Ambassador
Ambassador's Speech
AMBASSADOR WAYNE REMARKS AT THE VITAL VOICES RECEPTION
October 7, 2008
It is my pleasure to welcome all of you here to our home, the landmark Palacio Bosch. I particularly want to acknowledge Melanne Verveer of Vital Voices and Dina Powell of Goldman Sachs, whose firm is graciously sponsoring this reception. I have very fond memories of working with both of them.
I am grateful that I had the opportunity to address the Vital Voices Summit of the Americas on Monday morning, so I will keep these remarks brief. As I noted then, I have a long history with Vital Voices. I was involved in setting up some of the first activities under the United States’ Vital Voices Democracy Initiative eleven years ago. For example, I remember clearly negotiating the terms of reference in my office for early events in Vienna and Belfast, and I remember just as clearly the great pleasure that came from the success of these early activities. It is a joy to reunite with former colleagues and to see how spectacularly that effort has grown. From a United States Government initiative started in Eastern Europe, Vital Voices has grown into a globe-spanning organization that has trained thousands of women in leadership and has fostered women’s potential in politics, business, and the NGO sector. Personally, Vital Voices also touched my family as my daughter had a wonderful internship working with them when she was studying at university.
As I noted yesterday, it is most fitting that Vital Voices has come here to Buenos Aires. Argentina has a long tradition of female leaders, in and out of government. From President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on down, there is a notably large representation of women at all levels of government as well as in business and NGOs. Many of these leading women are here with us tonight, and for many of them it is a return visit. When we hosted an NGO fair here last April, the role of women leaders in Argentina’s non-governmental sector could not have been more apparent. I know that Argentine women leaders here tonight will have much to share with our guests from around the Hemisphere.
It is indeed a great pleasure to have such a diverse international representation here. Similar challenges face women across the Americas, events like this make it possible to share strategies and methods and successes. I look forward to hearing more about the work you all do in building societies that are more equitable across the Americas. Your conclusions on how empowering women is a bridge to a more prosperous future will be valuable and timely in this moment of financial uncertainty. As anyone who has worked in international economics or development can tell you, women are vital to the growth of any economy. By not empowering women we have been stopping our economies and our societies from reaching their full potential. I am convinced that working together to build opportunities for women leads to better outcomes for all.
Welcome to Argentina, welcome to our home.
Now I invite Melanne Verveer, Chair and co-Founder of Vital Voices to say a few words. She will be followed by Dina Powell, former Assistant Secretary of State and now Head of Corporate Global Engagement at Goldman Sachs, who are sponsoring this event.
