always saying that we are so grateful for visitors to japan. secretary clinton visited one month after. secretary -- vice president visited japan and went to the site four months later. justin bieber came and lady gaga made several visits as well. we are very grateful for that, really. real friend of japan. i call her foj, friends of japan. plans for reconstruction. there are budget adding up to $225 billion. and the basic conception is that we'll have open reconstruction. we need your ideas, your funding

and initiative. so, american or japanese companies alike will be exempted from corporate tax and receive financial support for establishing new companies there. looking back at our disaster which was experienced one year ago, i think that we have to draw some lessons. my way of putting it is that i can -- say it by seven piece. first is p for prediction. however, prediction, there's a limit to that and sometimes

prediction cannot be so reliable. there are a lot of these so we have to be very objective. the second p is prevention. in natural disasters this is not possible. it is to mitigate before accidents like nuclear accident there is can be preventive measures. that is exactly what we have to be looking at. where to place the generator, for example. third is preparation. you have to prepare people, you have to prepare the government, you have to prepare the local community because if you look at history, you know that these things will happen and will happen sometime. and these tsunamis have happened already two times in last 100 years so you have to prepare

ourselves for that. fourth is of course prompt response or prompt reaction when things happen. we are now reviewing ourselves with everything has to be very prompt. and also, fifth is pri or itization. you have to prioritize. human lives first, housing first, not everything at one time. but of course everything has to do with one time but you have to really prioritize the allocation of resources, not only money resources but human resources as well. six and maybe one of the most important is public understanding. because this means in other words, transparency. i think we have a duty in japan

to share everything we have learned with other people because we have -- you have helped us. we cannot see that other countries around the world will go the same step as us so we have to say that where we went wrong, what we went right as well. and this is the most important duty that is facing us now. last is postmortem review. this is exactly this, for example, symposium for that. and i'm very happy that a.i. has organized this. in japan there has been a private research commission done that, government is now doing this, diet is commissioning this as well. we're trying to find what was really right, what went wrong. we have to be candid about. so we are trying to do this.

and lastly, we always say that as i said, we are on recovery road but it was not just by ourselves. it was because of the help from people around the world. of course japan has some strong points. we have recovered from, for example, closing of japan for 20 years and we were opened up and in 30 years we were able to be among one of the powers. after world war ii, after 20 year, we were able to host olympic games. oil shocks hit twice because we don't have energy at all.

and still, we were able to come back and made most energy efficient cars and economy and compete with other countries so we were able to turn the table, make the cha tleeng opportunity. i think we will try to do this again. it's because people have helped and americans as you said, have helped us during the most difficult time. and japanese will never forget your friendship. the american friendship. that meant a lot to us that american people stood by us, stood with us. it was not only words as you say. it was really people coming in and helped us, search and rescue, and a lot of good will

contributions and -- it's amazing how people are now looking at american friendship in japan. so, from bottom of our heart i always say that i represent japanese people, i must thank you very much. [ applause ] >> the ambassador has agreed to do q and a for about 10 or 15 minutes. we'll have mikes, if you could make your question very brief and identify yourself we'd appreciate it. >> you can see that i was going to get out and i was told that no, no, no. you have an obligation here. i would contradict michael.

you can make 10-minute speech if you like. anyone of you. please go ahead. >> gary blumenthal, war perspectives. mr. ambassador, curious, what is japan doing to recognize the individual workers who made a great personal sacrifice to try and prevent further damage to the rest of the population from the fallout? >> i think you are talking of people who are working in the nuclear site, and also those people worked in the police force, self defense force, fire department people. there are a lot of people who have worked and i think the most -- i should not say, label,

but are those workers on the site who have really been there all the time. if they had left it would have been such a disaster. so, i think we should recognize them. i don't know how we can because there are a lot of people. i think maybe their work is going to be done in a group or individual -- i'm sorry, i do not know at this juncture. i say this because this is so difficult. on american side, if i am extending gratitude there are some people up in front but there are a lot of people in the back side who were not seen by us but were on 24/7 team work all the time. so i don't know how we can

identify but i think gratitude should be there. and i personally have expressed gratitude to those workers who have been working on the site. not only in verbal means as well. thank you. i should name someone? >> you pointed out how it's going to be a long recovery period due to the magnitude of the tragedy. are there areas -- reconstruction and development where you think we have a stake in working together on that challenge? >> i cannot say a specific area but i think as i said, we have

proscribed a law to set up a special district where taxes exempted and special subsidies there for any companies, foreign or national, domestic, to come in and it is not easy. i don't know how profitable it is in the beginning but i hope that these will be an invite in american colleagues to come to those sites. but also we would appreciate, as i said, a lot of visitors to japan too. as for specific area of cooperation for a company, i would say as many as possible but i cannot identify the

specific area. thank you very much. >> i'm from the voice america. you mentioned about partnerships that trying to develop, share the experience of this disaster. so united states is right now reviewing its own nuclear plans. is there partnership or sharing between united states and japan and what about with japan's neighbors like china, korea or taiwan? >> i think as i said, our duty is to share our experiences. we have already submitted a report to iaea and this december, this year december, we will have a conference in fukushima, international conference, high level conference, to share experiences as well. so that people can draw their

lessons. i think our most important ally, friend, is united states, so u.s. has -- they have all -- they were with us all the time, and meeting every day your embassy and your forces, so they know. but i think we don't hesitate to share that with other countries in asia as well. i think this is very important. we don't want to see something that happened to us, to other countries. >> see if we have one more question. >> could you characterize the impact of chinese reactions after the tsunami efforts over the past year on japanese/chinese relationships?

>> china was very -- thank you very much. china was very forthcoming and they were trying to do all the humanitarian efforts that they can, sending doctors, sending rescue teams, sending a lot of materials in kind. we have been helped a lot by chinese friend. as for as it relates to other issues with japan/china relations i think this is very independent from that. they were doing that from humanitarian point of view, not trying to influence japan's policies toward china. so i think those, if the you are trying to focus on issue such as some disputes over some island or whatever, it has remained that way, nothing has changed. but as for the humanitarian

efforts that china has done we are very grateful for that. >> before i ask you to join me in thanking the ambassador, we have an expert panel that will be coming up in a minute so if you would kindly wait while we bring them up. now thank you so much. >> i think they will deny everything i said. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> we've got more live events coming up for you. join us at 3:00 p.m. eastern for a hearing looking at the traumatic brain injuries. efforts to prevent and treat such injuries will be examined that's live at 3:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span 3. the house and senate are both in session today, the senate meets at 2:00 p.m. eastern for speeches with legislative work

starting at 4:30. when lawmakers will resume consideration of hr 3606. that's a bill aimed at loosening securities regulations on small to medium sized companies. more work on that and votes are expected tuesday. you can watch the senate live on c-span 2. the house also gavels in at 2:00 for work with the first roll call votes of the week after 6:30 p.m. budget committee chair paul ryan may release his budget plan this week. speaking of congress, this past saturday senator barbara mikulski became the longest serving woman in congressional history first elected in 1976, moving across the capital to the senate 10 years later in 1986. >> in march 1979, c-span began televising the u.s. house of representatives to households nation wide. and today, our content of politics and public affairs,

nonfiction books and american shift available on tv, radio and online. >> we have even had advice that we do not do as i did today and come in with a plain old white shirt and a summer tie, heaven forbid. now, i don't know whether my colleagues feel that this would be a better decorum for the senate. i see the distinguished senator stafford here nodding no. but perhaps the people of ohio would be glad to make a judgment on what they want to see me attired in here in the united states senate. so, mr. president, these are just a few of our concerns here in the senate that i'm sure that none of us will do a thing differently in the senate of the united states, now that we're on television. thank you. >> c p span, created by america cable companies as a public service.

>> next a panel of u.s. ambassadors from countries including libya, egypt and tunisia, speak about the economic and political prospects in those countries and others. the national u.s., arab chamber of commerce hosted the eventis month. >> thank you, ambassador, for that. very interesting. we're now our first panel. we're all in full attendance. i think perhaps should we start down at the end with ambassador gray. if you could all just give us five minutes of introduction and then we'll start with our q and a. >> great. thank you. thanks to all of you for coming this afternoon and i want to thank our hosts and particularly david hamud though he couldn't be with us due to previous

commitments overseas. my name is gordon gray, the u.s. ambassador to tunisia, and obviously 2011 was a year of profound political change in tunisia. in addition to these political changes came the realization of the importance of job creation to the success of the transition in tunisia. and this led in turn to the further opening of tunisia markets to foreign trade and investment. because without those opening of those markets and easing of regulations, jobs simply aren't going to be created to the degree that they are necessary. one of tunisia's advantages for investors is its location, it is within close proximity, obviously, of not only north

africa, but also europe and sub-saharan africa. with the population of just over 10 million people, it's not an overwhelmingly large market for u.s. goods, but it's regional platform is very appealing market. it's also the only country in north africa that can trade with all of its neighbors, its party to other trading agreements such as the agadir agreement that allows it to trade freely with egypt, jordan and morocco. this meanings that there are several opportunities for u.s. businesses. there are more than 80 u.s. companies in tunisia now. some of the companies present in tunisia have had success in the i.t. sector, manufacturing, also, and some of the exports that u.s. companies have made to

tunisia include things like oil seeds, cereal, machinery, chemicals, and the like. looking ahead as far as opportunities for u.s. companies, infrastructure is very important and very much needed. large scale tourism projects, industrial mega projects. and these include things such as highways and railways, tourism complexes, phosphate plants and others. franchising is another real opportunity for u.s. companies because we've got such a comparative advantage there. and because there's a large middle class in tunisia. for all of these opportunities that i've mentioned, the overseas private investment corporation can help u.s. investments. they have a $2 billion fund for the middle east and north africa.

and they are eager to spend some of this money in tunisia. we've just had a team from opic visit with a particular eye on franchising opportunities. i'm mindful of the need to keep the panel going so i will stop now and allow time for questions and answers after my colleagues give their presentations. but we do have an information sheet on tunisia, there are some at the back of the room and i have copies, and i also have the business card of our commercial attache if any one wants to get in touch with her. >> thank you, ambassador gray. i would like to turn to ambassador cap lin. >> good afternoon. it's been a great pleasure serving in morocco. morocco is a country unlike some of the other countries involved where its stability is its greatest claim to fame in the business world. when you consider all that has happened in arab spring and you

realize how little the impact has been on morocco in terms of its stability, in terms of its health, it's very impressive. and i was sitting with my life at lunch saying what is the principle thing that morocco has going for it? she without batting an eye lash said it's brand. the morocco brand. and that's true. this is a country that has been built in a very significant way on the basis of tourism. and you'll go all through the united states and you'll find all kinds of people who know very little about the politics of the part of the world that i currently serve in, but they will tell you they have been to morocco or read about morocco or know about morocco or know about its welcoming quality, about his positive feeling of its people.

i frequently say that the first two words that moroccans learn are you're welcome. you're welcomed into our house, welcomed into our business, you're welcomed into our country. i think that's a very telling factor. to be sure, arab spring has had an effect, very positive effect i think, in that there has been a change in government, a change in constitution, and now you have a coalition in the government headed by a man who is part of a real political party that organized in a way that said that this country could have reforms in a meaningful way. his majesty is still the most powerful figure in the country, but is doing so, is acting in a manner that is consistent with the sharing of power with government. so, briefly what you have here is the opportunity for american companies to come in. we already have 150 or more in

the country. they do very, very well. we have a very, very strong central bank. they understand what they are doing, they understand commerce in the country. and i think it's a very powerful thing. are there concerns? of course there are concerns. concerns that all of the reforms will not turn out in the way that you would hope. but i think you can set that aside for purpose of this meeting today and say that there's real reason for optimism. >> thank you, ambassador. i would like to turn to ambassador kratz. >> as secretary clinton said last week, what a difference a year has made. exactly one year ago we were working on putting together an international coalition to deal with the brutality that moammar gadhafi was visiting upon the libyan nation and one year later

we've just experienced a tremendously successful whirl wind trip by the prime minister of libya which resulted in renewed commitment on both sides to pursue a new and close relationship, a partnership with each other in every possible sphere. if you read the newspapers, headlines of the last several weeks, you get a sense that libya is a country beset by militias fighting each other, tribalism, an economy in tatters, regional flare-ups, et cetera. even -- i mean, there are issues, there are challenges here for sure. and even the government itself acknowledges that there have been mistakes in its public

communication and the way that it has pursued the issues of transparency. but i would argue that one should also look on the positive things that have happened. over the past four months, if you saw prime minister alkib you have seen a man who is serious, dedicated, committed to human rights, committed to a democratic libya and his cabinet very much reflects his personality. civil society is burgeoning, political parties are exploding all over the place. you can't go two nights in tripoli without being invited to the launch of a new political party. the election is proceeding at pace. the u.n. has been working with the new electoral commission, there is electoral law. sure, there are many re that election does take place. but it is moving.

the liquidity crisis has eased. february 17th in which the one-year anniversary people were predicting dire explosions and gadhafi elements running rampant in the streets and violence, passed without a whimper. happy families walking along the streets, and no celeb bra torry gun fire. thank goodness. oil which our experts among others declared all last year during the revolution which would never be up to prewar levels until several years, is now up to 1.4 million barrels a day, out of pre-level amount of 1.7, they hope to be back there during the summer and are even talking about going up to 2 million by the end of the year. the budget, we understand was passed today. that will begin to give the

ministries the money that they need to make -- to do their projects. and just in terms of the commercial environment, you know that up until the revolution there was 175, $200 billion of contracts that were given out for infrastructure from a to z. you name it and libya needed it. unfortunately, it was done in a helter-skelter manner and right now the new government before it gives out new contracts, is reviewing those contracts to make sure that they are rational, viable and that they were not subject to the corruption that dominated the gadhafi era. i would say to you that it's a great time to come to libya right now. i know the security situation is a little dicey, for some of you. we live and work