美国国务院
发言人办公室
华盛顿特区
2023年3月30日
华盛顿会议中心（Washington Convention Center）
 
布林肯国务卿：谢谢各位。晚上好。非常荣幸作会议闭幕讲话。我要首先感谢各位——所有来自100多个国家的国家首脑和代表、地方政府领导人、公民社会和私人业界的合作伙伴——来和我们一起参加第二届民主峰会。
我非常高兴在进来的时候看见参议院外交关系委员会主席梅嫩德斯（Senator Menendez）正在向外走。我们也对其他国会议员的参与深表感激。
特别感谢我们的峰会共同主办方——哥斯达黎加、荷兰、赞比亚共和国和我们的下一届峰会主办国大韩民国。我特别要感谢多边和全球事务副部长朴永民（Yongmin Park）今天从首尔加入我们以及在美国准备将峰会接力棒传给韩国时的伙伴合作。
拜登总统在上任第一年发起“民主峰会”，因为他认识到民主是释放人类潜能和为我们的人民提供服务的最强大工具。我们知道，民主国家更包容、更公平、更和平、更繁荣；更能为其人口解决生活和谋生中最要紧的问题，无论是保护公共健康，促进儿童教育，还是扩大经济机会。
而且我们知道，有更强大、更自由、更民主的未来是无论大小国家、南北国家、发达和发展中国家的人民和政府的共同追求。
正如拜登总统所说，民主不是偶然发生的。它需要每一代人不断的努力、不断的呵护——需要我们每个人这样做。的确，就民主的未来而言，我们正处在一个转折点，当前的一个决定性问题是，我们是否愿意付出所需要的努力来确保民主继续为人民带来成果，继续繁荣发展。
在整个这个行动之年（Year of Action）里，这个团体响亮地对这个问题作出肯定回答。自上次民主峰会以来，我们已经作出并正在兑现700多项承诺，旨在帮助我们捍卫和加强民主价值观和体制。
这些承诺包括旨在打击腐败的新法律和行动计划，如厄瓜多尔的新国家反腐败战略（National Anti-Corruption Strategy），多米尼加共和国的非定罪财产没收（Non-Conviction Based Asset Forfeiture），以及澳大利亚的国家反腐败委员会法案（National Anti-Corruption Commission Act）。
采取措施支持自由和独立的新闻媒体——包括法国、斯洛伐克、新西兰和美国对相关行动计划提供援助，这些行动计划致力于帮助独立新闻机构在经济上更加稳定和可持续，保护记者，以及例如在赞比亚，废除可能被用来压制政府批评人士的法律。
政府采取了强化民主机制的措施，包括阿尔巴尼亚和安哥拉的司法改革；鼓励政府代表具有包容性，特别是有来自女性、LGBTQI+社群和其他历史上被边缘化的群体的成员。
许多政府采取了保护公民和人权的行动。刚果民主共和国通过了具有里程碑意义的立法，承认原住民的土地权和文化权。台湾取消了阻止承认跨国同性婚姻的障碍。尼泊尔通过了惩罚强酸攻击和强奸犯罪分子的立法。这只是几个例子。
这些政府承诺具有重要意义。它们正在实实在在地改变全球数百万人的生活。在结束这次第二届民主峰会并为未来峰会做准备时，我们将继续帮助彼此维持、适应和发展我们的集体努力。
因为拜登总统深信——我也深信——维护我们的民主制度是一项集体的努力，它取决于我们的政府和人民的共同努力。因为所有的人、所有的国家和所有的行业都能作贡献。无疑，设想不是我们任何人独有，更不用说好的设想。
这恰恰就是我们努力汇聚了如此广泛的人士参加峰会的原因，以便推动在共同的优先事项上的进展——从促进年轻人的政治参与，支持独立媒体，确保自由公正的选举，到像我们今天所讨论的，形成有关互联网和新兴技术的规范。这也是为什么在我们这次峰会之前和接下来的几个月中的一个主要工作焦点是多边努力，包括民主集团（Democracy Cohorts）：将政府与主要的公民社会和私营业界团体汇聚到一起的新型平台。
这场共同的反腐斗争只是一个强有力的例子，说明我们为什么需要有跨国界的努力并且联合社会各界的合作伙伴。反腐败已经成为我们民主峰会进程中的实际关注——我对我们做到这点感到高兴。
我们知道，腐败是跨国祸患。它阻碍投资，扼杀竞争，加深不平等，而且最糟糕的是，它侵蚀公众对政府和机制的信任。
每个国家不幸都有同腐败作斗争的经历，我们需要相互分享经验。为此，在过去的15个月中，美国与布鲁金斯学会（Brookings Institution）和开放政府伙伴关系（Open Government Partnership）——它包含76个国家，106个地方政府，代表着20多亿人，以及数千个公民社会组织——领导了一个新的金融透明与诚信民主集团（Financial Transparency and Integrity Democracy Cohort），从而使各方聚到一起，将我们的经验、知识和努力汇集起来，共同打击腐败。
通过将这些不同的观点汇聚在一起，民主集团致力于研究跨地区的问题。它正在制定基于成员国的经验和最佳实践的实际解决方案。它制定的指南将有助于防止不良行为者通过皮包公司掩盖非法活动，阻止腐败的政府官员及其亲信谋私利，确保金融系统的守门人——如律师、会计师和投资经理——不会成全洗钱活动。
这项工作——这个峰会——是要使我们的民主国家向内检视：认清我们面临的挑战，努力为我们的人民做得更好。
我认为，这正是有深刻意义的民主国家的区别所在：我们愿意公开透明地面对这些挑战；承认我们的不足，而不是掩盖它们，假装它们不存在。这是我们最强大的优势之一。这是我们在美国所说的致力于为形成一个更完美的联盟而持续努力的含义。
我们不认为我们拥有所有的解决方案——远非如此。但是我们确实知道，当我们与其他民主国家联合起来时，我们会使彼此更加强大、更有韧力、更能响应我们公民的要求，并且更有能力履行我们在这里的使命，即为他们——而且我希望为整个世界——带来成果。
对你们在这里坚持到全天结束的每一位人——谢谢你们。感谢你们的参加。感谢你们参与从事这项工作——不仅在今天，而且在每一天。它事关重要。它正在产生影响。我想不出在历史近期有任何比现在更重要的时刻。所以，感谢大家。祝你们有一个美好的夜晚。（掌声）谢谢各位。 
 
欲查看原稿内容: https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-summit-for-democracy-closing-remarks/ 
本译文仅供参考，只有英文原稿才可以被视为权威资料来源。

REMARKS
ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE
WASHINGTON CONVENTION CENTER
WASHINGTON, D.C.
MARCH 30, 2023
 
SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thank you, everyone.  Good evening.  It is my honor now to actually close out the summit, and I want to start by thanking everyone – all the heads of state and representatives from more than a hundred countries, leaders of subnational governments, partners from civil society and the private sector – for joining us, for taking part in the second Summit for Democracy.
And I was really pleased to see as I was coming in Senator Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was heading out.  Other members of Congress who participated, we’re grateful for that participation.
And a special thank you to our summit co-hosts – Costa Rica, the Netherlands, the Republic of Zambia, and our next summit host, the Republic of Korea.  I’d especially like to thank the Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Yongmin Park for joining us from Seoul here today, and for the partnership as the United States prepares to pass the summit baton to Korea.
In his first year in office, President Biden launched the Summit for Democracy out of recognition that democracy is our single most powerful tool for unleashing human potential and delivering for our people.  We know that democracies are more inclusive, more equitable, more peaceful, more prosperous; more able to address the issues that matter most in the lives and livelihoods of their populations, whether it’s protecting public health, advancing children’s education, expanding economic opportunity.
And we know that the pursuit of a stronger, freer, more democratic future is shared by people and governments from big and small countries, North and South, developed and developing.
As President Biden has said, democracy doesn’t happen by accident.  It requires constant effort, constant tending by each new generation – and by each of us.  And indeed, we are at an inflection point when it comes to the future of democracy, where a defining question of this time is whether we are willing to do what it takes to make sure that democracies continue to deliver for their people, continue to thrive.
Throughout this Year of Action, this group has answered that question with a resounding yes.  Since the last Summit for Democracy, we have made – and we are delivering on – over 700 commitments that help us defend and strengthen democratic values and institutions.
These commitments include new laws and initiatives to combat corruption – like Ecuador’s new National Anti-Corruption Strategy, the Dominican Republic’s Non-Conviction Based Asset Forfeiture, and Australia’s National Anti-Corruption Commission Act.
Steps to support a free and independent press – including the contributions of France, Slovakia, New Zealand, and the United States to initiatives that help independent news outlets become more financially stable and sustainable, and protect journalists, as well as the abolition of laws, as in Zambia, that could be used to silence government critics.
Governments have taken measures to bolster democratic institutions, including judicial reform in Albania and Angola; to encourage inclusive representation in government, particularly by women, members of the LGBTQI+ community, and other historically marginalized groups.
And many have taken action to protect civic and human rights.  The Democratic Republic of Congo passed landmark legislation to recognize indigenous peoples’ land and cultural rights.  Taiwan lifted barriers to prevent the recognition of transnational same-sex marriage.  Nepal passed legislation to punish perpetrators of acid attacks and rape, to name just a few.
These national commitments are significant.  They’re making a difference, an actual difference, in the lives of millions of people around the world.  And as we close this second Summit for Democracy, as we prepare for summits to come, we’ll continue to help one another sustain, adapt, and build on our collective efforts.
Because President Biden believes deeply – as do I – that safeguarding our democracies is a collective effort, one that depends on our governments and on our people working together.  Because all people, all nations, all sectors have contributions to make.  And for sure, none of us has a monopoly on ideas, never mind good ideas.
And that’s exactly why we tried to bring such a wide-ranging group of summit participants together to drive progress on shared priorities – from promoting youth engagement in politics, supporting an independent press, securing free and fair elections – and, as we discussed today, shaping the norms around the internet and emerging technologies.  And it’s why such a major focus of our work leading up to this summit, and in the months that will follow it, is on multilateral efforts – including Democracy Cohorts: innovative platforms that bring governments together with leading civil society and private sector groups.
This shared fight against corruption is just one powerful example of why we need to work together across borders and with partners across our societies.  And there has been – and I’m pleased that we’ve done it – real focus on combating corruption through our Summit for Democracy process.
We know that corruption is a transnational scourge.  It discourages investment.  It stifles competition.  It deepens inequities.  And maybe worst of all, it erodes public trust in government and institutions.
Every country, unfortunately, has experience in fighting corruption – experience that we need to be sharing with one another.  Over the last 15 months, the United States, together with the Brookings Institution and the Open Government Partnership – which includes 76 countries, 106 local governments, representing more than 2 billion people, and thousands of civil society organizations – we’ve been leading a new Financial Transparency and Integrity Democracy Cohort to do just that, to come together, to bring our experiences, our knowledge, and our efforts together in combating corruption.
Bringing these diverse perspectives together, the Cohort has worked to study the problem across regions.  And it’s crafting actual solutions based on lessons learned, based on best practices from member countries.  Guidelines put together by the Cohort will help prevent bad actors from shielding illicit activity behind shell companies, stopping corrupt government officials and their cronies from enriching themselves, making sure that gatekeepers of the financial system – lawyers, accountants, investment managers – don’t enable money laundering.
This work – this summit – is about looking inward at our democracies: recognizing our challenges, striving to do better by our people.
And in a very profound way, I believe that’s what distinguishes democracies: our willingness to confront these challenges – out in the open, transparently; to acknowledge our shortcomings – not to sweep them under the rug, not to pretend they don’t exist.  That is one of our greatest strengths.  It’s what we mean in the United States when we commit to the enduring task of forming a more perfect union.
We don’t believe that we hold all the solutions – far from it.  But we do know that when we join together with our fellow democracies, we make one another stronger, more resilient, more responsive to our citizens, and better able to do what we’re here to do, which is to deliver for them – and, I hope, for the world.
So to each of you who are still here hanging in there at the end of the day, thank you.  Thank you for your participation.  Thank you for your engagement – but not just today, every single day – in doing this work.  It matters.  It’s making a difference, and I can think of no recent time in history when it’s been more vital.  So thanks to everyone.  Have a great evening.  (Applause.)  Thank you.