    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [September 14, 1993]
    [Page 1490]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With Prime
    Minister Paul Keating of Australia
    September 14, 1993

        The President. Good morning. First, I want to welcome Prime Minister
    Keating here and his colleagues from Australia. We're looking forward to
    having a very good discussion, and we'll have some comments later, as
    you know.
        I also want to applaud the announcement today of the common agenda
    established between Jordan and Israel, as well as the historic stop that
    Prime Minister Rabin and Foreign Minister Peres have made in Morocco,
    seeing King Hassan. I applaud King Hassan, and I hope that other Arab
    leaders will follow that example. And we will continue now rapidly to
    break down the barriers between Israel and other nations. And I'm
    looking forward to beginning work immediately on the United States part
    of implementing this agreement.

    NAFTA

        Q. Do you agree, sir, with President Carter and President Bush in
    their characterization of Ross Perot as a demagog?
        The President. I'm going to try to pass NAFTA. And they're perfectly
    capable of speaking for themselves. I don't agree with Mr. Perot on
    this, and some of the assertions are not accurate that he has made. But,
    you know, I'm going to be out here. My job is to try to pass this. And I
    don't want to overly personalize it. I'm just trying to pass it. I think
    it's good for America; it's good for jobs.
        Q. Are you going to work as hard for health care as you are for
    NAFTA, or vice versa?
        The President. I'm going to try to pass them both. I'm going to
    try--you know, I work at everything I do. I just get up in the morning
    and go to work. I think that's what I got hired to do.

    [At this point, one group of reporters left the room, and another group
    entered.]

        The President. As you know, we're going to have a joint statement
    afterward, and we'll answer your questions then. But I do want to
    welcome the Prime Minister and his colleagues here. I want to say to all
    of you how very important the relationship that the United States has
    with Australia is to me and to our administration. And I look forward to
    discussing a whole wide range of things, especially the upcoming APEC
    conference in Washington State in November. And I want to thank the
    Prime Minister publicly for his leadership in helping to put that
    together and helping to bring the leaders of the other countries there.
    We'll have more to say about it later, but I'm anxious to get on with
    the meeting.
        Q. Will you get a chance to visit sometime, perhaps for the Olympics
    in Sydney?
        The President. Why, I hope so. I've always wanted to come. I had one
    other chance to go to Australia, and I had to turn it down because of
    when I was a Governor. And I've been jealous of every friend of mine who
    ever went there. So I sure hope I can come.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:48 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these
    remarks.