    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [January 13, 1995]
    [Pages 41-46]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in Cleveland, Ohio, at the White House Conference on Trade and
    Investment in Central and Eastern Europe
    January 13, 1995

        Thank you very much. Mayor White, Congressmen Stokes and Sawyer and
    Brown, distinguished officials here from Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.
    Secretary Brown, thank you for your kind introduction. That was an
    illustration of Bill Clinton's second law of politics, that
    introduction: Whenever possible, be introduced by someone you've
    appointed to high office. You always get a good one. [Laughter]
        I do want to say here that I believe, in the history of the
    Department of Commerce, there has never been a better Secretary than Ron
    Brown. I am grateful to him for his dedication to the American business
    community and to the growth of the American economy and for his
    commitment to international outreach.
        I thank the Commerce Department and the Business Council for
    International Understanding for organizing this conference. You've
    assembled an impressive and diverse group: delegations from Central and
    Eastern Europe, business leaders from the United States and Europe,
    American ethnic leaders from all around our country, and so many
    outstanding State and local officials. I thank you all for being here.
        I have to say, I'm especially pleased that we're meeting in
    Cleveland. Many of the men and women who made this great city a
    foundation of America's industrial heartland came to our shores from
    Central Europe. With just a little money but lots of determination and
    discipline and vision, they helped to build our great Nation. And now
    their children and their grandchildren are leaders in Cleveland and in
    dozens of other American communities all across our country. Strong
    bonds of memory, heritage, and pride link them today to Europe's
    emerging democracies. So it's fitting that we should be meeting here.
        I also chose Cleveland because people here know what it takes to
    adapt to the new global economy. Whether you're in this great State or
    in Central Europe's coal and steel belt, meeting the challenges of
    change are hard. But Cleveland, Cleveland is transforming itself into a
    center for international trade. And it is a real model for economic
    growth throughout our country. Already, Cleveland exports $5.5 billion
    worth of goods every year. And that trade supports 100,000 jobs.
    Cleveland was one of the cities to recently win a highly competitive
    effort to secure one of our empowerment zones. And Cleveland was
    selected because of the remarkable partnership that has been put
    together here between the public and private sectors. So I'm very glad
    to be here.
        I came to this office with a mission for my country that involves
    all the countries represented here today. I came because I believed we
    had to make some changes to keep the American dream alive in the United
    States, to restore a sense of opportunity and possibility to our people
    in a time of great and sweeping change, and to give us a clear sense of
    purpose at the end of the cold war, as we move toward the 21st century.
    But I also wanted us to move into that new century still the world's
    leader for peace and democracy, for freedom, and for prosperity. This
    conference symbolizes both those objectives.
        We have worked hard in the United States to get our economy going
    again, to get our Government deficit down, to invest in our people and
    the technologies of the future, to expand trade for our own benefit. We
    have been fortunate in this country in the last 2 years in generating
    over 5\1/2\ million new jobs and having a new sense that we could bring
    back every important sector of our economy. But we know that over the
    long run, our success economically in America depends upon our being
    true to our values here at home and around the world.
        And so I say to you that I came here today because I know that
    America must remain engaged in the world. If we do so, clearly we have
    an historic opportunity to enhance the security and increase the
    prosperity of our own people in a society that we hope will be
    characterized forever more by trade and culture and learning across
    national lines than by hatred and fighting and war.
        Many of you in this room are proving that proposition every day. The
    new partnerships that you are forging between America and Central Europe
    bring tangible benefits to all the people involved. Increased trade and
    investment pro-

    [[Page 42]]

    motes our exports. It gives our people new skills and creates good
    jobs--but not only for us, for our trading partners as well. And it
    plays another very important role: It gives us a dividend by helping the
    nations with which we trade, and especially the nations in Central
    Europe, to consolidate their hard-won democracy on a foundation of free
    enterprise and political freedom.
        In all of our countries, we stand at the start of a new era, an era
    of breathtaking change and expanding opportunities. The explosion of
    trade and technology has produced a new global economy in which people
    and ideas and capital come together more quickly, more easily, more
    creatively than ever before. It is literally true that the end of the
    cold war has liberated millions of Europeans and introduced both free
    markets and democracy to countries not only there but on every continent
    of the globe.
        But this promise is also clouded by fear and uncertainty. Economic
    uncertainty, the breakdown of the old rules of the social contract is a
    problem in every advanced Western democracy and in wealthy countries in
    the East, like Japan. And beyond that and even deeper, aggression by
    malicious states, transnational threats like overpopulation and
    environmental degradation, terrible ethnic conflicts, and the
    proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, all these problems beyond
    our own borders make it tempting to many Americans to retrench behind
    our borders, to say, ``Look, we've got a lot of possibilities, and we've
    got more problems than we can handle here at home, so let's just forget
    about the rest of the world for a while. We did our job in the cold war.
    We spent our money to keep the world free from communism. And we are
    tired, and we've got plenty to do here.'' There are many people who
    believe exactly that in this country and in our Congress.
        But the very fact of democracy's triumph in the cold war, while it
    has led some to argue that we ought to confine our focus to challenges
    here at home and to say we cannot afford to lead anymore, in fact
    imposes on us new responsibilities and new opportunities. And I would
    argue that we cannot benefit the American people here at home unless we
    assume those responsibilities and seize those opportunities.
        Those who say we can just walk away have views that are
    shortsighted. We must reach out, not retrench. I will continue to work
    in this new Congress with both the Republicans and the Democrats to
    forge a bipartisan coalition of internationalists who share those same
    convictions. The agreement we reached yesterday with congressional
    leaders from both sides of the aisle to help Mexico restore full
    confidence in its economy demonstrates the potential of a coalition
    committed to America's interests in the world of tomorrow. And I will do
    everything in my power, as I have done for 2 years now, to keep our
    country engaged in the world. I won't let anyone or anything divert the
    United States from this course. The whole future of the world and the
    future of our children here in the United States depend on our continued
    involvement and leadership in the world.
        History teaches us, after all, that security and prosperity here at
    home require that we maintain a focus abroad. Remember that after World
    War I the United States refused the leadership role. We withdrew behind
    our borders, behind our big trade barriers. We left a huge vacuum that
    was filled with the forces of hatred and tyranny. The resulting struggle
    to preserve our freedom in World War II cost millions of lives and
    required all the energy and resources we could muster to forestall an
    awful result.
        After the Second World War, a wise generation of Americans refused
    to let history repeat itself. So in the face of the Communist challenge,
    they helped to shape NATO, the Marshall plan, GATT, and the other
    structures that ensured 50 years of building prosperity and security for
    America, for Western Europe, and Japan.
        Ultimately, the strength of those structures, the force of
    democracy, and the heroic determination of peoples to be free produced
    victory in the cold war. Now, in the aftermath of that victory, it is
    our common responsibility not to squander the peace. We must realize the
    full potential of that victory. Now that freedom has been won, all our
    people deserve to reap the tangible rewards of their sacrifice, people
    in the United States and people in Central Europe. Now that freedom has
    been won, our nations must be determined that it will never be lost
    again.
        The United States is seizing this moment. History has given us a
    gift, and the results are there to prove it. Because of the agreements
    we reached with Russia, with Belarus, with Kazakhstan, with Ukraine, for
    the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age, Americans can go to
    bed at night knowing that nuclear

    [[Page 43]]

    weapons from the former Soviet Union are no longer pointed at our
    children.
        Our patient but hardheaded diplomacy has secured an agreement with
    North Korea on nuclear issues that is clearly and profoundly in our
    interest. The critics of that agreement are wrong. The deal stops North
    Korea's nuclear program in its tracks. It will roll it back in years to
    come. International inspectors confirm that the program is frozen, and
    they will continue to monitor it. No critic has come up with an
    alternative that isn't either unfeasible or foolhardy.
        Our troops, who maintain their preparedness and their enormous
    capacity to stand up for freedom as the finest fighting force in the
    world, have stood down Iraq's threat to the security of the Persian
    Gulf. They caused the military regime in Haiti to step down peacefully,
    to give the Haitians a chance at democracy. We're using our influence
    constructively to help people from the Middle East to southern Africa to
    transform their conflicts into cooperation.
        We have used our ability to lead on issues like GATT and NAFTA and
    the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation council and the Summit of the
    Americas to help to create a new trading system for the next century.
    Already trade is becoming more free and more fair and producing better
    jobs for our people and for others around the world.
        In Central Europe, as elsewhere, the United States has moved
    aggressively to shape the future. The reasons are simple: Helping
    Central Europe to consolidate democracy, to build strong economies is
    clearly the best way to prevent assaults on freedom that, as this
    century has so painfully demonstrated, can turn quickly into all-
    consuming war. A healthy and prosperous Central Europe is good for
    America. It will become a huge new market for our goods and our
    services.
        America is also engaged with Central Europe because it's the right
    thing to do. For four and a half decades, we challenged these nations to
    cast away the shackles of communism. Now that they have done so, surely
    we have an obligation to work with them--all of you who are here--to
    make sure that your people share with our people the rewards of freedom
    that the next century and the new economy can bring.
        Some argue that open government and free markets can't take root in
    some countries, that there are boundaries, that there will necessarily
    be boundaries to democracy in Europe. They would act now in anticipation
    of those boundaries by creating an artificial division of the new
    continent. Others claim that we simply must not extend the West's
    institution of security and prosperity at all, that to do so would upset
    a delicate balance of power. They would confine the newly free peoples
    of Central Europe to a zone of insecurity and, therefore, of
    instability.
        I believe that both those visions for Europe are too narrow, too
    skeptical, perhaps even too cynical. One year ago this week, in
    Brussels, in Prague, in Kiev, in Moscow, and in Minsk, I set forth a
    vision of a different Europe, a new Europe that would be an integrated
    community of secure and increasingly prosperous democracies, a Europe
    that for the first time since nation-states came into existence on the
    European Continent would not be subject to a dividing line. With our
    engagement with the countries of Central Europe and the former Soviet
    Union, we can help to make that vision a lasting reality.
        First, Europe must be secure. The breakup of the Soviet Union has
    made the promise of security more real than it has been for decades. But
    reform in Russia and all the states of the former Soviet Union will not
    be completed overnight, in a straight line, or without rocky bumps in
    the road. It will prove rough and unsteady from time to time, as the
    tragic events in Chechnya remind us today. Chechnya is part of the
    Russian Federation, and we support the territorial integrity of Russia,
    just as we support the territorial integrity of all its neighbors. But
    the violence must end. I call again on all the parties to stop spilling
    blood and start making peace.
        Every day the fighting in Chechnya continues is a day of wasted
    lives and wasted resources and wasted opportunity. So we again encourage
    every effort to bring to a lasting end the bloodshed. We encourage the
    proposals put forth by the European Union and the Organization for
    Security and Cooperation in Europe. These proposals deserve to be heard
    and embraced.
        Some have used this conflict in Chechnya to question continued
    American support for reform in Russia. But that conflict, terrible
    though it is, has not changed the nature of our interest. We have a
    tremendous stake in the success of Russia's efforts to become a stable
    democratic nation, and so do all the countries represented here today.
    That is why the United States will

    [[Page 44]]

    not waver from our course of patient, responsible support for Russian
    reform. It would be a terrible mistake to react reflexively to the ups
    and downs that Russia is experiencing and was bound to experience all
    along and will continue to experience in the years ahead, indeed,
    perhaps for decades, as it undergoes an historic transformation.
        If the forces of reform are embattled, we must renew, not retreat
    from, our support for them. So we will continue again to lead a
    bipartisan effort here at home and an international coalition abroad to
    work with Russia and also with the other New Independent States of the
    former Soviet Union to support reform, to support progress, to support
    democracy, to support freedom.
        We are well aware, too, of Central Europe's security concerns. We
    will never condone any state in Europe threatening the sovereignty of
    its neighbors again. That is why the United States protected Baltic
    independence by pressing successfully for the withdrawal of Russian
    troops.
        In this period of great social and political change, we want to help
    countries throughout Central Europe achieve stability, the stability
    they need to build strong democracies and to foster prosperity. To
    promote that stability, the United States established the Partnership
    For Peace. And we have taken the lead in preparing for the gradual,
    open, and inevitable expansion of NATO. In just a year, the Partnership
    For Peace has become a dynamic forum for practical military and
    political cooperation among its members. For some countries, the
    partnership will be the path to full NATO membership. For others, the
    partnership will be a strong and lasting link to the NATO alliance.
        Last month, clearly and deliberately, NATO began to map out the road
    to enlargement. Neither NATO nor the United States can today give a date
    certain for expansion, nor can we say today which countries will be the
    first new members. But let me repeat what I have said before: The
    questions concerning NATO expansion are not whether NATO will expand,
    not if NATO will expand, but when and how. And when expansion begins, it
    will come as no surprise to anyone. Its conditions, its timing, its
    military implications will be well and widely known and discussed in
    advance.
        NATO membership is not a right. We expect those who seek to join the
    alliance to prepare themselves, through the Partnership For Peace, for
    the obligations of membership; they are important. Countries with
    repressive political systems, countries with designs on their neighbors,
    countries with militaries unchecked by civilian control or with closed
    economic systems need not apply.
        And let me say once again: Only the 16 members of NATO will decide
    on expansion. But NATO expansion should not be seen as replacing one
    division of Europe with another one. It should, it can, and I am
    determined that it will increase security for all European states,
    members and nonmembers alike. In parallel with expansion, NATO must
    develop close and strong ties with Russia. The alliance's relationship
    with Russia should become more direct, more open, more ambitious, more
    frank.
        European security embraces a democratic Russia. But for Central
    Europe to enjoy true security, its nations must also develop not only
    military ties and security arrangements but also successful market
    economies. If we have learned anything about the new century toward
    which we are moving, it is that national security must be defined in
    terms that go far beyond military ideas and concepts. That's why we're
    all here. From Tallinn to Tirana, people must have good jobs so that
    they can provide for their families and feel the self-confidence
    necessary to support democracy. They must have the tools to adapt to
    this rapidly changing global economy. They must have economic
    confidence, in short, to believe in a democratic future.
        Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the United States has played an
    important role in promoting these goals. We have strongly supported
    Central Europe's integration into the European Union. We have taken
    significant steps to improve access to our own markets, and we have
    provided Central Europe with financial aid, with technical support, and
    with debt relief. This assistance has been used for a staggering array
    of projects, from helping the Czech Republic draft a modern bankruptcy
    code, to training commercial bankers in Slovakia, to advertising and
    equipping modern and independent media throughout the region.
        But for all our Government has done and will continue to do, the
    fact remains that only the private sector can mobilize the vast amounts
    of capital and the human skills and technology needed to help complete
    the transformation of Central Europe's free markets.

    [[Page 45]]

        President Walesa put it to me this way last July: ``What Poland
    needs,'' he said, ``are more American generals, like General Electric
    and General Motors.'' [Laughter] That's not a commercial; I could have
    advertised the other auto companies, the other electric companies.
    Congressman Stokes reminded me that Lincoln Electric here in Cleveland
    just got the Secretary of Commerce's E Award last night. But the point
    is that President Walesa's comment defines national security for Poland
    in a broader context and demonstrates an understanding of what it will
    take for democracy and freedom to flourish.
        In just 5 years, most of the countries in Central Europe have
    undertaken many of the difficult reforms necessary to build credibility
    with investors and trading partners, to make themselves attractive to
    the General Electrics and the General Motors. Bold economic reform
    works. Countries that have pursued it with the greatest conviction have
    rebounded most quickly from the recession. They are among Europe's
    fastest growing economies. And they are drawing the most foreign trade
    and investment.
        More trade and investment is good for Central Europe. But make no
    mistake about it, it's also very good for the United States. For all of
    us, it means more jobs, higher wages, an opportunity to learn the new
    skills we need to succeed in the new global economy. And I say again, it
    means more real security.
        Consider the benefits of just two recent American ventures in
    Central Europe: The International Paper Company of New York bought a
    major mill in Poland, retrained its work force, modernized the mill, and
    turned it into a thriving exporter. It also acquired a strong presence
    in the competitive European market that will generate $30 million in
    American exports in support of hundreds of jobs back here at home.
        Denver-based US West will soon bring nationwide cellular phone
    service to Hungary. That will give Hungarians, who now wait an average
    of 12 years to get a phone, immediate access to modern communications.
    And it will produce $28 million in United States exports and support
    hundreds of jobs here in the United States. I have to say, sort of off
    the record, that we'll also soon make the Hungarians as frayed around
    the edges and overbusy as Americans are with their cellular phones. But
    if they want it, we should help them have it. [Laughter]
        I am very proud that these and literally dozens of other projects
    went forward with the help of loans and insurance and other guarantees
    from the United States Government. But I know what our trade and
    investment in Central Europe could do if we were all to make the most of
    the opportunities that are there. Our involvement should be much
    greater. American companies and investors are second to none in
    identifying good opportunities. But they will reject a project if
    roadblocks to getting it done efficiently and fairly are too high,
    especially given the fierce competition for trade and investment from
    Latin America and Asia.
        Our companies need to be sure that when they make a deal, it won't
    be arbitrarily reversed. They look for full information and reasonable
    regulation. They want clear commercial tax and legal codes. And of
    course they want private sector counterparts, the driving force of
    Central Europe's economies, with whom they can do business.
        One of the most effective roles the United States can play is to
    promote continued reform and to help businesses do business, which of
    course is what this conference is all about. But our efforts did not
    begin and will not end here in Cleveland. Already we have concluded
    investment and taxation treaties with many of the countries represented
    here. The Trade and Development Agency has identified thousands of
    business opportunities throughout Central Europe. Peace Corps volunteers
    are teaching business, banking, and finance skills to new entrepreneurs.
    Our Export-Import Bank is promoting the use of America's products for
    major infrastructure projects and for bringing environmental technology
    and expertise to Central Europe. And today I am pleased to announce that
    the Overseas Private Investment Corporation has set up two new equity
    funds that, together with funds OPIC already supports, should leverage
    more than $4 billion in private investment.
        Every United States economic agency is working hard to help American
    business, big and small, to take advantage of the opportunities in
    Central Europe and around the world. And I want to say that what I said
    about Secretary Brown and the Commerce Department could also be said
    about the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment
    Corporation. It is the strongest economic team the United States has
    ever put in the field of international business, and we intend to see it
    keep working

    [[Page 46]]

    until we make a success of the ventures like the one we're engaged in
    here today.
        All of their teamwork has proved that Government can work for the
    American people, a proposition very much in doubt in our country today.
    I know how difficult and unsettling this period of change is for so many
    people all over the countries represented in this room and here at home,
    as well. Sometimes it seems that the more you open your eyes to the
    world around you, the more confusing it becomes. But we must not lose
    sight of the fact that even greater forces of history are working for
    the development of human capacities and the fulfillment of human dreams
    than the forces working to undermine them.
        And if we use these great positive forces, if we guide them, if we
    shape them, if we remain committed to making them work for us, we can
    make our people more secure and more prosperous. Look at what is
    happening in Central Europe. Every day, open societies and open
    economies are gaining strength. Every day, new entrepreneurs and
    businesses are spurring growth and are creating jobs in their own
    countries and for us back here in America as well. It is in our national
    interest to help them succeed. We cannot afford to do otherwise.
        Just 6 years ago, the countries of Central Europe were still captive
    nations. Now, 120 million people have the freedom to speak their own
    minds, to create, to build, to prosper, to dream dreams and try to
    fulfill them. This new freedom is the fruit of Europe's struggle and
    America's support. We owe it to those who brought us this far--more
    importantly, we owe it to ourselves and to our children--not to turn our
    backs on their historic achievement or this historic moment. That is why
    this administration will not retreat. We will continue to reach out,
    working together, trading together, joining together. We will fulfill
    the great promise of this moment.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:15 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the
    Stouffer Renaissance Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Michael
    R. White of Cleveland.