[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: GEORGE W. BUSH (2001, Book I)]
[April 22, 2001]
[Pages 431-439]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
The President's News Conference With Summit of the Americas Leaders in
Quebec City
April 22, 2001
[Prime Minister Jean Chretien of Canada opened
the news conference with brief remarks in French, and a translation was
not provided. He then continued in English.]
Prime Minister Chretien. We will start
with the President of the United States.
President Bush. Mr. Prime Minister, thank
you very much, and congratulations on a very successful summit. I want
to thank you and your staff and the people of Quebec City for their
hospitality.
I've been most impressed by the discussions we've had. It's clear to
me that ours is a hemisphere united by freedom. It's a partnership that
will help us tackle the big challenges that we all face: the education
of our children, HIV/AIDS, protecting our environment. It's a strong
partnership. It's a partnership that will help us all achieve what we
want--is that everybody in our respective countries are able to succeed
and realize their dreams.
I want to thank my fellow leaders who were here. This is my first
summit, as you know. I've been most impressed by the quality of
leadership. I am most thankful
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for the generous hospitality each leader showed me. I listened a lot; I
learned a lot. There's no question in my mind we have challenges ahead
of us, but there's also no question that we can meet those challenges.
So, Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very
much, sir.
Prime Minister Chretien. Thank you, Mr.
President. And now we'll ask the President of Chile, Mr. Lagos, to say a
few words.
[At this point, President Ricardo Lagos of
Chile, President Fernando de la Rua of
Argentina, and President Vicente Fox of Mexico
each made brief remarks in Spanish. Translations were not provided.]
Prime Minister Chretien. I thank you very
much, President Fox. And I now call on President Andres Pastrana.
President Andres Pastrana of Colombia.
Thank you, Honorable Right Prime Minister. First, I'd like to thank you,
Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Chretien, and all of your people for your
hospitality in these last few days, hospitality that we have enjoyed in
Quebec. I think that those who preceded me have expressed the basic
tenets of what has occurred here today. But now I would like to share
what President Lagos said--back what he said with regard to the
democratic clause and the importance of it for the Americas.
We have put all of our efforts as leaders of our democracies to
strengthen our democracies. And as we have said throughout this summit,
we must move from a political democracy to an economic democracy.
Through that, we can seek improvement of living conditions of the most
poor and the neediest amongst us.
If there is something that has brought us together or which unites
us or what calls us here today at this summit--what calls 34 heads of
state of the Americas together--what calls us together is our concern
for human beings and particularly to improve the conditions of life, as
I said, for the poorest and the most needy.
And as President Fox said, this is the opportunity to thank all 34
heads of state for their support to state politics, the process of peace
in Colombia. Thank you for your support to a political and negotiated
solution to the conflict which has torn asunder our country for the last
30 years.
And once again, as says the declaration, we support the peace
process. Thank you for your support. And I would also like to call your
attention to the uprising, to those behind it, to those who are
marginalized and not following the law, and that this is enshrined in
our declaration. We can and we will quickly reach humanitarian
agreements with regard to the respect of human rights, respecting
humanitarian international law, and especially to not exclude the
civilian population.
Prime Minister Chretien. And now, I would
like to give the floor to President Francisco Flores from El Salvador.
President Francisco Flores Perez
of El Salvador. When the whole world is facing a creative,
technological, and scientific revolution and countries become more and
more integrated, it's key that leaders of the world understand that the
possibilities of our countries are based on going from a view of the
state as a closed and autonomous organ to a collection of open,
integrated societies that support democracy and freedom.
And the definition of a new state is a basis to struggle against
poverty, to respect the tremendous diversities that exist in the
Americas, and the possibility of moving ahead in the world the way we
want to move ahead, especially those of us who believe in principles.
If anything has been learned from the greatest and most recent
tragedies in El Salvador, especially the last two earthquakes, is that
the foundations of countries are not physical things; they are moral
things. They are based on their strength and their belief in principles
and in the belief of men, women, and their dignity.
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I would like to thank the Government of Canada for hosting this
meeting that has confirmed these values, which, I believe, are the basis
for hope for the future in the Americas.
Prime Minister Chretien. Thank you. I
thank President Flores. I give the floor to Prime Minister Owen Archer
of the Barbados.
Prime Minister Owen Archer of Barbados. Mr.
Prime Minister, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share a
perspective on behalf of the Caribbean. It is not only the smallest and
most vulnerable region in our hemisphere but the smallest and most
vulnerable region in the world.
From the outset in 1994, we were very clear that the exercise in
which we are involved through these summits is greater than the mere
creation of an integrated economic area, but must entail our creation of
a program of development cooperation to support the emergence and the
evolution of a truly hemispheric community for the Americas. And from
the onset, we were clear that the effort had to stand the test of
equity, had to stand the test of inclusiveness, and had to stand the
test of relevance. It has to be relevant for today's purposes and
tomorrow's needs. The Caribbean is pleased to be able to say that this
summit has taken us a far distance to being satisfied in all of those
tests.
We are not only living in the 21st century; we are now living in a
new information age in which there is a great danger of a new dangerous
inequality caused by a digital divide. And I believe that in the context
of a 21st century society, this summit will stand as that summit where
the leaders of the Americas determined that there should be no digital
divide in our Americas, that the benefits of the new information
technology have been brought within the reach of all of our citizens.
Our connectivity agenda is, in my judgment, the most exciting new
development from this summit, which I commend to the people of the
Caribbean.
We are also very pleased that the arrangements for economic
integration have now been so deliberately designed to truly accommodate
the special concerns of the smallest and the most vulnerable entities in
our hemisphere. And this summit has stood the test of equity.
May I also say, Mr. Prime Minister, that the Caribbean has used this
summit, as well, and the meetings in the margin of this summit to lay a
foundation for stronger bilateral relationships with our neighbors,
particularly the United States of America, Canada, Central America, and
the Mercosur countries and the Andean countries, and that we can leave
this summit looking to the prospect of being part of a successful
partnership in a successful neighborhood of the Americas.
I thank you.
Prime Minister Chretien. Thank you very
much, Mr. Prime Minister.
And now the journalists have the floor.
Protesters and the Free Trade Agenda
Q. Mr. President, President Bush, I will direct my question to the
Prime Minister of Canada, but we would very much like you to answer the
question afterwards, if you don't mind.
[A question was asked and answered in French, and a translation was not
provided. Following his response in French, Prime Minister
Chretien spoke in English.]
Prime Minister Chretien. So I don't think
that it is a question of our legitimacy. We are very legitimate. We were
elected, all of us. And when you look at what was the Americas some 30
years ago and what it is today, look at the progress that democracy has
made. Look at the clause that we have developed together at this time to
make sure that democracy will remain in the Americas.
And a lot of people were invited to comment. We organized a parallel
summit, at the expense of the Government. And they met; they discussed;
they debated; they met
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with ministers; there were ministers from my government and ministers
from many other Governments that listened to them. And I'm very proud of
the unions, for example, who decided to organize a parade of protest. It
was done in a very orderly fashion. They made sure that those who wanted
to break everything were not part of it.
There were some hundreds of them who had come with the goal of
trying to disrupt us, and I want to say a great thank you again to the
police of the city of Quebec, of the Province of Quebec and the Federal
police for the way that they have handled the situation. We could see it
on TV, and the restraint, the discipline they've shown is an example.
I guess in other summits there will still be some protesters,
communicating among themselves on the Internet and so on, and they have
the right to protest. But we will not tolerate breaking the peace of the
people. In a democracy, you have a right to speak, but you have to
respect the law.
And I don't know if the President would like to comment on that.
President Bush. Well, let me just say that I campaigned vigorously
on a free trade agenda. There should be no question in anybody's mind in
my country that I would come to Quebec City to promote trade.
For those who question trade and its benefits, I would urge them to
look at the experience that we've had as a result of NAFTA. Canada has
benefited; Mexico has benefited; the United States has benefited. Sure,
there are going to be some who complain, and that's what happens in a
democracy. But the overall benefits have been great for our three
countries. And it served as an example to attract the positive opinions
of other leaders who came to this summit. It's a positive example for
the doubters to look at, for the skeptics to see that wealth can be
spread throughout our hemisphere.
And we have a choice to make. We can combine in a common market so
we can compete in the long term with the Far East and Europe, or we can
go on our own. I submit--and I suspect the other leaders will echo with
me; I hope they do, at least--that going on our own is not the right way
to do so. Combining in a market in our own hemisphere makes sense. It's
a logical extension of what's taken place through NAFTA.
There are some people in my country that want to shut down free
trade. And they're welcome to express their opinions. I heard it
throughout the campaign. But it's not going to change my opinion about
the benefits of free trade, not only for my country and the people who
work in my country and the people who wonder whether there's a future in
my country, but the benefits of free trade for all the countries of this
hemisphere are strong. And I intend to vigorously pursue a free trade
agenda.
Prime Minister Chretien. Thank you.
Next.
Missionary Aircraft Incident in Peru
Q. Thank you, sir. President Bush, you talked at the summit with
Peru's leader about the downing of a U.S. missionary plane in a joint
U.S.-Peru mission. Your administration has not clarified the U.S. role
in this incident thus far, so I'd like to follow up briefly. How much
responsibility do we bear, since it was our spotter plane that
identified the missionaries' aircraft for Peru's Air Force to pursue?
President Bush. First, the incident that took place in Peru is a
terrible tragedy. And our hearts go out to the families who have been
affected. Secondly, I did speak to the Prime Minister of Peru, who expressed his government's sincere
condolences.
Our Government is involved with helping and a variety of agencies
are involved with helping our friends in South America identify
airplanes that might be carrying illegal drugs. These operations have
been going on for quite a while. We've suspended such flights until we
get to the bottom of the
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situation, to fully understand all the facts, to understand what went
wrong in this terrible tragedy.
Q. What was our role, sir, in the downing?
President Bush. Our role was to--like in other missions, Ron [Ron
Fournier, Associated Press]--was to provide information as to tail
numbers. Our role is to help countries identify planes that fail to file
flight plans. Our role was to simply pass on information. But we'll get
to the bottom of the situation. But I want everybody in my country to
understand that we weep for the families whose lives have been affected.
Prime Minister Chretien. Next.
Trade Promotion Authority
Q. Good afternoon. I have a question for the President of the United
States. Mr. Bush, you're personally committed to the liberalization of
this hemisphere, but you don't have a broad-based mandate from the U.S.
Congress to negotiate. What can the Governments of Latin America do to
help you overcome the opposition of economic groups and of legislators
in your country? Thank you.
President Bush. Write your Congressman. [Laughter]
I appreciate that so very much. That's the very same statement that
the President of Uruguay asked. I am confident
I will have trade promotion authority by the end of the year, because I
think most people in the United States Congress understand that trade is
beneficial in our hemisphere. We're going to proceed concurrently with
that, parallel to that, with the trade agreement with Chile, and we hope
to have that concluded by the end of the year.
But I've assured my colleagues that my administration will work to
get trade promotion authority. Most Presidents have had what they call
fast-track; we now call it trade promotion authority. And I intend to
get it myself. It's in our Nation's best interests to have the President
have that authority.
In the meantime, as I mentioned to you, my friend the President of
Chile and I will instruct our respective and
appropriate members of our administration to hammer out, negotiate, and
effect a trade agreement between our two countries.
Argentine Financial Crisis
Q. President de la Rua, the question is for President Bush, but I
would also like your answer, if you will, Your Excellency. President
Bush, the United States Secretary of the Treasury gave direct financial
aid to Mexico to overcome the tequila crisis and to stop propagation to
the rest of the region. Given the economic financial crisis in Argentina
is already spreading to neighboring countries such as Brazil, I'd like
to know if the United States plans to give direct financial aid to
Argentina, as it did with Mexico in the past?
President Bush. It's too early to make that determination. Having
said that, Secretary of the Treasury O'Neill, as well as others in my administration, are watching
closely the situation in Argentina. It is in our Nation's interest that
the Argentine economy recover. That's obviously in the interest of
neighbors that it do so, as well. But we're watching very carefully.
We're in touch with your Government on a regular basis, and we'll make
the determinations as to either bilateral aid or additional aid through
the international financial institutions as the case merits.
Q. President de la Rua.
President Fernando de la Rua of
Argentina. The support given by the President of the United States and
the Secretary of the Treasury is of great value. And assistance to our
country has come through multilateral financial institutions and other
countries who have given us international guarantees. So this has
insured a fiscal solvency in my country.
There is no risk, in my opinion, of problems in our country--this
transitional problem in Argentina extending to neighboring
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countries. Argentina, with international financial institutions' help,
will be meeting the IMF's criteria and is endeavoring in a very
determined fashion to reduce the fiscal deficit and to ensure fiscal
solvency in every aspect. So there is no risk of any--that we need to be
concerned about.
Next.
International Energy Resources
Q. I am from a newspaper in Mexico City, and I have a question
addressed to President Bush and to Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Mexico,
there is an issue that is of great interest, and I'm referring now to
the power issue. I'd like to ask both of you, what is your view for what
would be a hemispheric-wide energy plan? What commitments have you
already reached, and what would be needed for such a plan to be
equitable as between producers and the great consumers of power?
President Bush. Well, first, if Canadian suppliers and Mexican
suppliers of energy and electricity are looking for a market, they've
found one in the United States. We're short of energy. We need more
energy in our country. Much of what will be explored, from the
exploration perspective, will depend upon price. The farther away you
get from market, the deeper the waters, the higher the price must be.
But the price of energy is high enough to spur exploration activities on
both sides of our border.
What the United States can do is to provide markets by better
pipelines, across-border permitting, welcoming supplies of natural gas
regardless of the country of origin. We can work with our friends the
Mexicans in the south about the development of electricity. I have
talked with President Fox about that, not only
when I was in Mexico but also earlier this week, and will discuss this
very issue with the Prime Minister and the
President right after this press conference.
Part of our issue is to make sure our electricity grids are open
enough to handle additional power, say, in the western part of our
State, obviously the western part of Mexico. There is some very good
news in our hemisphere, at least as far as Americans are concerned, and
that is that because of technologies, the Canadians have developed vast
crude oil resources in what appeared heretofore to be crude oil that
could not be recovered from the ground in what they call tar pits--tar
sands. And therefore, Canada is going to be the largest exporter of
crude oil to the United States. That's good for our national security;
it's good for our economy.
There's a lot of work we can do together. It is important for our
hemisphere to not only trade liberally but to move energy throughout the
hemisphere as needed, and it starts with the cooperation between Mexico,
Canada, and the United States.
Prime Minister Chretien. I don't have much
to add to that. I think that the market in the United States is a great
opportunity for Canada. Already, as the President just said, we are the
biggest exporter of oil to United States, and it will increase even more
in the years to come. We have a lot of natural gas in Canada at this
moment.
I remember, at the time when I was Minister of Energy, we had to
sell our oil and gas in Canada to our consumers, to give them a market.
Now we have a huge market there, but we have to make sure that the
development of these resources will be done in a very effective way,
that we have assured market. And we do that, having all the time in
mind--we have to do that with the mentality that we have to do these
things in protecting the environment. But there is a lot of
opportunities, and we'll be discussing that later on this afternoon.
Next.
Colombia
Q. This question is for Mr. Bush. If Mr. Pastrana can react to it,
too, and Mr. Chretien, if that's possible. Regarding the
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declaration backing of the peace process in Colombia, Mr. Bush, would
your government be willing to take a more active role and participate in
this peace process? And how committed are you to the peace process in
Colombia?
President Bush. We have funded Plan Colombia, which is over a
billion dollars of U.S. taxpayers' money. That's a very strong
commitment. At this summit, we laid out an additional Andean initiative
of $880 million, monies not only to go to Colombia but the surrounding
countries to Colombia, monies that recognize that not only is
interdiction important, but also we need to develop infrastructure. We
need to have sustainable crop replacement programs. So our country is
committed to the region.
I believe firmly that President Pastrana
is a strong leader who is doing everything he can to bring the peace.
But it's going to be up to President Pastrana to make the peace. Once he
does so, we'll stand by his side. And so our support has been strong,
and it's been consistent. And we'll continue to support our friend the
democratically elected leader of Colombia.
President Pastrana. Thank you very much
for your question. Yes, I think that President Bush has--will resume
what has been the help, $1.3 billion, the last year. He talked about a
near $1 billion for this next year for what he has been calling the
Andean initiative.
More than money, we are asking commerce--that's why we are asking
the United States; that's why we were asking Europe. And that's why
President Bush is committing in the extension of ATPA and the
enhancement of ATPA, to try to get to really some preference that will
allow us to get more employment for our people.
I think that President Bush is also very committed in drug
addiction. I said yesterday to President Bush that a drug addict is a
drug terrorist. One smell of cocaine in the United States is a death in
Colombia. So that's why he's also very committed in working and fighting
inside the United States. As you will know, the U.S. is expending nearly
$20 billion in drug prevention programs. And he's really very committed
to bring, also, down consumption in his country.
And I think that we had a meeting in Cartagena, the Andean
countries, the ATPA countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia. We
invited Venezuela as an observer to the ATPA. And we hope that with the
help of President Bush and with the help of the U.S. Congress, we will
get the ATPA out before the end of this year. And that will bring us new
opportunities for the poorest people of our country.
Prime Minister Chretien. And of Canada,
I've assured the President that if they need us to play a certain role,
we'll be available. There are some discussions to have certain
participation. And if we can be useful, we'll be happy to help.
Free Trade Agreement for Central America
Q. I'm one of the Salvadoran journalists covering this summit. Bush,
could you give us details regarding the negotiation of a free trade
agreement with Central America? In particularly, Mr. Bush, if you have
in mind a date to start the negotiations, if you have in mind a date to
sign this agreement, and also if your administration is going to give
special treatment to those Central American economies?
President Bush. Trade--I'm sorry, the very end of your question?
Special trade----
Q. Free trade agreement with Central America.
President Bush. My first meeting here in Quebec City is with my--
actually, not my first meeting--I had a meeting early--how quickly we
forget--with our friends from Central America. And we talked about free
trade, and we talked about the possibilities of a free trade agreement
with a group of nations.
I did not dismiss that notion at all. As a matter of fact, it should
be clear to people that as we discuss the agreement that
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we're discussing here at this summit, that our Nation is willing to work
with others, such as Chile, to negotiate bilateral agreements.
And so, I'm openminded is the way to describe that to you. And I
think the leaders would tell you that we had a very frank discussion,
and it's very possible--it's very possible that we'll be able to come to
an agreement with a group of nations that would really make a logical
extension from NAFTA. So, to answer your question, I don't have a date
specific, but in my mind is the idea of that possibility.
Q. Will you support, Mr. Bush, any kind of special treatment for
those Central American economies in this agreement?
President Bush. Well, that's what I was saying. I would be very
openminded. As you know, we're committed in your country to helping with
natural disasters. It's in our Nation's interest that your good country,
with its brilliant young leader, be--help recover. It's going to be hard
to have a good economic vitality and growth without the aid necessary to
help recover from the natural disaster that took place. But I'm
openminded.
Let me just say something on behalf of my Government about el
Presidente de El Salvador. He is a
breath of fresh air. He is a very bright light, and I've been most
impressed by his candor, his leadership, his integrity. He's a great
leader for your country.
Q. My question is for Prime Minister Arthur--and before I do, Mr.
Arthur, you would be happy to know that westerners aren't doing too bad
in Jamaica. Now, on the opening on Friday, you spoke of special
considerations for the Caribbean in the FTAA process. There have been
concerns about the OECD, IDB membership for some of the small states.
Going into the conference, what were the Caribbean community and common
market's primary concerns, and are you satisfied that these outcomes
address these concerns?
Prime Minister Archer. As I said at the
opening, we have committed ourselves to being part of the effort to
build a truly inclusive hemispheric community. And one of our basic
concerns, obviously, have been to ensure that our framework is in place
to accommodate the needs of these smaller, more vulnerable entities
within the community.
We are pleased that as a result of the trade ministers' negotiations
in Argentina, we shall be embraced by heads of this summit, that there
is a realistic framework in place for the completion of the Free Trade
Area of the Americas, and that even more satisfying, that there are now
clear mandates given to the individual negotiating groups that would
enable us to be sure that we will translate the principle of special and
differential treatment for smaller or more vulnerable societies into the
final agreement that will anchor the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
The Caribbean was also concerned, having participated in the two
previous summits, about the adequacy of the arrangements for
implementation. I think we would be remiss were we not to say how
heartened we have been, ourselves, by the statement of commitments given
by the heads of the OAS, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World
Bank--[inaudible]--to support our plan of action with appropriate
resources and new institutional arrangements.
But you must believe me when I tell you that for the Caribbean, we
are excited by the prospect of translating our human capital advantage
into new industry in a new information age. Nothing matters more to us
than to be able to leave a conference where there is a commitment to a
plan of action to put the new information and communications technology
within the reach of the people of the hemisphere, making it possible for
us to contemplate a future of specialization as service societies in our
new knowledge-based global society.
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And for me, certainly, this connectivity agenda that will share the
benefits of that new technology to small societies is an exciting
opportunity that the Caribbean surely will not miss out on.
Prime Minister Chretien. Thank you very
much, Prime Ministers. So this concludes the press conference. There
will be another one in a few minutes by the officials of--representative
of the regional banks and the World Bank and the political organization
of the Americas.
Thank you very much. See you next time.
Note: The President's news conference began at 1:40 p.m. at the Quebec
Convention Center. In his remarks, President Bush referred to Prime
Minister Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru and President Jorge Batlle of
Uruguay. President Pastrana referred to ATPA, the Andean Trade
Preference Act. A reporter referred to FTAA, the Free Trade Area of the
Americas; OECD, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development; and IDB, the Inter-American Development Bank. President
Flores Perez's remarks were in Spanish, and they were translated by an
interpreter. A portion of President Pastrana's remarks were in Spanish,
and a portion of Prime Minister Chretien's remarks were in French, and
both were translated by an interpreter. Portions of this news conference
could not be verified because the tape was incomplete.