pd07fe00 Videotape Address to the People of Puerto Rico on Efforts To Resolve the...

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you're doing and being absolutely sure whatever it is, it's not good for 
them.
    So I believe that having them in the WTO will not only pad the 
economic benefits for the United States and other countries I mentioned 
but will increase the likelihood of positive change in China and, 
therefore, stability throughout Asia.
    Let me say, you know, China and Russia both are still going through 
big transitions. The Russian economy is coming back a little

[[Page 195]]

better than most people think it is. No one knows what China and Russia 
will be like 10 years from now for sure, and you can't control it, 
unless you're Chinese or Russian; but you can control what you do. And I 
don't know about you, but 10 years from now, whatever happens, I want to 
know that I did everything I could to increase the chance that they 
would make good choices, to become good, constructive neighbors and 
good, constructive partners in the global community.
    You know, we don't agree with the Russian policy in Chechnya, but 
we've gotten rid of 5,000 nuclear weapons, and we got our soldiers 
working together in the Balkans. So I think the argument--we've got to 
try to have these big countries integrated, for the same reason we have 
to keep trying to work with India and with Pakistan to resolve those 
difficulties and get them fully integrated.
    At every turn, we have to ask ourselves--we cannot control what 
other people do; we can only control what we do. But when all is said 
and done, if it works out well or it works out poorly, we want to know 
that we have done everything we possibly could to give people a chance 
to make good decisions. And that's what drives me, and that's why we're 
going to do everything we possibly can--under the leadership of 
Secretary Daley, who's going to coordinate our efforts to implement the 
agreement that our Trade Ambassador, Charlene Barshefsky, negotiated--
we're going to try everything we can to get China permanent trading 
status so we can support their entering the WTO. And my guess is that 
we'll do it. But it's going to be a big fight, and you can watch it with 
interest, and I hope with support. Thank you.
    President Schwab. Mr. President, you mentioned debt relief in your 
speech, and you also mentioned it in your State of the Union message. Do 
you think the G-7 are really doing enough in this respect?
    President Clinton. No, I don't. But if we do--I'm trying to focus on 
doing what we promised to do. And again, let me tell you what the debate 
is. We had an intense effort, in the last session of Congress, to pass 
what the Congress was finally, at the end of the session, good enough to 
do, and do on a bipartisan basis--I want to give credit to the 
Republicans, as well as the Democrats, who voted for this--to support 
our forgiving 100 percent of our bilateral debt for the poorest 
countries. And we're going to have another intense debate to support our 
contributions to the multilateral debt reduction effort, which is even 
more important.
    The debate at home--basically, the people who are against this are 
old-fashioned conservatives who think when people borrow money they 
ought to pay it back, and if you forgive their debt, well, then, no one 
else will ever loan them money, because they'll think they'll have to 
forgive their debt, too. There's something to that, by the way. There's 
something to that. In other words, when we get into negotiations of 
whether debt should be rescheduled or totally forgiven, there are many 
times--when I have confidence in the leader of a country, and I know 
they're going in the right direction, I would almost always rather 
forgive it--assuming I could get the support in Congress to do so.
    But we do have to be sensitive to the way the world investor 
community views all these things, so that when all is said and done, 
countries that genuinely will have to continue to borrow money can get 
the money they need. But with that caveat, I favor doing more and more 
than the Cologne debt initiative. But my experience is, we do these 
things on a step-by-step basis. We already have broadened the Cologne 
debt initiative, and we're going to broaden it again. And I think if we 
get the Cologne debt initiative done and it works, and people see that 
it works, then we can do more.
    But it is really--it is quite pointless, it seems to me, to keep 
these poor countries trapped in debt. They're having to make debt 
service payments, which means that they can't educate their children, 
they can't deal with their health care problems, they can't grow their 
economy, and, therefore, they can't make any money to pay their debts 
off anyway. I mean, it's a totally self-defeating policy we've got now.
    So I would like to see us do as much as possible, but at the same 
time, I want to remind you of another point I made. A lot of countries 
suffer not because they have governments that are too strong; they 
suffer because they have governments that are too weak. So we have to 
keep trying to build the

[[Page 196]]

governance capacity for countries so when they get their debt relief, 
then they can go forward and succeed. So I don't think you should forget 
about that, either.
    All of us have a real obligation to try to help build capacity so 
our friends, when they get the relief, can make the most of it.
    President Schwab. Mr. President, to conclude our session, you have 
in front of you the 1,000 most influential business leaders. What would 
be your single, most important wish towards them, at this moment?
    President Clinton. My most important wish is that the global 
business community could adopt a shared vision for the next 10 to 20 
years about what you want the world to look like, and then go about 
trying to create it in ways that actually enhance your business, but do 
so in a way that helps other people as well.
    I think the factor about globalization that tends to be 
underappreciated is, it will only work if we understand it genuinely 
means interdependence. It means interdependence, which means we can--
none of us who are fortunate can any longer help ourselves unless we are 
prepared to help our neighbors. And we need a more unifying, more 
inclusive vision. Once you know where you're going, it's a lot easier to 
decide what steps to take to get there. If you don't know where you're 
going, you can work like crazy, and you would be walking in the wrong 
direction. That's why I think this forum is so important.
    You need to decide. The business community needs to decide. You may 
not agree with anything I said up here today. But you have to decide 
whether you really agree that the WTO is not just the province for you 
and me and the trade experts. You have to decide whether you really 
agree that globalization is about more than markets alone. You have to 
decide whether you really agree that free markets--even in an age of 
free markets, you need confident, strong, efficient government. You have 
to decide whether you really agree that it would be a good thing to get 
the debt off these countries' shoulders if you knew and could require 
that the money saved would go into educating children and not building 
weapons of destruction.
    Because if you decide those things, you can influence not only the 
decisions of your own government but how all these international bodies, 
including the WTO, work. So the reason I came all the way over here on 
precious little sleep, which probably undermined my ability to 
communicate today, is that collectively, you can change the world. And 
what you are doing here is a mirror image of what people are doing all 
over the world. This is a new network.
    But don't leave the little guys out. You know, I come from a little 
town in Arkansas. I was born in a town of 6,000 people, in a State 
that's had an income just about half the national average. I've got a 
cousin who lives in Arkansas. He's a small-businessman, he works for a 
small business who, 2 or 3 times a week, plays chess on the Internet 
with a guy in Australia. Now, they've got to work out the times. How 
they do that, I don't know. [Laughter] But the point I want to make to 
you is, he thinks he knows as much about his life and his interests and 
how he relates to the Internet and the world, as I do. He thinks, he 
knows just as much about his interests as his President does, who 
happens to be his cousin.
    So we need these networks. And you are in an unbelievably unique 
position. So my one wish for you--you might think I'd say China or this 
or that and the other; it's nothing specific--develop a shared vision. 
When good people with great energy have shared vision, all the rest 
works out.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 12:36 p.m. in the Plenary Room at the 
Congress Center. In his remarks, he referred to President Andres 
Pastrana of Colombia; President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa; Chairman 
Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority; President Jose Maria Aznar 
of Spain; Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit of Turkey; and John J. Sweeney, 
president, AFL-CIO. Klaus Schwab served as President of the World 
Economic Forum.


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[Page 196-197]
 
Monday, February 7, 2000
 
Volume 36--Number 5
Pages 181-231
 
Week Ending Friday, February 4, 2000
 
Statement on Paying Down the National Debt

January 31, 2000

    Today we received further evidence that our economic strategy of 
fiscal discipline is

[[Page 197]]

working. By making the tough choices necessary to turn record deficits 
into record surpluses, we are now in a position to start paying down the 
debt. According to the latest numbers from the Department of the 
Treasury, we will pay down $152 billion in debt in the 3 months from 
April to June--the largest debt pay down in our Nation's history. By the 
end of this fiscal year, we will have repaid approximately $300 billion 
in debt. If we continue on this path of fiscal discipline, we can pay 
off our national debt for the first time since Andrew Jackson was 
President. This will keep interest rates low and investment high and 
lead to savings on everything from mortgages to student loans for 
working families across America.


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[Page 197]
 
Monday, February 7, 2000
 
Volume 36--Number 5
Pages 181-231
 
Week Ending Friday, February 4, 2000
 
Statement on Action To Resolve the Impasse Over Armed Forces Training on 
Vieques Island, Puerto Rico

January 31, 2000

    Today, I am announcing a course of action to resolve the impasse 
over United States Armed Forces training on Vieques. This course will 
give the people of Vieques the right to determine the future of the 
island while assuring that our training needs are met. I have received a 
letter from the Governor of Puerto Rico endorsing this course.
    I am issuing two directives. They provide that between later this 
year and early 2002, there will be a referendum held on Vieques, in 
which the people of Vieques will be asked to choose between two 
alternatives. If they choose the first alternative, the Navy will cease 
all training on Vieques and leave the island by May 1, 2003. If they 
choose the second, training will continue on Vieques on terms that will 
be presented at least 3 months before the vote.
    During the period leading up to the vote, training done on Vieques 
will be limited to nonexplosive ordnance--meaning there will be no live 
fire, and the Navy and Marine Corps will cut in half the amount of time 
they will spend training to no more than 90 days per year, which is what 
we need to meet our training needs. I will also implement measures to 
meet the health, safety, environmental, and economic concerns of the 
people of Vieques, and I will ask Congress to begin transferring title 
to land on the western quarter of the island to Puerto Rico.
    I believe this plan will help resolve the impasse over Vieques in 
the fairest possible way, because it will meet our training needs while 
giving the people most affected by this decision--the people who 
actually live on the island--the ability to choose for themselves the 
future of their island.


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[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
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[Page 197-198]
 
Monday, February 7, 2000
 
Volume 36--Number 5
Pages 181-231
 
Week Ending Friday, February 4, 2000
 
Memorandum on a Resolution Regarding Use of Range Facilities
on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico

January 31, 2000

Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense; Director, Office of Management 
and Budget

Subject: Resolution Regarding Use of Range Facilities on Vieques, Puerto 
Rico (Community Assistance)

    By separate directive I have addressed the resumption of Navy and 
Marine Corps training on the island of Vieques.
    1. Provided that training opportunity has resumed and is 
continuously available on Vieques, then within 90 days of this 
directive, I direct the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to request 
authority and funding (which with funding for projects described in 
paragraph 5(e) of the previously referenced directive will total $40 
million) from the Congress for the following projects:
      (a) To support the construction of a new commercial ferry pier and 
terminal by the Army Corps of Engineers.
      (b) To establish an artificial reef construction and fish 
aggregation program to create substantial new commercial fishing areas 
for Vieques fishermen. Until such time as these new fishing grounds are 
operational, this legislation will authorize direct payments of an 
amount (to be determined by the National Marine Fisheries Services) to 
be paid to registered Vieques commercial fisherman for each day they are 
unable to use existing waters because the Navy is training.
      (c) To support expanding or improving the major cross-island 
roadways and bridges on Vieques.

[[Page 198]]

      (d) To establish an apprenticeship/training program for young 
people of Vieques to facilitate participation in small-scale civic 
construction projects.
      (e) To establish a program with the Government of Puerto Rico to 
preserve the Puerto Mosquito Vieques bioluminescent bay and to commit 
Federal resources to its preservation.
      (f) To establish a professional economic development office for 
Vieques for the purpose of promoting Vieques and attracting jobs to the 
island.
    2. The Director of OMB shall publish this directive in the Federal 
Register.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:22 a.m., February 3, 
2000]

Note: This memorandum was published in the Federal Register on February 
4.


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