    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [March 20, 2000]
    [Page 498]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 498]]

    Remarks at a State Dinner Hosted by President Justice Shahabuddin
    Ahmed of Bangladesh in Dhaka
    March 20, 2000

        Mr. President, Prime Minister,
    distinguished guests, this has been a day of extraordinary hospitality,
    insight, and discovery for us. On behalf of the American delegation, I
    thank you for all you have done to make us feel at home.
        For 5 years now, my wife and
    daughter have been singing the glories of
    Bangladesh. Finally, I am glad to see for myself. This day has been a
    watershed for both our nations. Americans admire Bangladesh as a proud
    Muslim nation, devoted to peace with its neighbors, to peacekeeping
    around the world, to tolerance and diversity within its borders.
        When the great Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the
    Nobel Prize for literature, he said this: ``I am glad I have done some
    work to give expression to this great age when the East and the West are
    coming together.'' Although he did not live to see the creation of
    Bangladesh, Tagore would doubtless be proud of all you have done to lead
    your people into a new century. I believe he would also approve of what
    we did today to bring the East and the West closer together.
        I was deeply gratified this morning to be the first American
    President to arrive in Bangladesh, and I am proud of the kind of
    partnership we are forging. It is about more than the ceremony of a
    state visit. It is about promoting democracy and the values that give
    meaning to our lives. It is about helping children stay in school and
    have a better future, about investing in people who have never been
    given a chance to succeed before, and investing in a nation that now has
    a chance to succeed as never before.
        Tomorrow the Sun will rise on a deeper friendship between America
    and Bangladesh. Through our ceremonies and our conversations, we have
    hastened the arrival of a more peaceful new day, the kind of day that
    Tagore spent his life imagining, a new day comprehending not only the
    absence of war and suffering but the presence of mutual understanding
    and common endeavors.
        On behalf of all Americans, I pledge that we will work with you to
    build on this good day, to soften the hard facts of daily hardship, to
    make real the poetry of our finest aspirations.
        I ask you now to join me in a toast to the President, the Prime
    Minister, the people of Bangladesh, and the
    friendship between our two nations. May it grow. May it deepen. May it
    affect the lives of our people in ways that are truly good.
        Thank you very much.

     Note:  The President spoke at approximately 8:30 p.m. in the Banquet
    Hall of the Bangabhawan. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister
    Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh. The transcript released by the Office of
    the Press Secretary also included the remarks of President Ahmed.