[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[January 21, 1994]
[Pages 116-117]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With King Hussein of Jordan 
January 21, 1994

Russia

    Q. Mr. President, with the key reformers out of the Russian 
Government, does that mean that radical reform is over in Russia?
    The President. I wouldn't go that far. Already Russia has privatized 
more rapidly than any of the other former Communist countries. They have 
a much higher rate of privatization than any of the other countries. But 
what we're concerned about obviously is whether they will be able to 
manage their inflation problem. And I think the Secretary of the 
Treasury said it the best: We're going to support democracy, and we're 
going to support the fact that Russia re-


[[Page 117]]

spects its relationships with other nations, and those are fundamental 
to our interest. How much economic help they can get from the 
international community will be directly related to what kinds of 
reforms they decide to undertake. And that I think is the best 
connection. They'll have to make those decisions for themselves.
    Q. Mr. President, the reformers who were pushed out were in favor of 
curbing inflation by cutting subsidies. The people who are staying on 
are the people who fear unemployment. Which is a bigger threat, and do 
you favor cutting subsidies or easing the cuts?
    The President. As I said, that's a decision they'll have to make. 
But what we offered to do and what we still offer to do is to try to 
help set up the sort of job training and unemployment and other systems, 
support systems, that any market economy has to have. You can't blame 
them for being concerned about the consequences of going to a market 
economy if they're not able to cope with them. And they need it, and so 
do all the other countries. And we're prepared to help do what we can. 
But they'll have to chart their course, and then we'll be there to try 
to be supportive.

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Your Majesty, after the signing of the accords, the economic 
accords between the PLO and the Jordanians and other agreements, how do 
you see the coordination continuing, and when do you expect to meet with 
Mr. Yasser Arafat? And how do you see the peace process going in the 
next peace round, sir?
    King Hussein. I believe that--[inaudible]--very, very well and 
recent developments of--[inaudible]--encouraging. As far as coordinating 
the Palestinian--[inaudible]. And it's all part of the--[inaudible]--
everyone, I believe is, the majority of the people are convinced that 
this is the time and that you must move rapidly to--[inaudible]. But 
we're working on our agenda and all the items there, and I hope that the 
crowning achievement will be a peace treaty.

Note: The exchange began at 11:15 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this 
exchange.