[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
[October 17, 1997]
[Pages 1389-1391]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to Business Leaders in Buenos Aires
October 17, 1997

    Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, President 
Fedrigotti, President Menem, distinguished members of the Argentine 
Government, to the members of Congress and Cabinet in our administration 
who are here. Let me say on behalf of all of them, we are delighted to 
be here. We have had a wonderful stay in Buenos Aires. And we thank this 
distinguished group of Argentine and American business leaders for 
giving all of us the opportunity to join you this morning.
    When President Bush came here in 1990, it was a very different time 
for Argentina. Inflation was soaring, output was plunging, trade was 
anemic. Today, the country has experienced a truly remarkable 
turnaround. It is a great credit to the people of Argentina, to wise 
decisionmakers, and to the direction that President Menem has set. You 
have cut inflation to almost zero. The expanded trade attracted a flood 
of foreign investment, spurred impressive growth. You are on the move--
good for Argentina, and good for America, for since 1990, our exports to 
Argentina have more than tripled. In the same period, American 
investment has soared from $2 billion to approximately $12 billion, and 
it's still growing.
    Trade has contributed a quarter of Argentina's growth over the past 
3 years. And of course, behind these individual statistics lie many, 
many success stories that are paying off for people in human as well as 
economic terms.
    To take just one example, General Electric Power Systems has sold 
state-of-the-art gas turbines and generators that will account for more 
than 30 percent of Argentina's new power generation capacity. That 
supports jobs for Argentinean and American workers alike and will 
provide Argentina with higher quality, lower cost, more environmentally 
friendly power to keep engines humming, classrooms lit, and the economy 
growing. It is clearly the kind of win-win situation we see repeated 
over and over again.
    And of course, we see in Argentina a mirror of what is happening 
around the region today as barriers fall and trade expands and people 
everywhere gain greater opportunities for new jobs, new skills, and 
higher incomes. We see it also as a harbinger of what we might build in 
the future in all of this region for all of the people.
    Since 1993, when I took office and established a new economic policy 
that focused on reducing our deficit, investing in our future, and 
expanding trade, expanding trade has accounted for one-third of 
America's strong economic growth. Now I am working to persuade Congress 
to renew the fast-track authority traditionally given to Presidents so 
that we can do even more to speed the falling of barriers and the 
opening of doors.
    Latin America's emerging markets are expected to grow more than 
twice as fast as the economies of the advanced industrial nations. Now, 
it is clearly in the United States interest to be at the forefront of 
that for the next generation. But I want to emphasize to all of you that 
this is, for us, about more than economics. We also want to be genuine 
partners in seizing all the opportunities and meeting all the challenges 
of this new age. It's about far more than just trade figures. It's also 
about political partnerships, the preservation of democracy, the 
strengthening of the social contract to include all people who aspire to 
better lives, the ability to fight drugs and crime and terrorism, the 
ability to build a future that is consistent with the dreams of those 
who founded all our nations.
    Argentina is at the heart of movements bringing our hemisphere 
together, working with your neighbors through MERCOSUR and your 
strategic alliance with Brazil to spur democracy, economic reform, and 
regional security cooperation. MERCOSUR not only expands trade and 
prosperity, it has also reinforced democracy and promoted peace, as 
greater independence and

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shared hopes for the future make a return to past hostilities 
unthinkable.
    The United States welcomes constructive efforts by others to bring 
our hemisphere together. Every step taken, whether it's MERCOSUR, NAFTA, 
CARICOM, the Andean Pact, helps to build momentum toward what I believe 
should be all our ultimate goal, a free-trade area of the Americas.
    President Menem and I reached agreement that we should launch 
comprehensive negotiations at the Santiago summit in April, moving from 
a common agenda to a common action plan. This, after all, is the course 
we all embraced at the Summit of the Americas in Miami in late 1994. We 
share a vision of a thriving American market of 800 million people from 
Point Barrow, Alaska, to Patagonia, investing in each other's future, 
enriching each other's lives, strengthening each other's institutions 
for freedom and democracy and peace and security.
    But even as we work to open markets, we need to make sure that 
expanding commerce closes, rather than widens, the gaps between the 
haves and have-nots in our hemisphere. We don't want to leave anyone 
behind, and it is not in our interests to do so, for in the 21st 
century, increasingly, the wealth of nations will lie in the minds and 
hearts of people. We can and must ensure that rising trade means a 
rising standard of living for all.
    How are we to do this? Some, even in countries that have done very 
well, like ours, believe that we should become more protectionist. But 
it's not an option. It will only make things worse, for the world 
economy, whether any government likes it or not, is already on a fast 
track. None of us can shut the world out or pretend somehow that we can 
compete in the global economy by closing ourselves off from our 
neighbors. We are riding a great tide of change, and we can turn it into 
a powerful tide of progress for all people, provided the benefits and 
the burdens are shared fairly and the policies are wise and free people 
to fulfill their own destinies.
    That means deepening democracy and the rule of law, including the 
free press and the independent judiciary that serve our citizens 
everywhere. The same rule of law that protects human rights upholds the 
sanctity of contracts and helps to build a stable investment 
environment. We must also insist on worker protections so that trade 
enhances working conditions instead of undermines them. We must promote 
sustainable development and prove that you can, and indeed must, protect 
the environment as we grow the economy. And we must equip all our people 
with the education, the training, and the skills they need to succeed in 
the 21st century world. We must master the new technology that can bring 
all people into the future and bring them all into the same world of 
knowledge, no matter where they live. We can make it so that every book, 
every map, every work of art is at every child's fingertips with the 
click of a computer mouse. But first they must have access to computers, 
and they need to know how to use them.
    Just as the Internet is transforming education, it is also expanding 
the horizons of commerce. Already Argentines can purchase everything 
from books to computer equipment with the simple stroke of a keyboard. 
Trade on the Internet is growing so fast that in just a few years it 
will generate hundreds of billions of dollars in goods and services. It 
is, indeed, already the fastest growing social organism in all of human 
history.
    If we establish an environment in which electronic commerce can 
thrive, free from unnecessary governmental regulations or other burdens, 
then every computer will be a window of opportunity for every business 
in the world. A global network of sales and distribution will be within 
reach of even the smallest or most isolated company. You can start a 
business today and trade around the world tomorrow. That's what the 
Internet will mean. But in order for the digital economy to flourish, it 
must be market led. President Menem and I discussed the importance of 
making sure that this dynamic medium is not weighed down by the heavy 
hand of government.
    We live in a time of extraordinary opportunity. Revolutions in 
technology, information, and communications bring our people and our 
nations closer than ever before, opening new possibilities and also 
giving the organized forces of destruction new opportunities to reap 
ill-gotten gains through crime and drugs and terrorism.
    The promise before us is bright, but it is not inevitable. We must 
seize the opportunities and we must meet the challenges and we must do 
it together. We have to focus on the future, not the past; on embracing 
all, not dividing our people as they have been too often; on building an 
economy that works for everyone who is willing to work in it. We have to 
make our common

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commitment to peace and freedom, to prosperity and democracy, and we 
have to make it irreversible.
    If we support these policies and this direction, then we can make 
our entire region an image of what we'd all like to be, a place where 
freedom and prosperity go hand in hand, a place where everyone feels 
that he or she has a chance, where every boy or girl believes that they 
can grow up in dignity to live out their dreams, a place where we work 
together to fight those terrible threats of crime and terrorism and 
drugs, a shield against whatever storms the future may bring, an 
alliance to seize whatever new chance the future may hold; a model, in 
short, for the 21st century world.
    That is what I want for the Americas, that is what you are building 
every day here in Argentina, and that is what I hope together we can 
build for our children.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 9:58 a.m. at the Sheraton Buenos Aires. In 
his remarks, he referred to Carlos Fedrigotti, president, American 
Chamber of Commerce.