The President's Trip to South Asia

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The President's Trip to South Asia

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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
(New Delhi, India)

For Immediate ReleaseMarch 21, 2000

FACT SHEET

The U.S. and India: Promoting Democracy in Asia and Beyond

ASIAN CENTER FOR DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE

President Clinton announced today that the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies in New Delhi have joined forces to establish the Asian Center for Democratic Governance. The Center will be based at CII's offices in New Delhi, India.

The Center will sponsor conferences, workshops, training and networking, so that democratic nations and activists can share experiences and develop policy options to promote the spread and deepening of democracy in Asia. The Center will organize an annual international conference bringing together people from government, business and the professions and civil society throughout Asia. The Center's other activities will include training young men and women with leadership potential to work to strengthen democracy in their countries.

As partners in the project, CII and NED will share the costs of the conferences and workshops.

The National Endowment for Democracy is a private, nonpartisan organization created in 1983 to help strengthen democratic institutions around the world. NED is funded by an annual appropriation from Congress.

COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES

On June 25-27, 2000, in Warsaw, the government of Poland will host the Community of Democracies Ministerial, a meeting of countries around the world that have chosen the path towards democracy. The U.S. and India join Poland, Chile, the Czech Republic, Mali and the Republic of Korea as co-convenors of this initiative. The goal of the Community of Democracies Ministerial is to strengthen international cooperation for the promotion of democracy, consider strategies to withstand threats to democracy, and strengthen the capacity and effectiveness of existing international organizations in their support for democracy. Governments attending the meeting will affirm their commitment to a core set of universal democratic principles.

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