[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 21 (Monday, May 29, 1995)]
[Pages 887-888]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Proclamation 6805--World Trade Week, 1995
May 22, 1995
By the President of the United States
of America
A Proclamation
American exports bolster the quality of life for countless people,
supporting 10.5 million jobs here at home and supplying popular American
products to millions worldwide. They fuel our Nation's economy, create
high-wage jobs for our citizens, and link us to countries everywhere.
That is why my Administration supported NAFTA and brought the Uruguay
Round GATT negotiations to a successful conclusion. As we celebrate
World Trade Week this year, we pause to recognize the many ways in which
``Exporting is Everybody's Business.''
In the two years since my Administration launched this country's
first National Export Strategy, America has led the way in trade
promotion and advocacy efforts, strengthening existing programs and
developing new initiatives to serve U.S. exporters. The Trade Promotion
Coordinating Committee (TPCC) has worked to create a more streamlined,
responsive, and effective system that enhances our Nation's economy and
helps our firms to compete successfully around the globe.
During the past year, we have worked to develop a new, innovative
trade finance strat-
[[Page 888]]
egy. The Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation, the Trade and Development Agency, the Small
Business Administration, and the Departments of the Treasury and
Commerce have provided new forms of trade finance that help our firms to
compete in the global marketplace. We are addressing the removal of
unnecessary and ineffective export controls and streamlining the
licensing process, liberalizing controls on a range of high-technology
products and increasing the effectiveness of multilateral control
regimes.
With the restructuring of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service,
now the Commercial Service of the United States, the Department of
Commerce is working in partnership with the businesses it serves,
promoting U.S. exports, advocating U.S. business interests abroad,
assisting U.S. firms to realize their export potential, and supporting
the export promotion efforts of other public and private organizations.
By the end of this year, 15 U.S. Export Assistance Centers will be open
across the country, offering virtually every American business person a
coordinated, multi-faceted, international trade team close at hand.
Already, U.S. exports to our neighbors in the Southern Hemisphere
exceed $92 billion, generating good jobs for our workers and
demonstrating our competitiveness throughout the international
marketplace. At the Summit of the Americas this past December, our
Nation reaffirmed its commitment to the extension of free trade
throughout the Hemisphere by the year 2005--an opportunity that promises
to bolster our economy even further. These efforts, combined with our
progress with the countries of the Organization for Asian-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC), mean trade gains of historic proportions.
And that means more jobs for hardworking Americans.
Still, much remains to be done. U.S. exporters must be given every
opportunity to sell our products freely and fairly. Our companies must
meet the challenge of venturing into new markets. They must keep quality
high and production efficient, while marketing American goods and
services to new customers around the world. The work is difficult, but
the rewards are great: a strong economy, better goods and services, and
a brighter future for all of us.
Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 21
through May 27, 1995, as ``World Trade Week.'' I invite the people of
the United States to join in appropriate observances to celebrate the
potential of international trade to create prosperity for all.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-second
day of May in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
nineteenth.
William J. Clinton
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 3:15 p.m., May 23, 1995]
Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on May 25.