Members of the Inter-AmericanDevelopment Bank are close to an agreement on another debtrelief initiative, and we look forward to helping themcomplete

This agreement will cancel $3.4 billion owed bysome of the poorest countries in Rosetta Stone V3 our hemisphere -- Boliviaand Guyana and Haiti and Honduras and Nicaragua. That worksout to about $110 for every man, woman and child in thesecountries, monies that their government should use to investin the education and health of their citizens.People inthis region have the talent and drive they need to succeed.These are hardworking folks. I used to remind people inTexas, family values didn't stop at the Rio Grande River.There's a lot of mothers and dads in our neighborhood whocare deeply about whether or not their children can grow upin a hopeful society. What they need is, in order to be ableto realize that hope, is better access to capital. Theentrepreneurial spirit is strong, strong in this room andit's strong throughout the region. But what we need iscapital.So over the past five years, the United Stateshas devoted more than $250 million to help theentrepreneurial spirit flourish in our region. This moneyincludes micro credit loans for people starting smallbusinesses. And these loans have been very successful, and Iappreciate the Congress for appropriating money for thesemicro loans. I'm also directing Secretary Rice andSecretary Paulson to develop a new initiative that will helpU.S. and local banks improve their ability to extend goodloans to small businesses. It's in our interest thatbusinesses flourish in our own neighborhood. Flourishingbusiness will provide Rosetta Stone Latin America Spanish jobs for people at home. They providecustomers for U.S. products. As we help localentrepreneurs get the capital they need we're also going toopen up new opportunities through trade and investment. Ifyou're a rural farmer scratching out a subsistence living,would you want to be able to sell your goods to new marketsoverseas? I think so. You're trying to make a living and themarket is closed, it seems to make sense that you shouldwant to be able to sell into a larger universe.If you'rea worker looking for a job, wouldn't you want more employerscompeting for your labor? The more employers there are inyour neighborhood, the more likely it is you're going tofind a better job. That's not really sophisticated math oreconomics, it just happens to be the truth -- la verdad.When I took office, the United States had tradeagreements with only two nations in our hemisphere. We'venow negotiated agreements with 10 more. We're working for astrong agreement at the Doha Round of global trade talksthat will level the playing field for farmers and workersand small businesses in our country and throughout thehemisphere. Entrepreneurs are taking advantage of themarkets we've helped open. Here's an interesting story foryou. Mariano CanxFA,, he was an indigenous farmer in Rosetta Stone Arabic Guatemalawhose land provided barely enough corn and beans to feed hisfamily. He was scratching to get ahead. No one in his familyhad ever been to college.