Our Cooperation
By: Philip S. Goldberg

This week I had the honor to travel to Sucre to attend the ceremonies celebrating the 182nd anniversary of the founding of Bolivia and to listen to President Evo Morales’ annual report.

I participated in the national celebration, as did the other Ambassadors who attended the ceremonies in Sucre, as a way to express and reiterate the friendship that links our two peoples. This is a friendship that is expressed not only in special occasions such as August 6, but also in the continuing work that my country undertakes on behalf of the development of Bolivia. This friendship is expressed through our support for fundamental values we share both in Bolivia and the United States, such as democracy, freedom, human rights, the rule of law, and the pursuit of prosperity.

Our friendship has also manifested for the past 60 years in our continuing support to improve social and economic development, through programs that include the strengthening of democracy, healthcare, education, economic opportunities, the environment, and integrated development, as well as through our joint counternarcotics efforts. This  year, the U.S. assistance is estimated at approximately $120 million. Bolivia continues to be the third largest recipient of U.S. assistance in the hemisphere.

Experience has shown us that the most effective and lasting cooperation must seek sustainable economic development and the strengthening of Bolivian institutions. With the exception of our immediate relief assistance provided in the event of natural disasters, as the one we delivered to help the victims of the floods in the Eastern region of the country earlier this year, our cooperation does not seek to only generate short-term impact and our assistance is not distributed without accountability either; instead, it is a solid, transparent and rigorously controlled cooperation. We are aware that the best weapons to fight poverty, exclusion and inequality are the access to democratic processes and to fair justice, as well as increased citizen participation, higher transparency in the use of public resources, and the expansion of economic opportunities.

In this endeavor, we are interested, above all, in supporting Bolivians so that they can help other Bolivians, by means of creating stable jobs and sustainable development.

We are pleased that the mothers that work in the “Nueva Esperanza” factory in El Alto, whom I visited last week, are confident and hope to be able to continue exporting their embroidered clothing in favorable conditions due to the assistance opportunity offered by ATPDEA. I also know that our cooperation is valued by the Prefect of Oruro with whom I talked recently, during a ceremony to donate technical equipment aimed at creating economic opportunities for indigenous and rural students.

More than 600,000 children that eat the bananas produced under the integrated development program in their school-provided breakfasts benefit nutritionally and more than one million medical consultations were provided last year by increasingly self-sustained Bolivian healthcare institutions supported by my government.

These are only a few examples of our longstanding bilateral relation of friendship and support, a relation that my country does value and appreciate, a bilateral relation I wish to continue to consolidate and deepen in the future.