[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
[May 16, 1996]
[Pages 758-759]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at the Inter-American Dialogue Dinner
May 16, 1996

    Please, sit down and relax. Thank you. Good evening, ladies and 
gentlemen. Thank you for the very warm welcome. To our distinguished 
head table guests, former Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, 
President Arias, Secretary Vance, Minister Lampreia, President Iglesias, 
Mr. Ambassador. To Peter Bell and Alejandro Foxley; my good friend and 
adviser on Latin America Mack McLarty; Peter Hakim; and of course, to 
our distinguished friend Mr. Linowitz.
    For 14 years, the Inter-American Dialogue has played a leading role 
in framing the debate on issues that really matter to the peoples of our 
hemisphere. As we enter a period of even closer cooperation in the 
Americas, I'm delighted that the Inter-American Dialogue is also 
intensifying its work.
    I'm especially pleased that you're carrying forward your efforts 
with the creation of the Inter-American Dialogue's Saul Linowitz Forum. 
By honoring Saul you have paid a fitting tribute to the extraordinary, 
extraordinary service that this great American and citizen of the world 
has rendered. In a lifetime devoted to the public, Ambassador Linowitz 
has helped to foster peace, cooperation, and partnership between the 
United States, the nations of the Americas, and other nations around the 
world.
    Saul has led here at home as well, working to confront the problems 
of racism, urban decay, and poverty. And he's called his own profession 
of law to a higher sense of duty. As the chair emeritus to the Inter-
American Dialogue, he continues to make a difference, to promote the 
exchange and understanding that we need to bring our hemisphere closer 
together so that all of our people are more prosperous and secure.
    In 1967 Saul Linowitz organized the United States participation in 
the Punta del Este summit which became the model of the Summit of the 
Americas that we held in Miami in 1994 that Mr. McLarty and Hattie 
Babbitt and so many others in this room in our administration worked so 
very hard on. At the Miami summit, the nations of our hemisphere agreed 
on the challenges we must face together in opening our markets, 
strengthening our democracies, protecting our shared environment against 
pollution. And we developed a program to do all that and more so that 
our region can become more prosperous, more secure, and our freedom 
wider, broader, and deeper.

[[Page 759]]

    In an important way, the Inter-American Dialogue helped to define 
the goals we set at the Summit of the Americas. And as now we look 
toward the next century, I'm glad the Saul Linowitz Forum will help to 
focus our discussions and our actions.
    I thank you all for all you have done to help define and shape the 
currents that flow deeper today in our hemisphere because of your work: 
democracy, market economics, justice, and growing partnership. I thank 
you all, and I especially thank Saul Linowitz.
    Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

Note: The President spoke at 7:13 p.m. in the Hall of the Americas at 
the Organization of American States. In his remarks, he referred to 
Javier Perez de Cuellar, former U.N. Secretary-General; Oscar Arias, 
former President of Costa Rica; Cyrus Vance, former U.S. Secretary of 
State; Minister of Foreign Affairs Luiz Lampreia of Brazil; Enrique 
Iglesias, president, Inter-American Development Bank; Paulo Tarso Flecha 
de Lima, Ambassador to the U.S. from Brazil; Peter Bell and Alejandro 
Foxley, co-chairs, and Peter Hakim, president, Inter-American Dialogue; 
and Saul Linowitz, former U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of 
American States.