Philanthropy must rise above crisis,says Clinton
Bill Clinton urged Asian leaders yesterday not to use the financial crisis as an excuse to scale down philanthropic work on global issues.
The plea from the former US president came as he announced that US$185 million had been pledged for the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) during the past two days.
The message that the economic turmoil should not deter work on the environment, poverty and public health issues was reiterated during Mr Clinton's concluding speech at the first CGI to be held in Asia, at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Wan Chai.
'We cannot allow the current economic crisis to be an excuse not to go forward on all these fronts. The truth is, it should cause us to redouble our efforts,' he said. He said the message that no excuses should be found from the economic crisis was particularly pertinent in Asia. 'Because of what happened with the economic crisis of 1997-1999, the region addressed a lot of the structural financial problems that we now have to deal with in America, and the Europeans have to deal with. And therefore, I think it is likely that whatever happens will not be as bad here comparatively as it is in other places in the world.'
During a four-day conference in New York in September, 250 new commitments were unveiled, valued at US$8 billion. The two-day Hong Kong conference ended yesterday with US$185 million pledged from 70 commitments, with more are expected to be finalised soon. The new pledges add to the existing US$46 billion in pledges since the initiative began in 2005.
More than 10 million lives are expected to benefit from the commitments made yesterday, which included training health and disaster-relief workers, improving access to education, and reducing carbon dioxide emissions and deforestation.
Mr Clinton said the crisis was an opportunity to 're-imagine the future we want to build', where the economy was no longer led by finance, governments worked together with civil society, and where social responsibility was aligned with corporate profit.
In his only reference to his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton's new role as US secretary of state-elect, he said he had full confidence in president-elect Barack Obama and his team in facing the challenges ahead, admitting he had 'vested interests' in such praise.
Mr Clinton recounted his experience during a trip to Aceh in Indonesia, which was badly hit by the Asian tsunami in 2004. He said his hosts managed to put on a smile for him even though they lost nine of their 10 children in the disaster.
