[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 37 (Monday, September 20, 1999)]
[Pages 1751-1752]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a State Dinner Hosted by Prime Minister Shipley in 
Christchurch

September 15, 1999

    Thank you very much. Forgive my hoarseness.
    First, Prime Minister, to you, your family, your government, and the 
people of New Zealand, I cannot thank you enough for the wonderful 
welcome that our party and my family members have received here. I 
apologize for having to rush home, but all of you know of the great 
storm that is now hitting the American coast. We had to move over 2.5 
million people today in an attempt to minimize the loss of life. So I 
hope you'll forgive me, but let me say I have had a wonderful time here.
    I'm glad that the fashion people approved of the way I wore the 
beautiful outfit you gave me. [Laughter] You know, I've been President 7 
years now; I've been all over the world; I've received any number of 
items of clothing. And when you go to these meetings, very often the 
people who are there get the native dress, and we wear them. And 
usually, when I go home, there is someone making fun of how I looked in 
the dress of whatever country I was. This is the smartest outfit I've 
ever been given.
    In the calendar cycle, we in the Northern Hemisphere are moving in 
the opposite direction, so we're coming into fall and winter. And if you 
watch the television, I'll probably be in your outfit several times more 
before the end of the year.
    Let me say from the bottom of my heart, this has been a magical 
trip. I think every person, when he or she is young, dreams of finding 
some enchanted place, of beautiful mountains and breathtaking coastline 
and clear lakes and amazing wildlife, and most people give up on it 
because they never get to New Zealand. This has been an amazing thing 
for me and for all of us.
    You might be interested to know that on the front page of the 
Washington Post today, there is a picture of my National Economic 
Adviser bungee jumping. [Laughter] We all had to remind him that he 
wasn't supposed to be Houdini and slip the cords, you know.

[[Page 1752]]

[Laughter] And so the whole story was about how much fun we were all 
having.
    I hope that it will also be reported that at this meeting we took a 
strong stand for freedom and human rights in East Timor, and we are 
going in there, together with our friends from Australia and others in 
this region, to try to protect the integrity of the referendum for 
democracy and independence, and save lives. And I thank New Zealand for 
its leadership in this cause.
    We also stood for the proposition that we can best lift the world's 
fortune by having more free and fair trade. And that, too, was 
profoundly important.
    We celebrated today our partnership in Antarctic and talked about 
the importance of Antarctica to our whole future. I have mentioned often 
that, as all of you know probably, when the new millennium dawns, it 
will dawn first on New Zealand. I will be proud to cross that bridge 
into the 21st century with you, knowing that we will be partners for 
peace and prosperity and a more decent and humane future for all our 
children. And I thank you for that partnership.
    I'd like to ask all of you to join me in a toast to the Prime 
Minister, to her wonderful husband, to her government, and to the people 
of New Zealand.

[At this point, the President offered a toast.]

    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 6:56 p.m. in a hangar at the Wigram Air 
Museum. In his remarks, the President referred to Prime Minister 
Shipley's husband, Burton. The transcript made available by the Office 
of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of the Prime Minister. 
A tape was not available for verification of the content of these 
remarks.