SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much. Thank you.
Good afternoon. Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you so much. This is
my apple I just got.This is a souvenir of Kazakhstan – of
Almaty, to be precise – and it’s woven, actually, with the local wool.
And these are giant apples which apparently Almaty produces, and coming
from New England, where our fall harvesting of apples is critical, I’m
going to show them this and say, “Get your act together, guys.” It’s beautiful.
Thank you, Ambassador Russell. Thank you very, very much for your
tremendous leadership. Cathy’s doing just a brilliant job as the
ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues. And obviously everybody
here – and I can tell looking in the audience I don’t need to sell you
on it, but this – our hopes for the future, whether it’s environmentally
or politically or economically, socially, from the standpoint of
security – it depends on the growing empowerment and the equitable
treatment of women. And that is not an argument; it’s a simple statement
of fact. It’s a reality that without empowerment, progress is really
impossible. And with empowerment, progress is as inevitable or as near
inevitable as anything can be.
We’ve seen that again and again in country after country on issue
after issue: that where women are empowered, it just makes a huge
difference – the quality of life to the capacity of children to have
opportunity to the ability of a country to compete and – very important
in many places – to the ability of people to be able to make peace and
to find alternatives to simply blowing each other up.
So...
I am very delighted to be here to participate in this special kind
of forum, which is really symbolized by this apple – a forum on artisan
enterprise and what it can mean with respect to the new startup
economy. It defines the new startup economy. And I see from the program
that you’ve already heard from a terrific array of interesting people,
both artisans as well as corporate entities and others who have
expertise in this, so I’m going to keep my own remarks pretty tailored
and brief.
But I just want to offer my profound and continuing commitment – my
encouragement, particularly as we prepare for the UN General Assembly
this fall and the adoption of the post-2015 Millennium Development
Goals. Since the original goals were established – and it wasn’t so long
ago; it was only the year 2000 – we have achieved absolutely measurable
and frankly striking progress in reducing the share of the world’s
people who live in extreme poverty. We’ve also seen remarkable progress
in expanding access to water, making primary education possible for
women and girls, and we’ve changed many places as a result of it.
Cathy mentioned in her introduction my introduction to those 10
extraordinary women in Afghanistan, and they have changed opportunities
for women with their courage, because it isn’t easy to do what they did
and to step into a world that had been so dominated exclusively by men
and by tradition and culture and history. And to march in against all of
that and say, “Here, I’m ready, and I’m going to participate and then
make a success out of it” takes more than brain power. It takes heart
and gut power, and I salute it.
Progress always depends on a range of factors that reinforce one
another, and they are factors that include good governance – imperative –
quality education, environmental awareness, investments in health,
civil security, the full participation of women in the political and the
economic life of the community. And subtract one element of that and
you can begin to compound the hurdles and slow down the progress which
is so critical in a world where we are seeing so many more people – and
young people particularly – seeking opportunity because it’s a world
that is just connected everywhere, all the time, everybody connected to
everything. And that raises not just hopes and aspirations, but
obviously with that, it raises expectations. And that is always
politically a management challenge. If you subtract any of that – any
one of those items – and that list becomes more complicated too.
So we’ve also learned that development is everybody’s business. It’s
not a job for government; it’s not something you source – you outsource,
that you farm out to some expert, because if people aren’t invested in
it and people aren’t making decisions about their own lives, you never
have the kind of determination of people being all-in in a way that
makes a difference. And that’s what it takes. You have to have every
single level enriched by the contributions of regional entities, the
private sector, independent donors, angel investors, private voluntary
groups, civil society – they all have to come together, and in the end
everybody has to be committed to this kind of endeavor.
We need more of that, by the way, in many more places. I see places
of great hope as I travel around the world, but I also see too many
places of enormous challenge. And the truth is that as we see society
after society now mounting up where you have 50 percent, and in some
cases 60 percent, of a country under the age of 35 or 30, and 50 percent
of the country many places under the age of 21, and 40 percent under
the age of 18 – that’s our challenge, folks, every single one of us. And
so it is very, very special for me to be able to be here with you who
are all-in on this.
The Alliance for Artisan Enterprise reflects exactly the kind of
innovative thinking that we need to engage in if we’re going to expand
this playing field as rapidly as we need to if we’re going to be able to
implement our very ambitious post-2015 development goals and agenda.
And the Alliance is the epitome of a collaborative approach, by
definition. It was launched by the State Department three years ago,
it’s hosted by the Aspen Institute, and its members include businesses
of all sizes – nonprofit organizations and individuals. And it’s
bringing to the world’s attention a set of issues that have really been
neglected for far too long.
In my career in public life, which is much of my life, I have
attended a lot of conferences, a lot of meetings – I had a lot of
meetings on economic development. And usually the emphasis is on trade,
agriculture, urbanization, or the new information technologies. That’s
where you see most of the energy going. But I don’t remember any that I
have been to that has focused as today’s forum has focused on the
challenges that are faced by artisans. Yet the creative arts are a major
employer in many parts of the developing world and an especially
significant employer of women. The artisan sector is also a growing
industry with exports. And it is rapidly spiraling upwards from nations
that have a per-capita income that is well below the international
average. That means that if you’re looking for innovative ways to help
developing countries in order to flourish, artisans are a terrific place
to begin.
According to research from the Inter-American Development Bank, if
the creative economy, globally, were a country, it would already be
equal to the fourth-largest economy in the world with the fourth-largest
workforce and rank ninth in the value of exports. That’s just the
beginning. One advantage of the Information Age is the ability to be
able to potentially increase markets for products that have
traditionally been sold just locally, or out of a kiosk, or you hit the
tourists when they’re coming in, and that’s the limit. Not anymore. With
the internet, we have a vast opportunity to show people how they can
reach out across the planet. And in fact, it’s our imperative as a
result to try to make sure we do that, to take talented producers and be
able to give them the ability to be able to reach out and connect to
other people.
And as you’ve been discussing throughout the day, that doesn’t just
happen on its own. It takes planning, it takes people who’ve prepared to
do some small level of investment, help put themselves on the line to
create that connectivity. It takes a high degree of business know-how,
some element of marketing and targeting skill. It requires people who
care both about the financial end of things and also about the
craftsmanship and the discipline that lends authenticity to the artwork
that people want to sell.
So this matters because consumers today care more and more about
where something comes from, who produced it, under what conditions did
they produce it. And that’s good, and we urge that. As a – as the
chairman of our intergovernmental efforts with respect to human
trafficking, nothing could be more important, obviously, than to shed
light and have transparency on how things are produced and where they’re
coming from. People also care about quality. So there’s a big
difference between a shirt that’s knocked off in a factory and the kind
of clothes that are woven by hand and can be worn for a lifetime.
And although it’s still in its infancy, this Alliance for Artisan
Enterprise has literally already become an important platform for
identifying and breaking down barriers to small-scale artisans in
countries all across the developing world.
And as one means of drawing attention to this effort, the alliance is
hosting a multimedia competition that has allowed artisans to go out
and strut their stuff. The awards are going to be announced later this
afternoon – I’m sorry I won’t be able to be here for that – but I want
to congratulate every single one of you for your interest in that, for
your willingness to take part. More than 150 entries were received
representing artisans from 42 different countries. And I was struck by
the variety of the projects and the passion that all of them showed, and
not just in terms of artistic talent, but also in their dedication to
expanding opportunity for people in communities that are not always
thought of as having any potential of being included when you start
talking about the global economy.
For example, one finalist that drew my attention was Sasa Designs by
the Deaf. In the video that they produced, a young man says in sign
language, “I am deaf but I am not quiet.” And a woman adds, “I am deaf
but I can make beautiful things.” As a member of the Senate for some 28
years, I had the privilege of representing the island of Martha’s
Vineyard, which many people are not aware of but at one time in its
history – in its very early history – it had a larger percentage of deaf
persons than anywhere else. And the Vineyard developed its own sign
language, a means of communication that was used by deaf and non-deaf
alike.
Now, by harnessing the artistic skills of the deaf in Kenya and
elsewhere in Africa, Sasa Designs is reinforcing a similar sense of
inclusion while also preserving timeless traditions and helping people
who might otherwise be marginalized to be able to put food on the table
for their families.
That’s just one company. One display today in the multimedia
competition, among your speakers, an incredible array of talent and
commitment is seen in Reema Nanavaty’s success in involving women in a
host of economic development activities in rural India. And it can be
seen in the “Taking Steps Initiative,” which has used embroidery to
bring bereaved Israeli and Palestinian women together. It can be seen in
the South Sudan’s Roots Project Center which combines traditional
beading with story-telling as a way to earn income and bridge ethnic
differences. And it can be seen Angel Chang’s fabrics, which are made
the old-fashioned way – naturally organic, chemically-free,
non-polluting, and dyed – hand-dyed by local craftswomen, not even
requiring the use of electricity – and this in contrast to industrial
textile industry, which is one of the largest sources of pollution on
Earth.
So the list goes on – it really does, on and on – from traditional
Macedonian rugs, to specially-crafted South African dolls, to Guatemalan
basket-weaving, to Afghan calligraphy, to the best wool and clothing in
the world from Bolivia. The opportunities and the energy are literally
all around us, folks, and they’re gaining strength. And what’s important
is as it gains this economic foothold, it’s also gaining a kind of
spiritual foothold, impressing people, having an impact, and
conditioning people’s thoughts about what they ought to be buying or
what kinds of things are really worth valuing.
So I hope that everybody’s going to leave here today excited by what
you’ve seen, but equally importantly, inspired to do a lot more.
The Alliance for Artisan Enterprise has an extraordinary amount going
for it. It’s got all of you, it’s got artisans around the world that,
as I said, would equal the fourth largest economy in the world if you
put them all together. Nobody should ignore that. There is a real
hunger, I am convinced, in this fast-paced, technologically driven,
constant communicative world to also stay in touch with traditional ways
of doing things so that we don’t forget what our grandparents learned
from their grandparents.
There is a hunger to remain connected to our roots and to value
products that are crafted with really unique skills and with attention
to detail. There’s an honesty and authenticity in those products that is
hard to find in a lot of other places.
There’s a hunger to make a difference and to help people who deserve
help so that they, in turn, can take advantage of new opportunities and
thereby contribute to a more diverse, sustainable, and equitable global
economy.
And finally, I hope all of us will agree there will always be a
hunger for beauty. Those who can create that beauty – whether with their
hands or their voices or their minds – they will always find a warm
welcome somewhere, and that is, I’m glad to say, more than true here at
the United States State Department in September of 2015. We value it, we
want it to thrive and flourish, and we want everybody to enjoy it, and I
am convinced this effort of artisans is a way to do that.
Thank you all and God bless. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
