies of this drug if it
becomes available to some of these countries in West Africa? And could
you discuss a bit the ethics of either providing an untested drug to a
foreign country, or providing it only to Americans and not to other
countries that are harder hit if it could possibly save lives?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think we’ve got to let the science
guide us. And I don’t think all the information is in on whether this
drug is helpful. What we do know is that the Ebola virus, both
currently and in the past, is controllable if you have a strong public
health infrastructure in place.
And the countries that have been affected are the first to
admit that what’s happened here is, is that their public health systems
have been overwhelmed. They weren’t able to identify and then isolate
cases quickly enough. You did not have a strong trust relationship
between some of the communities that were affected and public health
workers. As a consequence, it spread more rapidly than has been typical
with the periodic Ebola outbreaks that have occurred previously.
But despite obviously the extraordinary pain and hardship
of the families and persons who’ve been affected, and despite the fact
that we have to take this very seriously, it is important to remind
ourselves this is not an airborne disease; this is one that can be
controlled and contained very effectively if we use the right protocols.
So what we’ve done is to make sure that we’re surging not
just U.S. resources, but we’ve reached out to European partners and
partners from other countries, working with the WHO. Let’s get all the
health workers that we need on the ground. Let’s help to bolster the
systems that they already have in place. Let’s nip as early as possible
any additional outbreaks of the disease. And then during the course of
that process, I think it’s entirely appropriate for us to see if there
are additional drugs or medical treatments that can improve the
survivability of what is a very deadly and obviously brutal disease.
So we’re going to -- we’re focusing on the public health
approach right now because we know how to do that. But I will continue
to seek information about what we’re learning with respect to these
drugs going forward.
Q If this drug proves to be effective, would you support fast-tracking its approval in the United States?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think it’s premature for me to say
that because I don’t have enough information. I don’t have enough data
right now to offer an opinion on that.
Jon Karl, ABC News.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. When you were running for
President, you said, “The biggest problems we’re facing right now have
to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the
executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that’s what I
intend to reverse.” So my question to you -- has Congress’s inability
to do anything significant given you a green light to push the limits of
executive power, even a duty to do so? Or put another way -- does it
bother you more to be accused of being an imperial President, pushing
those limits, or to be accused of being a do-nothing President who
couldn’t get anything done because he faced a dysfunctional Congress?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I think that I never have a green
light. I’m bound by the Constitution; I’m bound by separation of
powers. There are some things we can’t do.
Congress has the power of the purse, for example. I would
love to fund a large infrastructure proposal right now that would put
millions of people to work and boost our GDP. We know we’ve got roads
and bridges and airports and electrical grids that need to be rebuilt.
But without the cooperation of Congress, what I can do is speed up the
permitting process, for example. I can make sure that we’re working
with the private sector to see if we can channel investment into
much-needed projects. But ultimately, Congress has to pass a budget and
authorize spending. So I don’t have a green light.
What I am consistently going to do is, wherever I have the
legal authorities to make progress on behalf of middle-class Americans
and folks working to get into the middle class, whether it’s by making
sure that federal contractors are paying a fair wage to their workers,
making sure that women have the opportunity to make sure that they’re
getting paid the same as men for doing the same job, where I have the
capacity to expand some of the student loan programs that we’ve already
put in place so that repayments are a little more affordable for college
graduates -- I’m going to seize those opportunities. And that’s what I
think the American people expect me to do.
My preference in all these instances is to work with
Congress, because not only can Congress do more, but it’s going to be
longer-lasting. And when you look at, for example, congressional
inaction, and in particular, the inaction on the part of House
Republicans, when it comes to immigration reform, here’s an area where,
as I’ve said before, not only the American people want to see action,
not only is there 80 percent overlap between what Republicans say they
want and Democrats say they want, we actually passed a bill out of the
Senate that was bipartisan.
And in those circumstances, what the American people
expect is that, despite the differences between the parties, there
should at least be the capacity to move forward on things we agree on.
And that’s not what we’re seeing right now. So in the face of that kind
of dysfunction, what I can do is scour our authorities to try to make
progress.
And we’re going to make sure that every time we take one
of these steps that we are working within the confines of my executive
power. But I promise you the American people don’t want me just
standing around twiddling my thumbs and waiting for Congress to get
something done. Even as we take these executive actions, I’m going to
continue to reach out to Democrats and Republicans -- to the Speaker, to
the leadership on both sides and in both chambers -- to try to come up
with formulas where we can make progress, even if it’s incremental.
Q Do you believe you have the power to grant work
permits to those who are here illegally, as some of your supporters have
suggested?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: What I certainly recognize with respect
to immigration reform -- and I’ve said this in the past -- is that we
have a broken system; it’s under-resourced; and we’ve got to make
choices in terms of how we allocate personnel and resources.
So if I’m going to, for example, send more immigration
judges down to the border to process some of these unaccompanied
children that have arrived at the border, then that’s coming from
someplace else, and we’re going to have to prioritize. That’s well
within our authorities and prosecutorial discretion.
My preference would be an actual comprehensive immigration
law. And we already have a bipartisan law that would solve a whole
bunch of these problems. Until that happens, I’m going to have to make
choice. That’s what I was elected to do.
Margaret Talev, Bloomberg.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Along the lines of
executive authority, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has previously said
that the executive branch of government doesn’t have the authority to
slow or stop corporate inversions, the practice that you have called
distasteful, unpatriotic, et cetera. But now he is reviewing options to
do so. And this is an issue that a lot of business, probably including
some of the ones who were paying a lot of attention to this summit, are
interested in. So what I wanted to ask you was, what prompted this
apparent reversal? What actions are now under consideration? Will you
consider an executive order that would limit or ban such companies from
getting federal contracts? And how soon would you like to see Treasury
act, given Congress’s schedule?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Just to review why we’re concerned here.
You have accountants going to some big corporations -- multinational
corporations but that are clearly U.S.-based and have the bulk of their
operations in the United States -- and these accountants are saying, you
know what, we found a great loophole -- if you just flip your
citizenship to another country, even though it’s just a paper
transaction, we think we can get you out of paying a whole bunch of
taxes.
Well, it’s not fair. It’s not right. The lost revenue to
Treasury means it’s got to be made up somewhere, and that typically is
going to be a bunch of hardworking Americans who either pay through
higher taxes themselves or through reduced services. And in the
meantime, the company is still using all the services and all the
benefits of effectively being a U.S. corporation; they just decided that
they’d go through this paper exercise.
So there is legislation working its way through Congress
that would eliminate some of these tax loopholes entirely. And it’s
true what Treasury Secretary Lew previously said, that we can’t solve
the entire problem administratively. But what we are doing is examining
are there elements to how existing statutes are interpreted by rule or
by regulation or tradition or practice that can at least discourage some
of the folks who may be trying to take advantage of this loophole.
And I think it’s something that would really bother the
average American, the idea that somebody renounces their citizenship but
continues to entirely benefit from operating in the United States of
America just to avoid paying a whole bunch of taxes.
We’re reviewing all of our options. As usual, and related
to the answer I gave Jonathan about executive actions, my preference
would always be for us to go ahead and get something done in Congress.
And keep in mind it’s still a small number of companies that are
resorting to this, because I think most American companies are proud to
be American, recognize the benefits of being American, and are
responsible actors and willing to pay their fair share of taxes to
support all the benefits that they receive from being here.
But we don't want to see this trend grow. We don't want
companies who have up until now been playing by the rules suddenly
looking over their shoulder and saying, you know what, some of our
competitors are gaming the system and we need to do it, too. That kind
of herd mentality I think is something we want to avoid. So we want to
move quickly -- as quickly as possible.
Q Just to clarify, the federal contracting seems like
an area that you’ve liked. It’s worked well for you on issues like
promoting gay rights, or contraception policy. Is it fair to assume
that that would -- attaching this to federal contractors would be the
first thing you would think of?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Margaret, I’m not going to announce
specifics in dribs and drabs. When we’ve done a thorough evaluation and
we understand what our authorities are, I’ll let you know.
Chris Jansing, NBC News.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Russia said today that it
is going to ban food and agricultural product imports. That was about
$1.3 billion last year. At the same time, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel
said that the massing of troops along the border of Ukraine increases
the likelihood of an invasion. Are sanctions not working?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, we don't know yet whether
sanctions are working. Sanctions are working as intended in putting
enormous pressure and strain on the Russian economy. That's not my
estimation; if you look at the markets and you look at estimates in
terms of capital flight, if you look at projections for Russian growth,
what you’re seeing is that the economy has ground to a halt. Somewhere
between $100 billion and $200 billion of capital flight has taken
place. You’re not seeing a lot of investors coming in new to start
businesses inside of Russia.
And it has presented the choice to President Putin as to
whether he is going to try to resolve the issues in eastern Ukraine
through diplomacy and peaceful means, recognizing that Ukraine is a
sovereign country, and that it is up ultimately to the Ukrainian people
to make decisions about their own lives; or, alternatively, continue on
the course that he’s on, in which case he’s going to be hurting his
economy, and hurting his own people over the long term.
And in that sense, we are doing exactly what we should be
doing. And we’re very pleased that our European allies and partners
joined us in this process, as well as a number of countries around the
world.
Having said all that, the issue is not resolved yet. You
still have fighting in eastern Ukraine. Civilians are still dying.
We’ve already seen some of the consequences of this conflict in the loss
of the Malaysian Airlines airliner -- or jetliner.
And the sooner that we can get back on a track in which
there are serious discussions taking place to ensure that all Ukrainians
are heard, that they can work through the political process, that
they’re represented, that the reforms that have already been offered by
the government in Kyiv are implemented to protect Russian speakers, to
assure decentralization of power -- the sooner that we move on those,
and the sooner that President Putin recognizes that Ukraine is an
independent country, it’s only at that point where we can say that the
problem has truly been solved. But in the meantime, sanctions are
working the way they’re supposed to.
Q The troops that are massing on the border are more
highly trained. They seem to have more sophisticated weaponry,
according to intelligence. Does that make you reconsider -- as a few
Democrats have suggested -- providing lethal aid to Ukraine, given those
troop movements?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, keep in mind that the Russian army
is a lot bigger than the Ukrainian army. So the issue here is not
whether the Ukrainian army has some additional weaponry. At least up
until this point, they’ve been fighting a group of separatists who have
engaged in some terrible violence but who can’t match the Ukrainian
army.
Now, if you start seeing an invasion by Russia, that’s
obviously a different set of questions. We’re not there yet. What we
have been doing is providing a whole host of assistance packages to the
Ukrainian government and to their military, and we will continue to work
with them to evaluate on a day-by-day, week-by-week basis what exactly
they need in order to be able to defend their country and to deal with
the separatist elements that currently are being armed by Russia.
But the best thing we can do for Ukraine is to try to get back on a political track.
David Ohito, The Standard.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. You have been hosting
African kings, prime ministers and presidents for the last three days.
But back home in Africa, media freedom is under threat. The work of
journalists is becoming increasingly difficult. In Egypt, our Al
Jazeera colleagues are in jail. In Ethiopia, dozens of journalists are
in prison. In Kenya, they have passed very bad laws targeting the
media. What can the international community do to ensure that we have a
strong media in Africa and, more importantly, to secure the release of
the journalists who are behind bars?
And, two, so many countries in Africa are facing threats
of terror. I’m glad you’ve mentioned a few measures you’re going to
take. But what can the international community do also to neutralize
terror threats in Mali, Cameroon, Nigeria, Kenya? Could that be the
reason you have skipped Kenya in your visits to Africa? Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: I’m sorry, what was the last part of the question?
Q Could the terror threats be the reason you have skipped Kenya in your visits to Africa?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Well, first of
all, with respect to journalists in the media, the last session that we
had on good governance emphasized that good governance means everybody
has a voice, that government is transparent and, thereby, accountable.
And even though leaders don’t always like it, the media plays a crucial
role in assuring people that they have the proper information to
evaluate the policies that their leaders are pursuing.
And so we have been very consistent in pushing governments
not just in Africa, but around the world, to respect the right of
journalists to practice their trade as a critical part of civil society
and a critical part of any democratic norm. The specific issue of the
Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt, we’ve been clear both publicly and
privately that they should be released. And we have been troubled by
some of the laws that have been passed around the world that seem to
restrict the ability of journalists to pursue stories or write stories.
We’ve also been disturbed by efforts to control the Internet. Part of
what’s happened over the last decade or two is that new media, new
technology allow people to get information that previously would have
never been accessible, or only to a few specialists. And now people can
punch something up on the Internet and pull up information that’s
relevant to their own lives and their own societies and communities. So
we’re going to continue to push back against these efforts.
As is true on a whole range of issues -- and I’ve said
this in the past -- many times we will work with countries even though
they’re not perfect on every issue. And we find that in some cases
engaging a country that generally is a good partner but is not
performing optimally when it comes to all of the various categories of
human rights, that we can be effective by working with them on certain
areas, and criticizing them and trying to elicit improvements in other
areas. And even among countries that generally have strong human rights
records, there are areas where there are problems. That’s true of the
United States, by the way.
And so the good news -- and we heard this in the summit --
is that more and more countries are recognizing that in the absence of
good governance, in the absence of accountability and transparency,
that’s not only going to have an effect domestically on the legitimacy
of a government, it’s going to have an effect on economic development
and growth. Because ultimately, in an information age, open societies
have the capacity to innovate and educate and move faster and be part of
the global marketplace more than closed societies do over the long
term. I believe that.
Now, with respect to terrorism, I think there’s uniform
concern of terrorist infiltration in many countries throughout Africa.
Obviously, this is a concern that we have globally. A lot of the
initiatives that we put forward were designed to partner so that
countries, first and foremost, can deal with these problems within their
own borders or regionally. And the United States doesn’t have a desire
to expand and create a big footprint inside of Africa. What we do want
to make sure we can do is partner with the African Union, with ECOWAS,
with individual countries to build up their capacity.
And one of the encouraging things in the sessions was a
recognition that fighting terrorism also requires security forces that
are professional, that are disciplined, that themselves are not engaging
in human rights violations; that part of the lesson that we’ve all
learned about terrorism is that it is possible in reaction to terrorism
to actually accelerate the disease if the response is one that alienates
populations or particular ethnic groups or particular religions. And
so the work that we’re doing, including the security initiatives that I
announced today, I think can make a big difference in that direction.
It’s not just a matter of us providing better equipment or
better training. That's a part of it, but part of it is also making
sure that these security forces and the intelligence operations are
coordinated and professional, and they're not alienating populations.
The more we do that, the more effective we can be.
Last point I’ll make is, on good governance, one of the
best inoculators against terrorist infiltration is a society in which
everybody feels as if they have a stake in the existing order, and they
feel that their grievances can be resolved through political means
rather than through violence. And so that's just one more reason why
good governance has to be part of the recipe that we use for a strong,
stable and prosperous Africa.
Last question, Jérôme Cartillier.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Earlier today, the Israeli
Prime Minister described the Gaza operation as “justified and
proportionate.” Do you agree with these two words? And Israel and
Hamas seems to be at odds over prolonging the cease-fire. Are you
hopeful the cease-fire -- a true cease-fire can be achieved? And what
exact role can the U.S. play in the current talks going on in Cairo?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I have said from the beginning that no
country would tolerate rockets being launched into their cities. And as
a consequence, I have consistently supported Israel’s right to defend
itself, and that includes doing what it needs to do to prevent rockets
from landing on population centers and, more recently, as we learned,
preventing tunnels from being dug under their territory that can be used
to launch terrorist attacks. I also think it is important to remember
that Hamas acts extraordinarily irresponsibly when it is deliberately
siting rocket launchers in population centers, putting populations at
risk because of that particular military strategy.
Now, having said all that, I’ve also expressed my distress
at what’s happened to innocent civilians, including women and children,
during the course of this process. And I’m very glad that we have at
least temporarily achieved a cease-fire. The question is now how do we
build on this temporary cessation of violence and move forward in a
sustainable way.
We intend to support the process that’s taking place in
Egypt. I think the short-term goal has to be to make sure that rocket
launches do not resume, that the work that the Israeli government did in
closing off these tunnels has been completed, and that we are now in
the process of helping to rebuild a Gaza that’s been really badly
damaged as a consequence of this conflict. Long term, there has to be a
recognition that Gaza cannot sustain itself permanently closed off from
the world and incapable of providing some opportunity -- jobs, economic
growth -- for the population that lives there, particularly given how
dense that population is, how young that population is.
We’re going to have to see a shift in opportunity for the
people of Gaza. I have no sympathy for Hamas. I have great sympathy
for ordinary people who are struggling within Gaza. And the question
then becomes, can we find a formula in which Israel has greater
assurance that Gaza will not be a launching pad for further attacks,
perhaps more dangerous attacks as technology develops into their
country. But at the same time, ordinary Palestinians have some
prospects for an opening of Gaza so that they do not feel walled off and
incapable of pursuing basic prosperity.
I think there are formulas that are available, but they’re
going to require risks on the part of political leaders. They’re going
to require a slow rebuilding of trust, which is obviously very
difficult in the aftermath of the kind of violence that we’ve seen. So I
don’t think we get there right away, but the U.S. goal right now would
be to make sure that the cease-fire holds, that Gaza can begin the
process of rebuilding, and that some measures are taken so that the
people of Gaza feel some sense of hope, and the people of Israel feel
confident that they’re not going to have a repeat of the kind of rocket
launches that we’ve seen over the last several weeks.
And Secretary Kerry has been in consistent contact with
all the parties involved. We expect we will continue to be trying to
work as diligently as we can to move the process forward.
It is also going to need to involve the Palestinian
leadership in the West Bank. I have no sympathy for Hamas. I have
great sympathy for some of the work that has been done in cooperation
with Israel and the international community by the Palestinian
Authority. And they’ve shown themselves to be responsible. They have
recognized Israel. They are prepared to move forward to arrive at a
two-state solution.
I think Abu Mazen is sincere in his desire for peace. But
they have also been weakened, I think, during this process. The
populations in the West Bank may have also lost confidence or lost a
sense of hope in terms of how to move forward. We have to rebuild that,
as well. And they are the delegation that’s leading the Palestinian
negotiators. And my hope is, is that we’ll be engaging with them to try
to move what has been a very tragic situation over the last several
weeks into a more constructive path.
Thank you very much, everybody. And thank you all who
participated in the Africa Summit. It was an outstanding piece of
work. And I want to remind folks, in case they’ve forgotten, of the
incredible young people who participated in our fellows program. We’re
very proud of you, and we’re looking forward to seeing all the great
things that you do when you go back home.
Thank you.
END
6:54 P.M. EDT
6:54 P.M. EDT
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The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
August 05, 2014
Toast Remarks by the President at U.S.-African Leaders Summit Dinner
South Lawn
9:02 P.M. PDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good evening, everybody. Please have a seat. On
behalf of Michelle and myself, welcome to the White House. This city,
this house, has welcomed foreign envoys and leaders for more than two
centuries. But never before have we hosted a dinner at the White House
like this, with so many Presidents, so many Prime Ministers all at
once. (Applause.) So we are grateful for all the leaders who are in
attendance. We are grateful to the spouses. I think the men will agree
that the women outshine us tonight in the beautiful colors of Africa.
Tonight we are making history, and it’s an honor to have all of you here.
And I stand before you as the President of the United States and a
proud American. I also stand before you as the son of a man from
Africa. (Applause.) The blood of Africa runs through our family. And
so for us, the bonds between our countries, our continents, are deeply
personal.
We’re grateful for the ties of family. Of all the incredible moments
of our trips to Africa, one of the most memorable was being able to
bring Michelle, and later our little girls, to my father’s hometown in
Kenya, where we were embraced by so many relatives.
We’ve walked the steps of a painful past -- in Ghana, at Cape Coast
Castle; in Senegal, at Gorée Island -- standing with our daughters in
those doors of no return through which so many Africans passed in
chains. We’ll never forget bringing our daughters to Robben Island, to
the cell from which Madiba showed the unconquerable strength and dignity
of an African heart.
We’ve been inspired by Africans -- ordinary Africans doing
extraordinary things. Farmers boosting their yields, health workers
saving lives from HIV/AIDS, advocates standing up for justice and the
rule of law, courageous women asserting their rights, entrepreneurs
creating jobs, African peacekeepers risking their lives to save the
innocent.
And both of us stand in awe of the extraordinary young Africans that
we’ve met, not only across Africa, but most recently here in Washington
just last week when we hosted our Mandela Washington Fellows from many
of your countries. And those young people show the world that Africa
has the talent and the drive to forge a new future.
These are the tides of history, and the ties of family, that bring us
together this week. These are the citizens who look to us to build a
future worthy of their dreams -- especially those who dream of giving
their children a future without war or injustice, without poverty or
disease. They are in our prayers tonight.
And also with us are the words of a song -- “New Africa” -- that have
inspired so many across the continent, and that Michelle and I first
heard last year in Senegal:
Come together, New Africa
Work together
Keep on working, for Africa
And so I propose a toast to the New Africa -- the Africa that is
rising and so full of promise -- and to our shared task to keep on
working for the peace and prosperity and justice that all our people
seek and that all our people so richly deserve.
Cheers. (A toast is offered.)
Enjoy your dinner, everybody. (Applause.)
END
9:08 P.M. EDT
9:08 P.M. EDT
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