[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[May 12, 1992]
[Page 752]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 752]]

Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With United 
Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali

May 12, 1992
    The President. Let me just say first how delighted I am to see the 
Secretary-General again, and also perhaps the world's most renowned 
international environmentalist, Mr. Maurice Strong, whom I've known for 
many, many years.
    I want to take this opportunity to say that I will be going to Rio, 
to the important meeting there. I think that we have a big stake. I take 
great pride in the fact that, in many ways, the U.S. has been a leader 
for environmental matters. I'm convinced that we can have jobs and 
economic growth as well as sound economic environmental practice. I will 
be taking the U.S. message to Rio to that end. And I'm very pleased that 
it's been worked out. And I called the President of Brazil a few minutes 
ago, Fernando Collor, who is most interested in this. But I'm grateful 
to both of you. And we have lots to talk about, but I did want to get 
that message out.
    Q. How long will you stay? Will you go for the whole meeting?
    The President. Well, no, I couldn't possibly do that. We have an 
election on in the United States this year and plus some other pressing 
problems.
    Q. Are you involved?
    The President. No, it's a very complicated--and I explained that to 
Brazil's President, my dear friend, and I think he understands it. But 
we haven't actually picked a date. We can talk, I guess, if there's one 
that seems better than others. But I won't be able to stay long. We'll 
have representation there, good, high-level, strong representation, but 
I'm very pleased that it's been worked out so that I can be a part of 
this important meeting.
    Q. Mr. President, after your meeting with congressional leaders, are 
you encouraged that compromises can be found quickly?
    The President. Well, I was talking to Marlin about it, and I 
understand that the spirit that was in that room, a spirit of ``let's 
get something done,'' was reflected in the statements afterwards. And 
let's hope that we can move forward.
    Now, I don't want to take any more questions in here because we've 
got a lot to talk about with the U.N. Secretary-General.
    But let me just say before we close off those machines, in my view 
he came into the United Nations at a very difficult time, but also 
perhaps the most challenging time in its history as it begins to fulfill 
its mission in not just the social and economic side that Maurice 
Strong's been so active in but in the political side. I'm talking about 
peacekeeping, peacemaking. And he is off to a fantastic start, and I 
want to work with him to see where the United States can be as 
cooperative as possible with the United Nations. They're doing a lot of 
things that benefit mankind in both the economic and social council, all 
those agenda items, and now in this very important peacekeeping, 
beginning to fulfill the dream of the founders, and that's very, very 
important.
    Q. Does that mean you're going to give them some more money?
    The President. Well, I don't know, Sarah [Sarah McClendon, McClendon 
News Service]. You've got a price tag on everything. I'm going to tell 
him we don't have all the money we'd like.
    Q. Is the accord watered down so much that they say it's so filled 
with ambiguities now that----
    The President. Oh, I don't think so. They've got a broad agenda for 
this Conference, and people have been focusing on one part of it. But 
we've got lots to talk about down there.
    Thank you all very much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 11:35 a.m. in the Oval 
                        Office. In his remarks, he referred to Maurice 
                        Strong, Secretary General of the U.N. Conference 
                        on Environment and Development.