Biden urges Muslim youth to improve own countries

MARRAKESH, Morocco - Vice President Biden told Muslim youths gathered here Thursday that those who bring their intellect and skills to the United States are welcome, but that U.S. interests are better served if they stay and contribute to their own countries.

Just hours before President Obama delivered a major speech on immigration, Biden noted that "in 2017, in the United States for the first time, Caucasians of European descent will be in the absolute minority. The secret people don't know is that our diversity is the reason for our incredible strength."

But the world and the United States will be more peaceful and prosperous, Biden said, when "the brightest, the most innovative, the greatest risk takers" believe they can reach their potential at home.

He called on governments and societies to create "the climate in which ideas flourish," including access to education, equality for women, and an end to official corruption.

Biden, who celebrated his 72d birthday Thursday, was serenaded with a chorus of "Happy Birthday" by the several thousand mostly youthful Muslims attending the fifth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit. The three-day summit is part of an initiative announced by Obama in Cairo in 2009 to deepen business, education, and technology ties with Muslim-majority countries.

Although the summits were begun at a time when Obama hoped to create what he called a "new beginning" between the United States and Muslims around the world, the relationship has continued to be dominated by antiterrorism concerns.

With U.S. military operations broadening in Iraq and Syria, Biden's speech was seen as "an opportunity to remind the region and the world of some of the values that America stands for, above all the political and economic openness that fuel our innovation," said a senior administration official traveling with the vice president. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity in advance of Biden's remarks.

The two-day summit is jointly sponsored by the United States and Morocco, which constructed a tent city on the outskirts of Marrakesh to house the event.

Biden was accompanied by Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Maria Contreras-Sweet, head of the Small Business Administration.

Three of 11 presidential ambassadors for global entrepreneurship Obama has named also will go to the summit: Daphne Koller, cofounder and president of Coursera Inc.; Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and chief executive officer of Chobani LLC; and Alexa von Tobel, founder and CEO of LearnVest Inc.

In some cases, the State Department reached out to young Muslim entrepreneurs and financed their attendance here. Ridwan Hafez, 28, who runs a software start-up in Dhaka, Bangladesh, said he was contacted there by the U.S. consulate.

"I'm trying to take my business overseas," Hafez said. "This is a networking opportunity." Despite what he called "negative energy" toward the United States in much of the Muslim world, he said, "this is one of the best things of Obama."

Morocco was the first stop on a trip that will also take Biden to Ukraine and Turkey this week.