Remarks: Melania Trump Discusses Expanding Fostering the Future Together - September 22, 2026

Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you Special Envoy Vales and Ambassador Waltz. Your ongoing commitment to support Fostering the Future Together is both important and meaningful. Friends, excellencies, and distinguished leaders, welcome to New York City. Fostering the Future Together now unites nearly 60 nations, many represented here today.

You have traveled great distances in support of our children, bringing together distinguished leaders from Panama, the Republic of Korea, Kenya, Albania, Estonia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and beyond. Together, we are a beautiful range of cultures, languages, histories and traditions. And yet, we stand unified around one rev- -- everlasting truth.

The future of our world will be determined by what we do for our children today. Fostering the Future Together is more than a coalition. It is a commitment to empower children through technology and education to ensure that every child, regardless of where they are born, has the opportunity to imagine, learn, create, and thrive.

When nations speak with one voice, the world listens. Our collective influence is profound. Together, we can open doors, move markets, shape policy, and most importantly, we can change lives for the better. Each of us has been entrusted with the responsibility of leadership. But mar- -- mark my words, our success will not be measured solely by what we accomplish during our time in this role.

Our success as leaders will be measured by what remains after we are gone. Did we strengthen our schools? Did we make new discoveries possible? Did we inspire greater innovation? And most importantly, will the next generation be able to build upon our vision and use our accomplishments to advance their careers, families, communities, and nations?

So I ask you, will you join me and lead? Will you be the future of our children above the differences that divide us? Fostering the Future Together is a global coalition with a unified mission to empower children through technology and education. But what does it mean to empower a child? To empower through empowerment begins by giving a child the confidence to believe that their mind has value.

It means giving children the freedom to imagine a world beyond the one they know today, and the confidence, knowledge and tools to make the vision real. Our Fostering the Future Together Coalition must strive to empower the youth of our nations to bend the boundaries of imagination, explore new frontiers of intellect, have the courage to take calculated risks and build toward advancement of society.

When we succeed, we will create a stronger world shaped by a new generation of people capable of building healthier communities with greater tolerance for one another, advanced technologies, food security, new industries, and widespread prosperity. The people in this room today can change, can prepare our children and our grandchildren, not simply to inte- -- inherit the world but to improve it. That is empowerment.

We are living in an extraordinary moment in human history. We stand together at the threshold of a techno- -- technological revolution. Ideas once confined to science fiction novels and films has, has become part of our everyday reality. What once seemed impossible is becoming ordinary. Today, we converse with AI, video call our families from any place on the planet, hold an entire computer in the palm of our hand, use self-driving cars, enter virtual worlds, and use biometric ID to access our bank accounts, airport terminals, and homes.

This list is exhaust- -- exhaustive. Artificial intelligence is transforming entire business sector, and expanding how humanity accesses the largest corpus of information ever available to humanity. But access alone is not empowerment. We must give our children the tools and teach them how to use those tools wi- -- wisely.

I would also like to take a minute to thank our private sector tech companies who have also step up to empower our children: Adobe, Amazon, Google, Starlink, Zoom, and Intel. Thank you for empowering children with access to technology all over planet. When we gather at the White House for the inaugural meeting of Fostering the Future Together, we witnessed something very powerful.

Our first spouses were inspired to act, and several made meaningful commitments. I thank Ms. Marcus from Philippines, who has committed to hosting a Fostering the Future Together event at the upcoming ASEAN Conference in Manila. Poland's Marta Nawrocka will host a regional European Fostering the Future Together event for members this winter.

The First Lady of St. Kitts and Nevis, Diani Prince-Drew, is organizing and hosting our Caribbean Fostering the Future Together conference before the new year. Perfect timing together in that beautiful region of the world. Thank you. In December, I will host Fostering the Future Together first G20 event in Miami, Florida.

To the leaders of these great nations, thank you for stepping forward to activate your regions. You will have my full support. Years from now, our children may not remember the meetings we held or the speeches we gave, but they will leave with the consequences of what we do here. So let history say that at the moment of extraordinary possibility, leaders from around the world came together through Fostering the Future Together and chose to put children first. Thank you.