    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 35 (Monday, September 4, 2000)]
    [Pages 1942-1946]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks Following Discussions With President Olusegun Obasanjo of
    Nigeria and an Exchange With Reporters in Abuja, Nigeria

    August 26, 2000

        President Obasanjo. Mr. President, distinguished ladies and
    gentlemen, members of the press, let me say how pleased I am for this
    opportunity to welcome President Bill Clinton to Nigeria. I am confident
    that by now President Clinton must have felt from the personal meeting
    to the enthusiastic crowds that greeted him the extent of our delight to
    have him among us.
        President Clinton and I have had very friendly and fruitful
    discussions covering all the items and subjects that make up the content
    of our joint declaration which we have just signed and exchanged, and
    even more. I just want to emphasize that for all the shared strategic
    interests between Nigeria and the United States of America, President
    Clinton and myself share a common view that is based on human welfare,
    human development, and human well-being in both our countries, our
    continents, and throughout the world.
        Of course, whatever strategic interests, economic, political, or of
    a social nature, the essence is based on the fundamentals of humanity.
    Also deriving from this is the issue of Nigeria's role of peacemaking
    and peacekeeping in our sub-region, our region of Africa, and under the
    auspices of the U.N., the whole world. Needless to say that this goes
    for the United States, by virtue of her status as the number one world
    power today.
        President Clinton has only just begun his visit, designed so far
    that it will be a memorable one, and we wish you a very pleasant day in
    Nigeria. We welcome you once again.
        President Clinton. President Obasanjo, members of the Nigerian
    Government, members of the press, I think I can say on behalf of the
    Members of the United States Congress who are here and the members of
    the American delegation, we are delighted to be in Nigeria.
        Two years ago I came to Africa to begin building a new partnership
    between this continent and the United States, one in which Americans
    look upon Africa not simply as a continent with problems but also as a
    continent which presents the world's next great opportunity to advance
    the cause of peace, justice, and prosperity.
        When I came here 2 years ago, one of the biggest obstacles to a new
    relationship with the entire continent was the fact that the democratic
    hopes of Nigeria's people were being smothered by military misrule and
    corruption, with your finest leaders being killed, banished, or in the
    case of President Obasanjo, forced to languish in prison.
        My greatest hope then was that some day I could come to Africa
    again, to visit a Nigeria worthy of its people's dreams. Thanks to
    President Obasanjo and the people of Nigeria, I have the high honor
    today to visit the new Nigeria and to pledge America's support for the
    most important democratic transition in Africa since the fall of
    apartheid.
        All of us in the American delegation know that after so many years
    of despair and plunder, your journey has not been easy. But we are also
    committed to working with the people of Nigeria to help build stronger
    institutions, improve education, fight disease, crime, and corruption,
    ease the burden of debt, and promote trade and investment in a way that
    brings more of the benefits of

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    prosperity to people who have embraced democracy.
        We are rebuilding ties severed during the years of dictatorship. I
    am very happy that last week the first direct flight since 1993 left
    Muritala Mohammed Airport for the United States. Today we have signed
    our first open skies agreement.
        With patience and perseverance, Nigeria can answer the challenge
    your President issued in his inauguration 2 years ago--a speech I got up
    very early in the morning in the United States to watch. I remember that
    he said, ``Let us rise as one to face the tasks ahead and turn this
    daunting scene into a new dawn.''
        With one-fifth of Africa's people, and vast human and natural
    resources, a revitalized Nigeria can be the economic and political
    anchor of West Africa and the leader of the continent. We need your
    continued leadership in the struggle for peace. I am pleased we have
    begun this week to help to train and equip the first of five Nigerian
    battalions preparing for service in Sierra Leone. We also need your
    continued leadership in the struggle against poverty and infectious
    disease, especially AIDS. I thank President Obasanjo for his offer to
    host an AIDS summit in Nigeria next year.
        Finally, we need Nigeria to keep leading by example as a successful
    democracy and a nation that has managed, despite many years of
    repression and strife, to prove that for democracies, our diversity can
    be our greatest strength.
        These are just some of the issues we discussed today. Later, I will
    have the honor of speaking to the Nigerian Parliament, and I will speak
    in greater detail about the challenges ahead and the promise of our
    growing partnership. But let me just say, I begin this visit with
    enormous admiration for the progress you have made and the highest hope
    for the progress you will make in the future and the depth that our
    partnership will assume.
        Thank you again, Mr. President, for making us all feel so welcome.
        President Obasanjo. We will now take questions from the members of
    the media. I think we should go to our guests first.

    Middle East Peace Process

        Q. Mr. President, you're going to meet with President Mubarak of
    Egypt. Can you give us an idea of what you're going to discuss with him
    and whether this portends another Mideast peace summit?
        And President Obasanjo, I'd also like to have your perspective on
    these efforts to reach peace in the Middle East.
        President Clinton. Well, let me say, first of all, I think it's
    inconceivable that we could have a peace between the Israelis and the
    Palestinians without the support of President Mubarak.
        As you know, when I leave here, I'm going to Tanzania to support
    President Mandela and the peace process that he has been working on in
    Burundi, and then we have to make a refueling stop on our way home. I
    had hoped to see President Mubarak at the United Nations summit, which
    will be at the end of the first week of September, but he can't come to
    that. And so we were having one of our regular telephone conversations
    the other day and decided that since he would not be in New York, that I
    ought to refuel in Cairo and we ought to reconnoiter on the peace
    process.
        I don't think you should read too much into it, other than that we
    are working with a sense of urgency, given the timetable the parties
    have set for themselves. And we don't underestimate the continuing
    difficulties, but I'm pleased they're still working, and working under
    enormous pressures.
        President Obasanjo. I must take this opportunity to commend the
    efforts of President Clinton in the Middle East. I believe that the fact
    that the door is not completely closed and the fact that areas where, in
    fact, a few years back one would infer that there would be no
    advancement at all, whether Jerusalem could be negotiated on, is now an
    issue that can be put on the table to be negotiated--I believe that
    should give all of us some hope.
        And as President Clinton just said, all the people that should be
    involved must be engaged, to be involved. And we should never be tired
    until we achieve success. And I believe success will be achieved. I have
    no doubt.

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    Third World Debt Relief

        Q. President Clinton's attitude to Africa and the poorer nations of
    the world is very well-known. He is sympathetic to those nations. But
    America does not make up the West, only America does not. Now, at a--
    [inaudible]--in Ghana in April, a position was adopted on the issue of
    the strangulating debt burden in the poorer countries of the world. Now,
    President Obasanjo, as the chairman of the--[inaudible]--was given the
    mandate to present that position to the G-8 at the July Okinawa summit.
    Both President Obasanjo--[inaudible]--on that issue came out at that
    meeting expressing disappointment at the lack of concrete commitment on
    the issues by the richest nations of the world.
        Is there any indication that the contact today with a key member of
    the G-8 would open up new vistas on the issues of debt cancellation for
    the poor countries of the world? And America is perhaps the strongest
    supporter of democracy around the world, and we know that democracy
    turns on the face of the huge debt burden. What is the way out?
        President Clinton. Well, let me say, first of all, what I believe
    the G-8 was saying. You may know that I, because of other commitments
    and because of the Middle East peace process, unfortunately, had to miss
    the first day of the G-8 summit and, therefore, I missed the President's
    presentation.
        At Cologne, Germany, we got the G-8 to make a commitment to a debt
    relief program for the poorest countries in the world, and we had some
    problems implementing it, but the basic idea, I think, was sound, which
    was that we should give debt forgiveness in return for a commitment to
    spend the freed-up resources on human development and to have a
    responsible economic reform program. That was basically the agreement.
        I strongly support that, and I would favor expanding the number of
    eligible nations once we've actually taken them in some proper order.
    Our Congress has before it now legislation that would pay America's
    share of the debt relief for the countries that have qualified under the
    program that the G-8 adopted.
        My own view is that the G-8 would be willing to go beyond those 24
    countries as long as it was clear that there was a commitment to
    economic reform and a commitment to democracy and a commitment to use
    all the savings for human development purposes, not for military
    purposes or other purposes that were inconsistent with the long-term
    interest of the countries.
        But I think that the real issue is not whether they can afford the
    debt relief--in most of these countries, they actually have to budget
    the debt relief even if they're not going to get repaid. And to be fair,
    the United States does not have the same dollar stake in most of these
    nations in the multilateral forum as some other countries do. So it is a
    little more difficult for them than it is for us.
        And I think that you are seeing the beginning of a process that I
    believe will continue, since I believe that we'll have more countries
    doing what Nigeria is doing: embracing democracy, having a program with
    the IMF, a commitment to economic reform that will commend itself to the
    creditor countries of the world for debt relief. And I think that
    you'll--it will happen.
        But, you're right, we have been in the forefront of pushing this.
    But to be fair to the other countries the relative size of the American
    economy make our--makes it easier for us to do than for some of these
    other countries. And the real problem is not the money itself, because
    many of them don't expect to be repaid. The real problem is that they
    all have budget rules like we do that require them to budget that in
    their annual budgets--the forgiveness of debt--just as they budget for
    education or health care or defense or anything else, even thought it's,
    arguably, an unnecessary thing since they don't expect to get the money
    back from the poorest countries.
        But you need to understand that's the political problem that a lot
    of these leaders have. And since the European countries and Japan have a
    bigger percentage of their income tied up in debt than we do, it's a
    little more difficult for them to do. I think we have moved them in the
    right direction, and I think Nigeria, in particular, and other countries
    following behind will find a much more

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    ready response. I think that what happened in Cologne, the call of His
    Holiness the Pope and others for debt relief in the millennial year,
    will lead to a process that I expect to play out over the next few years
    that I believe will result in significantly greater debt relief than we
    have seen, as long as it's coupled to maintenance of democracy, economic
    reform, and honest economies and using the savings from debt relief for
    the real human benefits and needs of the people in the affected
    countries.

    Nigerian Debt Relief/Oil Prices

        Q. Mr. President, would you urge President Obasanjo to reduce--to
    work within OPEC to reduce oil prices? And did you offer him any
    commitment on rescheduling or writing-off of debt for Nigeria?
         And President Obasanjo, I was wondering if you can give your own
    views on--[inaudible]--situation.
        President Clinton. Let me answer the debt question first, since it
    sort of follows upon the previous question. I reaffirmed the commitment
    that I had previously made to the President that, first of all, the
    United States would do all we said to get the entire Paris Club to do
    what the G-8 has now agreed to do and have a generous debt rescheduling,
    which will alleviate a lot of the cash flow requirements, at least, for
    Nigeria in the short run; and that now that there was an IMF program in
    place, once there was enough experience with this IMF program that we
    could argue to the other creditor nations that have a larger--as I said
    to the previous questioner, the gentleman before, that these other
    nations that have a bigger share of the debt than we do--that Nigeria
    has shown a commitment to economic reform, as well as a commitment to
    democracy, that I would support debt relief for them, that I thought
    they ought to have some debt relief in return for showing that they've
    got a commitment to a long-term political and economic reform. That's
    the position I've had for some time now.
        On the oil prices, we talked about that, and Nigeria, of course,
    does not have the capacity to change the prices, because they're pretty
    well producing at full capacity already. So I asked the President to do
    whatever he could to encourage others to increase production enough to
    have the impact that OPEC voted to have at the last meeting.
        At the last meeting, they voted for production levels that they felt
    would bring the price back closer to its historic average, somewhere in
    the mid-20's. And that has not worked out for a number of reasons, and
    so I asked him to do what he could in that regard.
        President Obasanjo. I have always maintained that an excessive high
    price of oil is neither good for the oil producers nor for the oil
    consumers, particularly developing oil consumers. Neither is excessive
    low price of oil, neither is it good for the oil producers nor the oil
    consumers because you need certain amount of stability. I believe that
    that stability would be there when OPEC brought in the mechanism to
    trigger off oil if the oil price is above certain price level, to
    automatically go in and produce more, and if it's below certain levels
    to automatically go in and withdraw from the production.
        Well, as President Clinton said, what has taken place so far has not
    worked. The OPEC will have a summit meeting in Venezuela next month, and
    the price of oil will be one of the major issues to be discussed. And I
    will, by the grace of God, be at that meeting. And we will work to bring
    an element of stability into the price of oil. It is in the interest of
    all concerned that that should happen.

    U.S. Issuance of Visas to Nigerians/United Nations Security Council

        Q. My question is to President Clinton, and it concerns the U.S.
    visa policy of Nigeria. The policy so far has--[inaudible]--going to do
    to affect some concrete change in this direction. And the second
    question is will the United States support a Security Council seat for
    permanent participation in the United Nations?
        President Clinton. Well, let me answer the first question first. I'm
    very concerned about some of the problems we've had in getting visas to
    Nigerians who have legitimate interests in coming the United States and
    should have a perfect right to do so.
        If I might say something in defense of the people who have to issue
    the visas. Because of the worldwide concern--that has nothing to do with
    Nigeria--about terrorism and

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    other problems, they have been given instructions to bend over backwards
    to make sure that all the documents that anybody from any country
    applying for a visa are in perfect order. Because of a lot of
    developments here over the last several years, that's not always
    possible. So what we've got to do is go back and take a hard look at
    this situation as it affects Nigeria, because we acknowledge that there
    are many Nigerians who have tried to come to the United States, who
    should have been able to come and, therefore, should have been able to
    get visas, who haven't been. And we have to try to find a way to solve
    that consistent with our law.
        And I wish I had an answer for you today, but frankly, I was not
    aware of the dimensions of the problem until I was preparing to come
    here and preparing for my visit. And so I don't have a solution today.
    But I can--I make you a commitment that we will work on it, and we will
    try to work this out, because I'm quite concerned about it. When I saw
    the numbers and I saw the small percentage of those who had applied who
    had been approved, and it was obvious that many, many more had
    legitimate interests, perfectly legitimate interests in coming to the
    United States, I realized we had to do something. And we're going to
    work with your government and try to work it out.
        President Obasanjo. Thank you very much. President Clinton--
    [inaudible].
        President Clinton. Oh, I'm sorry. Jet lag. [Laughter] The position
    of the United States is that the size of the Security Council should be
    expanded, that there should be a permanent African seat, and that the
    holder of that seat should be determined by the African nations, not by
    the United States and not by the permanent members of the Security
    Council. I don't think that's our business. I feel the same way about
    Latin America. I think there should be a permanent Latin American seat
    on the Security Council.
        The analog to Nigeria and Latin America, of course, is Brazil.
    Brazil is the most populous nation in Latin America, just as Nigeria is
    the most populous nation in Africa, and we have very good relations with
    Brazil. But I think the Latin Americans should decide for themselves if
    they get the seat, and I think they should, who should hold it, and
    whether someone should hold it permanently or not.
        But I strongly believe that Africa should have a permanent
    representative with a permanent representative's vote on the United
    Nations Security Council. If it makes sense for it to be Nigeria, then
    that's fine with me. But I think the African people should decide that--
    the leaders of Africa.
        President Obasanjo. Thank you very much.
        President Clinton. Thank you.

     Note:  The President spoke at approximately 2 p.m. at the Presidential
    Villa. In his remarks, he referred to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt;
    former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa; and Pope John Paul II.