March 5, 2007

Good evening. I’d like to thank Ahmed Sobeih (President of the Heliopolis Sporting Rotary Club) and Sherif Kolta (President of the Capital Rotary Club) for inviting me to speak with you tonight.
I am very happy to be here with you today to talk about the strong relations between Egypt and the United States, with particular attention to the importance of cross-cultural exchanges and the vital work of civic groups such as yours.

بس الأول خلينى احكيلكوا قصة:
مرة سفير دولة اوروبية فى بلد عربي كان بيتكلم امام مجموعة من قادة المجتمع المدني زيكم هنا النهاردة.
و كان فيه مترجم موجود فمن باب الإحترام للمترجم اتكلم السفير ببطء علشان المترجم يقدر يترجم النكت اللي السفير بيقولها.
و كان السفير سعيد جدا بضحك الجمهور بعد كل نكتة بس كمان كان مستغرب لأن المترجم استخدم كلمات قليلة جدا و هو بيقول النكت.
لما انتهى اللقاء، سأل السفير المترجم ازاي ترجمت كل نكتة بسرعة كدة؟ المترجم قال " جاجة سهلة قوى، كنت بأقول للجمهور لازم تضحكوا على نكتة السفير"

As you can imagine, this is not the kind of Ambassador, or speaker, that I or anyone else wants to be.

But the story has several important lessons. First, real cross-cultural communication requires hard work—meeting and talking with people from all walks of life, study (especially of languages and history), and learning about the current issues that matter to people (especially through the media and the arts). Despite my acquaintance with Egypt—which goes back about 30 years—I am every day reminded of how much more I have to learn about this great country.

You may all have come here today to listen to me, but I have not come to listen to me—I’ve come to listen to you. So, I’ll speak briefly, and look forward to a conversation with you afterwards. We at the US mission focus in particular on promoting peace, prosperity and democracy. We do this by trying to improve the understanding between our peoples. Let me touch on each of these objectives:

Peace. Americans, like Egyptians, are deeply committed to making our world more peaceful, for ourselves, our children, and all who share our planet. For over three decades, the United States and Egypt have been proud partners to bring and to strengthen peace in this region. Together, we work to help the Palestinians and Israelis agree on a just and lasting solution to their conflict. We work together to try to resolve the conflicts in Sudan, that have displaced and destroyed the lives of so many. As partners sometimes do, we differed over how to deal with the risks that Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship created for his own country and for the region. But, we agree on the urgent need to stabilize Iraq. We also agree on the urgency of preventing the global proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, especially within a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction. We are realistic about the challenges we face, but nonetheless optimistic.

Where peace takes hold, people think about how to create a more prosperous future through sustainable economic growth, based on free economies and free trade. Here too, our nations’ partnership is robust. Over the past three decades, the American people have invested over 28 billion dollars in economic assistance and 30 billion in military assistance to support Egyptians’ own efforts to build and secure a brighter future. With your government and private sector, we’ve built roads, provided electricity, and brought clean water to the Egyptian people. With your government and civil society, we have built over 2,000 schools, trained thousands of teachers, helped bring the internet to the classroom, and have supported a new children’s book program and delivered higher quality libraries to 5,000 of Egypt’s nearly 39,000 schools. In the coming months, we will deliver libraries to another 11,000 schools. We have also supported microfinance for small businesses to give Egyptian youth jobs, and opportunities for rewarding futures. You are our friends, so naturally, we want you to prosper. We promote trade because this benefits us both. Trade, not aid, will create jobs for future generations and shape the country’s economic and political future. Thanks to enlightened economic reforms, and Egyptian’s own cleverness and ability to compete on the world stage, Egypt’s trade with the world is booming. And the trade boom is providing fresh hope for more jobs and a better life for more Egyptians.

Let me talk for a moment about democracy. My country knows better than most that the path to democracy is not easy. Only in my lifetime did the United States guarantee all citizens the right to vote. Our laws, institutions, and the people who make them are imperfect. But America’s founders had a vision of what an ideal system could be—a system by the people, for the people. Democracy is not a gift bestowed by one country on another, but something that arises from within a society. Egypt has a strong state and a strong civil society. You have deep cultural traditions of tolerance, religious faith, and commitment to the rule of law. For all these reasons, Americans are very optimistic about Egypt’s emergence as a modern democracy. Political evolution and systemic change have happened in spurts in modern Egyptian history. The Orabi Movement, Mohamed Abduh, and Saad Zaghoul each led Egypt into new phases of its history. President Mubarak’s call for multi-party elections was a ground breaking invitation to all Egyptians, including civic groups like yours, to help shape your nation’s political future. Now, you are debating amendments to your constitution. You’ll be the best judges of the results of that debate. As your friends, we wish you every success, and we stand ready to support you as you shape the democratic future you desire. You face tough challenges, but we have every faith in you. You will not fail.

Cross-cultural understanding and direct contacts are at the heart of the solid partnership existing between our governments and people. Hence, creating opportunities for exchanges between Egyptians and Americans is a priority at our Embassy. I was disturbed to hear that in 2005-06, only 1,500 Egyptian students studied in the U.S. At the same time, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Israel with their vastly smaller populations each sent far more students. To help reverse this equation, my mission will invest an additional 60 million dollars in the next three years to fund the study of 1,000 Egyptian students at US community colleges, in programs linked directly to skills needed in the modern Egyptian work place. This program is in addition to the normal Fulbright program, which this year will send 86 Egyptians to study in the US, and bring 60 Americans here, at a cost of approximately 3 million dollars. These and other educational and cultural exchange initiatives, such as the Georgetown Leadership Seminar, film and book discussions, and workshops with visiting artists, actors, athletes, and scientists will bring our people even closer together.

The United States and Egypt engage every day in an excellent mutually beneficial official conversation. But governments alone cannot create healthy societies, nor can they alone create healthy relations between states. Rather, I believe when civic groups like Rotary practice “service above self” to help the weakest, poorest, or most powerless in society, you are playing the most vital role in shaping the future of your own society, and in addressing the global challenges, which we all must face together. Groups like the Rotarians serve as partners to governments in the service of our countries and fellow citizens. The Rotaries of Egypt, like those of America, constitute the best examples of “civil society.” By helping the less fortunate, Rotarians build bridges within your own society. By promoting international cultural exchanges—a mission which Rotary has pioneered for over a century—you build bridges between societies as well. All of Egypt's Rotary Clubs are undertaking projects aimed at bettering the future of your society. I would like to highlight the work of several of your clubs in Cairo which are tackling the daunting yet vital issue of improving traffic safety in Egypt. This is a complex problem without easy solutions, but your creative and energetic engagement on this important issue will reap rewards for the next generation of Egyptians.

In times of conflict and uncertainty, it is more important than ever to stand together not only to face common threats, but also to advance common interests. The US and Egypt are poised to do both. With the Rotarians of Egypt and the United States engaged as exemplary citizens of our two countries and with each other, we will succeed in building the more peaceful, prosperous and democratic future we all are seeking.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to talk with you this evening.