    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [July 30, 1999]
    [Pages 1349-1351]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1349]]

    Statement to the Stability Pact Summit in Sarajevo
    July 30, 1999

        We are meeting in Sarajevo conscious that we have come to the end of
    the most turbulent decade in Europe since the 1940's. I am grateful to
    our Bosnian hosts and to President Ahtisaari for making this important summit possible.
        Ten years ago, more than 300 million people who lived to the east of
    the old Iron Curtain won the right to shape their destiny, and together
    we set out to build a Europe that would be, for the first time in its
    history, undivided, democratic, and at peace. We knew the opportunity
    was there, and that from St. Petersburg to Sofia, millions of courageous
    people wanted to seize it. But we also knew that the collapse of the old
    order could just as easily give rise to bloodshed and chaos if a new
    community based on democracy, tolerance, and law did not rapidly take
    its place.
        Ten years later, Germany is united. Poland, Hungary, and the Czech
    Republic are in NATO. The Baltic nations are models of free market and
    democratic reform. Most of the nations of southeast Europe have chosen
    democracy and integration and supported, at great risk and cost, our
    effort to bring stability to the Balkans. Russia has faced perhaps the
    most difficult legacy of all with great resilience and a determination
    to keep building a normal, prosperous, and open society.
        Across most of central and southeastern Europe, the progress of open
    societies and open markets has exceeded our most optimistic hopes. But
    what has happened here in the former Yugoslavia has confirmed our most
    terrible fears. A decade-long campaign by Mr. Milosevic to carve out a Greater Serbia has left more than a
    quarter of a million people dead, uprooted millions more, and undermined
    the stability of this entire region. It has shocked our conscience,
    tested our resolve, threatened the region's progress and the values on
    which we want a new Europe to be built.
        That is why NATO and its partners acted, first in Bosnia, now in
    Kosovo. But stopping the destruction is not enough. We cannot say our
    job is finished when refugees are returning to shattered lives. We
    cannot pretend our work is done when Serbia is still ruled by leaders
    who maintain power by manipulating ethnic differences, living off
    corruption, and threatening their neighbors. We cannot pretend our
    victory is complete when the people of a vast region of Europe are still
    suffering from the disruption brought about by a decade of violence.
        At the NATO summit in Washington, when the outcome of the conflict
    was not yet clear, many of us came together to begin discussing these
    challenges. It is far more significant that we are meeting now when the
    immediate danger is over. The unity that helped us win the war has
    endured to help us win the peace.
        We are here today with two basic principles in mind.
        First, Sarajevo cannot be like the Balkan conferences of Europe's
    past, where great powers met to carve up the map and decide the fate of
    weaker nations. The nations of southeast Europe are taking the lead,
    telling us their needs and determining their destiny. And none of us
    have any interest in redrawing borders. On the contrary, our goal is the
    full integration of this region into a Europe where borders unite rather
    than divide. That is how we solved the problem of aggressive nationalism
    in western Europe after World War II. That is how we can solve it here.
    Our answer to calls for a Greater Serbia and a Greater Albania must be a
    greater Europe.
        Second, the transformation and integration of this region cannot be
    achieved piecemeal, one province, one country, one crisis at a time. Nor
    is it a race, in which the most prosperous countries compete to
    ``escape'' from the Balkans at the expense of their neighbors. The pace
    will certainly vary, but we have to move forward together, and we all
    have responsibilities to meet.
        The countries of southeast Europe have a responsibility to work and
    plan together for a future of shared security and prosperity, just as
    the nations of western Europe did after World War II and the nations of
    central Europe did after the cold war. I am gratified that the leaders
    of the region have taken the initiative, coming to Sarajevo with plans
    to improve regional cooperation, from the advancement of democracy and
    human rights to the development of their infrastructure to the
    cooperation in border

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    areas to the fight against narcotics, corruption, and crime. I am
    pleased that neighbors such as Ukraine and Moldova, who are still
    struggling with the challenges of transition themselves, are here with
    us as well, demonstrating their commitment to integration with a united,
    secure, and prosperous Europe. And it is gratifying to have
    representatives here from central Europe, whose experience in the
    transition from dictatorship to democracy can benefit their neighbors in
    southeast Europe.
        The countries of the region also have a responsibility to accelerate
    their economic reforms and to improve their investment climate. The
    region's economies will not grow unless its markets are open, its laws
    are fairly enforced, and investors are willing to bank on its future.
    This is very hard work. But change must come from the inside out before
    it can come from the outside in.
        In turn, the region's partners in Europe and North America must do
    our part to help the nations of this region to stand on their feet, to
    remove obstacles to trade, and to encourage investment.
        On Wednesday in Brussels, we held a donors conference to meet the
    immediate humanitarian needs caused by the conflict in Kosovo. Today we
    are focused on the economic future of the region as a whole.
        We are making a commitment to take generous, immediate, and
    unilateral steps to improve market access for products made in southeast
    Europe. I will work with the United States Congress to establish a trade
    preference program similar to our Andean initiative, which will offer
    duty-free treatment for most of the region's exports.
        All of us will work to bring the nations of the region into the
    World Trade Organization on commercially acceptable terms and provide
    the technical assistance they need to meet those terms. We will
    encourage the participation of private companies in the region in the
    reconstruction of Kosovo and, eventually, Serbia as part of a fair
    procurement process.
        We will also work to mobilize private investment in the region's
    economies and to support the development of its private sector. To that
    end, America's Overseas Private Investment Corporation will establish a
    $150 million investment fund for the region and a $200 million credit
    line. In addition, in consultation with Congress, we will work with the
    European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on the creation of a
    trust fund that would be used to help businesses in the region become
    more competitive and viable and provide project finance. We would be
    willing to contribute $15 million in the first year and to consider up
    to $50 million overall, as long as the EBRD targets an additional $80
    million for the region. In addition, we will support the creation of a
    regional equity fund of up to $300 million, with financing from the
    international financial institution, to make equity investments in
    private enterprises in the region. Our Commerce Secretary William
    Daley will also sponsor a mission to the
    region to showcase trade and investment opportunities and build new
    business partnerships.
        I expect that our EU partners will take similar steps. This effort
    can only succeed if you do. While access to America's markets is
    important, integration with the EU market offers the greatest prospect
    of boosting the economy of southeast Europe.
        And as the region's economies grow and its democracies grow
    stronger, we must work together to speed their integration into European
    and transatlantic institutions.
        NATO's doors remain open to new members prepared to assume the
    responsibilities of membership. We will work with aspiring allies in
    southeast Europe to help them become stronger candidates, through the
    Partnership for Peace, through NATO's Membership Action Plan, and by
    encouraging deeper security cooperation within the region; and we will
    not forget the sacrifices they made to support NATO's continuing
    operations in Kosovo.
        Although the United States is not a member of the European Union, we
    also have a strong interest in encouraging its expansion to move forward
    as rapidly as possible. We welcome any steps the EU can take to
    strengthen its relationship with countries in this region, including
    increased access to trade. Even if membership is not around the corner
    for those nations that are struggling economically, it must be a
    realistic prospect, or Europe will remain a continent of haves and have-
    nots, and our work here will be in vain.
        The commitments we are making today will benefit every part of this
    region that is governed democratically. They will benefit Kosovo. They
    will benefit the Republic of Montenegro. They will benefit Bosnia. We
    look forward to the day when they will benefit Serbia as well. But that

    [[Page 1351]]

    day has not yet come. For Serbia is still ruled by a government that
    rejects the most basic principles of the Stability Pact, the very
    government that is responsible for the destruction, despair, and
    displacement that we are here to overcome.
        I believe that the people of Serbia want to be part of the
    mainstream of Europe again, governed by leaders who share their desire
    to live in a normal, democratic, and prosperous nation. I do not believe
    they want to be manipulated into fighting more losing wars on behalf of
    indicted leaders who only wish to preserve their own power and stolen
    wealth. We must provide them humanitarian aid, so that they do not go
    hungry and cold. But we must also remember that Serbia is a country in
    which all meaningful economic activity is controlled by political
    leaders and their cronies, who have led Serbia to ruin. Assistance for
    reconstruction would only perpetuate the Milosevic regime, and that, in turn, would only perpetuate the
    suffering of the people of Serbia.
        Serbia will only have a future when Mr. Milosevic and his policies are consigned to the past.
    Therefore, the best way to express our concern for the people of Serbia
    is to support their struggle for democratic change. I will work with our
    Congress to provide $10 million this year and more over the next 2 years
    to strengthen nongovernmental organizations in Serbia, the independent
    media, independent trade unions, and the democratic opposition. I am
    pleased that the countries of the region intend to support this effort
    as well. Those who have experience leading to democratic transition can
    offer invaluable assistance and advice to those who aspire to lead one
    in Serbia.
        Finally, let me thank our partners in the European Union for their
    leadership and their willingness to be the principal contributors to the
    reconstruction of Kosovo and the development of southeast Europe. The
    International Donor Coordinators Process, chaired by the World Bank and
    the European Commission, will also play a key role in answering needs
    and mobilizing resources. We will do our part to work closely with the
    Stability Pact partners and the countries of the region.
        At the same time, the United States will do its part, because it is
    in our interest to help complete the construction of an undivided,
    democratic, and peaceful Europe. We want to see an end to conflict in
    this region. We want to see freedom take firm root. We want to see human
    rights enshrined not only in formal documents but in daily lives. We
    want the nations of the region to be our partners in security and
    prosperity.
        We strongly support the Stability Pact and pledge our support for
    it. The challenge now is to agree to a solid work plan and produce
    concrete results in the weeks and months ahead. We look forward to
    working with the Presidency of the EU, with the Stability Pact
    coordinator Bodo Hombach, and most important
    with our friends and partners in this region to turn promises into
    progress and to make this effort a success.

    Note: The statement was made available by the Office of the Press
    Secretary but was not issued as a White House press release.