[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 16 (Monday, April 23, 2001)]
[Pages 620-622]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Organization of American States

April 17, 2001

    Mr. Ambassador, thank you very much. Secretary General, 
distinguished Ambassadors, it's a pleasure for me to be here at the OAS. 
Thank you for having me.
    I want to recognize, before I begin, Luigi Einaudi. He has ably 
served our Government

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for decades. He's now lent his skills and experience to the OAS. It is 
clear that he and the Secretary General have made a very good team. 
Thank you, Mr. Ambassador.
    As I prepare to go to the Summit of the Americas in Quebec, I 
thought it was important to make a visit to the house of the Americas. 
It was a good meeting. I just had a good meeting with the Secretary 
General. We had a good discussion about the future of the OAS and its 
important role. We discussed opportunities and challenges that our 
hemisphere faces.
    Today I want to speak with you about our shared future and the 
important role the OAS will play in helping to shape it. Our gathering 
in Quebec comes at a remarkable moment in history. All the nations of 
this hemisphere, save one, have embraced a collective commitment to 
democracy and to the fundamental freedoms that underlie democracy.
    We have embraced a collective challenge to build a hemisphere that 
trades in freedom and grows in prosperity. We have embraced a collective 
responsibility to break down the barriers of poverty, disease, 
ignorance, so individuals may better realize their full, God-given 
potential. The OAS has an important role to play in these common goals.
    In lands where liberty is threatened by corruption, drugs, and human 
rights abuses, the OAS is helping combat these destructive forces. Along 
borders where tensions run high, the OAS helps build confidence and 
avoid crises. And in lands where freedom's hold is fragile, the OAS is 
there to strengthen it.
    The OAS's recent work in Peru is an example of this organization's 
commitment to democracy. The election, held there on April the 8th, was 
peaceful and well-run. And we know this: It is a direct result of the 
Secretary General's involvement. And our hemisphere is grateful, Mr. 
Secretary.
    We need to build on successes like these. The United States hopes, 
for example, that the OAS can serve as a valuable mediator in Haiti 
between President Aristide and the democratic opposition. We also need 
to build on the progress the OAS has made in the fight against drug 
trafficking and abuse. Thanks to the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control 
Commission, our hemisphere is more united in addressing this problem, 
both in supply and, I might remind you, in demand than it has ever been 
before. And the Commission's new evaluation system for monitoring 
nations' progress in fighting drugs is a major achievement.
    In this week's Quebec Summit, our goal is simple yet profound. The 
discussions we hold and the mandates we produce must help improve the 
lives of people throughout our hemisphere. A summit is given meaning and 
value by concrete results. We must strengthen democratic institutions in 
this hemisphere to give reality to the forms of democracy. This means 
improving judicial institutions and making government more open.
    Good government is essential to building the trust of our citizens. 
And democratic values must remain the core of our hemispheric familia. 
As Prime Minister Chretien so aptly said in this very hall last 
February, ``We must ensure that smaller economies are provided the 
assistance they need to implement trade agreements and to realize the 
full benefits of a more integrated hemisphere.''
    We must extend the benefits of education in this hemisphere. Both 
development and democracy in the long term depend on education. We must 
build the skills and reward the hopes of all our people. And we must 
affirm our commitment to complete negotiations on the Free Trade Area of 
the Americas by January 2005. Nothing we do in Quebec will be more 
important or have a greater long-term impact. It will make our 
hemisphere the largest free trade area in the world, encompassing 34 
countries and 800 million people.
    There's a vital link between freedom of people and freedom of 
commerce. Democratic freedoms cannot flourish unless our hemisphere also 
builds a prosperity whose benefits are widely shared. And open trade is 
the essential foundation for that prosperity and that possibility.
    Open trade fuels the engines of economic growth that creates new 
jobs and new income. It applies the power of markets to the needs of the 
poor. It spurs the process of economic and legal reform. It helps 
dismantle protectionist bureaucracies that stifle incentive and invite 
corruption, and open

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trade reinforces the habits of liberty that sustain democracy over the 
long term.
    For all these reasons, my administration is committed to pursuing 
open trade at every opportunity. We'll pursue open trade bilaterally 
with individual nations such as Chile and Singapore and Jordan. We'll 
pursue open trade globally through a new round of multilateral 
negotiations. We want to open global markets so that our farmers and 
ranchers and workers and service providers and high-tech entrepreneurs 
can enjoy the benefits of a more integrated world. And of course, we'll 
pursue these goals throughout our hemisphere through the Free Trade Area 
of the Americas.
    Since open trade is one of my top priorities for our hemisphere, 
gaining U.S. trade promotion authority is one of my top priorities in 
Congress. I made this clear in my first address to the Congress. We have 
reinforced this message in meetings my Cabinet officers and I have had 
with over 100 Members of Congress. Trade promotion authority gives our 
trading partners confidence that they can rely on the deals that they 
negotiate. It allows us to seize opportunities to expand the circle of 
trade and prosperity.
    We're now actively working with Congress on a strategy for passing 
legislation granting the trade promotion authority. We'll intensify this 
effort when I return from Quebec, and I'm confident we'll succeed.
    Shortly after the summit, we'll also publish the initial working 
draft of our hemispheric free trade agreement. This will allow our 
citizens from all our countries to see what is being negotiated and give 
them a chance to provide their views on this important document.
    Just a few moments ago, the Secretary General and I walked from his 
office, and we passed the Hall of Heroes. The great leaders honored 
there embody the spirit of cooperation that characterizes the OAS. These 
visionaries imagined a future in which the Americas would be bound 
together in a common effort to create a hemisphere that is both free and 
prosperous.
    Today, we have the opportunity to realize that dream. Together, it 
is our responsibility to seize the moment.
    Thank you for having me.

Note: The President spoke at 1:45 p.m. in the Hall of the Americas at 
the Organization of American States headquarters building. In his 
remarks, he referred to Colombian Ambassador to the OAS Humberto de la 
Calle, who introduced the President; OAS Secretary General Cesar 
Gaviria; OAS Assistant Secretary General Luigi R. Einaudi; President 
Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti; and Prime Minister Jean Chretien of 
Canada. A portion of the President's opening remarks were in Spanish and 
a translation was provided on the White House transcript.