[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 37 (Monday, September 20, 1993)]
[Pages 1759-1760]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With Prime 
Minister Paul Keating of Australia

 September 14, 1993

    The President. Good morning. First, I want to welcome Prime Minister 
Keating here and his colleagues from Australia. We're looking forward to 
having a very good discussion, and we'll have some comments later, as 
you know.
    I also want to applaud the announcement today of the common agenda 
established between Jordan and Israel, as well as the historic stop that 
Prime Minister Rabin and Foreign Minister Peres have made in Morocco, 
seeing King Hassan. I applaud King Hassan, and I hope that other Arab 
leaders will follow that example. And we will continue now rapidly to 
break down the barriers between Israel and other nations. And I'm 
looking forward to beginning work immediately on the United States part 
of implementing this agreement.

NAFTA

    Q. Do you agree, sir, with President Carter and President Bush in 
their characterization of Ross Perot as a demagog?
    The President. I'm going to try to pass NAFTA. And they're perfectly 
capable of speaking for themselves. I don't agree with Mr. Perot on 
this, and some of the assertions are not accurate that he has made. But, 
you know, I'm going to be out here. My job is to try to pass this. And I 
don't want to overly personalize it. I'm just trying to pass it. I think 
it's good for America; it's good for jobs.
    Q. Are you going to work as hard for health care as you are for 
NAFTA, or vice versa?
    The President. I'm going to try to pass them both. I'm going to 
try--you know, I work at everything I do. I just get up in the morning 
and go to work. I think that's what I got hired to do.

[At this point, one group of reporters left the room and another group 
entered.]

    The President. As you know, we're going to have a joint statement 
afterward, and we'll answer your questions then. But I do want to 
welcome the Prime Minister and his colleagues here. I want to say to all 
of you how very important the relationship that the United States has 
with Australia is to me and to our administration. And I look forward to 
discussing a whole wide range of things, especially the upcoming APEC 
conference in Washington State in November. And I want to thank the 
Prime Minister publicly for his leadership in helping to put that 
together and helping to bring the leaders of the other

[[Page 1760]]

countries there. We'll have more to say about it later, but I'm anxious 
to get on with the meeting.
    Q. Will you get a chance to visit sometime, perhaps for the Olympics 
in Sydney?
    The President. Why, I hope so. I've always wanted to come. I had one 
other chance to go to Australia, and I had to turn it down because of 
when I was a Governor. And I've been jealous of every friend of mine who 
ever went there. So I sure hope I can come.

Note: The President spoke at 12:48 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these 
remarks.