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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 16 /Standard Newswire/ -- The following text is a proclamation by the President of the United States of America -- World Trade Week, 2008:  

Free and fair trade helps secure a future of freedom and promise.  During World Trade Week, we recognize the positive effects of opening markets around the world.  Open markets play an integral role in America's economic progress, creating better-paying jobs, expanding consumer choices, and providing increased opportunities for American workers and employers.  Free and fair trade also increases economic growth among our trading partners.

My Administration is committed to expanding economic freedom worldwide.  We will continue to seek an ambitious outcome in the Doha Round that will reduce and eliminate tariffs and other barriers on goods and open new markets for services trade.  The Doha Round provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to advance open markets, strengthen economic growth, and help millions rise out of poverty.

We also encourage the Congress to approve our pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea.  Our free trade agreement with Colombia is important, because it will support one of our closest allies in the Western Hemisphere currently under assault from a terrorist network.  Congressional approval of this agreement would make clear America's unshakeable commitment to advancing the benefits of free markets and the interests of free people.

Today, nearly 250,000 U.S. firms export U.S. products.  Ninety-seven percent of those exporters are small- or medium-sized businesses.  The number of U.S. small business exporters has more than doubled since 1992.  Those businesses have surpassed a quarter of a trillion dollars in annual export sales.

Free and fair trade helps reinforce our Nation's commitments to democracy, transparency, and the rule of law.  This week and throughout the year, we recognize the importance of trade in promoting prosperity and freedom in the United States and around the world.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 18 through May 24, 2008, as World Trade Week.  I encourage all Americans to observe this week with events, trade shows, and educational programs that celebrate the benefits of trade to our Nation and the global economy.

 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.

GEORGE W. BUSH