FACT SHEET: GLOBAL FUND FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND RESILIENCE

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Co-Chairs' Fact Sheet: Creating a Global Fund for Community Engagement and Resilience
Fact Sheet
Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
February 21, 2014

Creating a Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund:

On September 27, 2013, at the Ministerial Plenary meeting of the Global Counterterrorism Forum in New York, the intent to establish a Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) was announced. GCERF will be the first global effort to harness the skills, capabilities and resources of both the public and private sectors to support local, community-based projects on education, vocational training, civic engagement, media, and women’s advocacy aimed at strengthening resilience against violent extremist agendas, which can create significant barriers to political and economic development. It is anticipated that GCERF will raise more than $200 million over the next ten years for this purpose.

THE CHALLENGE: Terrorism is Global but Starts Local

Terrorism is a transnational and global problem frequently driven by local forces. While military, intelligence and law enforcement operations can help address the threat that terrorists pose, to succeed in the long-term, we must reduce their ability to recruit at the community level by addressing local drivers of radicalization to violence.

THE GAP: Lack of Funding Opportunities for Local Organizations

Many local organizations with innovative project ideas have been unable to get off the ground because of the difficulty of attracting the necessary seed funding. Even where they have grown and had impact, they have faced challenges in securing sufficient funding to sustain their work beyond a single six-month or one-year project cycle. Local entities also often have difficulty navigating the application processes that foundations and large donors have in place. Many donors also prefer recipients from larger organizations, often international NGOs, with proven track records, and lack the broad networks and contacts to find trusted community-based partners in priority locations. As a result, small local organizations, which could have the greatest impact at the community level, struggle to find funding.

THE SOLUTION: A Global Partnership to Bolster Community-Based Efforts

GCERF will be a public-private global partnership offering a unique and practical model to enable the international community to bolster grass-roots efforts where radicalization and recruitment are occurring. It will be an independent institution governed by a mix of government and non-government stakeholders that will fund locally driven projects and thus help close the gap between the needs of local organizations (whether civil society, NGO or local government) and the resources available to support their work. GCERF will include a robust vetting process and monitoring and evaluation mechanism, providing donors with confidence that the projects supported advance the goals that led them to contribute to this fund.

Why is GCERF Different?

What distinguishes GCERF’s objectives from broader development efforts is its emphasis on youth engagement, education, vocational training, and women’s advocacy to promote resilience among at-risk populations. Such initiatives can contribute to economic growth and development in countries where international businesses are active, and provide opportunities to those susceptible to violent extremists’ messages.

Where does the Private Sector Fit In?

Terrorism, and the violent extremism that underpins it, not only destroys innocent lives around the world, it also affects businesses globally. Terrorism disrupts the markets where businesses work, the supply chains that businesses depend on, and the communities that comprise the local labor market. GCERF represents an opportunity for both private sector and government entities to jointly advance the political and economic stability of many of these local, at-risk communities by promoting resilience through positive programs that provide an alternative to violent extremism. GCERF also offers an opportunity to encourage social entrepreneurship and other innovative approaches to local investment.

GCERF Framework

Partners involved in developing GCERF will continue to refine the following principles, scope, and approach over the next several months until GCERF is operational in mid-2014.

• Principles: GCERF would be guided by a series of principles and activities which might include:

Serving as mechanism to raise, disburse, and monitor funds for valuable CVE projects
Ensuring that projects have the requisite political support from national governments as well as contribute to the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy
Evaluating proposals through an independent and transparent review process
Complementing and advancing ongoing national, regional, and international efforts
Performing evaluations of projects to ensure funds are being spent effectively and wisely
Encouraging social entrepreneurship and other innovative approaches to investment in grassroots programming
Operating with transparency and accountability
Emphasizing country-led, bottom-up approaches to programming and activities
Supporting projects – particularly at the sub-national level – that offer positive alternative to violent extremism
• Scope: Support from GCERF would complement ongoing efforts of governments and community-based organizations to address violent extremism and build resilience to violent extremist agendas. GCERF will emphasize multi-sectoral participation and results-driven approach to develop solutions to the local drivers of radicalization and recruitment to terrorism. It will allow non-government and municipal government organizations to apply for grants in a range of areas depending upon local requirements/needs. These might include:

Providing life-skills, vocational training, and other alternatives to youth at risk of recruitment and radicalization to extremist violence
Supporting victims and survivors of terrorism, highlighting terrorism’s impact on families, communities, and countries
Providing platforms for community leaders and activities to promote and provide positive alternatives to violent extremism.
Designing education campaigns around messages of pluralism, diversity, and tolerance
Designing and implementing mentorship programs and exchange programs for at-risk youth

• Approach: GCERF will be established as a non-profit foundation in Geneva, Swtizerland. It would be composed of a Secretariat with oversight from a multi-stakeholder governing board that includes a geographically diverse group with representatives of governments, the private sector, foundations, and non-government organizations. The GCERF will engage locally through Country Committee Mechanisms composed of public and private representatives, to help better direct funds to local priorities coordinate transparent proposal reviews.

Support for the GCERF

Meetings on GCERF’s mandate, structure, and legal foundation took place in Lucerne and Geneva, Switzerland in late 2013 and culminated with a final Steering Group meeting in Washington, DC, on February 20, 2014. Carol Bellamy, former UNICEF Executive Director and former Chair of the Global Education Partnership, facilitated the process. In this final meeting, over 35 governments, the United Nations, the World Bank, NGOs, the private sector, and foundation representatives reviewed and refined the mandate and organizational architecture of the GCERF which will be established in Geneva, Switzerland by mid-2014.

Several countries already pledged financial contributions, and a number of others have expressed strong support with contributions expected to follow. Several recipient countries have also indicated an interest in serving as GCERF “pilot” countries whereby local organizations in their countries would benefit from GCERF grants. In addition, several multinational companies and foundations have shown strong interest in contributing expertise and resources to the GCERF.

FACT SHEET ON CREATING GLOBAL COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND RESILIENCE FUND (GCERF)

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Co-Chairs' Fact Sheet: Creating a Global Fund for Community Engagement and Resilience

Fact Sheet
Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
February 21, 2014

Creating a Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund:

On September 27, 2013, at the Ministerial Plenary meeting of the Global Counterterrorism Forum in New York, the intent to establish a Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) was announced. GCERF will be the first global effort to harness the skills, capabilities and resources of both the public and private sectors to support local, community-based projects on education, vocational training, civic engagement, media, and women’s advocacy aimed at strengthening resilience against violent extremist agendas, which can create significant barriers to political and economic development. It is anticipated that GCERF will raise more than $200 million over the next ten years for this purpose.

THE CHALLENGE: Terrorism is Global but Starts Local

Terrorism is a transnational and global problem frequently driven by local forces. While military, intelligence and law enforcement operations can help address the threat that terrorists pose, to succeed in the long-term, we must reduce their ability to recruit at the community level by addressing local drivers of radicalization to violence.

THE GAP: Lack of Funding Opportunities for Local Organizations

Many local organizations with innovative project ideas have been unable to get off the ground because of the difficulty of attracting the necessary seed funding. Even where they have grown and had impact, they have faced challenges in securing sufficient funding to sustain their work beyond a single six-month or one-year project cycle. Local entities also often have difficulty navigating the application processes that foundations and large donors have in place. Many donors also prefer recipients from larger organizations, often international NGOs, with proven track records, and lack the broad networks and contacts to find trusted community-based partners in priority locations. As a result, small local organizations, which could have the greatest impact at the community level, struggle to find funding.

THE SOLUTION: A Global Partnership to Bolster Community-Based Efforts

GCERF will be a public-private global partnership offering a unique and practical model to enable the international community to bolster grass-roots efforts where radicalization and recruitment are occurring. It will be an independent institution governed by a mix of government and non-government stakeholders that will fund locally driven projects and thus help close the gap between the needs of local organizations (whether civil society, NGO or local government) and the resources available to support their work. GCERF will include a robust vetting process and monitoring and evaluation mechanism, providing donors with confidence that the projects supported advance the goals that led them to contribute to this fund.

Why is GCERF Different?

What distinguishes GCERF’s objectives from broader development efforts is its emphasis on youth engagement, education, vocational training, and women’s advocacy to promote resilience among at-risk populations. Such initiatives can contribute to economic growth and development in countries where international businesses are active, and provide opportunities to those susceptible to violent extremists’ messages.

Where does the Private Sector Fit In?

Terrorism, and the violent extremism that underpins it, not only destroys innocent lives around the world, it also affects businesses globally. Terrorism disrupts the markets where businesses work, the supply chains that businesses depend on, and the communities that comprise the local labor market. GCERF represents an opportunity for both private sector and government entities to jointly advance the political and economic stability of many of these local, at-risk communities by promoting resilience through positive programs that provide an alternative to violent extremism. GCERF also offers an opportunity to encourage social entrepreneurship and other innovative approaches to local investment.

GCERF Framework

Partners involved in developing GCERF will continue to refine the following principles, scope, and approach over the next several months until GCERF is operational in mid-2014.

• Principles: GCERF would be guided by a series of principles and activities which might include:

Serving as mechanism to raise, disburse, and monitor funds for valuable CVE projects
Ensuring that projects have the requisite political support from national governments as well as contribute to the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy
Evaluating proposals through an independent and transparent review process
Complementing and advancing ongoing national, regional, and international efforts
Performing evaluations of projects to ensure funds are being spent effectively and wisely
Encouraging social entrepreneurship and other innovative approaches to investment in grassroots programming
Operating with transparency and accountability
Emphasizing country-led, bottom-up approaches to programming and activities
Supporting projects – particularly at the sub-national level – that offer positive alternative to violent extremism
• Scope: Support from GCERF would complement ongoing efforts of governments and community-based organizations to address violent extremism and build resilience to violent extremist agendas. GCERF will emphasize multi-sectoral participation and results-driven approach to develop solutions to the local drivers of radicalization and recruitment to terrorism. It will allow non-government and municipal government organizations to apply for grants in a range of areas depending upon local requirements/needs. These might include:

Providing life-skills, vocational training, and other alternatives to youth at risk of recruitment and radicalization to extremist violence
Supporting victims and survivors of terrorism, highlighting terrorism’s impact on families, communities, and countries
Providing platforms for community leaders and activities to promote and provide positive alternatives to violent extremism.
Designing education campaigns around messages of pluralism, diversity, and tolerance
Designing and implementing mentorship programs and exchange programs for at-risk youth

• Approach: GCERF will be established as a non-profit foundation in Geneva, Swtizerland. It would be composed of a Secretariat with oversight from a multi-stakeholder governing board that includes a geographically diverse group with representatives of governments, the private sector, foundations, and non-government organizations. The GCERF will engage locally through Country Committee Mechanisms composed of public and private representatives, to help better direct funds to local priorities coordinate transparent proposal reviews.

Support for the GCERF

Meetings on GCERF’s mandate, structure, and legal foundation took place in Lucerne and Geneva, Switzerland in late 2013 and culminated with a final Steering Group meeting in Washington, DC, on February 20, 2014. Carol Bellamy, former UNICEF Executive Director and former Chair of the Global Education Partnership, facilitated the process. In this final meeting, over 35 governments, the United Nations, the World Bank, NGOs, the private sector, and foundation representatives reviewed and refined the mandate and organizational architecture of the GCERF which will be established in Geneva, Switzerland by mid-2014.

Several countries already pledged financial contributions, and a number of others have expressed strong support with contributions expected to follow. Several recipient countries have also indicated an interest in serving as GCERF “pilot” countries whereby local organizations in their countries would benefit from GCERF grants. In addition, several multinational companies and foundations have shown strong interest in contributing expertise and resources to the GCERF.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S WEEKLY ADDRESS FOR FEBRUARY 22, 2014

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Weekly Address: Time to Lift the Minimum Wage and Give America a Raise

WASHINGTON, DC—In this week’s address, President Obama said this is a year of action, and he will do everything he can to restore opportunity for all.  The President already lifted the wages for federal contract workers, and he calls on the American people to tell Congress to finish the job by boosting the federal minimum wage for all workers to $10.10 and give America a raise.

The audio of the address and video of the address will be available online atwww.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, Saturday, February 22, 2014.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
February 22, 2014

Hi, everybody. 

Restoring the idea of opportunity for all requires a year of action from all of us.  Wherever I can act on my own, I will – and whenever I can ask more Americans to help, I’ll do that too.

In my State of the Union Address, for example, I asked more business leaders to take action to raise their employees’ wages.  Because even though our economy is growing, and our businesses have created about eight and a half million new jobs over the past four years, average wages have barely budged.

So it’s good news that, earlier this week, one of America’s largest retailers, The Gap, decided to raise wages for its employees beginning this year.  Their decision will benefit about 65,000 workers in the U.S.  That means more families will be able to raise their kids, finish their studies, or keep up on their bills with a little less financial stress and strain. 

Gap’s CEO explained their decision simply – he said, “[It’s] right for our brands, good for our people, and beneficial to our customers.”  And he’s right – raising Americans’ wages isn’t just a good deed; it’s good business and good for our economy.  It helps reduce turnover, it boosts productivity, and it gives folks some more money to spend at local businesses.

And as a chief executive myself, that’s why I took action last week to lift more workers’ wages by requiring federal contractors to pay their employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour.

In the year since I first asked Congress to raise the minimum wage, six states have passed laws to raise theirs, and more states are working on it as we speak.  But only Congress can finish the job and lift Americans’ wages across the country. 

Right now, there’s a bill before Congress that would boost America’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.  That’s easy to remember – “ten-ten.”  That bill would lift wages for more than 16 million Americans without requiring a single dollar in new taxes or spending.  But even though a majority of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans across the country support raising the minimum wage, Republicans in Congress don’t want to give it a vote. 

Hardworking Americans deserve better than “no.”  Let’s tell Congress to say “yes.”  Pass that bill.  Give America a raise.  Because here in America, no one who works hard should have to live in poverty – and everyone who works hard should have a chance to get ahead. 

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

NSF LOOKS FOR INTEGRATED COMPUTER MODELING SYSTEM

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

An integrated computer modeling system for water resource management

Water resource management involves numerous and often distinct areas, such as hydrology, engineering, economics, public policy, chemistry, ecology and agriculture, among others. It is a multi-disciplinary field, each with its own set of challenges and, in turn, its own set of computer models.

Jonathan Goodall's mission is "to take all these models from different groups and somehow glue them together," he says.

The National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded scientist and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Virginia, is working to design an integrated computer modeling system that will seamlessly connect all the different models, enabling everyone involved in the water resources field to see the big picture.

"We are trying to computationally design models as components within a larger modeling framework so that we can integrate them," he says. "We want to be able to look at connections across the systems. For example, if you grow corn for ethanol for fuel, there are economic, water quality and agricultural aspects. How do you look at the issues and problems holistically? How do you look at all the components of the system and their interactions? We need to have this perspective if we want to understand all the consequences that happen to water, so we can manage it properly."

In doing so, "it will make the models we use to address water resources challenges more accurate and more robust," he says. "There are a lot of current water challenges that require sophisticated computational models."

He lists, among others, the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, where fertilizer runoff has created dead zones; Southern California, which faces water shortages resulting from an over allocation of the Colorado River, and depleted groundwater resources; and floods along rivers in the Midwest, which prompted difficult decisions about releasing water through levies, and flooding lands, to avoid significant downstream flooding of cities, such as New Orleans.

"Models are used by water resource engineers every day to make predictions, such as when will a river crest following a heavy rain storm, or how long until a city's water supply runs dry during a period of drought," he adds. "One of the problems with our current models is that they often consider only isolated parts of the water cycle. Our work argues that when you look at all the pieces together, you will come up with a more comprehensive picture that will result in more accurate predictions."

His work was motivated and builds off an initiative funded by the European Union called Open Modeling Interface, known as OpenMI, originally conceived to facilitate the simulation of interacting processes, particularly environmental ones, by enabling independent computer models to exchange data as they ran.

Later, it became a generic solution to the problem of data exchange among any models, not just environmental, and soon after, not just models but software components, thereby connecting any combination of models, databases and analytical and visualization tools.

"We are trying to advance the software that bridges all the models," Goodall says. "One of the ways we are trying to strengthen the software is by trying to understand which kinds of problems it can handle."

For example, one challenge with bridging models of different systems is that one system might be more dynamic than another. In water resources, water movement in the atmosphere is more dynamic than water movement in deep aquifers.

"When the models are bridged, you need to allow for the flexibility that allows for these differences, otherwise you may run into significant computationally efficiencies," Goodall says.

"Also, you can quickly get into semantics problems, where different models have different vocabularies in their internal systems," he adds. "You may need to have a variable passed between two different models, but each model might have its own semantics for naming the variable. Computers do not handle this well without very specific runs, such as unified, controlled vocabulary, or clear rules for how to translate terminology between the two models."

These semantic differences can be complex, since variables in models may have slight differences in units or dimensions that, if not properly handled, can cause major problems when linking the models together, he says.

While this work applies generally across water resource modeling challenges, Goodall and his team are applying the work specifically to the challenge of modeling water and nutrient transport within watersheds. They are using the Neuse River Basin in North Carolina as a case study, running widely used models alongside their new modeling framework system in order to test and verify whether the new system reaches the same answers as well-tested models.

"The modeling framework system will then be used to go beyond the capabilities of current models by including new disciplines into the watershed modeling process, and then eventually allowing specialized groups to advance components of the overall modeling system," he says.

Goodall is conducting his research under an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, which he received in 2009 as part of NSF's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The award supports junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organization. NSF is funding his work with $408,042 over five years.

Goodall is using the educational component of the grant to plan courses, as well as a workshop for graduate students across different water-related disciplines who "will come up with a water problem that is cross-disciplinary, and then construct a model using the new modeling system that can really test our approach," he says. "We will be talking about the integration we have to do so we can have an integrated system where each person contributes his or her own component."

In 2013, Goodall volunteered as a mentor at a local middle school, where he guided students through design a city of the future and "specifically think about how that city would handle its storm water," he says. "We discussed the general problems cause by storm water," which is runoff caused by heavy rain storms, "falling on impervious surfaces such as roads, roofs and parking lots.

"Because this rain does not infiltrate into the soil, it can cause problems such as flooding or erosion of river beds," he adds. "We talked about the ways engineers handle storm water so that it does not cause these problems, as well as how the philosophy for handling storm water runoff has changed over the years."

While many urban storm water systems were designed in the past simply to remove rain water from a city as quickly as possible--for example, by using large concrete channels--the focus has changed in recent years. Many cities now employ new practices, such as using pervious surfaces for roads or lots, or capturing rainfall in ponds or rain gardens distributed across the city, allowing water to slowly infiltrate into the soil.

"Storm water is something that most people spend very little time thinking about and these students were no different," he says. "But as they began to think about the problem and the challenge of not only solving the problem, but doing it in a sustainable way, they were hooked. You could see their minds go as they tried to come up with solutions to the problem, and that was fun."

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY MAKES REMARKS AT ANNUAL AWARDS FOR CORPORATE EXCELLENCE

FROM:  STATE DEPARTMENT 
Remarks at the 15th Annual Awards for Corporate Excellence
Remarks
John Kerry
   Secretary of State
Patrick F. Kennedy
   Under Secretary for Management 
Kris Urs, Acting Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs
Benjamin Franklin Room
Washington, DC
January 29, 2014


ASSISTANT SECRETARY URS: Well, I want to wish a very good morning to everyone this morning. I’m delighted to welcome you here to the Benjamin Franklin Room at the State Department. I’m Kris Urs, the acting Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs.

The Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs works closely with U.S. businesses across a wide-range of activities, including assisting companies in their efforts to operate responsibly and sustainably overseas, negotiating trade and other international economic agreements, and promoting democracy, free markets, fairness, and other American values.

In line with the Secretary of State’s focus on the importance of economics in our foreign diplomacy, we have made economic issues a core component of our foreign policy. Partnerships with companies are essential to promote U.S. interests and values. We are here today to honor U.S. companies that contribute to that mission through their exemplary corporate citizenship.

These three U.S.-based companies have done exceptional work in giving back to the communities where they do business. They are setting the highest standards for responsible business conduct through sustainable development and showing the world that it’s indeed possible to do well by doing good.

I want to emphasize the crucial role that American businesses play around the globe, representing our country and our values. The importance that we attach to the role of U.S. companies as global ambassadors for responsible and sustainable economic growth is reflected in Secretary Kerry’s presence here today, to announce the winners of the 2013 Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence. Now I would like to introduce Patrick Kennedy, the Under Secretary of State for Management.

Patrick Kennedy chaired the 2013 ACE Interagency Principle Selection Committee that reviewed the 43 nominations submitted by our embassies overseas for the Secretary’s Award for Corporate Excellence.

(Applause.)

UNDER SECRETARY KENNEDY: Thank you very much, Kris. I’d like to extend a warm welcome to our many distinguished guests who are here today, and a very, very special welcome to those joining us by satellite from Cameroon, Honduras, and Mexico.

In recognizing American firms for their exemplary corporate social responsibility, the Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence underpins an important aspect of America’s economic diplomacy. Secretary Kerry is committed to putting economic work squarely at the center of our foreign policy. Our active economic engagement ties to State Department toward Americans, whether they work on farms or in factories, offices and stores, care about jobs. We’re helping to create opportunities for upward mobility and economic growth for our nation and our children’s future. I can tell you the State Department is committed to those goals, and is working tirelessly to fulfill them. And as we continue this work, the State Department demonstrates to American businesses, workers, farmers, and innovators, that what we do in this Department, and in our embassies around the world, clearly and directly benefits them at home, and we will strive to make that link even more apparent.

Essential to supporting world-class U.S. businesses is cooperation with these firms, in stressing the commercial and technical merits of U.S. exports and the competitiveness of U.S. workers. And make no mistake: American firms active around the world represent America and its values. The quality of their products and people and the business practices they adopt overseas is for many millions of people abroad the face of America. And before we get to that, now we have the honor of hearing from Secretary Kerry, who has been a tireless advocate of American businesses abroad, and is the driving force for all that we do in this vital area of American policy.

Please join me in extending a warm welcome to our Secretary of State.

Mr. Secretary.

(Applause.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very, very much, Under Secretary Kennedy, Pat, thank you very, very much. I don't know how Pat does all he does for us, but he somehow juggles this magnificently large portfolio, and he does an incredible job for the Department and the country. And I appreciate his leadership and his partnership in so many different initiatives. I also want to thank Assistant Secretary Kris Urs and his team for the very important work that they have done around the ACE awards and that they do around them every year.

And I’m particularly pleased to welcome all of you here today to the State Department to this wonderful resplendent Ben Franklin room where we can share the significance of these three awards being made today.

I’m delighted to welcome Ambassador Bienvenu Foe-Atangana from Cameroon, Ambassador Milla from Honduras, and Ambassador Medina Mora from Mexico. And we’re very, very grateful for their presence here. And I’m also happy to see – somewhere, where – he was here a minute ago – Congressman Farr from California is here in the audience today because one of his constituents is receiving an award. And I assure you there was no collusion in that at all. (Laughter.)

I particularly want to welcome those who are joining us, participating via satellite in Mexico City, Tegucigalpa, and also Yaounde. They are part of the webcast, and we’re delighted to have them, which are locations of these plants. We’re happy to have them with us here today.

The Secretary’s Award for Corporate Excellence is a special event in my view, to underscore what both Kris and Pat Kennedy have emphasized to you. I do believe that increasingly in this globalized world of extraordinary voracious competition for resources, jobs, revenues, and everything else, economics plays a more and more significant role – the choices that we make in terms of helping our businesses, where our businesses locate, how they locate, what they’re doing, how they do it. All of these things have a profound impact on people’s lives and people’s perceptions of the United States and of other competitors.

There’s a difference between the way we do some business and the way a lot of other countries do some business, and I think we carry in our businesses and in our enterprises our values. And that is a huge part of American foreign policy, our values.

So this is important. It’s important because – it’s important anyway with a burgeoning youth population around the world, extraordinary explosion in numbers of people in various countries, so that 60, 65 percent of some countries are under the age of 30; 50 percent are under the age of 25 or 21; and 40 percent under the age of 18. If these people don’t have jobs, and if we don’t provide them with opportunity, then a lot of bad things can happen. And that affects our security, it affects our prosperity, it affects our choices. That is why it is so important.

It’s also important because in an age of diminishing budgets, being able to attract the private sector to help us leverage engagement in countries can sometimes be the difference between whether or not those countries will be stable or able to market to their populations the prospects of the future, which too many of their citizens, given the world of the internet, are aware of out there. There’s no lack of contact with the rest of the world with everybody nowadays. It’s changed leadership. It’s changed politics. And it has changed diplomacy. We need to change with it, and we need to adopt policies that reflect this.

I also want you to know I have a special appreciation for what it takes to run a small business, or any business. I was chairman of the Small Business Committee for a number of years in the Senate, but more importantly, I started a small business. When I was a board attorney in Boston, I walked out of a restaurant one night with a friend of mine, probably having had too much of a good bottle of wine, and looked out and saw an empty space in Faneuil Hall marketplace. And desperately craving a good chocolate chip cookie at that hour of night, I decided that I was going to make sure they were available for the future. And so within a week, I found myself negotiating with The Rouse Company, then the landlord of Faneuil Hall marketplace, and next thing I knew, I was opening a gourmet food store in Faneuil Hall marketplace in addition to my law practice.

And I learned firsthand just how complicated it is with all of the health requirements and certifications and lease and part-time employees and tax forms, and you name it, to do this simple enterprise. More importantly, I learned about a week before I opened that if I was going to sell cookies I needed a recipe, and I better make some cookies pretty quickly. (Laughter.)

So I want you to know that I turned up the stove at home and I learned about the chemistry of food as I magnified my recipes many times over, and proudly can tell you that in the first year of our existence, we won the Best of Boston, as we did for a number years thereafter until I sold the store so nobody would accuse me of having conflict of interest or anything. But I am proud to tell you – I think I started this in 1980, 1981 – it’s still there today. And I’m very proud of that. (Applause.)

So I have a lot of respect for business, and I think it’s hard enough to do well; it’s even harder to do good as you’re doing well. And those are important choices that we are celebrating here today. Every single one of the winners today have set a high standard, and they’ve all done really remarkable work in communities around the world as a result of the choices that they have made in the corporate board room.

There’s a reason that this award comes from the Secretary of State, because here at the State Department, our mission is to create more secure, democratic, and prosperous – a more prosperous world. But obviously, everywhere that we are in our 275 posts, this is our mission. And we want to benefit the American people and the international community by exemplifying the role that U.S. businesses play in helping our businesses to be able to play this role. I talked earlier about all of the stakes and what it means.

We can only do what we do with the cooperation of the private sector. And through innovative business models and investment in local communities around the world, countless United States businesses are today markedly improving the ability of our nation to continue advancing our economic leadership around the world. We are working hand in hand. We are linked hand to hand, toe to toe. This is really a partnership.

The State Department wants to tell America’s story, and we want to promote our values at the same time. And as I have underscored to you, the relationship with all of our companies around the world is critical in the end to doing that. If people feel they’re just exploited, we lose. If people feel we’re there working with them and for them in a joint effort and respecting their lives, as these companies have chosen to and as many companies do, it makes all the difference.

So let me begin with these awards with the small business category. This year, that award goes to a company that any serious guitar player or any faux guitar player like me knows well – (laughter) – and that is Taylor Guitars.

When Bob Taylor started Taylor Guitars back in 1974, he made a commitment to produce the best instruments from the best materials. And quality ebony is near the top of that list. You all know guitar necks and you see ebony on many of them, most of them. But over the years, ebony has become harder and harder to obtain, and it’s increasingly threatened with extinction because of the illegal harvesting practices that have become common throughout Central African forests. I might add, ebony is one example of this. There are a lot of hardwoods in the Philippines and Burma and other parts of the world where logging practices, illegal smuggling of forest and so forth, is destroying sustainable harvestry and ultimately making extinct various types of wood.

So instead of joining the race to the bottom, in order to procure as much ebony as was possible as cheaply as possible, which is sometimes an instinct people follow, Bob decided to change the race altogether. And what he did was he bought an ebony mill in Cameroon, the only country in the world where it’s still legal to harvest ebony. And through that mill, Bob and Taylor Guitars have fundamentally changed the entire ebony trade.

To start, today we can point to an ebony trade that is more sustainable than ever before. And Bob spent a year in Cameroon after purchasing the mill, and he found out that harvesters used to cut down 10 trees before they found one that contained the all-black wood, which was the kind that would sell internationally. So obviously, 10 for one is the definition of unsustainable. And today, Taylor Guitars uses, as Bob puts it, “the ebony that our forests give us,” and no matter what color it is. He has also gotten competitors on board, so that today guitar makers around the world are changing their definition of “usable” ebony in order to help ensure that it will still be available for decades to come.

The ebony trade is also, as a result of this, safer and more ethical, and – guess what – more lucrative than ever before. Taylor Guitars has become an effective advocate for legal and policy reforms to improve the permitting process around the ebony trade to better protect both the environment and the rights and needs of other forest users. Taylor ensures that its works are protected, and they ensure that their workers likewise benefit as a result of this. The 70 workers that they employ in Cameroon work with state-of-the-art equipment and machinery. This is a huge upgrade from the very dangerous and antiquated machinery that Bob found when he first went to the mill. And the company also provides education and training to its employees so they can make the most out of their skills and reap greater economic benefit from the local resources. And on top of all of that, they’ve doubled the wages that their employees receive.

So ladies and gentlemen, this is absolutely the example of how people ought to do business. We’re so proud to be able to tell this story, as each of these stories, because they’re a wonderful example of the best of corporate citizenship globally. It’s an honor for me to present the 2013 Award for Corporate Excellence to Taylor Guitars, and to invite their president Bob Taylor to the stage to say a few words. (Applause.)

MR. TAYLOR: Wow. Well, I came through these rooms 15 years ago as a tourist on a hot summer day, and it’s quite a different event today – and I’m not just talking about the weather. And Secretary Kerry, if you’d be so kind to travel with me and be my person that gives my speeches, you do a much better job than me. (Laughter.) Thank you very much.

Thank you, Secretary Kerry and Under Secretary Kennedy, Acting Assistant Secretary Urs, and the State Department and other U.S. Government agencies represented here, as well as His Excellency, the Ambassador of Cameroon to the United States. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Ambassador Robert Jackson, Deputy Chief of Mission Greg Thome, and the staff of the U.S. Embassy in Cameroon, who have proven vital in securing resources and offering guidance in navigating the cultural complexities of business abroad. I’d also like to recognize Kurt Listug, my business partner of 40 years in Taylor Guitars, and Vidal de Teresa, our business partner in Crelicam. Without their support and insight, this venture would not be possible and I would not be here before you today.

Three years ago, we began the difficult task of assuming ownership of Crelicam, a small sawmill that cuts ebony located just outside of Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. We purchased the business to ensure the legal harvesting of this important species and to guarantee our compliance with the spirit and the law of recent legislation regarding wood harvesting. Our purchase of the business was underscored by the rapid decline of the world’s ebony forests, therefore making Cameroon one of the last places on Earth to harvest ebony.

But we shared a much larger vision, a vision which would serve both the forest and the people by providing business solutions to an environmental problem. Our vision was to transform the way that ebony is harvested, processed, and sold into a new model of responsible social forestry while enriching the lives of our 75 employees through meaningful work. To accomplish this, we assumed the role of guardian of the forest and we operate with the philosophy to use what the forest gives us. To us, this means using ebony of all colors and all variegations, including wood that features spotted or streaked coloring, wood which prior to our involvement would have been left to deteriorate on the forest floor.

In our ongoing work, we are achieving greater transparency in our supply chain through GPS tracking and traceability programs, and establishing ethical sourcing requirements for our suppliers, thereby setting new standards for harvesting ebony. In our mill, we are mentoring sawyers who have previously not been taught to consider preservation of the resource and installing better machinery to maximize yield and minimize waste with the ultimate result of keeping more trees in the forest.

By banishing accepted quid pro quo practices and combatting corruption, we are able to operate transparently and with integrity, demonstrating respect for the forest, our employees, and clients of Crelicam. We have worked with Cameroon forestry officials to strengthen the local forestry laws, and more importantly, to enforce them. Rather than allow illegal operators to contribute to the degradation of the species, Crelicam prides itself on being a part of the solution to the long-term sustainability of the ebony trade and to retain the value of the wood in Cameroon for the Cameroonian people.

Although our primary focus is to harvest ebony, we recognize our moral duty to act in the spirit of compassionate capitalism, to enrich the lives of our employees, and to instill their ownership in the natural resources that their country offers us. As part of this, we have made considerable investments in our employees, offering technical training led by staff from Taylor Guitars in California and Madinter Trade in Spain. We have doubled employee salaries and we offer lunch prepared on an onsite kitchen, clean drinking water, and two breaks per day. Basic safety gear, a standard in Western factories, is now provided and required. Opportunities for teambuilding through recreational activities and monthly birthday celebrations demonstrate our appreciation and have helped to establish an open dialogue between employees and mill leadership, thereby making them partners in our vision. In the words of one of our sawyers, “We have a strong team with open, respectful dialogue, and the management keeps their word. Thus, the working man finds his joy.”

Nonetheless, operating in Cameroon has presented a myriad of complex cultural and business difficulties. The lack of basic infrastructure, from running water to stable electricity, has altered our production goals and the timeline by which we are able to make needed improvements. Continued development of employee skillsets through workforce education and training has been a top priority for us. Machinery and tools, custom designed at our headquarters in California, have been brought in to make improvements in our operations. However, we still find there is need for so much more. Yet with great difficulty comes great reward. And while many more challenges await us, it is with firm resolve that we hold true to our vision, and it is vital to the health of the forest and the people of Cameroon. We say to ourselves that we like to get in for more rather than to get out for less.

The reception of the Award for Corporate Excellence is a wonderful recognition of our accomplishments to date, and I am tremendously honored to accept this award on behalf of my business partner, Madinter Trade, our employees, and the forests of Cameroon. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Bob, thank you very, very much, and thank you to all of your workers and partners and – we are enormously appreciative.

Next up we have the ACE in the large business category, and this year that honor goes to Fruit of the Loom for its efforts in Honduras. Fruit of the Loom first opened its doors in Honduras because they saw the country as a promising place to complement the company’s textile production and distribution facilities in the southeastern United States. But the company, it had to overcome some pretty formidable challenges over the years, and that included the long history of management-labor strife throughout the country – again, one of the reasons that investment in corporate behavior is so critical.

After a contentious labor dispute in 2009 at one of the factories, Fruit of the Loom recognized it was time for a major change. So they partnered with civil society groups in order to develop a groundbreaking collective bargaining agreement with their employees. And this agreement is widely regarded as the most progressive in Honduran labor history. It includes investments in better machinery, free transportation to and from work, free lunches, wage increases – the list goes on. It’s a 180 from the widely accepted unfortunate standards of the past which created a lot of strife and tension, and obviously, difficult perceptions between countries.

It’s become the norm at every single Fruit of the Loom factory in Honduras. And today, the firm’s approach to organized labor and company management has become a model, not just in Honduras but throughout Central America. Let me also add that they’re also making remarkable strides on the environmental front. They currently operate a biomass energy generation plant in Honduras and purchase additional electricity from a hydroelectric facility. Thanks to these and other efforts, they are on track to have 100 percent of their electricity supply for Honduran operations come from renewable sources.

Now, these are truly remarkable achievements, and I am very, very delighted to present the 2013 Large Business Award for Corporate Excellence to Fruit of the Loom. And I would like to welcome Rick Medlin here, the CEO, to come up and accept the award on behalf of Fruit of the Loom. Thank you, Rick. (Applause.) He’s a former Clemson football player, folks. (Laughter.)

MR. MEDLIN: That’s why the orange. (Laughter.) Good morning. It’s my honor this morning on behalf of all of the Fruit of the Loom employees, but especially for our many employees in Honduras. I want to thank Secretary Kerry, the State Department staff, and other members of the selection committee for this prestigious award. We were honored to have been selected as a finalist for the Secretary’s Award for Corporate Excellence, but to actually have been chosen as a winner from amongst such esteemed group of U.S. companies is something that we will celebrate with 32,000 employees in 75 locations around the world.

As Fruit of the Loom – at Fruit of the Loom, our operational guidance is driven by our core values, the basic premise of which is respect for people. We believe that our employees are our most valued asset, and that each and every one of us has a shared responsibility to each other and to the company’s success. Several years ago, when employees in one of our Honduran facilities elected to organize, we knew we needed to forge a new model of labor-management relations if we were going to ensure the long-term sustainability of our operations in Honduras and the many jobs that those operations provide.

Working together with our local Honduran management, the local union board, the CGT labor Federation in Honduras, and labor experts in the U.S., we set about to create that model which had to include the principles of freedom of association, labor’s recognition of the role of management in operating the company’s factories, and responsible collective bargaining on both sides. In order to ensure bipartisan guidance, we established an oversight committee made up of outstanding third-party leaders from labor and business.

As a result of this model, we completed the first real collective bargain agreement in the apparel sector in Central America in 2011. We have now replicated that model successfully in a second Honduran plant, and we are currently in collective bargaining for a third plant. We know that creating the model does not reflect the completion of our journey. We face challenges every day. But the true belief that the model we have created with our Honduran associates and our oversight committee provides a framework for long-term success.

Environmental sustainability is another of our core values at Fruit of the Loom. Mitigating the impact of our operations on the environment has been one of our goals for as long as I can remember. We have almost totally eliminated the waste we send to landfills and have substantially reduced the use of hazardous chemicals throughout our supply chain. But two years ago, we undertook our most ambitious sustainability project to date when we began construction of a biomass electric generation facility in Honduras to supply renewable energy to our plants. This facility will be fueled by king grass grown locally in Honduras.

By the end of this year, we anticipate that our biomass plant, along with our commitment to purchase energy from a hydroelectric facility being built in Honduras, will allow us to transition our entire electric supply for our Honduran operations to renewable resources. These initiatives will also allow us to reach a global corporate goal of reducing our carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent worldwide.

We’re fortunate to have customers who believe in and support the commitments we have made to people and the environment. Receiving the ACE Award represents, for our company, the validation that the hard work and dedication to the values we believe in are recognized and appreciated.

I cannot even attempt to name all the people who have made this recognition possible. I will say a special thanks to our people in Honduras, who have shown great leadership in forging new models of success for the future. We are extremely proud of their accomplishments, and I wish every one of them could be here to accept this award. But on their behalf, I want to express our appreciation for being recognized of this award. Thank you. (Applause.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Rick, thank you very, very much. Appreciate the accomplishment and your comments very much.

I’m going to have to exit out of here for a phone call with a foreign minister that is coming up momentarily, and I hope you will all forgive me for doing that. But I will introduce our speaker and try and stay through as much of his comments as I can.

I am really pleased to be able to announce that our first ever ACE award for a medium-sized business will be awarded to Plantronics for its work in Tijuana, Mexico. Plantronics – many of you may have used their product; I have. It’s a leader when it comes also to environmental responsibility. And their plant in Tijuana today contains the largest rooftop solar facility in Latin America, which generates enough power to meet 70 percent of the company’s Mexican operating needs. The premium that Plantronics places on environmental stewardship alone probably would be enough to earn them the award of the ACE. But it’s what they do with their employees that really sets them apart. Plantronics does not just value their associates; they invest in them in every way – in their health, in their success, and in their happiness. Their workforce can take advantage of the preventative health care services that Plantronics offers its employees. They can pursue vocational training and career development. More than 2,300 associates have already received master’s degrees and other formal education thanks to programs that Plantronics subsidizes.

One employee, a woman by the name of Cristina Morales, finished high school, got her bachelor’s degree, and today is hard at work on her master’s – all with funding from Plantronics. And I understand that Plantronics even helps its staff get married. (Laughter.) Every year, the company helps dozens of couples to navigate the bureaucracy around getting married in Mexico and hosts a Valentine’s Day wedding ceremony at its offices. They provide invitations, photos – even a wedding gift. And Plantronics helps the newlyweds even apply for housing as a married couple.

Folks, that’s a full-service company. (Laughter.) If that isn’t going above and beyond, I don’t know.

It’s really no wonder that the company has been named the best place to work in Mexico three years in a row. I am really proud that today the State Department can add another title to that list. It’s an honor to present Plantronics with the 2013 Award for Corporate Excellence. And as I welcome Ken Kannappan up here, the CEO, really you ought to applaud for all three of these companies because what you’re seeing here today really is the future now. And it’s exemplary. We are so honored by all of them. But Ken, come on up here and share your thoughts. Congratulations to you. (Applause.)

MR. KANNAPPAN: Thank you, Secretary Kerry, Under Secretary Kennedy, and Acting Assistant Secretary Urs. Good morning, everyone. It is an honor for me to be able to represent the 3,500 men and women of Plantronics. And it’s a privilege to be able to accept this award on their behalf.

There are many remarkable things about Plantronics, but as Secretary Kerry said, it is really our people and our culture that set us apart. I remember when business was booming and the unemployment rate in Tijuana was 0.2 percent. We had 50 openings, and overnight we had 2,000 people applying for positions just through word of mouth. Because people need jobs, but they want careers, and they want an opportunity to contribute something meaningful.

There’s an old story about a couple of workers in a quarry. Somebody comes by and says, “What are you doing?” The first one says, “I’m digging rocks.” The second one says, “I’m building a cathedral.” The difference between perspiration and inspiration is vast. The people at Plantronics are not just making the world’s greatest headsets. We’re helping business people exchange ideas, we’re helping friends to catch up, we’re having families share their love, and if you’re driving in a car, we’re helping you to do it more safely.

The inspiration this has given our team in Tijuana has given us literally hundreds of ideas that we implement each year to improve our quality and to reduce our costs. We know our headsets have to be depended on, whether it is someone working at a 911 station dispatching fire, police, or emergency medical, or someone from the moon. When Neil Armstrong said “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” with a Plantronics headset, the headset had to work. (Laughter.) The FAA told me that as a matter of public safety, they considered it crucial that air traffic controllers use Plantronics headsets.

Mexico has a national quality award. Plamex entered that competition and won. And as a national quality award winner, we were eligible to compete in two international competitions against over 50 other country national award winners, including the Malcolm Baldridge Award winner from the United States, and the Deming Award winner from Japan. We won both of those competitions, which is a real testimony to the extraordinary quality of our products as well as the Plamex organization that produces them.

But of course, whether you’re a Fortune 100 company or somebody looking to play games on your computer, you want great products but you want them at an affordable price. The team at Plamex has come up with ideas that have saved us over $100 million through improvements in product cost and processes. But it isn’t just our existing products that they contribute to. We have a team of over 120 people in Tijuana in our design and develop center that are developing us new products that have added to our revenues, including one that won a Best of Innovations Award at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This has also, in turn, helped us add to our resources, including in California and the United States, increasing our staffing levels.

Secretary Kerry was kind enough to mention some of the things that we do for our people, and it really is what sets us apart. And as I said, it is that focus combined with our policies towards community engagement, which Alejandro Bustamante will talk about, as well as environmental stewardship that really set us apart.

Across the globe, we are very careful with our conservation of water, of energy, and our waste production. Globally, we have solar facilities in Santa Cruz, in Chattanooga, in the United Kingdom, and in Tijuana. Seventy percent of our power comes from solar. You, hopefully, have seen some images of our plant in the background. Let me tell you that there are very few factory floors with ceilings that are at the lowest point – 35 feet high – with louvered roofs to provide natural light, much less where you can get health services and have sports facilities.

The opportunity for Plantronics to work with our associates and become a global communications leader has really set us apart. Our shareholders have benefited from record levels of revenue and profit; our customers from phenomenal quality and innovation; and our associates in Mexico who help us develop, produce, support, and sell our products. I am very, very fortunate to be able to work with such talented people. The cross-border partnerships that we’ve established with Plamex is a win-win for our customers, for Tijuana, for Santa Cruz, for Mexico, and for the United States.

Thank you very, very much. (Applause.)

MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Ken. Congratulations again to Taylor Guitars, Plantronics, and Fruit of the Loom, and to everyone tuning in from Mexico, from Honduras, and from Cameroon. Thank you all for setting such an exemplary example.

As our 2013 ACE winners have shown, American corporate leadership isn’t only about selling guitars or headphones or t-shirts. It’s about bringing our values and our standards to every corner of the world, and that’s what our winners and so many other American businesses are doing every day. Thank you all very much, and let me pass the microphone back to Kris. Thank you. (Applause.)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY URS: I wanted just to start by thanking Secretary Kerry and Under Secretary Kennedy for joining us this morning. Thanks very much for their participation. And I want to just reiterate once again, for the guests of honor, congratulations – really marvelous, marvelous achievements.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’d now like to turn your attention to one of the three screens in the room. Our chief of missions in the winning countries have been watching the ceremony, and you may have seen them. They’ve peeked on to the coverage from here from moment to moment. Now we’re going to ask them and the local representative of each company to offer a few remarks.

First, I’d like to introduce Greg Thome – Gregory Thome, our Charge d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Cameroon. Greg, will you take it away?

MR. THOME: (Inaudible) play guitar all over the world. We are very – just absolutely thrilled that the committee chose Taylor Guitars as one of the recipients of the Secretary’s Award for Corporate Excellence. Of course, everyone knows that Cameroon is blessed with ebony trees, but we all know that ebony is under threat from overexploitation all over the world. We’re very encouraged in Cameroon that one of the most important guitar makers in the world is doing its part to help conserve this species for the production of musical instruments and for other things for generations to come.

Bob Taylor and Secretary Kerry spoke very eloquently about the risks that Taylor took in coming to Cameroon, and about the great things they’ve done not just to help conserve ebony, but also to better the lives of their workers. We’re very proud of them for that. And I can say for those of us who have seen Taylor and Crelicam’s operations up close, it’s no exaggeration to say that this is really what the Secretary’s Award for Corporate Excellence is all about. Taylor exemplifies responsible corporate governance, creating decent jobs and paying fair wages in a developing country, honestly and sustainably harvesting endangered tropical wood, and even ensuring that local communities share in the profit.

But outside of Cameroon, if I could also add, Taylor’s really changing the worldwide conversation about how we use ebony. Everyone understands that ebony-producing countries like Cameroon need to take responsibility for sustainably harvesting this valuable wood. But Taylor is also teaching musicians and guitar players and guitar buyers and hopefully those who listen to the guitar that if the countries where guitars are consumed don’t play a role, the countries where the ebony is produced can’t succeed.

As was mentioned earlier, Bob Taylor has been sending a message out that different varieties of ebony can be used and still produce the world’s best guitars, and as we know, when Bob Taylor talks to guitar players, we all listen. So to this end, this ACE award does more than just honor the good work that Taylor’s doing in Cameroon. It also strengthens Taylor’s efforts to protect ebony far into the future.

So with that, again, congratulations to Taylor, and if I could, I’d like to turn it over to Anne Middleton, who operates the Crelicam plant here, and have her say a few words.

MS. MIDDLETON: Thanks, Greg. I would also like time to personally thank Ambassador Robert Jackson and his wife, and Deputy Chief of Mission Greg Thome and his wife, and the staff at the U.S. Embassy in Cameroon, who have not only tirelessly supported our business endeavors, but have also become great allies and great friends.

Despite the many challenges, we have an excellent team of people working to make this project succeed. And it is with great honor that we are here today to accept this award. Included on that team, of course, are the 75 employees here in Yaounde whose indefatigable work ethic and playful spirit have helped shape what this company is today and what it will be tomorrow.

Businesses can help become solutions to environmental and economic problems, especially if a business is willing to put in the extra effort and investment. We are. And we are very proud to be the recipient of this prestigious award. Thank you to all involved, especially you, Bob. Merci beaucoup. (Applause.)

MR. THOME: Thank you, and with that, we turn it back over to you, Secretary Urs.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY URS: (Inaudible) to Taylor Guitars and to our Embassy in Yaounde and thanks very much for joining us.

Let me now turn, if I can, by phone, I believe, to Ambassador Lisa Kubiske who is our Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Lisa, are you there?

AMBASSADOR KUBISKE: I am here. Thank you very much, Secretary Urs. The – it’s very exciting and wonderful for Fruit of the Loom to be one of the winners of the ACE Award this year. It is a company that is doing things that help both its own bottom line and the security in Honduras and our message about the importance of good working conditions for workers as a way of recognizing them as people, and also contributing to the stability of the country.

So the Fruit of the Loom operates in a sector called the maquila sector, which is manufacturing for export that provides more than 120,000 jobs in Honduras. So it has an enormous impact. It started with its own companies – or its own plants in Honduras, but now the model is resonating and it’s quite possible that other companies will adopt it as well. So the power of what they have done goes far beyond their own plants.

I want to also recognize the labor confederation with which they were negotiating in the local plant. I’ve spoken to them many times, as I have with the Fruit of the Loom managers, and I can tell you that they have an enormous sense of satisfaction and pride in having been able to show a model in which there are profits for the company and the shareholders, but also workers’ rights according to the ILO’s definition of decent work.

So just to close this out, what Fruit of the Loom has done absolutely, as the Secretary said at the beginning, reflects U.S. values. It’s one of the best things that we can do to recognize the great work that they and their workers have done. Thank you. (Applause.)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY URS: Ambassador Kubiske, thanks very much for those remarks, and congratulations to Fruit of the Loom and to our Embassy in Honduras.

And then, finally, I’d like ask Ambassador Anthony Wayne in Mexico to make some remarks. Tony, are you there?

AMBASSADOR WAYNE: Can you hear us yet? Okay, good.

It’s a great pleasure to join all of you and to offer my congratulations to Plantronics for winning this year’s Award for Corporate Excellence from the Secretary of State. It’s a special pleasure that they have won the first ever ACE for medium-sized businesses. Having participated in this process for six years, I know a lot about the excellence of American companies operating overseas, and this recognition is very close to my heart.

When I first heard about all that Plantronics is doing, I knew they were in the top category up there with the best the U.S. shares around the world. Plamex, which is the name of the company in Mexico, is really living the best practices of policies that U.S. companies bring to their communities. Felicidades and congratulations to Ken Kannappan, to Alejandro Bustamante with me here today, to Rosa Ruvalcaba, who’s with you, and to all of the employees of Plantronics, Mexico. This is a very special opportunity.

When I visited the plant recently, I could really see all that you’ve heard a little bit about that they’re putting into practice. They are building high-quality products and creating a workplace that really takes care of its employees, that serves its community, and that’s working comprehensively for a better world. Plantronics’ innovative manufacturing practices have moved operations well beyond the traditional maquiladora assembly in Mexico to a high-tech manufacturing and innovation model with just-in-time production that allows for a highly diverse mix of products. From partnerships with Baja, California’s best universities, to the environmentally responsible practices that you heard about in its newly inaugurated LEED-certified plant, they produce 14 million headset devices annually.

They’re demonstrating every day this exemplary commitment to socially responsible corporate practices. They’ve been an innovator in implementing self-improvement and morale-building opportunities for their employees, as the Secretary mentioned. That includes the career development programs that he cited of continuing in education and includes onsite healthcare for the whole family; it includes parenting classes; it includes a workplace art program that features opera singers and orchestra performances on the assembly floor. And as the Secretary very generously pointed out, it includes supporting employee weddings and wedding receptions and much more.

During my visit to Plamex, I also learned that they have an employee-led committee to decide on what corporate social responsibility efforts they are going to make. And they choose the NGOs and other institutions that they’re supporting based on what causes matter to the employees.

So Plantronics and its workers in Tijuana have given time, effort, and funds to supporting the training center for the visually impaired, a foundation for special-needs children, the Children’s Hospital, the Red Cross, the Tijuana Fire Department, several local orphanages and homes for the elderly, and going out and cleaning up the beaches of Tijuana. These are just some of the examples of all the innovative employment practices that brought Plantronics the honor of three years in a row of Best Place to Work in Mexico.

Congratulations again to Ken, Alejandro, Rosa, and the 2,200 associates who work in Tijuana for demonstrating the very best that U.S. companies can operate when operating overseas. I wish you all continued success in Mexico, around the world, and in the United States. And I want to turn now to Alejandro and ask him to share a few thoughts with us.

MR. BUSTAMANTE: Thank you, Ambassador. Thank you to the State Department, to Ambassador Wayne, to Consul General Erickson. We are very honored for this award. Thank you, Ken, and all Plantronics associates around the world for their support.

Our team in Mexico has done extraordinary work in finding the right balance for us in meeting our stakeholders’ requirements. While creating programs that promote and improve the quality of life of our associates, engaging and exciting associates means that they in turn generate the productivity and efficiencies that our stockholders expect: building systems and processes the delivered products that – and services that delight our customers, and also creating the programs that generate value to our community.

The Plantronics, Mexico operation has become a worldwide benchmark in the fields of manufacturing, customer service, human resources, logistics, technology, environmental protection, and corporate social responsibility, winning more than 200 national or international awards during the last ten years. Our work culture is based on living our values, and for the three consecutive years, we have been named the Best Place to Work in Mexico.

We have developed 188 programs focused on the well-being of our associates, their families, and our community. For example, every year we sponsor a local orphanage with programs focused on bringing to them love and compassion that might be in short supply in their lives. We take these young people to the movies, we take them camping, to pro sports, and also do more activities. One of our associates becomes, in fact, the godfather, buying them gifts, and spending time with them. We talk about values, we buy them school uniforms and books, we go and improve their housing infrastructure. So far, more than 1,600 kids have been benefitted by this program.

Twice a year, our associates and their families volunteer to go participate in cleaning the beaches of Tijuana. Over the last few years, over 1,500 associates have participated in this program. Plantronics (inaudible) environmental best practices with more than 260,000 people in universities, schools, environmental seminars, expos and conferences.

To change the image of Tijuana, we helped coordinated the first (inaudible) conference, a 14-day event attended by more than 600,000 people, that highlighted the best the city has to offer. Our medical services offer professional care to our associates and their families to promote good health and to prevent illness. We also offer 32 different health campaigns such as lose weight and gain health. Our blood donors club and influenza prevention programs have been modeled for other companies in the community.

We offer a career plan for associates so they can prepare for the future, and also look for new opportunities. During the last five years, more than 1,000 associates have been able to grow to a new position within Plantronics, not needing to go outside and find new opportunities to grow.

We created and supported the kids symphony orchestra with our associates’ children. This program was created in conjuncture with the Baja, California Symphony Orchestra, where 32 children are taught to play different musical instruments and playing community events. Our associates’ children learn how to say no to drugs, alcoholism, and smoking, in our annual D.A.R.E program, offered in conjunction with the Tijuana police department. Kids go 30 – through 30 consecutive weeks of lectures of being able to finish the program. As of today, we have graduated 454 kids.

We truly believe that these activities and progress make Plantronics Mexico not only a great place to work; they make us a better business, able to consistently provide to our customers the most innovative and reliable products on the market. Congratulations Plantronics, and thank you all.

(Applause.)

PARTICIPANT: Thank you, Alejandro.

UNDER SECRETARY KENNEDY: Thank you Embassy Mexico, and congratulations to Plantronics and also to the Embassy for preparing the – one of the winning submissions.

Guests of honor, ladies and gentlemen, friends and colleagues in Cameroon, Honduras, and Mexico, thank you for joining us today for the Secretary’s Award for Corporate Excellence ceremony. I’m sorry I can’t invite our guests who are participating by either teleconference or phone in Cameroon, Honduras, and Mexico to join us, but I do invite all of us here, everyone here in the Benjamin Franklin Room, to our reception downstairs in the Exhibit Hall, which will begin as soon as we leave. So thank you very much for participating in today’s ceremony, and congratulations to all the winners. Thank you.

(Applause.)

THE BIOMASS BIG PICTURE

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 
There's more to biofuel production than yield
Focusing solely on yield comes at a high price

When it comes to biofuels, corn leads the all-important category of biomass yield. However, focusing solely on yield comes at a high price, scientists say.

In this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the researchers show that looking at the big picture allows other biofuel crops, such as native perennial grasses, to score higher as viable alternatives.

"We believe our findings have major implications for bioenergy research and policy," said Doug Landis, a biologist at Michigan State University (MSU) and one of the paper's lead authors.

"Biomass yield is obviously a key goal, but it appears to come at the expense of many other environmental benefits that society may desire from rural landscapes."

Landis and a team of researchers from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Kellogg Biological Station Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site compared three potential biofuel crops: corn, switchgrass and mixes of native prairie grasses and flowering plants.

Kellogg Biological Station is one of 26 such NSF LTER sites in ecosystems from grasslands to coral reefs, deserts to mountains around the world.

"Sustainability, food security, biodiversity, biofuel production--all are important to an increasing human population," says Saran Twombly, program director in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research through the LTER Program. "This is a superb example of how fundamental ecological research can assist human well-being."

The scientists measured the diversity of plants, pests and beneficial insects, birds and microbes that consume methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.

Methane consumption, pest suppression, pollination and bird populations were higher in perennial grasslands.

In addition, the team found that the grass crops' ability to harbor such increased biodiversity is strongly linked to the fields' location relative to other habitats.

For example, pest suppression, which is already higher in perennial grass crops, increased by an additional 30 percent when fields were located near other perennial grass habitats.

That suggests that to enhance pest suppression and other critical ecosystem services, coordinated land use should play a key role in agricultural policy and planning, Landis said.

"With supportive policies, we envision the ability to design agricultural landscapes to maximize multiple benefits," he said.

However, rising corn and other commodity prices tempt farmers to till and plant as much of their available land as possible.

"Corn prices are currently attractive to farmers, but with the exception of biomass yield, all other services were greater in the perennial grass crops," Landis said.

"If high commodity prices continue to drive conversion of these marginal lands to annual crop production, it will reduce the flexibility we have in the future to promote other critical services like pollination, pest suppression and reduction of greenhouse gases."

Additional MSU researchers involved in the study include Ben Werling, Timothy Dickson, Rufus Isaacs, Katherine Gross, Carolyn Malmstrom, Leilei Ruan, Philip Robertson, Thomas Schmidt, Tracy Teal and Julianna Wilson.

Scientists from the University of Wisconsin, University of Nebraska, Bard College and Trinity Christian College were part of the research.

The work was also funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and MSU AgBioResearch.

-NSF-

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY'S REMARKS AT AMERICAN CENTER IN HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Remarks to Members of the American Chamber of Commerce and Fulbright Economic Teaching Program Participant
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
American Center
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
December 14, 2013

SECRETARY KERRY: Mr. Ambassador, David, thank you very, very much. And thank you so much for your great leadership these past years. Xin chao, Vietnam. I’m very, very happy to be here and to be back. It’s an honor for me to be here with so many people who’ve really been taking part in and contributing to the great transformation and the great success that is taking place here in Vietnam.

I’ll just share a little bit of – a little bit of nostalgia with you. When I first came back here around 1990, this was a very different country. The United States and Vietnam were still very stuck. There was an embargo, and we had not resolved difficult issues that remained from the war. Many of us dreamed of a time back then when we would think of Vietnam not in terms of war, but of only a country and the normal things that countries engage in. And I am proud and pleased to say that today, certainly for me, represents that moment.

The last time I was here was in the year 2000 with President Clinton when we came right after the normalization had taken place, and the embargo had been lifted some years earlier with President Bush, George Herbert Walker Bush. And a number of us – Senator John McCain and myself – were involved in that journey from the beginning. There were very difficult issues to still resolve. We had prisoner of war/missing in action issue which was felt deeply, as it should have been and was, by people all across America. And of course, there were issues here in Vietnam about Agent Orange and the residuals of the war.

I can’t think of two countries that have worked harder, done more, and done better to try to bring themselves together and change history and change the future and provide a future for people which is now very, very different. There are still things to be achieved, things to be done. I’ll say a few words about that. But I can remember when I touched down in Hanoi back then. I could still see all the craters from bombs. There was almost no motorbikes. Everything was a bicycle; very, very few cars. Not a stoplight worked in Hanoi at that point in time, and there were just a couple of hotels. It was a place that had been frozen in time.

No one can help but marvel at the modern Vietnam. What has taken place in just a little over 20 years is extraordinary. And so this is not a transformation that just happens by coincidence, may I say. It’s a product of the commitment and the vision of a lot of people here in this room.

I want to thank David for his job as ambassador and the work that all of our embassy personnel and consular personnel, Foreign Service, Civil Service, local hires, third national country. Everybody joins together as a team and works very, very effectively to do things.

Our ties are growing stronger every day we continue to work. We have the educational exchanges that we talked about today. And I believe that, actually, David participated in not one but I think three educational exchange programs in Asia, just as an example of the background and depth that can help to contribute to these kinds of efforts.

It is, frankly, why the vision of educators and education has been so important to this transformation. And I just want to take a moment to say that I can’t think of anyone who’s done more to help make that happen than the combined team of Tom Vallely and Ben Wilkinson, who are leading Harvard’s – Harvard University’s efforts here in Vietnam, and the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, a program I was proud to first support as a senator. And we put it in place and it was built into the largest Fulbright program in the world. Today, I think it’s the second-largest program in the world, and we’ve got to see if we can’t make it the largest again if we keep working at it. But I want to thank Tom and Ben for all that they do to contribute to this transformation.

I also want to thank the American Chamber of Commerce, and the American Chamber of Commerce Vietnam and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and industry have also made just a gigantic difference here. AmCham’s experience in Vietnam has really ushered in a new era of cooperation for the bilateral trade agreement in 2001, to the WTO session in 2007, and now we are working on the TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership. I’ll say a word about it.

But just think about this for a minute: Our bilateral trade has grown 50-fold, 50 times since 1995, to more than $25 billion a year now, and we are on track to meet our target of doubling our U.S. exports to Vietnam in five years, which was the goal that President Obama set five years ago. Vietnam has the potential to become one of the United States’ leading economic partners in the region, and we’re going to continue to work at that.

Today, we’re on the doorstep of another great transformation that could open more doors to opportunity, and it could make our partnership much more vibrant, and frankly, could make our markets a lot more energized and rewarding. What I’m talking about are the opportunities that would come from the Trans-Pacific Partnership from the high-standard trade pact that Vietnam and the United States are negotiating with 10 of our Pacific partners. The partnership’s high standards would maintain the momentum that has been created for market reforms, for modernization, for regional integration that the Government of Vietnam has actually made a priority. It will also complement Vietnam’s efforts to transform state-owned enterprises and important sectors of the economy like energy and banking, which will attract greater investment.

And today, I am happy to announce that we will provide an initial $4.2 million for USAID’s Governance for Inclusive Growth. It’s a program to help implement the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This is not aid. I want to make that clear. This is an investment, and it’s an investment in broad-based and sustainable growth.

And I think this is just one more way that the United States wants to support Vietnam as it grows its own role in the global economy. And just think about it; you’ll see it out in the streets walking around. Forty percent of the population here is younger than 25. I was thinking about it as I was driving in, watching all the motorbikes. And I said a lot of the people riding those motorbikes were eight, nine, and ten years old when I was last here, just to give you an example of growth and time passing.

To create high-paying jobs and economic opportunity, there are a number of essential things, and I want to say something about it. You need a free market. You need a free marketplace of ideas. People need to be able to express their thoughts. You need to be able to dare to fail. You need to be able to be creative. You need to be able to talk and promote new ideas about trade and development and creation of new products.

And the United States believes firmly, as we have seen from Slovenia all the way to South Korea, that building a society that is more open and more free is critical to a country’s long-term strength and success. Vietnam has proven that greater openness is a great catalyst for a stronger and more prosperous society, and today Vietnam has an historic opportunity to prove that even further. A commitment to an open internet, to a more open society, to the rights of people to be able to exchange their ideas, to high-quality education, to a business environment that supports innovative companies, and to the protection of individual people’s human rights and their ability to be able to join together, express their views – all of these things create a more vibrant and a more powerful economy as well as a society. It strengthens a country; it doesn’t weaken it. And the United States urges leaders here to embrace that possibility and to protect those rights.

American institutions of higher learning in Vietnam already provide some of the highest-quality education in the world, and I have long supported this program, the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program in Ho Chi Minh City, which has provided a huge number of Vietnamese officials in government now opportunities to study economic policy. And this exchange process is a wonderful way for people to see what the rest of the world is doing and bring back ideas to their own country, and not be afraid of change and of the possibilities of the future.

When I met with today’s foreign minister of Vietnam in New York City – actually, when I met him in Washington – he came to meet me first in Washington – the foreign minister handed me a photo. And I looked at the photo and I saw a young, black-haired, brown-haired John Kerry and a young foreign minister standing together outside of Tuft’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where I first met him on one of these exchanges 30 years ago or 20-whatever years ago.

That’s how it works, folks. And now there are foreign ministers, prime ministers, environment ministers, finance ministers, presidents of countries all over the world who have shared their educational experience in a different place. I’m very pleased that the leadership of the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program is here today, and I look forward to working with the Vietnamese Government to establish a Fulbright University of Vietnam in the near future.

We also see a lot of innovative American companies here, and I had a chance to meet with a number of you who are engaged in entrepreneurial activity. Chad Ovel here today from AA Corporation, which has helped to introduce sustainable forestry to Vietnam and he’s helped to show that we don’t have to choose between being pro-environment and pro-economic; they go hand in hand, and the future will demand that they go hand in hand. The success of Sherry Boger at Intel and Khoa Pham at Microsoft highlights how high standards for intellectual property help to make innovation and job creation possible.

And we just did a wonderful signing ceremony in there with General Electric. General Electric is another American company that is benefitting from growing economic ties but also helping Vietnam to grow at the same time. And GE signed a deal with Vietnam Airlines back in October to sell this country’s flag carrier 1.7 billion in aircraft engines for the Boeing 787 aircraft. And a few minutes ago, as some of you saw, we just signed an agreement worth approximately $94 million for the Cong Le company to provide a second tranche of turbines for a signature wind farm project in Bac Lieu province. This project, with financing that comes from the U.S. Import-Export Bank and the Vietnam Development Bank, will help meet Vietnam’s growing demand for electricity, but it does so bringing clean power generation to the Mekong Delta and can set an example for the ways in which the new energy paradigm can be defined.

So whether – here in Vietnam, whether we are talking about our commitment to economic exchange, greater educational exchange, or our support for young entrepreneurs and a cleaner environment, I’m proud that the United States is putting a full complement of our diplomatic tools to work. And it’s clear that the partnership between Vietnam and the United States is stronger than ever, and most exciting, I am convinced we’re only just beginning. This is the beginning, and there are just enormous possibilities ahead of us. With the continued commitment of all of you in this room and your partners across the country, I am absolutely convinced the bonds between the United States and Vietnam can be the pillars of much greater prosperity and of a shared prosperity for decades to come.

And I’ll tell you something. Years ago, that vision we all had that we wanted to be able to think of Vietnam – when we said the word “Vietnam,” for years and years you’d say, “Vietnam,” and wow, you just thought about a war. And a lot of us didn’t want to do that. Now you say the word “Vietnam” and you think about a country and you think about a very changed playing field where this is one of the growing, contributing, transforming nations of the world. And I think the possibilities for the future are just gigantic. So with the right focus on the openness and freedom of the society, with the right respect for people and their rights, and with the right focus on growth and education, there is no question in my mind that all of that energy and all of that effort invested in trying to set this new direction is going to pay off big-time.

So it’s my honor to be here. Thank you very much, all of you, for joining in this. And thank you particularly to the entrepreneurs who are the ones really making this difference on the ground. It’s great to be with you. Thank you. (Applause.)

DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY CARTER SAYS PAKISTAN'S ECONOMIC SUCCESS CRITICAL

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Success of India, Pakistan Critical to Region, Carter Says
By Claudette Roulo
American Forces Press Service

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT, Sept. 18, 2013 - Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter today wrapped up a weeklong overseas trip that included stops in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

After spending three days in Afghanistan, Carter stopped in Islamabad, Pakistan, for talks with senior defense and government officials. Among the topics discussed was the importance of Pakistan's continued economic development to the security of the region, Carter said today.

The economic development of Pakistan is essential, he said.

"Their neighbor to the east is running away from them economically," Carter noted. To develop its economy, Pakistan first needs peaceful relations with India to begin trading with them, the deputy defense secretary said.

Pakistan is critical to U.S. and regional security, the deputy secretary said.

"Unless it's part of the solution, it becomes part of the problem in Afghanistan," Carter said.

"The government of Pakistan has flirted over time with using terrorism as an instrument of state policy," Carter added. "It is coming to the realization that terrorism is a boomerang, and it comes back on you when you try to use it for your own purposes."

The principal threat to Pakistan is terrorism, he said, not its neighbors.

Carter spent yesterday meeting with senior Indian defense officials in New Delhi, including Defense Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur and Defense Minister A.K. Antony. He also met with U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Michael Pelletier at the American Embassy.

The U.S. and India are destined to be security partners on the world stage, Carter said. The two countries share common interests, values and outlooks, he added, noting that the multifaceted defense relationship between them is the defining partnership of the 21st century.

A central topic of discussion was the Defense Trade and Technology Initiative, which is intended to increase defense industrial and technology cooperation, Carter said. The agreement isn't just about selling defense equipment to India, the deputy defense secretary noted; it's about fostering joint ventures.

"They don't want to just buy our stuff," Carter said. "They want to build our stuff with us and they want to develop new things with us, and they want to do research with us."

The joint C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft venture between the Indian multinational conglomerate Tata and Lockheed Martin is a perfect model of co-production, he said.

"India is now part of the supply chain [for the aircraft], and has the economic benefit -- the jobs benefit -- of being part of that," Carter said.

Future defense projects between the two countries will include both co-development and co-production, the deputy defense secretary said.

Today, Carter traveled to Hindon Air Force Station in Ghaziabad, India, the largest air base in Asia and home to No. 77 Squadron, which operates the six C-130J aircraft India acquired in 2008. The aircraft have been used in several humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations throughout the country. In August, a pilot from the squadron set a world record for the highest-altitude landing and takeoff, landing at an airstrip 16,614 feet above sea level.

Hindon also is home to the recently formed No. 81 Squadron. Known as the Skylords, the squadron was formed in September to fly the Indian air force's new C-17 Globemaster III transport jets, which began arriving earlier this year. Three of the heavy-lift aircraft have been delivered so far under the $4 billion deal, and seven more are scheduled to arrive by November 2014.

"We want India to have all the capabilities it needs to meet its security needs, and we want to be a key partner in that effort," Carter said.

"When you look at pictures of the Indian air force's C-130s participating in the recent flood relief efforts in the north, ... that tells us we're on the right track," he added.