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Speech Transcript
Good afternoon everyone, President Obama—welcome to Colombia, President Santos—these past three days during this Summit of the Americas some very important issues have been debated, among them there is one that makes me feel particularly optimistic, the Manifesto Against Poverty and Inequality. Its first and main point is the commitment of the Presidents to work on education and early childhood development. This is a greatly important step, since it is the first time that the issue of early education has been treated so directly in a Summit of the Americas.
We know of the many challenges that you all face each day as leaders and as such, seeing you here in my country at this bilateral meeting, talking about education and early childhood is a symbol that holds great weight and meaning.
There are currently 35 million children in the region who have no access to quality early childhood education, nutrition and stimulation and these types of programs are fundamental. Obtaining the necessary programs for these 35 million children, who have thus far been forsaken, is a task that requires an effort from everyone, not only the state but also the private sector.
Therefore, during this summit, we have insisted vehemently on the urgency of creating and financing more early education programs, because we are conscious of the fact that investing in those first 6 years of the life of a child is fundamental to their future, the economic future of our nations, and for global peace.
We attended the summits in El Salvador, Portugal and today we are here, and we will continue insisting until the initial attention on early childhood is on the political agendas of all of our leaders, and we will also continue insisting on philanthropic initiatives from all the financial leaders in the region, and until society at large understands that early attention given to our children is the most efficient formula for eradicating poverty and for economic growth.
In the 17 years that I have spent investing and promoting education I can state that without a doubt, investing in education has never let me down because every effort and every dollar invested yields results and they yield results in the short term, because kids grow up fast.
So, President Obama, I am committed to you in my capacity as a member of the Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in the US. I know that you care about the academic development of Hispanics and that you understand that the future of America is intimately linked to the future of the Latino community. It is great news Mr. President that your administration announced this month that it would devote an additional $133 million to initiatives on early childhood development for children in the US, and you can count on my support.
And President Santos, I am also committed to you and pleased to work hand in hand with you on this new alliance for early childhood that we have announced here in Cartagena to build new centers for education together with your administration.
In conclusion, I’d like to invite all of you to become a part of this movement for early childhood development and education. And may the children who live here in Cartagena and all of those who live in conditions of extreme poverty, displacement and conflict be the protagonists of this story, may they be those who we believe in most, and those who we will be quite literally putting our money on.
Thank you very much
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