[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[March 11, 1994]
[Pages 431-432]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Announcing the Summit of the Americas
March 11, 1994

    The President. Thank you very much, Mr. Vice President, ladies and 
gentlemen. Today's announcement is good for our Nation and good for our 
hemisphere. This has been a very important year and a couple of months 
for this hemisphere. Late last year, in an historic choice, the American 
people and the Congress embraced NAFTA, which will establish the world's 
largest free-trade zone, create jobs, and bolster the growth of 
democracy in market economies. In December, right after the NAFTA vote, 
the Vice President went to Mexico City, as he said, and announced my 
intention to host a meeting of democratically elected heads of state and 
government in this hemisphere.
    Today I am pleased to announce that the Summit of the Americas will 
be held in early December in the city of Miami. [Applause] Thank you. 
The diversity, the dynamism, the applause meter--[laughter]--all make 
Miami an ideal site for this meeting. Miami's economy is fully 
integrated with the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean. In so 
many ways, it represents the promise of hemispheric integra-


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tion. The Summit of the Americas will be an historic event, will be the 
first meeting of hemispheric leaders in over a generation, and it will 
be the first-ever hemispheric meeting of democratically elected leaders.
    Let me say a word about why this summit matters so much to us here 
at home in the United States. Our Nation has a major stake in the 
prosperity and freedom of the entire hemisphere. Our exports to Latin 
America and the Caribbean have more than doubled in just 7 years, rising 
to nearly $80 billion in 1993. That has generated hundreds of thousands 
of new jobs for American workers. If we can continue to bring down 
hemispheric trade barriers, we can create a million new jobs by the turn 
of the century. At the same time, the rising tide of democracy in this 
hemisphere helps make us more secure. Democracies tend not to fight one 
another; they make better partners in trade and diplomacy. And as we 
work with our neighbors to build more free, prosperous, and secure 
relations throughout this hemisphere, this summit will advance our 
common efforts and our shared interests.
    When the Summit of the Americas convenes in Miami, we will crown a 
process of intensive consultation that will begin next week when the 
Vice President travels to Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil to meet with 
the leaders of those nations. In the coming months, I will be working 
with my hemispheric counterparts to develop a full and productive agenda 
for this summit. We want to consider two broad themes: first, how to 
strengthen our democracies, defend them collectively, and improve our 
governance; second, how to promote economic growth while advancing a 
strategy of sustainable development that protects the environment and 
alleviates poverty. To help to define our agenda, we will also encourage 
business, labor, and nongovernmental organizations all across the 
hemisphere to exchange ideas and propose initiatives that can enrich the 
summit deliberations.
    We've arrived at a moment of very great promise and great hope for 
the Western Hemisphere. Democratic values are ascendant. Our economies 
are growing and becoming more intertwined every day through trade and 
investment. Now we have a unique opportunity to build a community of 
free nations, diverse in culture and history, but bound together by a 
commitment to responsive and free government, vibrant civil societies, 
open economies, and rising living standards for all our people.
    So as we prepare for this Summit of the Americas, let us think 
boldly and set forth a vision of progress for all our people. Let us 
begin the work of building a genuine new community for all of us in this 
hemisphere. Thank you very much.

[At this point, Christopher Thomas, Assistant Secretary General, 
Organization of American States; Muni Figueres de Jimenez, External 
Relations Advisor, Inter-American Development Bank; and Gov. Lawton 
Chiles of Florida made brief remarks.]

    The President. I'd like to just say, in closing, a couple of things. 
First of all, I don't think anyone who is not aware of this process can 
possibly understand the energy and the persistence and the thought that 
went into the application that Governor Chiles pressed for Miami to host 
this conference. I compliment him and my long-time friend Buddy MacKay 
for the work that they did and the way they did it. They did not make me 
witness grown men crying--[laughter]--but all short of that was tried.
    I'd also like to say a special word of thanks to my former 
colleague, as a Governor and a Senator, Bob Graham, and to the other 
members of the congressional delegation for the work that they did in 
pressing this cause. But most of all, I have to tell you that I have 
been deeply moved over the last few years when I've had the opportunity 
to go to Miami and to south Florida and see the heroic efforts that 
people have made to deal not only with the aftermath of the hurricane 
but to build a genuine multicultural, multiracial society that would be 
at the crossroads of the Americas and, therefore, at the forefront of 
the future. In the end, I think that this decision was made on the 
merits, because our best hopes to do things that democracies find 
difficult to do--get people together across racial and economic and 
ethnic lines--lies in the efforts that are being made there now. And I 
believe that in December, we will have a great gathering in a place that 
can symbolize the future toward which we are all tending.
    Thank you very much. We're adjourned.

Note: The President spoke at 10:37 a.m. in Room 450 of the Old Executive 
Office Building.