Statement on Bono’s Meeting Today with President Obama

Washington D.C. – Bono, U2 lead singer and cofounder of ONE, met today with President Obama and members of his national security staff to discuss the Administration’s development strategy heading into the upcoming G8 and G20 meetings in Canada and September’s UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals. The two also talked about Bono’s recent trip to Senegal, Ghana, Mozambique, Kenya and South Africa and about the importance of good governance and increased trade and investment as drivers of economic growth on the continent of Africa.

In remarks made about his meeting in the Oval Office with President Obama and his advisors, Bono said,

“With the first blackberry president, we discussed the power of new technology to empower activists and entrepreneurs across Africa, part of a new rising generation that’s boosting growth and governance and defying stereotypes.

“A recurring theme was innovation.  We agreed that there are simple technologies that need to be made more available to transform not only public health, but also agriculture, helping farmers check prices and weather patterns.  While acknowledging these are difficult times for donor economies, we discussed the President’s food security initiative and agreed to encourage other countries who signed up to keep their commitment to invest $22 billion over 3 years.

“The President and his team are preparing for the UN development summit in September where it will have to be admitted that not enough has been done – north or south of the equator – for and by the world’s poorest economies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, which have as their target a halving of extreme poverty by 2015.

“We also discussed the real results American aid is achieving — malaria deaths cut in half across the continent of Africa, 3 million Africans on life-saving AIDS medication and 42 million more children going to school. This is momentum that can be built upon now.”