[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 97 (Wednesday, May 20, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 27813-27814]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-13708]



[[Page 27811]]

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Part IV





The President





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Proclamation 7097--World Trade Week, 1998
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  Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 97 / Wednesday, May 20, 1998 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 27813]]

                Proclamation 7097 of May 15, 1998

                
World Trade Week, 1998

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The American economy is experiencing its longest period 
                of sustained growth in more than a generation, with 
                more than 15 million new jobs, the lowest unemployment 
                rate since 1970, and the lowest inflation rate in more 
                than 30 years. Much of this economic expansion can be 
                attributed to our overseas trade. Today, America is the 
                world's leading exporter. Our exports sustain 12 
                million jobs--jobs that on average, pay more than jobs 
                not tied to exports. The extraordinary vigor of 
                America's economy reflects the 1998 theme of World 
                Trade Week: ``Exporting Pays Off.''

                Our unparalleled capacity to develop and market high-
                technology products and processes has given us a strong 
                competitive edge in the international marketplace in 
                everything from aerospace to agriculture. Americans 
                have led the world into the Information Age, and we are 
                poised to lead it into an exciting new era of 
                electronic commerce. Also central to our success in the 
                global economy has been our ability to open foreign 
                markets for American goods and services. During the 
                past 5 years, my Administration has negotiated more 
                than 240 new trade agreements and strengthened efforts 
                to eliminate unfair trading practices in order to help 
                American workers and businesses compete in an 
                international arena that is open and fair and where 
                trade rules are enforced.

                To keep America growing, and to maintain our leadership 
                in the global economy, we must expand our exports. We 
                must sustain our advantage in information and other 
                technologies by creating a business climate that 
                encourages investment, by continuing our support of 
                education and research in basic science and technology, 
                and by ensuring that American workers are the best-
                educated and best-trained work force in the world. The 
                Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that we will need 
                more than a million new high-skilled workers during the 
                next 10 years to power the information technology 
                field. We must provide working Americans with the 
                skills and training they need to seize these promising 
                employment opportunities.

                Our exports and our economic strength depend upon our 
                access to an open, stable, and growing world market. 
                The nations of the world are becoming increasingly 
                intertwined in a global economy. We must continue our 
                efforts to remove foreign barriers to American goods 
                and services, to open new markets, and to keep them 
                open. This week, I will travel to Geneva, Switzerland 
                and address the World Trade Organization to underline 
                just how important free and open trade is to our future 
                prosperity. Fast-track trade authority has been a 
                crucial tool in this endeavor in the past, and it will 
                become increasingly important to our ability to compete 
                in the future with other countries for new markets, new 
                contracts, and new jobs. This traditional trading 
                authority will empower us to negotiate pro-growth, pro-
                American trade agreements that will maintain the 
                momentum of our economy and ensure that American 
                workers and American businesses can compete on a level 
                playing field with the rest of the world.

[[Page 27814]]

                America's leadership in building an open, fair world 
                trade system is paying off in rewards for 
                entrepreneurial initiative, higher wages for working 
                Americans, incentives for technological advances and 
                artistic creation, and prosperity for our Nation. By 
                embracing the challenges of competing in the global 
                marketplace in the 21st century, we can ensure 
                continued growth for American businesses, prosperity 
                for working Americans, and a brighter future for us 
                all.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United 
                States, do hereby proclaim May 17 through May 23, 1998, 
                as World Trade Week. I invite the people of the United 
                States to observe this week with ceremonies, 
                activities, and programs that celebrate the potential 
                of international trade.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen 
                hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of 
                the United States of America the two hundred and 
                twenty-second.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 98-13708
Filed 5-19-98; 10:30 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P