U.S. Department of State
93/02/20 Opening Statement at News Conference, Jordan
Office of the Spokesman



Opening statements at news conference by 
Secretary of State Warren Christopher
and
Jordanian King Hussein
February 20, 1993
Amman, Jordan

King Hussein:  Mr. Secretary, ladies, and gentlemen, it is a very great 
pleasure for us to welcome Secretary and Mrs. Christopher and the 
accompanying delegation here in Amman.  I do so on behalf of the 
Government and the people of Jordan and Queen Noor.  It is a wonderful 
opportunity for us to re-establish contact and to welcome an old and 
dear friend to this country again.  We are, indeed, hopeful and 
encouraged by the genuine desire to (inaudible) which we know we have 
and we hope that our friends have in the United States to renew and 
reinvigorate the friendship of many, many years between our two 
countries and nations and--certainly in my case--one that has prevailed 
over the last 4 decades based on trust, a feeling of partnership, mutual 
respect, and a desire to cooperate in all fields and areas.

Mr. Secretary, your visit at this time has given me the opportunity, 
together with my colleagues, to discuss with you once again frankly and 
openly and to hear from you views, ideas, and concerns at this critical 
juncture in the life of this area and this region.  And it has been a 
pleasure for me to restate our total commitment to the cause of a just 
and durable peace that future generations can enjoy, live with, and 
protect in the region.  I would like to say that the United States, 
without a doubt, is the most powerful nation in the world of today.  And 
I feel greatly encouraged at this point in time with President Clinton 
and the new Administration assuming their responsibilities; and, 
hopefully, it will be far greater in terms of its impact on the world--
on our large global village--when it can, hopefully, in the times ahead 
put together its physical and material strengths together with the 
principles and ideals on which the United States was founded, which had 
such an impact on our world and which, hopefully, again will be the case 
in the times ahead.

I thank you, and I will leave it to you, sir, to make any comment you 
would make, and then we will take it from there and see what we will 
face from our friends [members of the media].  Thank you very, very 
much.  And you are most welcome.



Secretary Christopher:  Your Majesty, ladies, and gentlemen, this 
morning I had very good and wide-ranging meetings here with His Majesty, 
the King, and with the Prime Minister and with the Foreign Minister.  We 
have discussed a number of issues:  the peace process, our bilateral 
relations, [and] regional issues, and we discussed at some length, and 
with great pleasure on my part, the progress of His Majesty's government 
toward democratization and broader political participation--subjects 
[in] which I found great interest as I've moved around the country.

President Clinton sent me to this region to convey personally his strong 
commitment to play a full partnership role in the peace process, to re-
energizing [and] reactivating that process, and to assess the 
commitments of the parties in this region to that important process.  I 
am here to encourage the resumption of the negotiations, particularly 
because I think all of the countries in this region are committed to 
positive results in the long run.

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