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The Big Picture

President Bush has placed development at the forefront of U.S. national security and foreign policy. USAID is rising to the challenge -- American diplomacy and development assistance will continue to be powerful drivers of political and economic freedom around the world.

To learn more about why development is now an integral part of U.S. national security and foreign policy: You should read the 2002 National Security Strategy which devotes an entire section to expanding the circle of development, opening societies and building the infrastructure of democracy. USAID also recently published an analysis of the main trends - and the related challenges - now unfolding in the developing world. These two documents build the case why promoting islands of stability in the developing world and reducing the roster of failing states are top priorities of U.S. international policy.

Please take a chance to read through our new ideas, look at the key documents that define us. It is an exciting time to be helping the world.

USAID Business Transformation

Administrator Andrew Natsios has made management reform one of his highest priorities. USAID's Business Transformation Executive Committee (BTEC) recently released a report (PDF) showing how USAID is improving our capabilities to meet the challenges of the 21st century.


White Paper: The Future of Foreign Assistance

The Administrator unveiled a new White Paper entitled "U.S. Foreign Aid: Meeting the Challenges of the Twenty-first Century" (PDF) at the February 25, 2004 meeting of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Assistance (ACVFA). This paper is USAID's contribution to the discussion of how best to respond to the major foreign policy challenges of our time such as attaining foreign assistance policy coherence within the U.S. Government, increasing aid effectiveness, and affirming USAID's important role in U.S. foreign policy in the 21st Century. This White Paper is a discussion paper about the future of foreign assistance. Comments on this paper may be sent to whitepaper@usaid.gov.


Emerging Policy Issues

A New Vision for International Development
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, April 23, 2004 Keynote Address from USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios "Employing Economic Growth to Catalyze Development"

To read this transcript or for more information about this conference, please visit the CSIS website. http://csis.org/dos/040423_event.cfm

TRADING PLACES
More than 40 percent of all U.S. exports and half of U.S. agricultural exports are sold to developing countries -- these annual exports account for about 4 million U.S. jobs. However exports to the United States from the 48 least-developed countries (LDCs) amounted to just $8.9 billion or 0.7% of total American merchandise imports in the year 2000. Learn more about how and why the U.S. government is working to help poor countries build up their ability to trade and to negotiate trade agreements.

BAD TRAFFIC
Failing states remain at the nexus of development and security policy. Human trafficking - along with drug trafficking, infectious disease and terrorism - remains a cruel symptom of state failure. Annually, between 700,000 and 4 million people are bought and sold as prostitutes, domestic workers, sex slaves, child laborers, and child soldiers. Learn more about the Agency's new strategy to combat the trafficking of persons for sexual or economic exploitation.

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