[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 17 (Monday, May 3, 1999)]
[Pages 709-710]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Opening Session of the North Atlantic Council Meeting on 
Kosovo

April 23, 1999

    Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary General. Mr. Secretary General, 
fellow leaders, let me begin by welcoming you warmly to the United 
States. We are honored to host this 50th Anniversary Summit of NATO. We 
meet to honor NATO's past, to chart its future, to reaffirm our mission 
in Kosovo, where NATO is defending our values and our vision of a Europe 
free, undivided, and at peace.
    Today we send a clear message of unity and determination: to sustain 
our air campaign for as long as it takes; to stand firm in our 
conditions for ending it; to pursue diplomatic initiatives to meet those 
conditions; to increase political and economic pressure against the 
regime in Belgrade; to stand by

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the frontline nations threatened by Belgrade's actions; and to work with 
them for stability, democracy, and prosperity in Southeastern Europe, so 
that when Mr. Milosevic's vision for the future is defeated, a better 
one can rise in its place.
    We will seek to do this together with our European partners, and 
with Ukraine and with Russia. We will make clear what is at stake. Mr. 
Milosevic's forces burn and loot homes and murder innocent people; our 
forces deliver food and shelter and hope to the displaced. Mr. Milosevic 
fans the flames of anger between nations and peoples; we are an alliance 
of 19 nations, uniting 780 million people of many faiths and ethnic, 
racial, and religious backgrounds. Mr. Milosevic knows only one way to 
achieve his aims, through force; we have done everything we could to 
resolve this matter peacefully.
    But when we fight we fight to prevail--to prevail in this conflict 
and to build the undivided, democratic Europe that the founders of NATO 
envisioned 50 years ago.
    Thank you, and welcome again.

Note: The President spoke at 9:20 a.m. in the pavilion at the Ronald 
Reagan International Trade Center. In his remarks, he referred to 
Secretary General Javier Solana of the North Atlantic Treaty 
Organization; and President Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic 
of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). The transcript made available by 
the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of Secretary 
General Solana.