[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 46 (Monday, November 22, 1993)]
[Pages 2391-2392]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement by the Press Secretary on the President's Message on NAFTA to 
Latin American Heads of State

 November 18, 1993

    Following passage of the NAFTA implementing legislation by the House 
of Representatives on November 17 the President sent the following 
message to heads of state and government of Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, 
Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Suriname, Guyana, 
Bolivia, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, 
Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti, Barbados, The Bahamas, St. Lucia, 
St. Vincent and The Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and 
Barbuda, Jamaica, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Grenada:
    ``I am pleased to inform you that the implementing legislation for 
the North American Free Trade Agreement was passed on November 17 by the 
United States House

[[Page 2392]]

of Representatives. This represents the first critical step on the road 
to U.S. implementation of the Agreement. I hope to win approval of the 
implementing legislation next week by the United States Senate. The 
other signatory parties, Canada and Mexico, are completing their 
ratification procedures.
    ``This is an historic occasion. The NAFTA will benefit all the 
people of our hemisphere. It manifests the confidence and optimism with 
which the United States and our immediate neighbors face the future. It 
epitomizes our dedication to the development of a cooperative and 
prosperous post-Cold War world based on open and dynamic economies, a 
clean environment, protection of workers' rights and expansion of 
democracy.
    ``The NAFTA will capitalize on the tremendous opportunities which 
reforms in Mexico and elsewhere in the Americas have given us to open 
the way to trade liberalization throughout the hemisphere. As we link 
our economies we not only will increase the efficiency of production in 
each country but also will create new, better quality jobs and improve 
the entire hemisphere's competitiveness in the global marketplace. The 
NAFTA will set the stage for freer trade and sustainable, more equitable 
economic development throughout Latin America and the Caribbean for the 
benefit of our combined populations of 700 million. It will also give an 
enormous boost to our efforts to complete the GATT Uruguay Round so we 
can continue to expand the global economy.
    ``I am grateful for the hemisphere-wide backing the NAFTA enjoys. 
Your expressions of support, both individual and issued collectively 
through the Organization of American States, the Rio Group, the 
Caribbean Community and the Meeting of Central American Presidents have 
helped me convey to the people of the United States the commitment of 
Latin American and Caribbean nations to opening their markets so that 
freer trade may benefit all. I am proud to have your support in this 
historic endeavor and I look forward to working with you to make freer 
trade throughout this hemisphere a reality.''