    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [November 30, 1995]
    [Pages 1807-1809]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to Business Leaders in Belfast
    November 30, 1995

        The President. Well, first of all, I want to thank all of you, all
    the panelists and Mr. Thompson and your M.P. for the fine things that
    have been said. And I thank you for quoting the King James Version of
    the Bible. I read all the more modern ones, and sometimes

    [[Page 1808]]

    they're easier to understand, but they're not nearly as eloquent. So
    King James is still my favorite, too.
        I would like to make just three points very briefly. First, in the
    presence of the Members of Congress who are here, I want to thank them
    for funding the International Fund for Ireland. In the United States, it
    was really a congressional initiative. For many years, the President--
    until I became President, no President ever even made a recommendation
    to spend the money because it was thought to be unusual. But I can tell
    you, now, even though this connection was never made before, we fund
    programs through the Agency for International Development around the
    world in countries much poorer than Northern Ireland which are
    essentially trying to do the same things.
        We know now that if you really want to grow jobs in places where
    there's not a lot of capital, you have to set up a mechanism for getting
    capital into entrepreneurial people who may be in one- or two- or three-
    or four- or five-person businesses. And if you do it right, you can
    create an enormous, enormous number of successful businesses and, in so
    doing, create the demand for the products and services that will be
    produced.
        So I think what you are doing here is really an extraordinary thing.
    And I want to thank the Members of Congress who have consistently
    supported the International Fund for Ireland who are here and to say
    that I hope, frankly, that you will become, as we move forward down the
    road to peace--and Senator Mitchell and the others who worked so hard on
    the investment conference over on our side of the ocean--and you enjoy
    more success, I hope you will become a model for a lot of other
    countries as well who are struggling to build a system of free
    enterprise and give their energetic people the kinds of opportunities
    that you have found.
        We see it even in our own country--some places that others had given
    up on, thought, you know, where there would never be any economic
    opportunity there again--the most successful thing that has been done
    even in our own country is starting things like the International Fund
    for Ireland. But it works better here, what you are doing through these
    community groups, than almost any other place that I'm aware of in the
    world.
        And you said it yourself, sir. I think you said you have in this
    consortium 200 companies with 900 employees; that's an average number of
    employees somewhere between 4 and 5. But it you look at the cost--what
    did you say--13\1/2\ million pounds--I think I can still do exchange
    rates, even though I've been--Presidents are disabled from all practical
    things, you know. [Laughter] They don't get to buy food or drive cars or
    exchange money, but that's pretty low cost per job creation. And so I
    think that's very, very important. And I applaud all of you for what
    you're doing.
        The second point I want to make is that the cease-fire, I'm
    convinced, made possible a lot of this growth. And some of you have said
    that. And you talked about how it's also changing the whole image of
    Northern Ireland. One of the things that I hope will come out of my trip
    here today is that people who have never been here will see the country
    in a different light. You know, we owe that to the media. But people all
    over the world will be seeing this trip tonight, and they will see your
    whole country in a different light, they will see people like you. They
    will see you on television; they will say, ``Those are the kind of
    people I wouldn't mind being involved with''. And I think that will
    help. But it's a real argument for continuing the peace.
        And the third thing I would say is that--you might want to ask
    Senator Mitchell to comment on this--is the conference we had, the
    Washington conference last May. I think it's important to do more things
    like that, not just in the United States but elsewhere, so that people
    are aware, in a tangible way, of the grassroots, not only the grassroots
    commitment to peace but the extraordinary array of competence, the
    abilities, the ideas, that are coming out of here. Because I think--and
    I think as you do that, you'll become more integrated into the global
    economy in a positive way and it will be more difficult for anyone to
    turn the clock back on you.
        George, would you like----

    [At this point, George Mitchell, Special Adviser to the President and
    Secretary of State on Economic Initiatives for Ireland, made brief
    remarks.]

        The President. Let me just say, I want to leave on a little bit
    lighter note. When I read my notes about what all of you do, and I was

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    preparing for this and I knew I was bringing all the--the Ambassador for
    the United States to Great Britain and the British Ambassador to America
    and all these other people and especially all the politicians back
    there, and I saw that Lynn McGregor is the owner of a company called
    Altered Images, and I thought to myself, she could become an overnight
    millionaire in Washington, DC, just by putting up an office. [Laughter]
    We all need to alter our image a little there.
        Thank you very much. Congratulations to all of you. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:54 p.m. at the East Belfast Enterprise
    Park. In his remarks, he referred to Peter Thompson, board chairman,
    East Belfast Enterprise Park.