[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 26 (Monday, June 30, 1997)]
[Pages 925-926]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Presentation of the Final Communique of the Summit of the 
Eight in Denver

June 22, 1997

    As I begin, I would like to thank the city of Denver and the people 
of Colorado for the wonderful work they did to make us feel welcome 
here. I thank the people who worked on behalf of the United States to 
put this together, Harold Ickes, Deb Willhite, and our whole team. And 
most of all, I want to thank my colleagues for their hard work and for 
the spirit of cooperation that prevailed here in Denver.
    We've agreed on new steps to organize our nations to lay a strong 
foundation in the 21st century, to prepare our people and our economies 
for the global marketplace, to meet new transnational threats to our 
security, to integrate new partners into the community of free-market 
democracies.
    Russia's role here at the summit reflects the great strides that 
Russia has made in its historic transformation. We look forward to 
Russia's continued leadership and participation, and we thank President 
Yeltsin for all he has done.
    On behalf of my colleagues, I'd like to summarize several key points 
in our communique. First, as leaders of the world's major industrial 
democracies, we feel a special responsibility to work together, to seize 
the opportunities and meet the challenges of the global economy, and to 
ensure opportunity for all segments of our societies.
    We explored what we can do to create more jobs for our people, and 
we look forward to the conferences on employment in Japan this fall and 
the United Kingdom early next year. We believe we have much to learn 
from each other. We also discussed the challenges our nations face as 
our populations grow older and how we can keep our senior citizens 
living productive lives well into their later years.
    Globalization brings with it problems none of us can

conquer alone. This year we intensified our common efforts to meet new 
transnational threats, like environmental degradation, terrorism, drugs, 
crime, and infectious disease.

    We are also determined to do our part to protect our environment for 
future generations. Among other measures, we recommitted ourselves to 
the principles of the Rio Summit. We intend to reach an agreement in 
Kyoto to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to respond to the problem of 
global warming. We discussed how best to protect the Earth's forests, 
and oceans, and we are clearly committed to doing that together as well.
    Last year, we adopted an ambitious agenda to fight crime and 
terrorism. Since then, we have taken concrete steps from improving 
airline security to denying safe haven for criminals. This year, we'll 
make special effort to fight high-tech crimes such as those involving 
computer and telecommunications technology.
    We've also made important progress in promoting nuclear safety and 
security, particularly in combating nuclear smuggling and in managing 
the growing stockpiles of plutonium from dismantled nuclear warheads.
    We launched a new effort to stem the spread of infectious diseases. 
In the coming year, we'll be working together to improve global 
surveillance to provide early warning, to better coordinate our 
responses and to strengthen public health systems, especially in the 
developing world. We've also pledged to accelerate our efforts to 
develop an HIV/AIDS vaccine.
    As we move forward with the integration of new democracies and 
market economies, we're determined that no part of the world will be 
left behind. We agreed upon a package of political and economic measures 
to

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ensure that African nations share with us the benefits of globalization. 
We've also continued our efforts to strengthen and spread democracy and 
freedom around the world.
    Finally, we discussed a number of political issues of critical 
importance to our nations, including Bosnia, the Middle East, and Hong 
Kong. Next week will represent an historic moment as Hong Kong returns 
to Chinese sovereignty. We reaffirmed our strong interest in Hong Kong's 
future and our shared conviction on the importance of China's adherence 
to its commitments under the 1984 agreement. We appreciate in particular 
the devotion that Prime Minister Blair and his government attach to this 
endeavor.
    As we worked together to promote the progress of market democracies, 
we reaffirmed our intention to ensure that those states that stand 
outside our community, such as Iran, Iraq, and Libya, fully adhere to 
the fundamental norms we all agree should guide us into the next 
century.
    We leave Denver renewed by our strength, the strength, of our common 
efforts to prepare our people to succeed in the global economy and the 
global society of the 21st century. Again, let me thank my fellow 
leaders for their extraordinary work. I think it's been a very good 
summit. And again I thank the people of Denver and Colorado for their 
hospitality.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 12:58 p.m. at the Denver Public Library. In 
his remarks, he referred to Harold Ickes, Director of Summit Affairs, 
and Debbie Willhite, Executive Director of the summit.