    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [June 27, 1996]
    [Pages 986-987]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks With President Jacques Chirac of France on the G-7 Response to
    Terrorism and an Exchange With Reporters in Lyons
    June 27, 1996

        President Chirac. Ladies and gentlemen, this press point is, in
    fact, to explain to you that we changed our agenda at the G-7. We all
    together were united in condemning the dreadful bombing that has taken
    place and the fact that the United States and Saudi Arabia have fallen
    victim to this appalling event. We expressed our deepest sympathy to the
    President of the United States and the people of the United States as
    well. And we decided to place terrorism on our agenda as the very first
    point for discussion and to prepare a communique in order to fight this
    scourge. This is a communique which you will be receiving at the close
    of this pre-press conference, so that you can see the top priority that
    we assign to fighting terrorism.
        We've also agreed to convene a ministerial conference in about 3
    weeks time which will be attended by the ministers of foreign affairs
    and ministers responsible for security at the level of the eight
    countries meeting here. And this is all designed to identify the steps
    which will bolster our fight against terrorism.
        President Clinton. I want to thank President Chirac and my other G-7
    colleagues for their very powerful statements and their expression of
    sympathy to the victims and their families.
        We have once again stood united against terrorism. We understand
    that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us and that none of
    us is invulnerable. Attacks of terror can occur anywhere, whether in a
    Paris metro station or in Manchester or the subway in Tokyo or the World
    Trade Center or the Oklahoma City Federal Building. This latest act of
    outrage reminds us of one of the great burdens of the modern world.
        As we become more open, as our borders become freer to cross, as we
    can move information and money and people and material across national
    boundaries more quickly, we all become more vulnerable to terrorists, to
    the organized forces of destruction, to those who live to kill for
    ethnic or racial or religious reasons, especially. And I want to
    emphasize that I am convinced that the G-7 leaders are every bit as
    determined as I am to take stronger action.
        In the next day or two we will be discussing, as I said earlier, 40
    specific actions we can take to try to protect our borders, to try to
    stop the illegal weapons trade, to try to stop the money laundering and
    illegal currency transactions, to try to protect the witnesses and
    others who support our efforts to crack terrorists and their operations.
    And then President Chirac, in suggesting this ministerial, has given us
    the chance to try to come up with even more specific steps that will
    involve, we hope, even more people rallying to our cause.

    [[Page 987]]

        This is a very sad day for the United States. I have been very moved
    by the deep and genuine expressions of condolence by the President of
    France and the other leaders here. But I have been even more moved by
    the determination that they have shared with me in common to take
    stronger stands against terrorism, to prevail and not to give in. That
    is the message we want to go out to the world tonight.
        Thank you.

    Terrorist Attack in Saudi Arabia

        Q. Mr. President, is there anything tonight that you discussed that
    might have an effect on the type of bombing that took place in Saudi
    Arabia, any difference in approach that that bombing----
        President Clinton. Well, among the things we are looking at, for our
    next statement on this and for the ministerial meeting, is the question
    of whether we can do more to help each other protect our people against
    larger and more powerful explosives, and perhaps even more important,
    whether we can do more to detect them.
        If you will recall, when we had the terrible bomb explosions in
    Israel several weeks before the election, one of the things that I did
    was to send to the people of Israel the latest detection equipment that
    we had to try to aid them in finding people who had explosives on their
    persons or in their cars. And we believe that made a contribution to
    their endeavors.
        So one of the things that we are going to do is to try to figure out
    how much more we can do in the area of prevention and how much more we
    can do in the area of detection of explosives, which are becoming the
    weapon of choice for terrorists all around the world.

    Extraterritorial Impact of Sanctions

        Q. President Clinton and President Chirac, in your discussions this
    evening did Helms-Burton and the pending legislation involving Libya and
    Iran come up, and if so, did you detect any change of views on the
    subjects?
        President Clinton. We did not discuss that at all. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at approximately 10:50 p.m. at the Prefecture.
    President Chirac spoke in French, and his remarks were translated by an
    interpreter. A portion of this exchange could not be verified because
    the tape was incomplete.