[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

[[Page 1350]]

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.