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 PROCLAMATION 7025—SEPT. 19, 1997 111 STAT. 2979 understand life beyond our borders. Because of their racial, linguistic, and cultural diversity, minority entrepreneurs are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of this dynamic international marketplace. Recognizing the contributions that minority enterprises make to the social and economic fabric of our Nation, we must continue to remove any barriers that prevent talented men and women of every racial and ethnic background from participating fully in America's economic mainstream. Working in partnership, government and private industry must ensure that minority-owned firms have equal access to capital, technical assistance, new markets, and opportunities for growth. We must attract new entrepreneurs to the marketplace and encourage existing firms to expand. By doing so, we can ensure that America's promise will continue to shine brightly for all our people. As we observe Minority Enterprise Development Week, let us honor the energy, determination, and optimism of our Nation's minority entrepreneurs, whose hard work has done so much to help keep America strong, prosperous, and full of hope for the future. NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, 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 September 21 through September 27, 1997, as Minority Enterprise Development Week. I call on all Americans to commemorate this event with appropriate ceremonies and activities in acknowledgment of the many contributions that minority entrepreneurs bring to our national life. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this nineteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-second. WILLIAM J. CLINTON Proclamation 7025 of September 19, 1997 National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week, 1997 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation We are a few short years away from the dawn of the 21st century, yet much of the challenge and change we have been anticipating is already upon us. We are competing today in a truly global economy, an economy based on information and technology as well as agriculture and industry. We are living in the age of the information revolution, the era of the World Wide Web, of daily advances in communications technology where a universe of knowledge is only a keyboard and a modem away. We are crossing the frontier into a new world, and our only map and compass in that world will be education. We must build an educational system that prepares our young people for the jobs of the future. We must empower them with the values, experiences, and self-confidence to succeed in our diverse society. We must provide them with the knowledge and motivation to reach their

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