[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
[March 26, 1998]
[Pages 440-442]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters Following Discussions With Deputy President 
Thabo Mbeki of South Africa in Cape Town
March 26, 1998

President's Visit

    Q. Mr. President, what did you discuss, sir?
    President Clinton. First of all, I thanked Mr. Mbeki on behalf of 
the United States for the remarkable work that he and Vice President 
Gore have done on their Binational 
Commission on a whole range of issues affecting the economy, the 
environment, education, and a lot of our foreign policy issues. It's 
been a remarkable partnership, and it owes a lot to the leadership of 
Mr. Mbeki--a remarkable relationship.
    So we talked about that. We talked about some of the progress we are 
making in our long-term objectives for Africa. I reviewed my trip for 
him, talked about the declaration that the heads of government and state 
made yesterday in Entebbe.
    I pointed out that the United States has just made its first 
purchase--the Department of Defense has--from South Africa of a mobile 
demining equipment which has the interesting name of Chubby--named after 
me maybe. [Laughter] But it will help us a lot. We are increasing our 
budget this year for demining around the world, taking up these 
landmines. And President Mandela and South 
Africa have been leaders in the world of the movement to rid the world 
of landmines, and I think it's quite fitting that they have produced 
this great piece of equipment that we'll be able to use to take even 
more of the mines out of the land.

[[Page 441]]

    Q. What's your impression, Mr. President, being the first American 
President to South Africa?
    President Clinton. Well, I'm thrilled. I've wanted to come here, as 
I've told you many times, for a long, long time. And Hillary was here a 
year ago this month; of course, the Vice President comes frequently; so 
I've heard a lot about it. And I've studied these pictures of Cape Town 
for years. I couldn't wait to--it's even more beautiful in person than 
it is in the photographs.
    Q. [Inaudible]--new perception of Africa, Mr. President, now that 
you've been here for the last 2 days?
    President Clinton. I'm sorry, what did you say?
    Q. Are you changing the perception for the American people, do you 
think, by being here?
    President Clinton. Well, I hope so. I hope--one of the main purposes 
of this trip for me was to enable the American people to see the new 
South Africa and a new Africa, to see the good, positive things that are 
happening in Africa, and to understand why it is very much in the 
interest of the American people to have a partnership with the nations 
of Africa for meeting the common challenges we're going to face in the 
21st century and for seizing the opportunities that we have in common.
    Today, when I speak to the South Africa Parliament, I will be joined 
by quite a large delegation of Americans, including a significant number 
of American business people who are interested in trade and investment 
possibilities here and other places in this continent. And I hope that 
the American people will see that.
    I think too often in the past, American images of Africa generally 
have come when there was a problem here or have been a part of the 
people thinking about traveling here because of the natural beauty and 
the wildlife. I don't think we see enough of the concrete possibilities 
for real partnership. And so I hope this trip will change that.

Situation in Iraq

    Q. [Inaudible]--the inspectors today made an inspection of Iraqi 
sensitive sites, Presidential sites. Have you gotten any reports on 
that?
    President Clinton. No, but I'm glad that they're inspecting the 
sites. I think that's a good thing, and it means that so far the 
agreement is holding. And that's all we ever wanted. We just want to see 
the U.N. inspectors complete their work. So I'm encouraged.
    Press Secretary Mike McCurry. Last question. Thank you.
    President Clinton. One for Mr. Mbeki.

Trade With Africa

    Q. You're quoted on French radio, Mr. Deputy President, as saying 
that Mr. Clinton's formula of trade, not aid, is wrong. Did you discuss 
this with him?
    Deputy President Mbeki. Well, I didn't say that of the President. 
[Laughter] And I've seen this particular newspaper, and it's wrong. I 
didn't say that. And I indeed--we receive significant amounts of aid 
from the U.S. Government. I don't think President Clinton is against us 
receiving aid. I don't think the question is correctly posed. What we 
are saying is, indeed, we need to move with regard to the development of 
Africa to address these matters of increased trade interaction between 
Africa and the rest of the world, including the United States, but that 
it's wrong to put that to say trade and therefore not aid, that you need 
to address both matters.
    And those particular remarks were general remarks, not directed 
against anybody or country.
    President Clinton. Let me--if I could just respond to that, my 
formula would be, with regard to Africa, we should have trade and aid. 
Indeed, I'm making an attempt at this very moment, along with our 
administration, to get aid levels through our United States Congress 
which would permit me to increase aid to Africa, to go back to our 
historically highest level of aid to Africa. But what I believe is that 
countries and individual citizens in the developing nations of the 
world, not just in Africa but throughout the world, will never be able 
to rise to the level of middle class nations with huge numbers of people 
earning good, sustainable incomes, unless they do it through the energy 
of private economic interchange, through trade and investment. I just 
think that the evidence is there that that is the case.
    On the other hand, to get countries to the take-off point and to 
deal with troubled populations or disadvantaged populations within 
developing countries, we have to continue the aid program. So while it's 
true that we're putting much more emphasis on trade and investment in 
the last 5 years, I don't think that we should abandon our aid approach.

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    And in fact, just this morning, some of you went with me out to the 
housing project where you could see just across the highway that people 
had been living literally in shanties and were now in their own homes. 
And our aid programs contribute to the ability of people to build their 
own homes for themselves. Without the aid, they couldn't afford to do 
it. With the aid, they have a chance to have good housing and to become 
more prosperous citizens. So I think we should do both things.
    Thank you.

Note: The exchange began at 2:40 p.m. at the Cape Grace Hotel. In his 
remarks, the President referred to President Nelson Mandela of South 
Africa. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this 
exchange.