Message to the Members of the Urban Development Seminar.

I EXTEND to you my heartiest welcome to the United States of America and wish you every success in your studies.

Your task for the next 4 weeks will be to examine the urban programs and institutions we have developed in the United States--not with a view of copying them, because you cannot transplant techniques from one culture to another--but to explore ideas and principles which can be adapted to your social and economic environments.

In particular you should carefully look at the accomplishments of private profit and nonprofit enterprises, such as cooperatives, which stimulate capital formation so essential to housing construction. And do not overlook the vast contributions American labor has made towards raising our living standards, for no amount of money can develop the best laid plans without the trained workers necessary to implement a program.

You will be interested to know that last Thursday I signed legislation establishing a Department of Housing and Urban Development. This new department, the eleventh in our Federal Government, will draw together the programs and personnel formerly scattered through several agencies to provide a more effective means of solving this country's problems of growth and urbanization.

The creation of this department is an important step in our national effort to achieve a Great Society. But let me assure you that I earnestly hope and pray that the time will come when all your nations also achieve the goal of a Great Society. Our Agency for International Development, working closely with the new department, will continue to develop new tools to help the developing countries solve their urban problems.

I am looking to this Seminar to generate the ideas necessary to stem the tide of urban deterioration and to develop the guidelines for providing decent housing and suitable environments for people everywhere.

I wish you Godspeed in your important task.