[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 46 (Monday, November 22, 1999)]
[Pages 2406-2407]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Arrival in Athens, Greece

November 19, 1999

    Hello. Thank you all for coming out to greet us. My family and our 
American delegation are very glad to begin our visit to Greece. Thank 
you very much.
    I have come here as a philhellene, a friend of Greece. And I look 
forward to experiencing that wonderful quality of Greek hospitality 
known to all the world as filoxenia.
    Through this visit I want the American people to see the changing 
face of Greece: the powerhouse of southeast Europe with the highest 
growth rate in the EU; a booming stock market; a nation on a fast track 
to join the European Monetary Union, an old democracy that is a model 
for the young democracies of the Balkans, the gateway to their markets, 
a driving force in the effort to rebuild war-torn nations and to bring 
them into Europe.
    We look to ancient Greece for inspiration, but we look to modern 
Greece for leadership and partnership. Tomorrow I want to speak with the 
people of Greece about what we can do together to build a Europe that is 
undivided, democratic, and at peace for the

[[Page 2407]]

first time in history and about how, together, we can overcome the 
remaining challenges to that vision by stabilizing the Balkans and 
achieving lasting reconciliation between Greece and Turkey, with 
resolution of all outstanding issues, including Cyprus.
    Our nations have so much in common. We are allies with a shared 
commitment to peace and security; democracies with a long tradition of 
impassioned political debate about issues that affect our lives and 
engage our convictions. Above all, we are two nations proud of our past, 
but focused on the future.
    I look forward to that future and to our partnership with confidence 
and hope. And I look very much forward to our visit with you.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 7:02 p.m. at Ellinikon International 
Airport.