 Thank you all so much, Senator Kuhn, staff of all the many senators and congressmen who've been there with us, Nancy Lindbergh, President of the Institute of Peace, Johnny Carson, my assistant secretary, the SIP also, friends of Liberia, members of the press, ladies and gentlemen. I'm here in Washington, here in the U.S. Capitol, to say thank you on behalf of the government and people of Liberia. And in my own name, I want to express profound gratitude to the U.S. government, to the U.S. military, the non-governmental organizations, the faith-based institutions and the American people for the depth of friendship, remarkable partnership, an exemplary leadership which you have shown in joining us on the front line of the battle against this deadly disease. My brothers and sisters of neighboring countries in Guinea and in Sierra Leone, similarly afflicted by the outbreak, join me in expressing appreciation and thanks to all of you. As you know, it was March of this year, last year, that this enemy that we did not know, which we could not have prepared to confront invaded our country, spread rapidly, and for the many of us, became more than an epidemic, threatening those who most intimately connected to their sake. Ebola robbed us of our human need to care and to be cared for. The cruelness of scourge deprived many individuals and stretched the sacred bonds of families, friends, and communities to the breaking point. It attacked our way of life as well as our health system, which gradually was rebounding from years of decline, overstretched and overtaxed our health system collapsed. Early in the epidemic, doctors and nurses giving of themselves without proper gear died, treating the sick and needed for what they believed to be a known diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. With each painful death, the hopes of a nation only recently regenerated after years of war and destruction faded to be replaced by understandable doubt and fear. The international predictions were grim and terrifying. We were told that before the end of January, at least 20,000 of our citizens would die every month in our three countries. Our economy froze and nose dived into recession, threatening to reverse the progress we had worked on and had worked so hard to achieve. Airlines stopped their commercial traffic, trade and travel routes were suspended, contractors folded up their tents and left. And Liberians experienced the chilling effect of stigmatization and abandonment. The future of Liberia's peace and democratic stability, whose foundations we had diligently established thanks to this virus, appear tenuous and fragile. It was at this precarious moment early in August that I reached out to the government and people of the United States, that I reached out to you. I wrote to President Obama asking for America's support. I called my friends in Congress, Senator Kuhn, do you remember those phone calls? I know your staffers and your assistants and your schedulers will remember them. It was not just our friend from Delaware, whom I awakened at night. I called Senators Jake Flake, Patrick Leahy, Minority Leader Pelosi, Congresswoman Karen Bass, Chairman Ed Roars and maybe a dozen other congressional staffers. Well, America responded, you did not run from Liberia. As this is country and people continue to do with many of our global challenges, America stood up and America stood with us, providing the critical resources and partnership to enable us to fight back. That's exactly what the Liberian people did themselves. Community by community, religious leaders, tribal chiefs, women and youth groups, businesses, civil society organizations, political leaders across Liberia's 15 counties fought back. And so today we are reclaiming the future. There was one threatened by this deadly disease. And although we are not totally out of the woods, Ebola is no longer an unknown predator haunting the Liberian people. Thanks to your support. We are now haunting Ebola. From the White House, both houses of Congress and both sides of the aisles, America responded. If I had the time, I would go door to door thanking all 535 members of Congress. However, there's not enough time on this brief visit to do that. So I hope these expressions of heartfelt gratitude reach all of you wherever you are. President Obama, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for sending Dr. Tom Frieden, Director of the Center for Disease Control to Liberia. This decision was perhaps the single most influential event that awakened the world to the scope and magnitude of the disease virulent spread in West Africa. We also recognized the extraordinary decision by the President to deploy the U.S. military to help Liberia. They leave behind a capacitated national army that will not only be able to build treatment centers, but to build development structures all over the country. We want to give thanks to USA Dart and their team for the assistance in setting up an integrated command and to the many U.S. implementing partners, the first responders who reached beyond their fears and ran toward the danger and not away from it. We give thanks to the U.S. Embassy in Liberia, Ambassador Deborah Malik. What did I call you? The Diplomac General for the steadfast support and continued compassion walking with us every day, even when the joining seemed impossible. Liberians know that it was the leadership of the Obama Administration supported by Congress by many, many senators and Congressmen and women that allowed us to be able to stabilize the disease and encourage the rest of the world to respond to what truly was a global crisis. And so with support of partners like you, we have made great progress in containing the virus. Today, 13 of our 15 counties have reported no new cases over 21 days and we are down to one to three infections per week chasing the very last element of the chain of transmission, notwithstanding, we have continued to warm our citizens against complacency. We can neither rest nor lift our foot off the gas. We are determined to get to zero. To zero cases by April 15 in keeping with the agreements recently reached by the Manu River Union Summit, the Manu River Union comprising Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire, although Cote d'Ivoire is not affected. We are all keenly aware that traveling that last mile to zero new cases will be the most difficult because the disease has retreated and must now be chased down in every single corner. We also know that full eradication will not be achieved until the whole region is freed from Ebola. This is why securing our borders remains a priority requiring additional resources as well as providing assistance to our neighbors. We remain confident of getting to zero because our 19 Ebola treatment units have virtually emptied today. We now have the capacity to treat infectious disease. Our trained barrel teams can safely remove bodies in less than 24 hours. Our five active laboratories can test up to 61 persons per day. The 4,000 contact traces, largely community workers, are now following thousands of persons who may be on the contact list. Friends, as we celebrate our success, the truth also is that the cost has been extremely high, too high for many grieving families in our recovering nation to bear. You may recall many of you. On March 16, 2006, I had the honor to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. I committed our leadership to paying any price to lay the foundation for durable peace in Liberia. Ebola struck after 10 years of consecutive peace, affecting that foundation that had been so carefully built. Our average annual growth rate at 7%, experience of 50% reduction, the infant mortality rate that we had brought down, and the maternal mortality rate, which we had reduced by 17 years. Our crippling debt that we had been able to solve, the restoration of social and economic order, and infrastructure, all of those, our free and democratic society, all stood the chance of being reversed. That was our challenge. We must now return to rebuilding Liberia's peace and prosperity, even as we eliminate the threat of Ebola. This requires updating the healthcare system, including an early warning system that integrates the public and private sectors. We have begun to do so, revising our 10-year healthcare plan with a heavy focus on training to rebuild and strengthen capacities that were lost during many of our front-line healthcare workers during the epidemic. We aim to strengthen the capacity of community workers to continue to give them what they need to be fresh responders, so that never again will we be unable to guard against a disease of this nature. We are seeking to rebuild our health infrastructure, prioritizing roadways to help to access hard-to-reach areas. We are transitioning from treatment to prevention with the support of over 100 partners from 26 countries. Liberia's only 218 medical doctors and 5,234 nurses to serve a population of 4.3 million says that we have a big gap to be able to cover, and we know that these facts will not change overnight. We are determined to continue to fill that gap, gradually transitioning Liberian-built and lead national healthcare delivery system that will stand the size and scope of any other disease of this nature. There's also an inherent link between healthcare system revitalization, economic recovery, and peace building, which is stronger now than ever before. Liberia's post Ebola economic recovery, while continuing to accelerate improvements in infrastructure roads, electricity, water and sewer will prioritize healthcare delivery revitalization. We also intend to invest heavily in agriculture for food security and job creation. In this regard, we are working closely with USA partners to address the immediate issue of food security and a longer-term program to develop a robust agricultural sector capable of feeding the nation. We will tap into Liberian entrepreneurship in accelerating a private sector-led revival of the formal and informal sectors of our economy. We have told our partners that the private sector must become the engine of our recovery, and therefore we must together consider the obstacles that have emerged in the post Ebola economy, including the increased costs of doing business and challenges to travel and trade. On this note, I want to commend the Ebola private sector mobilization group for their role in the Ebola response and encourage them to maintain their critical place at the table in our recovery. Distinguished friends, on account of this deadly outbreak, Liberia's progress experienced what we call only a temporary setback. We promise you, Senator Kuhn, that our success as an emerging democracy will continue to grow and be respected. We have shown the resilience to persevere first through decades of conflict, and now by conquering what is the greatest threat to global public health in this generation. Our resolve to meet the challenge that is ahead is strong and unrelenting. As I speak, our curfew has ended, we've lifted it, our children are back at school, our borders are open, our women marketeers are back at work, our farmers are preparing for the oncoming planting season, and most importantly, our spirits are lifted. We will win this battle against Ebola. We will succeed. Thank you, and thank the American people for your support in our progress. Liberia is back in the business of development.