[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 136 (Monday, September 26, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
        REMOVAL OF INJUNCTION OF SECRECY--TREATY DOCUMENT 103-36

  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous 
consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from a treaty 
transmitted to the Senate on September 23, 1994, by the President of 
the United States:
  Treaty Between the United States of America and the Republic of 
Belarus Concerning the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of 
Investment, with Annex, Protocol, and related exchange of letters, 
signed at Minsk on January 15, 1994. (Treaty Document 103-36);
  I also ask that the treaty be considered as having been read the 
first time; that it be referred, with accompanying papers, to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed; and that the 
President's message be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The message of the President is as follows:

To the Senate of the United States:
  With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to 
ratification, I transmit herewith the Treaty Between the United States 
of America and the Republic of Belarus Concerning the Encouragement and 
Reciprocal Protection of Investment, with Annex, Protocol, and related 
exchange of letters, signed at Minsk on January 15, 1994. Also 
transmitted for the information of the Senate is the report of the 
Department of State with respect to this Treaty.
  This bilateral investment Treaty with Belarus is the sixth such 
Treaty between the United States and a newly independent state of the 
former Soviet Union. This Treaty will protect U.S. investors and assist 
the Republic of Belarus in its efforts to develop its economy by 
creating conditions more favorable for U.S. private investment and thus 
strengthening the development of the private sector.
  The Treaty is fully consistent with U.S. policy toward international 
and domestic investment. A specific tenet of U.S. policy, reflected in 
this Treaty, is that U.S. investment abroad and foreign investment in 
the United States should receive national treatment. Under this Treaty, 
the Parties also agree to international law standards for expropriation 
and compensation for expropriation; free transfer of funds associated 
with investments; freedom of investments from performance requirements; 
fair, equitable and most-favored-nation treatment; and the investor or 
investment's freedom to choose to resolve disputes with the host 
government through international arbitration.
  I recommend that the Senate consider this Treaty as soon as possible, 
and give its advice and consent to ratification of the Treaty, with 
Annex, Protocol, and related exchange of letters, at an early date.
                                                  William J. Clinton.  
  The White House, September 23, 1994.

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