PROCLAMATION 7216—AUG. 25, 1999 113 STAT. 2135 businesses that energized their communities and helped to build a dy- namic new society. Today, minority business owners are brandliing out from predominantly retail and service industries into the fields of manufacturing, transportation, construction, energy, and techiiology, helping to power the longest peacetime economic expansion in our Nation's history. Producing goods and services that generate new jobs and spur investment, minority business owners have played a vital role in building an economy with nearly 19 million new jobs, wages rising at twice the rate of inflation, and the lowest peacetime unemployment rate since 1957. All Americans can be proud that we have eliminated many of the obstacles that in the past hindered minority entrepreneiu's from contributing the full value of their talents to our society. However, while many minority business owners are enjoying success, many still face barriers that keep them from competing on a level playing field. We must continue to build on the combined efforts of the private sector and govenmient to ensure that minority-owned businesses have access to the capital, customers, and services that will enable them to succeed in high technology and other rapidly growing sectors. Through my Administration's New Markets Initiative, we are building partnerships between business and governm<mt to encourage investments in areas that have not attracted investments in the past: inner cities, rural regions, and hidian reservations. MVe are striving to ensure that our Nation's economic expansion—^whicJi has benefited millions of Americans—will reach people who have been left behind for decades. We are also working to help minority-owned firms harness the enormous power of the Internet. The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) at the Department of Commerce, together with the Small Business Administration (SBA), provide minority-owned businesses with the tools they need to succeed in the Information Age. These ef- forts range from interactive educational coiu-ses on the fundamentals of E-commerce to the creation of Phoenix-Opportunity, an automatic electronic bid-matching system that notifies firms of opportunities through the Internet. Similarly, SBA's Pro-Net system jjrovides contracting officers and small and minority-owned businesses; with an electronic gateway to prociu'ement opportunities and information. During Minority Enterprise Development Week, as we honor the many minority businessmen and women whose energy, spirit, and creativity have strengthened oru economy and enriched om- country, let us rededicate oiurselves to niuturing the dreams and talents of all Americans and to realizing the limitless possibilities of our free enterprise system. 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 19 through September 25, 1999, as Minority Enterprise Development Week, and I call on all Americans to join together with minority business entrepreneurs across the country in appropriate observances. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of oui Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-
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