[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
[January 13, 1996]
[Pages 62-63]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With President
Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia-Herzegovina at Tuzla Airfield
January 13, 1996

President's Visit

    Q. Mr. Izetbegovic, can you tell us what it means for the President 
of the United States to be here in Bosnia?
    President Izetbegovic. In President Clinton we see a great friend to 
Bosnia-Herzegovina. We wish him here a warm welcome. And of course, we 
see the opportunity that we have discussions on several important 
issues, issues relating to IFOR forces and especially the United States 
of America in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
    Q. Mr. President, was it worth all the effort to make the logistical 
nightmare of making this visit?
    President Clinton. Absolutely. First of all, the most important 
thing for me was to come and see our troops and to tell them that I 
support them, the American people support them, and we appreciate what 
they're doing here, and to get a briefing about what's going well and 
what still needs work.
    And the opportunity to meet with President Izetbegovic and the other 
members of his government I think is quite important because we still 
have a lot of work to do. And quite over and above the IFOR obligation, 
we've got a lot of work to do to rebuild Bosnia economically. And I want 
to do what I can to aid that.
    And of course, I've got Mr. Bob Gallucci, one of our most able 
diplomats; he helped to unravel our problem, our North Korea problem. So 
I figured if he did that, he could certainly figure out how we're going 
to help Bosnia get

[[Page 63]]

back on its feet, going in the direction that we ought to be going.
    So we've got a lot to talk about, and I'm looking forward to it.

Note: The President spoke at 3:55 p.m. in the Old Command Post. In his 
remarks, he referred to Ambassador at Large Robert Gallucci. A tape was 
not available for verification of the content of this exchange.