Remarks at the Swearing-In Ceremony for Ronald W. Roskens as Administrator of the Agency for International Development

Well, welcome to this very special occasion. Vice President and Mrs. Quayle; and Secretary Baker; Ron Roskens; Ambassador Reed, who'll do the honors in a minute; Members of Congress; and distinguished guests, it's a great pleasure for me to witness the swearing-in of Ron Roskens as the Administrator of AID. Jim Baker and I are very fortunate to have such an able person head this very, very important agency.

Dr. Roskens brings proven leadership and valuable administrative experience to this job. Everybody here knows that. He was president of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln for a dozen years and before that held an important administrative and teaching post at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and at Kent State. Being a university president these days requires substantial diplomatic skills -- [laughter] -- and I expect we'll be making good use of that talent as well.

So, Ron, you take the helm at AID at an extremely important time. Around the globe, new democracies are being born, and nations are seeking to establish free-market, democratic institutions. And your important agency will play a vital role in nurturing such transformations and in sharing our knowledge and our skills worldwide.

Today AID operates in over 70 countries, extending America's helping hand by assisting these fundamental economic reforms, improving our agricultural methods and our nutrition work, expanding access to basic education, providing humanitarian assistance, and many other tasks.

And so, in this good work, I wish you Godspeed, and I'm delighted that a man of your standing is willing to undertake this terribly important assignment.

And now we will get on with the ceremonies, Ambassador, if we could.