[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
[March 21, 1997]
[Pages 330-331]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters on Greeting President Boris Yeltsin of Russia 
and President Martti Ahtisaari of Finland in Helsinki
March 21, 1997

Helsinki Summit

    Q. Mr. President, do you expect to be able to find a way to agree to 
disagree with President Yeltsin on NATO expansion?
    President Clinton. I think we'll have a good meeting. And we'll have 
a press conference this afternoon to answer your questions.
    Q. Do you expect any surprises?
    President Yeltsin. During the discussions there may be some 
surprises, but I'm confident that we'll be able to find a way out, a 
solution out of these surprises. We have a good will to try to 
accommodate each other and remove all the disagreements that we still 
have today. And we grow convinced that our most ardent desire--and then 
we know that skeptics in the past have always proved that wrong, saying 
that it's not possible to reach agreement on an issue; in the final 
analysis we did come to agreement on most thorny issues. And the two 
Presidents, heads of the two great powers, are duty bound to act in this 
way. And I think Bill would agree with me that each of us will be 
prepared to cover his own part of the way.

Note: The exchange began at 9:38 a.m. at Mantyniemi, the residence of 
President Ahtisaari. President Yeltsin spoke in Russian, and his remarks 
were translated by an interpreter. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of this exchange.

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