FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The budget provides $21.3 billion for international affairs programs so that the Unites States maintains its role as world leader and responds to international challenges in a complex and crucial time. The budget includes resources to promote peace in troubled areas, to provide enhanced security for official representatives abroad, to fund activities to combat weapons of mass destruction, to stabilize the international economy, to promote trade, and to respond to the needs of our neighbors and others who face disaster.

PROTECTING AMERICAN SECURITY

· Facility Vulnerability. The budget provides an increase of over $300 million to the State Department's operating budget to ensure the continued protection of American embassies, consulates, and other facilities. To address further security requirements, the budget includes $3 billion in advance appropriations for a new multi-year security construction program to replace inadequate overseas facilities.

· The New Transnational Threats. The budget provides $295 million to enable the United States to intensify its efforts to curb drug production in the Andean countries and to fight international crime. In addition, $231 million is included for nonproliferation and antiterrorism efforts.

· Newly Independent States (NIS). The budget provides $1.03 billion for assistance to the NIS . Of this total, the budget also provides $251 million (increasing funding more than five times from $41 million in 1999) to work with Russia to address the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). In addition, the budget provides $476 million (up $36 million from 1999) for the Department of Defense Cooperative Threat Reduction program and $276 million (up $39 million from 1999) for the Department of Energy WMD programs in the NIS.

PROMOTING PEACE ABROAD

· Peace in the Middle East. The President believes that the best long-term strategy for Israeli security includes a secure peace with the Palestinians, recognition of their legitimate rights, and a comprehensive, secure peace in the Middle East. The President's efforts at Wye River help put the peace process back on track. The budget provides $5.2 billion for assistance to sustain this progress toward peace in the Middle East. The budget also provides a $1.9 billion 3-year economic and military assistance package to help meet priority needs arising from the Wye Memorandum.

· Central and Eastern Europe. U.S. and other international support has been a critical factor in the transition to democracy and free markets in Central and Eastern Europe. The budget provides $393 million in economic aid for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States (including Bosnia and Kosovo), primarily focused on the southern tier.

· Bosnia. The budget provides $175 million in economic aid to support the U.S. commitment to see the Dayton Accords fully implemented in Bosnia.

· Kosovo. The budget includes $46 million for U.S. support for an observer force to verify compliance by all parties and to support the training of a professional, ethnically representational, local police force that protects the rights of all citizens. In addition, the budget provide $50 million for U.S. contribution to an international civil reconstruction program.

LEADING THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

· To ensure financial stability for the international community, the budget provides $446 million for the third-year installment of funding for arrears payments owed to the United Nations (UN) and related international organizations. The budget also provides $1.2 billion to meet regular assessments to the international organizations and for UN peacekeeping operations.

STABILIZING THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY

· Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). The budget provides $168 million to continue arrears payments to MDBs (including the Global Environment Facility) and $1.2 billion to pay current commitments to these institutions, which provide assistance to poor countries around the world that are undertaking promising economic reforms.

· International Debt Policy. The budget provides $120 million for debt forgiveness to promote economic and environmental reform for countries in support of the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998 and help defray the cost of debt relief by contributing to the Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative Trust Fund, as well as to continue the existing program of debt relief through the "Paris Club" of creditor nations..

SUPPORTING INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ADDRESSING INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS

· Assistance to Africa. The budget provides $828 million for Africa -- an increase of almost 10 percent --meeting the President's goal of increasing support for Africa to historically high levels.

· USAID's Development Assistance Programs. The budget provides $1.8 billion for USAID's development assistance programs, which provide funding for 51 countries and 12 regional programs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

· Humanitarian Assistance. The budget provides $1.7 billion for the humanitarian assistance programs of the Department of State and USAID.

· Peace Corps. The budget provides $270 million to enable the Peace Corps to increasing the number of volunteers abroad -- with the goal of building towards 10,000 volunteers by early in the next century.

INCREASING AMERICAN PROSPERITY THROUGH TRADE

· Export Promotion Initiative. The budget provides $891 million -- a boost in funding of 10 percent --for the Import-Export Bank. The budget also provides $48 million to fund feasibility studies that enable U.S. companies to participate in major export-generating infrastructure projects overseas. In addition, the budget provides $14 million for the Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA) to increase resources for export advocacy in key markets and for delivery of export assistance services to America's small manufacturers. Finally, the budget provides $9 million for ITA and Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology.