    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 23 (Monday, June 12, 2000)]
    [Pages 1274-1277]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session at the Conference on
    Progressive Governance for the 21st Century in Berlin, Germany

    June 3, 2000

        President Clinton.  Thank you very much. First of all, I would like
    to, I think, speak for all of us in thanking Chancellor Schroeder

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    for this remarkable meeting and the communique which is coming out of
    our meeting. It's, I think, a fair statement of the way we view the 21st
    century world and what our responsibilities and opportunities are in it.
        There is a consensus among us that we face, in the globalized
    information society, great opportunities and great challenges; that we
    want economic growth and social justice; that the countries around this
    table, because of their size differences, their continental differences,
    their developmental differences, face particular challenges; but that
    there are things we can do to help each other and to help our own
    people.
        We talked specifically about economic empowerment, about education,
    about closing the digital divide, about the importance of reducing
    income inequality as a result of the globalization. We talked about the
    importance of a global initiative to reduce disease and poverty. We
    talked about climate change, and we talked a good deal about the
    importance of reaffirming our common humanity in the midst of the racial
    and ethnic and religious tensions that still dominate too much of the
    world's conflicts and are present, to some degree, in every one of our
    countries.
        We did agree, as the Chancellor said, to set up a network of our
    people to work together to identify specific challenges and come up with
    specific responses to them, so that we can now move from the more
    theoretical level of our discussions to concrete suggestions that will
    be helpful and could actually improve the lives of the people we
    represent.
        And finally, let me say we agreed that those of us who are members
    will emphasize a lot of these concerns at the coming G-8 meeting in
    Okinawa, where we expect to see a real emphasis on, in particular, on
    three things we talked about today: on spreading educational
    opportunities in the developing world; on closing the digital divide;
    and on a major effort by the developed countries to increase our
    response to disease, particularly to HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria.
        So this was a very good meeting. And Chancellor, again I thank you,
    and I, for one, learned a lot, and I think it was very much worth the
    effort that you made to put it on.

     [At this point, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany began the
    question-and-answer session of the conference. A participant asked if
    and when another meeting was scheduled and if the group would stay
    together regardless of election results. The Chancellor stated that the
    group was indissoluble and has scheduled another meeting in July.]

        Q.  Mr. President, yesterday the Chancellor called you a true
    European. As a true European, can you tell us where you think Europe
    should be moving? Should Europe be moving to become a United States of
    Europe; should it becoming a kind of federal state? Is that what it
    should be doing, or should it be a rather looser confederation of
    nation-states? [Laughter]
        President Clinton.  Well, I'm also a true democrat, which means I
    believe people should make their own decisions--[laughter]--about their
    lives.
        Let me say, as I said yesterday in Aachen, I have strongly supported
    the cause of European union. I think that what has been done so far is a
    plus. I think that more members will be added to the Union, and I think
    that is a good thing. You already have a common currency and a forum for
    resolving common concerns.
        Whether the Union will grow tighter, as well as larger, I can't say.
    That's a decision you have to make. And my guess is that now that you
    have a framework that's plainly working economically and politically,
    that those decisions will be made over a longer period of time and that
    for the next few years you'll be at least as concerned about how many
    other countries should be let in. But it's entirely a decision for
    Europe to make. The United States will support you whatever you do as
    long as we continue to share values and work together and deal with the
    kind of questions we're discussing today.
        Q.  To President Clinton, how do you view the situation in Latin
    America? And I'd like to know how you can see the principles you're
    advocating here coming about in Latin American countries with the
    difficulties facing democracy there at the moment.
        Thank you.
        President Clinton.  Well, first, I think that all the people here
    who are not from Latin America should know that every country but

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    one is a democracy; that there has been an enormous amount of economic
    and political reform in Latin America in the last decade; but that
    because of the rise of narcotraffickers and terrorist activities in
    Colombia and in other countries, democracy is under great strain in
    Latin America.
        And my belief is that we should do everything we can to support the
    elected governments and democratic tendencies. We should make sure that
    we do whatever we can to see that the economies work for ordinary
    citizens, that there is a face on Latin America's part of the global
    economy, and that we try to strengthen those governments that are under
    particular stress, which is why I've done what I could to persuade our
    Congress to help Colombia and the other countries in the Andean regions
    to deal with the combined impacts of the narcotraffickers and the civil
    wars in the region.
        Perhaps the Latin American Presidents here might have a better
    insight. But I think the fact that we have the Presidents of Brazil,
    Argentina, and Chile here, I think, has been a big addition to the
    quality of our discussions because of the particular challenges facing
    Latin America at this time.

    [President Fernando Cardoso of Brazil and President Fernando De La Rua
    of Argentina commented on democracy in Latin America.]

        Q.  Mr. President, you said that globalization should be given a new
    human face. What was striking was that the term ``Third Way'' wasn't
    used at this conference; progressive governance was the motto of this
    conference. Is this a turning point for future meetings of the center-
    left?
        President Clinton.  I hope not, because I believe that, to me, it
    does reflect the Third Way. But, you know, that term, ``the Third Way,''
    is fairly closely identified with our administration and with what Prime
    Minister Blair has done in Great Britain. And I think this idea of
    progressive governance is perhaps less of a political slogan and more of
    a description of what it is we're all trying to do.
        But essentially, I think what unites us is, we believe in the
    positive possibilities of a globalized information economy. And we know
    we have to have responsible economic policies to make the private
    markets work, but we don't believe that's enough. We don't believe you
    can have social justice and deal with all these other challenges we face
    unless you have effective, progressive governance that makes the most of
    the new economy and deals with its rough edges and difficulties as well.
    I think that's so--I think, in that sense, progressive governance
    describes what we're trying to do. We don't believe in just laissez-
    faire economics, but we don't believe that government alone can solve
    these problems or ignore the importance of economic performance. So what
    we want is progressive governance to deal with the opportunities and
    challenges that are out there.
        I think it is a fair description of what we're about, and it is
    perhaps more inclusive of all the countries here represented than the
    Third Way. I like the Third Way because it's sort of easy to remember.
    [Laughter] But I think that far more important than the labels are the
    substance, and I think that's what has really bound us together here
    today is the substance of what we're about.

    [Chancellor Schroeder commented that the absence of Prime Minister Tony
    Blair of the United Kingdom was due to the birth of his child rather
    than to differences of substance.]

        The President.  Progressive governance and the Third Way are pro-
    family. [Laughter]
        Chancellor Schroeder.  One last question, please.
        Q.  Mr. Clinton, I'd like to ask you, what is your view of how the
    Internet should be used as a tool for strengthening democracy and for
    the education of the developing countries and strengthening democracy in
    countries like China or other countries where this is a problem, instead
    of being used as a tool to spread destructive information? How should
    you enforce that tool? And what is the role for countries that are far
    ahead in this area, like Sweden and the United States, for example?
        President Clinton.  Well, first, I think that we should recognize
    what an enormous potential the Internet has for bridging economic,
    educational, and social divides, not only in the developing world but in
    the poorest areas of developed countries, because it

    [[Page 1277]]

    collapses time and space and allows access to information that was
    previously unthinkable for people in difficult situations.
        Prime Minister Chretien talked about how he had all the Eskimo
    villages in northern Canada connected to the Internet. That has enormous
    health implications, enormous educational implications, and my guess is,
    economic implications.
        So to specifically answer your question, I'll give you just three
    examples of things I think we ought to be emphasizing. I believe we
    ought to try to have Internet connections with printers in all the
    poorest villages where we're trying to get children into schools and
    give them modern education, because--for example, the entire
    Encyclopedia Britannica is now on the Internet. And if you have a
    printer and a computer in a poor village, you don't have to be able to
    afford textbooks anymore, and it's a far more efficient way for
    government to spread universal information. So that's one example that's
    an education example.
        For an economic example, I think that all over the world we see
    economic empowerment initiatives. In Latin America, for example, there
    has been a lot of work to get native crafts--and also in African
    villages--out. I think there ought to be a systematic effort to use E-
    commerce to market these things all over the world and increase the
    incomes of poor people in villages dramatically by the use of E-
    commerce.
        The third thing, a political usage. In India, where I just visited,
    in several of the villages in several of the States in India, they're
    now providing government services over the Internet. In some places,
    they're more advanced than we are in the United States. I was in
    Hyderabad, where you can get 18 government services over the Internet,
    including a driver's license, so no one ever waits in line for it
    anymore. If anyone did that in America, they could be elected for life.
    [Laughter]
        So I think that--but far more important is, I saw a poor woman in a
    village who just had a baby go into the only public building in this
    village, to the village computer, where there was someone there who
    helped her operate it. And she called up the health department and got
    instructions, with very good software, very good visuals, about how she
    should care for this baby for the first 6 months. And I reviewed it--
    it's just as good as anything she could get in the wealthiest community
    in America from the finest obstetrician--so that we're going to keep
    more babies alive because of the Internet.
        So those are three examples of things that I think we should be
    focused on. And those of us in the wealthier countries should be
    providing the money and the technical support for countries to do more
    of this, because it will move more people more quickly out of poverty, I
    think, than anything that's ever been out there, if we do it right.

     Note:  The President spoke at 12:10 p.m. in the Cabinet Room at the
    Chancellery. In his remarks, he referred to President Eduardo Frei of
    Chile; and Prime Minister Jean Chretien of Canada. The transcript
    released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks
    of Chancellor Schroeder and Presidents Cardoso and De La Rua. A tape was
    not available for verification of the content of these remarks.