[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 26 (Monday, June 30, 1997)]
[Pages 922-924]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

June 21, 1997

    Good morning. I'm speaking to you today from Denver, Colorado, where 
the leaders of the world's top industrial democracies are

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about to begin our Summit of the Eight. Over the next 2 days, the eyes 
of the world will be on Denver and on America, and we'll all have a lot 
to be proud of.
    Our economy is the healthiest in a generation and the strongest in 
the world with the lowest unemployment in 24 years, the lowest inflation 
in 30 years, the biggest decline in inequality among our working 
families since the 1960's, and over 12 million new jobs. Our exports are 
at an all time high. We cleared a new path to prosperity and security 
with a strategy of reducing the deficit, investing in our people, and 
opening the world to our trade. Now America is poised to lead in the 
21st century, as we have in the 20th century, about to end.
    Today I want to talk about why this summit is important to our 
Nation and our people and what we'll be working to achieve here. The 
leaders of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United 
Kingdom, Japan, the European Union, and Russia will gather shoulder to 
shoulder around the table. The very fact that we're gathering speaks 
volumes about the world today. Our homelands are thousands of miles 
apart, but the rise of the global economy, spurred by revolutions in 
technology, transportation, and communications has brought us all closer 
together. And the fact that this is the very first of these annual 
summits where a democratically elected leader of Russia joins us from 
beginning to end reflects just how far we've come from the days of the 
cold war.
    This moment of possibilities creates vast opportunities for all our 
people. Ideas, goods, and services, technology and capital fly across 
borders faster than ever, enriching our lives in many ways and 
contributing to our prosperity. But while progress spreads quickly in 
our global neighborhood, problems can, too. A currency crisis in one 
country can send shock waves far beyond its borders, endangering jobs 
and stability in a completely different part of the world. Modern 
technology and more open borders help businesses to prosper, but they 
also help terrorists and drug traffickers and criminals to organize 
their plans and hide their tracks.
    Greater international travel and commerce exposes our people to new 
cultures and opportunities, but they also expose us to the spread of 
dangerous diseases from which no nation is immune. And erosion of 
environmental quality in one country can contribute to global problems 
which degrade the quality of life for all of us.
    Now, we've worked hard over the last 4 years to take common action 
against these common threats and to make this common action a central 
part of our summits. Here in Denver, we'll announce further steps to 
protect our citizens against them. Two years ago, when we met in 
Halifax, Canada, we agreed to work together to help prevent financial 
crises from occurring

and to keep them from spreading if they do. Since then, our finance 
ministers have agreed that we should create a global network of banking and 
marketing officials to monitor financial policies and police risky 
practices. Our cooperation will help to prevent a financial shock in a 
foreign country from threatening prosperity here at home.

    We're also working with the developing countries, to help them to 
adopt sound financial practices so that their markets work smoothly and 
they can build stable businesses and attract trade and investment. These 
emerging economies are the fastest growing in the world. Helping them to 
build their prosperity means greater opportunities for American exports 
and more good American jobs.
    We'll also continue to advance our fight against new forces of 
destruction that have no regard for borders. Last year, when we met in 
Lyon, France, we agreed on a series of measures to combat terrorism and 
organized crime. Since then we've actually implemented concrete steps, 
from improving airline security to denying safe haven for criminals. 
We've also made significant progress in bolstering the safety and 
security of nuclear materials, something that simply wouldn't have been 
possible without Russia as a partner.
    Together, the eight are working to tighten the management of 
plutonium from dismantled nuclear warheads to keep them from falling 
into the wrong hands. To better prevent and investigate nuclear 
smuggling incidents, we set up a rapid response network, stepped up law 
enforcement intelligence and customs cooperation, and improved our nu

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clear forensics capabilities so that we can identify the sources of 
smuggled nuclear materials. Soon, more than 20 additional countries in 
Europe and central Asia will be joining us in these common endeavors.
    This year, we'll be taking on another global challenge: the spread 
of infectious disease. Many people believe this will be one of the most 
serious problems of the 21st century. I will press here for an agreement 
to develop together a global disease surveillance network to provide 
early warning of outbreaks so that we can respond quickly and 
effectively, to coordinate that response so that we get the right 
medicines where they're needed as fast as possible, and to strengthen 
our public health systems, especially those in the developing world. I 
will also urge my fellow leaders to join America in a vigorous search 
for an HIV/AIDS vaccine, as I called for at Morgan State University in 
Maryland last month.
    Together, the meeting of the eight is part of the larger effort 
we're making to organize the world to deal with the global challenges in 
the century ahead. We know that if we pool our strength, our experience, 
and our ideas, we stand a far better chance of success. And for American 
families, that will mean greater prosperity, greater peace, and greater 
security for our children.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 4:30 p.m. on June 20 at the press 
filing center in Denver, CO, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on June 21.