Benigno Aquino III Quotes

We should insist that governments receiving American aid live up to standards of accountability and transparency, and we should support countries that embrace market reforms, democracy, and the rule of law.

Britain is the home of economic freedom, with liberty guaranteed by the independence of our state institutions, and an absence of corruption assured by transparency.

Not any amount of aid is going to move Africa forward.

We've seen over time that countries that have the best economic growth are those that have good governance, and good governance comes from freedom of communication. It comes from ending corruption. It comes from a populace that can go online and say, 'This politician is corrupt, this administrator, or this public official is corrupt.'

Economic growth and human development need to go hand in hand. Human values need to be advocated vigorously.

A nascent economy needs a transparent and accountable government and an efficient civil service to help meet social needs. Its people need jobs and a belief in their country's future. A surfeit of aid has been shown to be unable to help achieve these goals.

'Dead Aid' is about the inefficacy and the limitations of large-scale aid programs in creating economic growth and reducing poverty in Africa.

Trade creates jobs and lifts people out of poverty. And when that happens, societies stabilize and grow. And there is nothing like a stable society to fight terrorism and strengthen democracy, freedom and rule of law.

Aid can work where there is good governance, and usually fails where governments are unable or unwilling to commit aid to improve the lives of their people.

Instead of more money, what Africa really needs is governments that are responsible to their own voters, that are largely self-financing, that are internationally respectable, and that can attract home some of the hundreds of thousands of talented Africans who currently live in the West. New infusions of aid would likely just perpetuate the kleptocratic regimes that have slowly strangled the continent since independence.

Good governance is an important precondition for success of government but it is not sufficient. Economic growth is necessary.

There is one thing that I have learned about Economic Development—that it has to do with a lot more than economics.

The Playground of Foreign Aid Experimentation: From 2006 to 2011, development aid from countries and multilateral organizations amounted to more than $30 billion, with limited results, much of the funds fueling mismanagement and corruption.

When foreign assistance has a clear mission, buy-in from the aid-recipient country, and explicit metrics for implementation, the United States will be able to transition aid-recipient nations into strong trading partners. One of the greatest examples of this successful transition is South Korea.

All those who talk about democracy, freedom, and the rule of law, of human rights, of the fight against corruption are, I believe, important allies.

We are going to combat corruption, and we are going to underscore the fact that we want the private investors to be a major part of our future economy.

Foreign Assistance is not an end in itself. The purpose of aid must be to create the conditions where it's no longer need.

Free governments are the only way to insure that the strong are just and the weak are valued.

Democracy needs to be nurtured and treated with care.

China, frankly, can be an opportunity for Africa based on the huge infrastructure deficit on the continent, but what needs to happen is that governments and citizens have to build internal ownership of the need of good governance, transparency, accountability, for respect for the environment.

What we can do in Singapore may not be doable elsewhere. Some things you know you need: you want efficient government, you want clean government, you want to do away with corruption, you must educate your people. You want to get housing and so on. All these are not such secrets, not so special to Singapore.

Fortunately for India, it has got a growing economy. If it is doing the right things with taxation and focusing on the right areas for human development, it is going to have no problem, over a period of time, taking care of its own needs.

If you have faith in the public sector, as I do, you must be the harshest critic of corruption, waste and fraud in government.

What makes a successful country is when you invest in the people of the country - whether it's education, health care, job training - and you rebuild a clean America to provide the kind of infrastructure that will be sustainable and let us grow.

I champion a real campaign to tackle the rampant corruption that is draining Saudi resources, both financial and human.