[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 39 (Monday, October 4, 1993)]
[Pages 1912-1913]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
White House Statement on the President's Meeting With Baltic Leaders

 September 27, 1993

    The President met today jointly with President Lennart Meri of 
Estonia, President Algirdas Brazauskas of Lithuania, and President 
Guntis Ulmanis of Latvia. It was the President's first meeting with the 
heads of state of the Baltic countries.
    The President expressed his admiration for the remarkable progress 
the Baltic peoples have achieved during the last 2 years in establishing 
democratic institutions and promoting economic reform. The President 
assured them of the strong U.S. interest in building close relations. 
The President reaffirmed U.S. support for reform and indicated the U.S. 
would move forward promptly on the new $50 million Baltic-American 
Enterprise Fund. The President also stated the United States intended to 
construct 5,000-7,000 housing units in Russia to facilitate the 
withdrawal of Russian forces from Estonia and Latvia.
    The President welcomed the recent withdrawal of all Russian military 
forces from Lithuania. He also reiterated strong U.S. support for the 
early, unconditional, and rapid withdrawal of the remaining Russian 
forces from Latvia and Estonia. The President noted that he had raised 
this matter in a number of recent discussions with Russian Federation 
leaders. The United States intends to be helpful to all parties 
concerned in promoting an amicable resolution of the withdrawal issue.
    The President also discussed concerns raised by the Russian 
Government about the

[[Page 1913]]

treatment of ethnic Russians in Latvia and Estonia, while noting that 
international observers had found no evidence of human rights violations 
in those countries. The President expressed the hope that practical 
solutions could be achieved on this difficult issue. In this regard, the 
United States welcomes the constructive role played by the United 
Nations, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), 
and the Council of Europe (COE) in helping to promote a resolution of 
all outstanding differences between Russia and the Baltic countries.